Width matters as much as size
A men's 10 in a D and a 10 in a 4E are different shoes. Shoppers with bunions, swelling or a wide forefoot often know the width they need, and leave when a style doesn't show it in their size.
Comfort and orthopedic footwear
AI voice agents for comfort and orthopedic shoe brands that answer width and fit questions
Buyers with heel pain, swollen feet or a wide forefoot have one question before they pay: will this pair fit me. A Loop Voice agent calls after checkout is abandoned, works through size and width from your fit guide, explains your exchange terms and sends questions about plantar fasciitis, diabetes or neuropathy to a doctor or podiatrist instead of promising relief.
The short answer
An AI voice agent for a comfort or orthopedic footwear brand calls shoppers who left checkout, matches their size and width to your fit guide, and explains insoles and your exchange terms. It describes what's in the shoe without promising pain relief, never suggests Medicare will pay, and sends condition questions to a doctor or podiatrist. We can't point to footwear results on Loop Voice yet, so track exchanges against refunds and orders from calls in the first month.
Why comfort shoe shoppers hesitate
They're shopping for a condition
Plantar fasciitis, neuropathy, arthritis and heel spurs bring many of these buyers to you. They want to hear "this will help", which neither the agent nor your ads can say without evidence.
Other brands' sizes don't transfer
"I'm a 9 wide in my walking shoes" is how shoppers describe their feet. Unless your fit guide maps other brands, the answer runs through your measuring steps, not a guess.
The return rules decide the risk
Some brands take back worn pairs inside a trial window; others take only unworn pairs tried on carpet. A buyer who can't tell which applies would rather not risk a pair they can't send back.
Calls worth making for a footwear brand
Call the shopper torn between a D and a 2E
The call settles the width question, but write the follow-up text with care: of the abandoned-checkout orders Loop Voice attributed in its September 2026 benchmark, 77.8% credited a text and 22.2% an answered call. Put a line on your exchange terms in the text template.
See the use caseCheck the fit inside the exchange window
Use the order fulfilled event plus a wait that covers shipping and fits your policy: if only unworn pairs come back, the call should land two or three days after delivery, before the shoes go outside. Brief the agent to pass a pinch or a rub to your team as an exchange request while there's still time.
See the use caseCall the shoppers waiting on an 11 4E
When an 11 4E sells out, the shoppers waiting for it won't settle for an 11 D. Build a Klaviyo or Shopify segment of everyone who signed up for an alert on that size and width, and call it as a campaign when the width lands.
See the use caseCall before the old pair wears out
A customer who found a style and width that works is a natural candidate for a replacement-pair call. Build a segment of past buyers of your core styles, with a reorder window from your own data, and offer the same pair first.
See the use caseIllustrative call, not a recording
AI agent
Hi Linda, it's Casey, an AI assistant calling from [Store]. If you'd rather not get these calls, just say stop. Can I help with the fit on the size 9 walking shoes you left at checkout?
Shopper
Maybe. I have plantar fasciitis. Are these going to help?
AI agent
I can't promise that; your podiatrist is the one to ask. What I can tell you is what's in the shoe: a firm heel counter, arch support and an insole that comes out for your own orthotics.
Shopper
I do wear orthotics. And I'm usually a 9 wide.
AI agent
This style comes in a 9 medium, wide and extra wide, so the wide is there, and your orthotic goes in where our insole comes out.
Shopper
My friend said Medicare pays for shoes like these. Does it?
AI agent
I can't tell you that. It depends on Medicare's rules and your doctor, so ask them first. I can text you the checkout link in the meantime, if that helps.
Shopper
Yes. I'll switch it to the wide.
What footwear shoppers say, and how the agent responds
What shoppers say
“Will these fix my heel pain?”
How the agent answers
It describes the shoe's features from your product copy, such as arch support, heel counter, rocker sole and removable insole, and makes no pain-relief promise unless you've given it a claim you can substantiate. A question about a diagnosis goes to a doctor or podiatrist.
