What is Shopify Flow? And how to automate daily tasks for your e-commerce business

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, efficiency is key to success. Shopify Flow is a powerful automation tool that helps Shopify Plus merchants streamline repetitive tasks, reduce errors, and improve overall workflow. Whether running a luxury furniture brand or a high-volume e-commerce store, Shopify Flow can save you time and effort by automating operations like inventory management, order processing, and customer engagement.

In this guide, we'll explore what Shopify Flow is, how it works, and how you can leverage it to optimize your online store for maximum efficiency and growth.

What is Shopify Flow?

Shopify Flow is a robust automation tool designed exclusively for Shopify Plus users. It empowers merchants to create workflows that handle repetitive tasks, such as processing orders, tracking inventory, and segmenting customers based on behavior. By automating these essential operations, businesses can save time, reduce errors, and focus on the main work.

For instance, Fashion Nova leverages Shopify Flow to identify and tag high-value customers automatically, granting them access to exclusive promotions and VIP perks. This seamless automation enables businesses to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction by streamlining tasks without requiring coding expertise.

How Shopify Flow Works

Shopify Flow includes 3 fundamental components: Trigger, Condition, and Action.

Trigger

In the context of Shopify Flow, a trigger is an event that starts a workflow. It acts as the initiative point, listening for specific action within Shopify or integrated apps, and initiating the automated process when that event happens. Triggers can be internal, such as a new order being placed, or external, such as an update from a third-party application.

A trigger can be:

• A new order is placed

• A customer creates an account

• A product goes out of stock

• A suspicious action is detected

Condition

In Shopify Flow, a Condition is a key element that decides whether a particular action should be carried out based on set criteria. It works on an if-then logic, enabling merchants to create rules that need to be fulfilled before the workflow moves to the next step.

When a workflow is triggered, Shopify Flow evaluates the conditions. If met, the actions are executed; if not, the workflow may end or take an alternate path. Conditions can be based on attributes like order value, customer tags, or product SKUs. Logical operators (e.g., equal to, greater than) allow for clear, complex decision-making within workflows.

Condition example:

Order Value Condition: 

• Trigger: A customer places an order.

• Condition: Check if the order total exceeds $100.

• Action: Send a thank-you email or offer a discount on future purchases.

Fraud Detection:

• Trigger: An order is placed.

• Condition: Perform a fraud analysis check.

• Action: If marked as high-risk, cancel the order and notify customer support.

Action

In Shopify Flow, an Action is a task that runs within a workflow once a trigger happens and the conditions are met. Actions enable merchants to automate store processes, boosting efficiency and streamlining operations.

Action is the final result that you will want with the Shopify Workflow. The outcome of the action will be based on the input data of your Trigger and Condition. The action can be performed both internally and externally by Shopify as if the app is integrated and connected to the workflow.

Key features of Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow includes a range of features that enhance its functionality:

Schedule Task

The Scheduled Tasks feature in Shopify Flow lets merchants automate workflows to run at set times or on a recurring schedule. This is especially useful for routine tasks that aren't tied to specific commerce events, helping businesses streamline their operations even more.

Example:

• Create daily summaries of unfulfilled orders.

• Send low-stock item notifications every morning.

• Tag customers based on purchasing behavior at set intervals.

• Retrieve and summarize chargeback data hourly.

Customer Segmentation

To personalize customer interactions and drive marketing efficiency, businesses develop dynamic, rule-based segments based on shared customer characteristics, facilitating targeted messaging and insightful analysis. This allows businesses to personalize their message and recommendation for each customer segment, even each individual when they interact with the online store.

Key functions for customer segmentation:

• Dynamic Lists: Customers are automatically added or removed from segments based on their attributes and behavior.

• Personalized Marketing: Segments facilitate targeted marketing campaigns, such as promoting location-specific products.

• Segment Triggers: Automated marketing emails can be triggered when a customer joins or leaves a segment.

• Shopify Flow Integration: Customer segments seamlessly integrate with Shopify Flow to automate various tasks, including:

• Sending targeted emails to specific customer groups (e.g., repeat customers, inactive customers).

• Checking customer segment membership using the "Look up customer in segment" action (returning a boolean value for conditional logic).

• Triggering workflows based on segment entry or exit, enabling custom automation like tagging customers or sending targeted marketing emails.

Integration with Third-Party Apps

By integrating with third-party apps and services, Shopify Flow enables Shopify Plus merchants to automate their e-commerce businesses, saving time and boosting efficiency by streamlining repetitive tasks.

Some of Shopify Flow App Integration:

• Klaviyo: Automate email marketing campaigns triggered by customer actions.

• Slack: Get instant notifications in Slack for critical events like low-stock or high-risk orders.

• Zendesk: Automatically create support tickets in Zendesk for specific customer issues, streamlining support workflows.

• Google Sheets: Export data from Shopify to Google Sheets for detailed analysis and reporting.

• HubSpot: Sync customer data with HubSpot to power more robust marketing and sales automation.

Enhanced API Support

By leveraging the GraphQL Admin API, Shopify Flow's enhanced API support allows merchants to create dynamic, responsive automation based on real-time data from their stores, leading to more efficient workflows.

Some key features of Shopify Flow Enhanced API Support:

• Comprehensive Data Access: The API grants access to nearly all stored data, enabling workflows to respond to specific events and data points with granular precision.

• Real-time Data Integration: Workflows can dynamically access and utilize real-time store data, such as customer details, order history, and product information, for conditions and actions.

• Dynamic Workflow Logic: Merchants can build complex, data-driven workflows. Conditions can check various order or customer attributes before triggering actions, ensuring contextually relevant automation.

• Seamless Third-Party Integration: Enhanced API support facilitates robust integrations with third-party apps via connectors. This allows for cross-platform automation, such as sending Slack notifications or updating Google Sheets based on Shopify events.

• Custom Extensibility: Developers can create custom tasks for their apps that integrate with Shopify Flow, enabling tailored automation solutions for specific business needs and enhancing interoperability between platforms.

• Regular API Updates: Shopify's quarterly API updates may require periodic workflow adjustments to accommodate changes or deprecations.

Alternative Automation Tools Similar to Shopify Flow

If Shopify Flow doesn't quite align with your business needs, whether due to budget constraints (its Shopify Plus exclusivity), complexity, or specific integration requirements, exploring alternative automation tools is a smart move. Here are five platforms worth considering, each with its strengths and focus:

1. Zapier: A popular general-purpose automation platform that connects Shopify with thousands of other apps, ideal for businesses needing a wide range of integrations.

2. Alloy Automation: A robust e-commerce automation platform designed for scaling businesses, offering advanced features and integrations with various e-commerce tools.

3. Mesa by ShopPad: Specifically built for Shopify, Mesa offers a user-friendly interface and focuses on automating common Shopify workflows, making it a good option for those seeking a less complex solution. A Shopify-specific automation tool.

4. Orderly Automator: As the name suggests, Orderly Automator specializes in automating order management processes, including fulfillment, shipping, and inventory updates.

5. Omnisend Automation; A platform focused on email and SMS marketing automation, enabling merchants to create targeted campaigns and personalize customer communications.

Final Thoughts

Shopify Flow is an essential tool for Shopify Plus merchants looking to automate workflows and improve efficiency. By leveraging its automation capabilities, businesses like Gymshark, Fashion Nova, and MVMT have optimized operations and enhanced customer experiences.

If you're on Shopify Plus and not using Shopify Flow yet, now is the time to explore its full potential and take your e-commerce operations to the next level.