Turn Guidance into Action with Playbooks

Introduction Why Playbooks? How Brands are Using Playbooks Today
Your Logic, Your Agent

You’ve trained ably to talk like your brand. With Playbooks, alby can now act like your team.

Until now, even the best AI agents stopped at answering questions. They could respond, but not really do. With Playbooks, that changes.

alby Playbooks let you teach your agent how to handle specific shopper scenarios—from sizing and returns to product comparisons and gift suggestions. You just write the instructions in plain English. alby takes it from there.

Now your agent doesn’t just explain options. It solves problems.

Why Playbooks?

Every retailer has different policies, preferences, and workflows. But most AI tools treat them all the same.

What if your agent could actually reflect the way your business runs?
What if it could upsell like your top salesperson—or triage issues like your best support rep?

Playbooks make that possible.

They let you describe a situation—like “a shopper wants to return something” or “a customer is comparing three products”—and tell alby what to do. From there, your agent uses built-in actions like product search, compatibility checks, or review summaries to carry out your instructions automatically.

With Playbooks, You Can:

Write natural-language instructions for how your agent should solve real shopper tasks
Trigger the right behavior automatically, based on what a shopper says
Enable or disable specific actions (like comparisons or best sellers) per agent
Assign different Playbooks to different agents—like homepage vs PDP
Preview and test every Playbook before it goes live

How Brands are Using Playbooks Today

Here are three ways Playbooks are already transforming how shoppers interact with AI agents:

Find the Perfect Gift

Try: Gift Finder Playbook

What’s happening: A shopper wants help picking out a gift

alby’s move: Asks who the gift is for and what they might like, uses /ProductFinder to narrow the options, and /ProductSearch and /BestSellers to make smart suggestions

Impact: Personalized gift journeys that feel like a concierge—not a quiz

Help Shoppers Pick the Right Size

Try: Review Summary Playbook

What’s happening: A shopper is unsure which size to buy

alby’s move: Surfaces review feedback on sizing with /ReviewSummaries (e.g. “runs small”), then recommends alternatives using /ProductFinder or /BestSellers

Impact: Reduces returns, builds buyer confidence

Try: Compatibility Check Playbook

What’s happening: A shopper adds an item to cart and wants to know what works with it
alby’s move: Checks product compatibility using /CompatibilityCheck, shares feedback via /ReviewSummaries, and suggests alternatives with /ProductSearch if needed

Impact: Increases AOV, decreases returns

Your Logic, Your Agent—Working Together

With Playbooks, your agent doesn’t just respond. It follows your lead.

You get to define what “good” looks like in a shopper interaction—and alby makes it real, automatically.

Ready to turn conversations into actions?

If you’re already using alby, you can start building Playbooks today.
If you’re new, this is your path to an agent that does more than talk.

Shopify retailers, try alby free → apps.shopify.com/alby

Not on Shopify? → Talk to our team

Emma Martin

Emma Martin is the Senior Director of Product Marketing at Bluecore and Alby. Since 2017, she has worked at the forefront of AI and personalization, helping bring category-defining technologies to market. Her focus is on helping brands deliver the future of agent-assisted shopping, driving more sales while radically improving the customer experience.