Aquatropics: an online order desk that never closes
Aquatropics is a London aquatics shop and a client of ours. Its website assistant, Coral, answers customers at any hour: finding the right fish, checking an order, working out delivery. When a person is needed, it hands over cleanly.
- customer conversations
- 1,562
- Since 5 August 2026
- outside office hours
- 62%
- Before 9am, after 5pm or at the weekend
- at the weekend
- 449
- When the shop team is off
- passed to the team
- 98
- With the details already written down
Source: the assistant’s conversation records, 5 August 2026 to 25 October 2026. Counts only conversations with at least two messages; may include a few of our own tests. No customer details are shown.
Busiest when the shop is shut
Questions keep coming long after 5pm. 372 conversations started between 8pm and 7am, and 449 at the weekend. Those are the customers who would otherwise wait until morning, or buy somewhere else.
The median conversation runs to 7 messages: real back-and-forth about fish, not a single click.
The jobs that used to fill the inbox
Share of the 1,562 conversations in which Coral did each job. One conversation can include several.
- Finding fish, plants and equipment494 · 32%
- Checking an order211 · 14%
- Delivery dates and costs123 · 8%
- Passing a customer to the team98 · 6%
- Adding items to the basket39 · 2%
Connected to the shop, with a clear way out
- 01
Answers at any hour
Coral sits on every page of the Aquatropics website and replies straight away, day or night.
- 02
Reads the real shop
Product search, order lookups and delivery estimates come from the WooCommerce shop itself, not from a script written months ago.
- 03
Knows when to stop
When a question needs a person, Coral raises a request for the team with the customer’s question and details already filled in.
- 04
Tells the team what happened
A short summary of every conversation reaches the team afterwards, so nothing said overnight gets lost.
What people still decide
Livestock welfare, refunds, missing or damaged items and anything out of the ordinary go to the Aquatropics team. The assistant’s job is to answer the routine questions well and pass on the rest with the facts already gathered.
Questions about Coral
What does the Aquatropics shop assistant do?
Coral answers customers on the Aquatropics website at any hour. It searches the catalogue, looks up orders, estimates delivery, can add items to the basket, and raises a request for the team when a person needs to step in. A summary of each conversation reaches the team afterwards.
How many customers use it, and when?
From 5 August to 25 October 2026 it held 1,562 conversations. 62% started outside office hours (before 9am, after 5pm or at the weekend), when nobody would otherwise be there to answer.
Does the assistant replace the Aquatropics team?
No. It handles the routine questions: stock, sizes, delivery and where an order is. Livestock welfare, refunds, damaged or missing items and anything unusual go to a person. In 98 conversations it raised a request for the team with the details already written down.
Can a shop on WooCommerce have the same thing?
Yes. Coral works with the Aquatropics WooCommerce shop: product search, order lookup and delivery estimates read from the shop itself. We set the rules for what it may answer and when it must pass a customer to the team.
The same shop, different work
Aquatropics Google Ads: 7p clicks
The same shop, different work
Aquatropics e-commerce SEO
Another shop, another approach
Tropical Fish Co: one assistant, three channels
How the whole system works
Smart sales & 24/7 customer service
Customers asking questions after you’ve closed?
We can set up an assistant that knows your shop, answers at any hour and hands the tricky ones to your team.
Talk to us