Gumtree turns to AI agent to answer customer questions around the clock

Say “Gumtree” to almost any Australian and they probably have a story; they’ve bought a couch, sold a gym set or hired trade equipment through it. 

Some also remember the missed opportunities or the potential scams. To overcome these past perceptions, Gumtree Group Australia has recently launched an AI help agent to answer customer questions faster.

From classifieds to a safer way to trade

Gumtree is a marketplace for individuals and for small businesses alike, with sole traders advertising everything from building work to bookkeeping. 

Terence Wood, head of business operations, highlights the ongoing evolution of the platform: “Gumtree has been a household name in Australia for years, and we’re continuing to invest locally and innovate alongside our partners to deliver the modern trading experience our community expects.”

Wood says the company’s strategy is to become more of a transaction business, and less of a pure classifieds site, and that’s changing how people deal with each other. 

Previously, a sale was often cash in hand or off the platform, which left buyers wondering whether a seller was real. Now, Gumtree has added seller reviews, listing history and an onsite payment system, which holds a buyer’s money until they confirm the item has arrived and they’re happy with it. Built-in shipping now allows sellers to reach buyers nationwide. 

For sole traders, that means an expanded national market with renewed payment protection.  

“Profile check, secure payments and built-in shipping reduce the risk of dealing with strangers,” notes Wood. “We want to give both buyers and sole traders greater confidence with a modern, secure trading ecosystem.”

More features, the same number of people

But each new feature brings new questions from customers. Questions such as ‘Where’s my payment?’, ‘Why do I need to verify?’, ‘I posted it and it hasn’t arrived and how do I get a refund?’.  For the Gumtree support team, it’s offered up an ongoing challenge in balancing a growing feature set against a fixed headcount.

“By introducing more functionality, we need more support. We need to support Gumtree Pay, Know Your Customer registrations and all these other things, but still with the same number of support agents,” says Wood.

Wood’s support team comprises 22 people based around the globe to keep the help centre running 24/7, while a smaller operations team handles billing, collections, business solutions and dealer support for Gumtree’s business customers. Wood expects the AI agent to resolve basic enquiries faster and free staff for complex ones. 

Swapping a flow-driven bot for the Gumtree Service Agent

The decision to move from existing Einstein bots, which are intent and flow-driven, to Agentforce, which answers in natural language in a way the intent-based bots couldn’t, providing a more consistent customer experience on-site.

The new Gumtree Service Agent now draws on around 300 knowledge articles about how Gumtree works and what it offers. The agent is trained on restricted item policies and scam guidance, automatically managing routine queries like account registration or sending back links to classified listings. 

“Our market place sellers and buyers are often browsing from their phone, often outside business hours,” notes Wood. “When they hit a question about verifying their identity, getting paid through Gumtree Pay, or whether an item is allowed to be listed, they need an answer straight away, not waiting for a human agent or a ticket in a queue.”

When a query is too complex, it hands off to a human agent, who sees the full conversation and has a case created automatically.

“The historical, repetitive classified questions can be answered immediately by the service agent because we have very detailed knowledge articles, catering to users who expect instant answers while mobile browsing,” says Wood. “When it’s something more complex, like a refund or a payment dispute, our human service agents can spend their time handling those complex cases.”

The transition is already yielding results, with user interactions and deflection rates rising every week since the September launch. By taking over repetitive requests and providing immediate support, the service agent is giving human agents more time to handle refunds and payment disputes. 

Doing more with what you have

Wood says the lesson for other small businesses is about productivity, noting that Gumtree isn’t asking its 180 people to work harder, but to lean on the technology to do more with what it has.

“AI acts as a key enabler, but success relies on establishing a clear business case, defining explicit metrics for success, and investing time to ensure knowledge articles are accurate and up to date,” he says.

“It’s about increasing productivity with what we have, so my team can still cater for other support queries while the service agent takes care of the mundane stuff.”

Looking ahead, Gumtree is continuing development on the platform to expand self-service options around account information. The team is also working on integrating Agentforce directly with Gumtree’s custom customer service tool to automate routine back-end service tasks, freeing up team members for higher-value customer interactions.

Terence Wood recently shared Gumtree’s story at the Salesforce World Tour Essentials Sydney event.