Examples of workflows in Shopify Flow
Due to the customizable nature of workflows and variables in Shopify Flow, the possibilities for tasks that can be automated using workflows are limited only by what can be accomplished using the GraphQL Admin API. It can feel overwhelming to think of what tasks to start automating in Shopify Flow, so consider reviewing the examples on this page to get some ideas for how Flow can support your business needs.
The Shopify Flow template library provides hundreds of examples that demonstrate how to use Flow. The following are some example templates to help you get started, separated by category. Some templates can apply to multiple categories.
If a template isn't available for the task that you want to automate, then you can refer to the actions reference list for ideas of what specific actions a workflow can do. This can help inform what might be possible to automate in a custom workflow.
On this page
B2B workflows
B2B workflows help you update company location configurations, such as catalogs and payment terms, automate internal and external notifications, and manage B2B orders.
Template examples:
- Get notified and set up companies created by company account requests
- Tag B2B orders
- Send internal email when a B2B order is placed
- Send B2B order invoice to multiple email addresses
- Send B2B access email to approved customer
- Allow ordering for companies created by company account requests
- Remove D2C customer if not added to company after 3 days
Buyer experience workflows
Buyer experience workflows can add tags to your customers' orders or send internal notifications to help you learn more about their experience purchasing from your store.
Template examples:
- Tag orders where the first visit landing page includes a certain URL path
- Tag orders by their shipping method
Custom data workflows
Custom data workflows can help you manage your store data using metafields as a storage method.
Template examples:
- Create and initialize shop metafields
- Store recent order total in a customer metafield for each new order
- Convert tags with a prefix to a product metafield using the Run code action
Customer workflows
Customer workflows can help you to add tags to your customers when the customer is created, when they create an order, or when you cancel their order. You can tag customers based on their characteristics, such as their postal code, email address, and their order history.
Template examples:
- Tag customers eligible for educational discount based on email address
- Organize customers by lifetime spend tiers
- Email a customer when a wishlist item is on sale
- Send handwritten note after customer places second order
Error monitoring workflows
Error monitoring workflows can help notify you whenever an issue occurs on a workflow in Shopify Flow.
Template examples:
- Get notified by email when workflow run errors are detected
- Get a Shopify alert when workflow run errors are detected
Fulfillment workflows
Fulfillment workflows can help you to manage your order fulfillments based on location or on the details of an order. For example, you can use Flow to hold fulfillment based on an order's level of risk, prepare draft shipping labels, or receive notifications of large order quantities.
Template examples:
- Request or hold fulfillments based on selected criteria
- Get notified about irregularly large order quantities
Inventory and merch workflows
Inventory and merchandising workflows can help you to manage your inventory and control how your products display to your customers. For example, you can use workflows collections to create a collection of low-stock products, standardize your product tags, or receive notifications when a product variant is out of stock.
Inventory and merchandising workflows use the following conditions and actions:
- The Inventory quantity changed trigger, which tracks inventory changes.
- The Product variant inventory quantity and Product variant inventory quantity prior conditions, which ensure that the workflow only runs the first time that your conditions are met.
When you create this type of workflow, the condition needs to check both the amounts before and after the inventory changes. For example, to be notified when a variant's inventory is less than 5, set Product variant inventory quantity to 5 and set Product variant inventory quantity prior to less than 5. There are 7 T-shirts in your store and Jose orders 2 T-shirts. The inventory is now 5, so a reorder email is sent. Later, Karim orders 1 T-shirt. The inventory is now 4, but no reorder email is sent. If you check only the current inventory amount, then your reorder email is sent each time the product is ordered until the product is restocked.
Template examples:
- Get notified when product inventory is low
- Hide and republish products based on inventory level
- Merchandise low stock products and hide when out of stock
- Get notified when demand increases for out of stock products
Loyalty workflows
Loyalty workflows can help you to track discount codes and to reward your customers for their support. Many loyalty apps have Flow connectors that you can use to reward your customers based on their spending and activity in your store. For example, you can give a customer loyalty points for ordering a specific product, creating a positive review, or add birthday tags to customers.
Template examples:
- Get notified about large discounts on new orders
- Get notified when specific discount code is used
- Reward loyalty points and tag customers who add a tip
Orders workflows
Orders workflows can help you to tag an order, notify your staff when you recieve orders that require special attention, or send details to an app. In your workflow, you can create conditions based on the characteristics of the order or of the customer who made the order.
Template examples:
- Email logistics team when orders need to be expedited
- Get notified about irregularly large order quantities
- Tag orders paid with gift card
If you automatically fulfill your orders, then you can also have Flow archive those orders.
Payment reminder workflows
Payment reminder workflows help you automate the communication with your customer when a scheduled payment has been missed or is due.
Template examples:
Promotion workflows
Promotion workflows can help you manage orders with discounts applied to them, as well as automate some marketing tasks such as recovering abandoned checkouts or welcoming new subscribers.
Template examples:
- Recover abandoned checkout
- Welcome new subscribers with a discount email
- Upsell customers after their first purchase
- Get notified about large discounts on new orders
Risk workflows
Risk workflows can help you to manage high-risk orders. For example, you can use Flow to notify you when you receive a high-risk order. In your workflow, use the Order risk analyzed trigger to check the risk level of an order. This trigger uses the results from the Shopify Risk Analysis. Risk results from third-party apps aren't used.
When you receive a high-risk order, you can choose to have Flow do the following tasks:
- Tag the order so that it can be processed later, and notify your staff or send the order details to an app.
- Prevent the payment from being processed if your store is set up to capture payments manually.
- Cancel the order if the order is set up to be fulfilled manually.
If your store is set up to manually capture payments, then you can use Flow to prevent capturing the payment for high-risk orders. Create a workflow that checks the order's risk level and only capture payment when the risk is low or medium. In your workflow, use the Capture payment action to capture the payment.
If your store automatically captures payments and manually fulfills orders, then you can use Flow to cancel the order. You can't prevent the payment from being captured in this case. In your workflow, use the Cancel order action to cancel the order.
You can also cancel orders based on other criteria, such as the email or IP address of the customer.
To track orders that Flow cancels, you can add actions that do the following into a workflow:
- Tag the cancelled orders.
- Send a message or log the issue to an app, such as Google Sheets or Trello.
Template examples:
Workflows with connector apps
Some Shopify-developed and third-party apps integrate with Shopify Flow as connectors. This means that you can automate some tasks using those connector apps, as Flow sends data back and forth with the app.
Some examples of workflows that use common Shopify apps such as Collabs, Shopify Messaging, and Shop, are listed below.
Collabs
Drive more affiliate sales with less effort. Use the Shopify Collabs app to automate repetitive affiliate program tasks with ready-made Shopify Flow templates.
Template examples:
- Automatically approve an applicant
- Export accepted creators to Klaviyo
- Follow-up on a gift
- Congratulations on first sale
Shopify Messaging
A number of workflows integrate with Shopify Messaging to help you automatically send branded marketing emails designed by you in the Shopify Messaging app.
Template examples:
- Email waitlisted customers when a product is back in stock
- Drive online customers to nearby retail locations
Shop
You can automate some tasks regarding your store on Shop.
Template examples: