Using Flow with Shopify Collabs

Shopify Flow is an ecommerce automation platform that enables you to automate tasks and processes within your store and across your apps. Now you can automate repetitive Collabs tasks with ready-made Shopify Flow templates. Learn more about Shopify Flow.

Available templates

You can find the Shopify Flow templates for Collabs in the following places:

In the Collabs app, go to the Settings > Integrations tab.
In the Flow app under Workflows, select Browse Templates. Then, in the Apps dropdown menu, select Collabs.

The following Shopify Flow templates are available for the Collabs app:

Automatically approve an applicant: Create a rule to automatically approve new applicants based on their social media follower count. Assign applicants to tiers, offer gifts, and send welcome emails.
Export approved applicants to Klaviyo: Sync the emails and names of newly approved applicants to Klaviyo. Any creators accepted to your program after this point are automatically added to a list or segment within Klaviyo. If you previously accepted creators into your Collabs affiliate program, then you must manually add these creators to Klaviyo by exporting a CSV file from Collabs and uploading it to Klaviyo.
Follow-up on a gift: Send an automated email message to creators when they claim a gift. If you’d like to make any emails created through Flow more personalized, then you can edit email copy inside the Flow workflow.
Congratulations on first sale: Send an automated email notification to creators after the first sale is attributed to them. To customize emails created through Flow, you can edit email copy inside the Flow workflow.

FAQ

How much does the Shopify Flow integration for Collabs cost?

Flow is free to use for Shopify merchants on the Basic, Shopify, Advanced, or Shopify Plus plans.

How do I get access to the Shopify Flow integration for Collabs?

You can install Shopify Flow in the Shopify App Store. Flow is free to use for Shopify merchants on the Basic, Shopify, Advanced, or Shopify Plus plans.

Does the Shopify Flow integration for Collabs work with Klaviyo?

Yes. After you install Shopify Flow, turn on the Export approved applicants to Klaviyo template in Collabs by going to Settings > Integrations.

How does the Collabs x Flow Integration allow me to email creators via Klaviyo?

After you install the Export approved applicants to Klaviyo template, all creators you accept into your program have their email automatically synced to a list or segment within Klaviyo. This allows you to treat your creators as their own segment within Klaviyo, so you can send them specific email campaigns such as supplementary welcome kits and monthly brand updates.

Why is the applicant approval email within the 'Automatically approve an applicant' template different from the email sent from the Collabs admin?

When approving a creator on the Applicants tab of Shopify Collabs, Collabs automatically sends an acceptance email to the creator. If this task is automated using the Automatically approve an applicant template, then all the steps which typically happen in Collabs need to happen in Flow. Without this step being included in the workflow, the creator won't receive an email. Separating the email to a separate action within Flow makes it more powerful, because you can send different acceptance emails based on additional conditions and use other Flow integrations in (such as OpenAI).

Although the copy of the acceptance emails can be customized by your brand within the Collabs admin or within the Automatically approve an applicant template, many brands prefer to send more brand information to their creators' partners to welcome them into their programs. You can send the basics about the creator’s acceptance into your program in the template email to your creators first, and then send a follow-up email with more information.

How can I make the emails in the 'Follow-up on a gift' and 'Congratulations on first sale' templates more specific to my brand?

To customize any emails created through Flow, you can remove the end action of sending email from the original Follow-up on a gift or Congratulations on first sale template and replace it with a Klaviyo Create a Campaign action. The email that you want to send needs to be built within Klaviyo.

What should I include in creator welcome emails?

Make it easy for creators to sell your products. In your welcome email, include:

Your brand’s story with key details, such as your founder’s story or your product’s packaging
Examples of high-performing content from other creators you’ve worked with
Guidelines on how best to photograph your products
Details on creator perks
Expectations and terms of your affiliate program
Any brand tags or hashtags

Include anything else that could help creators make their first affiliate sale.

How can I send a branded welcome email to creators using Klaviyo instead?

The Export approved applicants to Klaviyo template allows you to automatically send your accepted creator’s email information into a Klaviyo segment, so you can send email via Klaviyo. You can also use the Klaviyo Create a Campaign action. The email that you want to send needs to be built within Klaviyo before the workflow is active.

What are some other ways I can use Flow to email creators?

After you add your creator’s contact information into a communication app such as Klayvio via Flow, you can run creator-specific campaigns at any time. Review the following best practices:

Treat your creators as your customers.
- Get the most out of the marketing content you're already creating for new launches and upcoming sales by sending similar emails to your creators to ensure they know what is going on with your brand. You can reuse assets from a product launch email and slightly tweak your messaging to give your creators a preview of what is coming one week before you launch. You can also remind them they get a commission on every sale they drive for your new product.
Build out creator-specific campaigns or monthly newsletters.
- Creating creator-specific campaigns to share behind the scenes content about a new product or campaign, to round-up some of the best performing posts from other affiliates, or share upcoming holidays that could help them create content around your brand will ensure you stay top of mind.

How else can I use the Collabs x Flow integration?

Aside from the ready to use templates, you can set up custom workflows to connect activity on Collabs to your other apps using the available triggers and actions. Some examples include:

Make your unboxing experience special.
- Set up a workflow to add tags to all orders attributed to Collabs, or to all Collabs gifts which are redeemed to notify your fulfillment center to treat those orders with care. You can create actions to update the order to add a gift with purchase, to add gift wrapping, or to add a personalized note to elevate the recipient's unboxing experience. You can do so by adding the update order note action to either the order attributed (for orders a creator has driven) or gift claimed (for a creator’s gift) Collabs-specific triggers.
Notify your team what’s happening on Collabs.
- Set up a workflow which pings your team on Slack every time a new creator applies to your program or makes a sale. You can also stay organized by connecting Collabs to your team's project management software to keep up to date on your team’s tasks. You can set this up using any Collabs-specific trigger and the Connectors in Shopify Flow.