Shipping, returns and FAQ pages AI assistants can quote

"Do they ship to Canada?" "Can I return it if it doesn't fit?" "How long does delivery take?" These are the questions people ask AI assistants just before they buy. The answer comes from your shipping, returns and FAQ pages, quoted word for word or summarized. If those pages are vague, hidden or contradictory, the assistant gets it wrong, or tells the shopper it isn't sure.

Why policy pages matter more now

Policy pages used to be read by a small share of careful shoppers, and by your support team. Now an assistant may read them on behalf of every shopper who asks a question about delivery or returns. Whatever it says becomes your answer, with your name on it.

That has two consequences. A clear policy page means accurate answers and confident shoppers. A muddled one means an assistant may misquote your returns window, invent a shipping rate, or decline to answer and suggest a store whose terms it could read. Neither shows up in your analytics as an error. It shows up as sales that didn't happen, or customers who expected something you never promised.

AgentScore doesn't have a dedicated check for policy pages yet, so this guide is about what you can do and test yourself.

Write so each sentence can be quoted on its own

Assistants often lift a sentence or two out of a page. Write so that any sentence still makes sense when it's quoted without its neighbors.

Hard to quote	Easy to quote
We're happy to help with returns within the usual period, subject to the conditions above.	You can return unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund.
Shipping is fast and affordable.	US orders ship in 1 to 2 business days. Standard delivery costs $5.95 and takes 3 to 5 business days. Orders over $40 ship free.
International shipping may be available.	We ship to the US and Canada. We don't ship to other countries yet.
See exceptions.	Opened coffee and gift cards can't be returned.

• Use numbers, not adjectives. "30 days", "$5.95", "3 to 5 business days". "Fast" and "generous" can't be quoted usefully.
• Name the thing in every sentence. "Returns are free" works alone. "They're free" doesn't.
• State the conditions next to the rule. If the 30 days starts from delivery, not from the order date, say so in the same sentence.
• Say what you don't do. Countries you don't ship to, items that can't be returned, services you don't offer. Assistants are often asked exactly these questions, and silence leaves them guessing.

Structure the page around real questions

Organize each page by the questions customers actually ask. Your support inbox and chat logs are the best source. Use those questions, or close versions of them, as headings, and answer directly underneath. That gives an agent a clear outline to search, and the heading itself matches the question it was asked. Our guide to titles, descriptions and headings covers how to build that outline.

A shipping page might look like this:

h1  Shipping and delivery
  h2  Where do you ship?
  h2  How much does shipping cost?
  h2  How long does delivery take?
  h2  Can I track my order?
  h2  What if my order arrives damaged?

Use plain HTML tables for anything with more than two variables, such as rates by region and speed. A table reads clearly as text; a rate chart saved as an image doesn't read at all.

Make sure agents can reach and read the page

• Put the text in the HTML. Accordions are fine if the answers are already in the page and just hidden until clicked. They're a problem if each answer is loaded by JavaScript when opened. See our guide to JavaScript-only content. AgentScore's JavaScript check looks at your home page, so check policy pages yourself with View Page Source.
• Avoid PDFs and images for policies. Some agents can read PDFs, many won't bother, and text in images is invisible to most.
• Don't hide policies inside a chat widget. A help bot can be useful for people, but agents need a page with a URL they can read.
• Link to them from every page. Footer links to Shipping, Returns, FAQ and Contact, in plain HTML, are what agents follow.
• List them in your sitemap and llms.txt. Your sitemap helps crawlers find them, and an llms.txt file can point agents straight at them with a one-line description each.
• Don't block them. Check that robots.txt and bot protection let AI assistants read help pages. See robots.txt for AI agents.

Keep one version of the truth

Contradictions are the fastest way to an inaccurate answer. If the FAQ says 30-day returns, the returns page says 14 days and a product page says "free returns for 60 days", an assistant has to pick one, and it may not pick the one you meant.

1. Choose a home for each policy. The returns page owns the returns policy. The FAQ summarizes it and links there.
2. Search your site for old terms after any policy change: old return windows, old free-shipping thresholds, discontinued services.
3. Match your structured data. If your product markup includes return or shipping details, update it with the page. See Product data that AI shopping agents can read.
4. Show a "last updated" date at the top of each policy page, so agents and people can tell how current it is.
5. Handle temporary changes explicitly. For holiday cut-off dates or a carrier delay, add a dated note at the top ("Orders placed after December 18 may arrive after December 25") and remove it when it no longer applies.

Different terms for different places or products

If your policies vary by country, membership or product type, say so clearly and early. One page per region, or a clearly labelled section for each, works better than footnotes. Name the region in the heading: "Returns from Canada", not "Other regions". If marketplace sellers on your site set their own policies, say that too, and say where the shopper can find them.

A short checklist

• Every policy has numbers, conditions and exceptions in plain sentences.
• Headings are the questions customers ask.
• The text is in the HTML, not in images, PDFs or JavaScript-loaded panels.
• Shipping, Returns, FAQ and Contact are linked from every page and listed in the sitemap.
• No two pages disagree, and each policy page shows when it was last updated.

Policy pages are where an assistant's answer turns into a sale or a lost one. Once they're clear, run AgentScore to check the rest of your site, and read the agent readiness guide for the bigger picture.