AI voice ordering for e-commerce: phone orders into Shopify
A phone ordering system that takes customer orders by voice and creates them in the retailer's Shopify store.
The problem
A retail business wanted customers to be able to place orders by phone without a person handling every call. The orders had to be accurate and stay in step with the online storefront.
How the system works
Call intake
An ElevenLabs conversational voice agent answers inbound calls and walks the customer through the order, collecting the product choice, quantity and delivery details.
Keypad confirmation
At the points that matter most, such as confirming the order total or choosing a delivery slot, the caller presses keys instead of relying on speech recognition alone. This protects accuracy on sensitive details.
Product lookup
Before the order is finalised, the system queries the Shopify catalogue through the GraphQL API to check availability and current pricing.
Order creation
Once confirmed, the order is created directly in Shopify through a GraphQL mutation, so it appears in the merchant's normal order management.
Spoken confirmation
The customer hears a summary of the order before the call ends, similar to the confirmation step of a live checkout.
Result in production
Phone orders land in the same order management system as web orders, which removes manual re-entry.
Who this pattern fits
We built this for a retailer, but the shape suits any business with similar call volumes or a need to keep phone and online channels coordinated. The stack is stable in production, can be self-hosted where it is critical, and is light to operate.
Tools used
ElevenLabs
Speech synthesis for the agent's voice, chosen for production latency and quality.
Twilio
Telephony carrier for inbound and outbound calls, SMS and call recording.
DTMF
Keypad input for menus and payment entry during live calls.
Shopify GraphQL API
Commerce backend integration for product lookups and order creation.
n8n
Workflow runtime and orchestration, with version-controlled logic and observability.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Does voice ordering only work with Shopify?
This build uses the Shopify GraphQL integration. The same pattern can extend to any commerce backend that exposes product and order APIs, including headless setups.
How does the caller pay?
Card details can be captured by keypad through Twilio, or an SMS link can be sent during the call so the customer completes checkout on their phone.