What shoppers say
“I'm diabetic. Are these safe for my feet?”
How the agent answers
It doesn't answer for anyone's health. It lists what you publish, such as a seam-free lining or extra depth, and suggests asking their doctor. A recorded inbound call shows the pattern: a health device brand's agent told a caller whose knee surgery was nine months earlier that "the safest next step is to ask your PT or surgeon".
What shoppers say
“I'm a 9 in another brand. What size here?”
How the agent answers
It uses your fit guide: brand conversions if you publish them, otherwise your measuring steps. It won't invent a conversion you haven't given it.
What shoppers say
“What if they're too tight?”
How the agent answers
The agent quotes your return and exchange terms as written, including whether worn pairs come back, and offers the exchange path first if that's your policy.
Set it up for a footwear brand
Start with claims: give the prompt only the ones counsel has approved. If none covers pain relief, the agent describes features, and a custom guardrail keeps words like relieve, cure and treat out of its answers.
Hook up Shopify, WooCommerce or Checkout Champ (Settings, Integrations) so every abandoned checkout arrives with its size and width, and add Klaviyo if your back-in-stock sign-ups live there.
Load your fit guide, width chart, measuring steps, any brand conversions, insole and depth specs per style, and your return and exchange policy into the knowledge base.
Keep medical questions on the stop or escalate list and point the escalation path at your helpdesk, so a question about neuropathy reaches a person with the recording attached.
Add the fit-check flow and the restock and replacement-pair campaigns, and set a monthly frequency cap on each agent.
The calling window you set applies in each shopper's own time zone, and every do-not-contact entry keeps its reason and an audit trail. Before any of these calls go out, your checkout opt-in has to cover AI-voiced calls; the calling rules guide covers the wording.
Before launch, have the simulator play a confused customer who wears orthotics and asks about Medicare, and hold off until the compliance score holds.
Claims and coverage rules for footwear calls
- Pain relief is a health claim. FTC staff guidance from December 2022 says the same principles cover any health-related product, so a claim that a shoe eases heel or knee pain needs competent and reliable scientific evidence, as a rule from randomized, controlled human clinical testing. Plantar fasciitis, arthritis and heel spurs are what these shoppers ask about; if your evidence for a style doesn't reach that bar, the agent sticks to features.
- Medicare Part B covers therapeutic shoes or inserts only for people with diabetes and severe diabetes-related foot disease: the doctor treating the diabetes certifies the need, a podiatrist or other qualified doctor orders them, and a Medicare-enrolled supplier provides them. The agent never says or implies a pair is covered.
- If you bill Medicare or insurance for shoes, ask counsel whether HIPAA applies to your calls before the agent discusses anyone's diabetes. Loop Voice offers HIPAA only as a paid Enterprise option with a signed BAA, and its security page says not to send PHI through the platform without one.
Questions
How does the agent choose between a 2E and a 4E?
It matches the shopper's current size and width to your width chart and says which widths a style comes in; outside the chart, it points to your measuring steps and exchange terms.
Will the agent say our shoes help with plantar fasciitis?
Only if you have evidence for that claim and counsel-approved wording to go with it. Otherwise it describes the shoe's features and sends condition questions to a podiatrist.
Can shoppers wear their own orthotics in the shoes the agent suggests?
The agent answers from your specs: whether the insole comes out, how much depth the style has and any fit note for orthotic users. Where a style has no such detail, it says it doesn't know.
What if a shopper's feet are two different sizes?
The agent says whether you sell split sizes or mismatched pairs, as your policy states. If you don't, it repeats your fit guide's advice for that case and leaves the choice to the shopper.
Do fit-check calls turn refunds into exchanges?
Your own numbers will tell you. Count exchanges against refunds on orders that had a fit-check call and on orders that didn't, then add orders from width restock calls, the size and width questions in the answer gaps list, and replacement-pair orders within your attribution window.
Reading
Sources
- Therapeutic shoes & inserts, Medicare.gov
- Health Products Compliance Guidance, Federal Trade Commission
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