Practical guides on choosing and running the software behind your business, starting with customer service. Each one explains the problem, the options and the tools we would pick.
FeaturedCustomer service
A practical, step-by-step guide to automating support in 2026. What to hand to an AI agent, what to keep human, how to roll it out, and which tools do it well.
July 10, 2026 · 8 min read
E-commerce
Black Friday falls on November 27 this year. A week-by-week checklist for online stores to forecast volume, automate the predictable questions, staff the peak and get through returns in January.
Industries
Guests ask about rooms, parking and late check-in at midnight and in a dozen languages. How hotels, B&Bs and travel companies can answer instantly with chat and AI and still keep the personal touch.
Productivity
A one-to-ten person company needs about six tools, not thirty. Which jobs to cover first, what the free plans really give you, when to start paying, and the stack we'd start with.
E-commerce
Order status questions are the biggest single ticket type for most online stores, and they multiply in peak season. Here is why they happen and how to remove most of them.
Marketing
Big SEO suites cost more each month than many small businesses spend on their whole website. What to track, which free tools cover the basics, and when a paid tool is worth it.
E-commerce
Many abandoned carts start with a question nobody answered. How to use live chat, an AI agent and well-timed messages to keep shoppers in the cart, and how to follow up when they leave anyway.
Industries
Buyers and sellers need different help, and disputes put you in the middle. How to set up support for a marketplace, with separate flows for each side, fair dispute handling and AI for the routine questions.
E-commerce
The January returns wave turns support into a returns desk. How to set a clear policy, let customers return without writing in, and keep people for the cases that need judgement.
Sales and lead generation
Drift's chat widget stops working on January 31, 2027. What to replace it with if you are a small or mid-size team, how the options differ, and how to switch before the deadline.
E-commerce
A practical way to decide between hiring, AI and a mix of both, with a cost model you can fill in with your own numbers, the factors that matter beyond cost, and the setup most growing stores end up with.
Comparisons
Both turn team email into a shared inbox, but they're built for different teams. Help Scout is made for customer support; Front for everyone who works with customers over email. Which one fits yours.
Sales and lead generation
Contact forms collect names; conversations collect buyers. How to use chat triggers, qualifying questions and CRM sync to turn website visitors into leads your sales team actually wants.