Customer Pulse

Customer Pulse

Quick start

Ask: "How are customers feeling this month?"

Claude pulls disputes, tickets, email threads, and Intercom conversations for the last 30 days, groups them into 3–5 themes with verbatim evidence, and delivers a "do these 3 things this week" action list.

To include Google/Yelp reviews, paste them after triggering — or say "I have some reviews to add."

Workflow

1. Set the date window. Default: last 30 days. If the user specifies a range, use it.

2. Pull PayPal disputes. Fetch disputes opened in the window. If the PayPal API returns a rate-limit error, skip and add PayPal: rate-limited — not included to the Sources section. Do not retry; do not error. See reference/gotchas.md for the rate-limit pattern.

3. Pull HubSpot tickets and feedback. Fetch open and recently closed tickets. If 0 tickets exist, record HubSpot tickets: 0 and continue — do not surface a warning.

4. Pull Gmail threads. Search for threads in the window containing: refund cancel unhappy issue problem disappointed frustrated broken late slow wrong missing. Extract subject lines and 1–2 sentence excerpts per thread.

5. Pull Intercom conversations. Call search_conversations to fetch open and recently closed conversations. Then call get_conversation for each conversation ID returned to access the full conversation_parts. Extract parts where author.type === 'user' — these are customer messages. Exclude parts where author.type is admin or bot.

6. Accept pasted reviews (optional). If the user pastes Google or Yelp review text, include it in the source pool tagged as [Review]. No connector required.

7. Extract themes. Group all evidence into 3–5 recurring themes. Each theme must include:

• A one-sentence label (e.g., "Shipping delays causing repeat complaints")
• 2–3 verbatim quotes with source tags: [PayPal], [HubSpot], [Gmail], [Intercom], or [Review]
• A signal count (how many items touch this theme)

Verbatim quotes are non-negotiable — never paraphrase. See reference/gotchas.md for the verbatim anti-pattern.

8. Generate the "do these 3 things" list. Rank themes by signal count. Pick the top 3 and write one concrete, owner-actionable step per theme. Format as a numbered checklist.

9. Deliver the report. Structure the output with these sections in order:

• Header — H2 with "Customer Pulse" and the date range.
• Sources pulled — Bullet list with signal counts per source (PayPal

disputes, HubSpot tickets, Gmail threads, Intercom conversations, pasted reviews). Note any source that was rate-limited and skipped.

• Themes — For each theme, show a bold numbered theme label with the

signal count, followed by two verbatim quotes as blockquotes, each attributed to its source.

• Do these 3 things this week — Numbered list of three concrete,

owner-actionable steps, each tied to one of the top themes.

For a complete worked example, see reference/examples/example-report.md.

Approval gates

This skill is read-only — it does not post, send, reply, or modify any records. No approval gate is required.

Reference

• reference/gotchas.md — PayPal rate limits, HubSpot empty state, verbatim quote requirement, Gmail keyword drift
• reference/examples/example-report.md — full worked example output

Example: Customer Pulse Report

Trigger used: "How are customers feeling this month?" Date range: April 1–30, 2026

---

Customer Pulse — April 1–30, 2026

Sources pulled

• PayPal disputes: 4
• HubSpot tickets: 9
• Gmail threads: 14
• Intercom conversations: 6
• Pasted reviews: 0

Themes

1. Shipping delays causing repeat complaints (11 signals)

"Ordered 2 weeks ago and still nothing — this is unacceptable." — [Gmail]

"Package was 10 days late and support never responded." — [Intercom]

"Where is my order? The tracking hasn't updated in 5 days." — [HubSpot]

2. Refund process too slow (8 signals)

"I filed a dispute because I never got a response to my refund request." — [PayPal]

"It's been two weeks since I asked for a refund. Still waiting." — [Gmail]

"Your return policy says 5 days but it's been 12." — [HubSpot]

3. Product quality below expectations (5 signals)

"The stitching came apart after one wash." — [Intercom]

"Looks nothing like the photo." — [Gmail]

"Would not buy again — quality is not what I expected for the price." — [HubSpot]

Do these 3 things this week

1. Fix shipping comms — Email every open order older than 7 days with a status update and a new ETA. This alone will cut Intercom volume before the root cause is resolved. 2. Speed up refunds — Set a 48-hour SLA for refund approvals and assign one person to clear the current backlog this week. 3. Audit product listing photos — Pull the top 3 products by complaint volume and update photos to match what's actually shipped.

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Example: PayPal rate-limited run

Trigger used: "Customer pulse for last 30 days"

Sources pulled

• PayPal disputes: rate-limited — not included
• HubSpot tickets: 7
• Gmail threads: 11
• Intercom conversations: 4
• Pasted reviews: 3

(Report continues normally with available sources. PayPal note appears only in Sources — no error message in the body.)

Gotchas — customer-pulse

Gotcha: PayPal rate limits on dispute queries

Why it matters: PayPal's disputes API throttles aggressively on date windows with many disputes. Silent retries burn the user's time with no feedback.

✗ Bad

Retry 3× automatically with no feedback. User sees a spinner for 30+ seconds before an error.

✓ Good

On the first rate-limit error, skip PayPal, add PayPal: rate-limited — not included to the Sources section, and continue with the remaining connectors. Mention that the user can try again with a narrower date window.

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Gotcha: Verbatim quotes paraphrased or summarized

Why it matters: The owner needs to see the actual customer words — not Claude's interpretation. Paraphrase destroys the credibility of the report.

✗ Bad

Theme: Slow shipping (8 signals)

Customers reported that deliveries arrived later than expected.

✓ Good

Theme: Slow shipping (8 signals)

"Ordered 2 weeks ago and still nothing — this is unacceptable." — [Gmail]

"Package was 10 days late and support never responded." — [Intercom]

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Gotcha: HubSpot returning 0 tickets treated as an error

Why it matters: Test portals and new accounts legitimately have 0 tickets. Surfacing a warning creates noise and erodes trust.

✗ Bad

⚠️ HubSpot returned 0 tickets. Check your connection or permissions.

✓ Good

Record HubSpot tickets: 0 in the Sources section and continue. Only flag a connector issue if authentication itself fails.

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Gotcha: Gmail keyword list too narrow

Why it matters: Customers don't use standard complaint keywords. A 1-star experience often surfaces as "took forever" or "never again," not "disappointed."

✗ Bad

Search only for: refund cancel unhappy

✓ Good

Use the full seed list from Workflow step 4: refund cancel unhappy issue problem disappointed frustrated broken late slow wrong missing. Let theme-extraction filter signal from noise — over-inclusion is cheaper than missed themes.