Episode Introduction
Welcome back to eCommerce Fastlane! If you’re running a Shopify store, you know the pain of email overload, endless internal threads, and the chaos that comes with managing customer conversations across multiple channels.
Today, we’re tackling “inbox chaos” head-on with a tool designed to unify your team’s communication, streamline support, and bring true context-awareness to every customer interaction.
Joining me is Philippe Lehoux, co-founder and CEO of Missive—a collaborative communication platform trusted by over 25,000 teams worldwide. Philippe’s spent the last decade obsessing over how to break down the silos between internal and external communication, and his platform is now a go-to for Shopify merchants who want to turn their service side from a cost center into a profit center.
Whether you’re a solo founder drowning in emails or a fast-growing brand scaling your support team, you’ll hear actionable strategies to reduce context switching, leverage AI for smarter workflows, and create a seamless customer experience that drives loyalty and growth.
What You’ll Learn
✅ How to Eliminate “Inbox Chaos” and Streamline Team Collaboration
✅ Building a Lean Support Operation (25,000+ Customers, 2 Support Agents)
✅ Leveraging AI for Email Triage, Drafting, and On-Brand Responses
✅ Integrating Shopify and 100+ Tools for Context-Aware Support
✅ Managing Multi-Channel Conversations (Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Social)
✅ Empowering Teams with Contextual Internal & External Communication
✅ Why Augmentation > Automation for AI in Customer Support
Episode Summary
Drowning in customer emails? Team members playing email ping-pong while customers wait? You’re definitely not alone. Philippe Lehoux built Missive out of frustration with traditional email clients and ticketing systems that simply couldn’t handle the realities of modern ecommerce support. Missive combines email, chat, and task management in one intuitive interface—so your team never loses context, whether they’re talking to each other or to your customers.
The platform’s deep Shopify integration pulls order data directly into support conversations, giving agents instant access to customer history without leaving the inbox. With over 100 integrations (from project management to payments), Missive becomes the central hub for all your communication—internal and external.
Philippe shares how Missive’s rule engine and AI-powered prompts let teams automate triage, prepare draft responses, and stay on-brand—without sacrificing the human touch. Unlike chatbots that risk off-brand automation, Missive focuses on AI-powered augmentation, empowering agents to work faster and smarter while maintaining full control over customer interactions.
The result? Lean teams (sometimes just 2 support agents for 25,000+ customers) delivering world-class support that turns customer service from a cost center into a competitive advantage – something every Shopify merchant needs in 2025.
Key Insights
- Unified Communication Is a Competitive Advantage: Bringing email, chat, tasks, and social channels into one platform eliminates context switching and empowers your team to deliver faster, more personalized support.
- Shopify Integration Drives Efficiency: Missive’s direct connection to Shopify surfaces order history and customer data in every conversation, reducing time-to-resolution and improving the customer experience.
- AI as an Augmentation Tool: Missive’s AI rules engine automates triage, extracts key data, and drafts responses, but always keeps a human in the loop for quality and brand consistency.
- Multi-Channel Mastery: Support customers wherever they are—email, SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, even phone calls—all managed from a single interface, with the ability to merge or reference conversations for complete context.
- Lean Support at Scale: With the right systems and intentional onboarding, even small teams can handle massive support volumes efficiently, learning from labeled conversations and leveraging powerful search and referencing tools.
- Empowerment Over Control: Missive is built for SMBs that want to empower their employees, not micromanage them—giving teams the tools and trust to grow alongside the business.
- Context-Aware Communication as a Moat: Unlike traditional email or ticketing systems, Missive’s ability to merge conversations across channels and reference historical interactions creates a customer experience that competitors can’t easily replicate.
- Enterprise Features at SMB Pricing: Missive delivers advanced automation, AI integration, and multi-channel support typically reserved for enterprise platforms, but designed specifically for teams under 200 people.
Guest Spotlight
Philippe Lehoux is the co-founder and CEO of Missive, where he’s spent nearly a decade building tools that transform how teams communicate—internally and with customers. With a background in ecommerce and a passion for solving real-world operational pain points, Philippe’s mission is to help brands break down silos, embrace context-aware workflows, and scale support without scaling headaches.
Guest Information
Philippe-Antoine Lehoux
Co-founder and CEO of Missive
Links & Resources
Thanks for Supporting the Pod!
Over the past eight seasons, I’ve been incredibly lucky to chat with some of the brightest founders in ecommerce building remarkable Shopify brands and partners shaping the app and marketing ecosystem. Honestly, every conversation has taught me something new, and I’m grateful for the chance to learn alongside you.
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