As a high-volume Shopify merchant, you’re sure to have tons of things to manage. After all, there are many parts and processes involved in running an eCommerce store which is only magnified as your orders catapult.
Shopify Flow can be a real savior as it takes control of the manual tasks that can be quite tiresome for high-volume stores. In this article, we’ll show you how you can use Shopify Flow to make your large store run more efficiently and enhance the way your business functions.
Shopify Flow is a free app that allows merchants to automate tasks, processes, and campaigns by building workflows.
These workflows are built using a drag-and-drop system made up of 3 components:
They can be custom made, or you can choose from a large pool of pre-built templates built to address common eCommerce problems.
Thanks to the app’s ability to access any field in the API, workflows can be built for virtually any task related to your store. What’s more, the tool can connect with over 80 apps in the app store. This means data from your apps can be fed into it, and you can automate tasks to happen within and between connected apps.
Find out more: Shopify Flow: What Is It & How Does It Benefit Shopify Merchants
Shopify Flow was originally made for Shopify Plus customers which means it naturally lends itself to benefiting high-volume stores. This tool can be a lifesaver for high-volume Shopify stores in many different ways.
The most obvious and perhaps greatest advantage is that it saves tons of management time.
Repetitive tasks can become a huge burden on large businesses. With such high order volumes, manual activities that were once simple become an arduous process. By handing over these tasks to Shopify Flow, you’ll give your team more time to focus on more important and productive tasks.
Another consequence of tasks being done manually when orders are high is that they become more susceptible to error.
Sifting through hundreds or thousands of orders, customers, or products is not easy. Even with careful precision, the repetitive and monotonous nature of doing so can cause things to slip through the cracks.
Instead, you can let these processes be dealt with through automation so you’ll never need to worry about missing a thing.
As a high-volume merchant, you likely have tons of complex processes necessary to the functionality of your store. Flow can access any data point in Shopify and connect with some of the most popular apps.
There’s also no limit to the number of conditions and actions you can add to a workflow. This means complex workflows with multiple components can easily be built.
Common concerns such as managing large-scale inventory, fulfilling a variety of orders, and addressing extensive customer service issues can all be addressed with Shopify Flow.
There’s almost no task that can’t be automated. Plus, Shopify is listening closely to the type of workflows their users want to build and updating Flow to accommodate them. So, if there’s a workflow you’d like to build but don’t see an option for, you can put good money on it becoming available soon.
Shopify is responsive and pays attention to suggestions from its customers. (Source: Shopify Flow App Reviews)
Here are some great workflows high-volume merchants can use to optimize their operations.
Keeping on top of your inventory can be a challenge when there are many products to keep tabs on. Check out how you can use Shopify Flow to assist in managing your inventory.
(Source: Icee Social)
Workflows like the above automatically send an email to your vendor and message relevant team members when the stock falls below a certain level.
What’s great about such workflows is that they hugely reduce the chances of missing out on sales because you’ve sold out. Moreover, it’s a great solution for stores with multiple vendors. With OR logic for conditions, you can easily capture all of your vendors in one flow so all of your products are covered.
It also can help relevant team members stay in the loop regarding popular products. This information can then be used to halt marketing activities, or identify product trends so future orders are more in line with what your customers love.
Start by choosing Inventory quantity changed as the trigger. Create multiple conditions for each of your vendors alongside an inventory quantity you deem as low. The actions should then be to send an email to the relevant vendor and alert necessary team members via the communication platform your company uses.
It’s important to note that the only messaging services you can use in conjunction with Flow are Slack and email. So, alternatively, if your preferred communication or collaboration platform isn’t Slack or email, Flow can set up a task on Asana or Trello when stock is low.
(Source: eCommerce Fast Lane)
One of the standout features of Shopify Flow is its ability to connect with apps you have installed. This allows for powerful and smarter workflows to be created. If you use the Back In Stock app, there’s super useful automation you can execute.
Back In Stock lets shoppers choose to be notified when their desired sold-out item becomes available. As a result, it can actually measure the demand level of particular products. This data can then be fed into Shopify Flow.
Product Variant demand changed is an available trigger with Back In Stock connected. Set your conditions to check if the demand is high for each product vendor. The action can then be to email your vendor, and/or alert the inventory team.
By incorporating this workflow, you can ensure that your most desired out-of-stock products take precedence. In turn, you’ll delight your customers, and save lots of time as you won’t need to sift through hoards of data.
(Source: Shopify Flow App)
Whilst there may be reasons for displaying sold-out items, it’s important to note that this can frustrate some shoppers. In fact, 30% of them say being faced with out-of-stock products hurts their shopping experience. However, when you have lots of orders flying in, items may sell out before you even notice. If this is an issue you’re having, try this workflow.
Set your trigger as Inventory quantity changed, condition as product variant inventory quantity less than 0, and action as hide product. It’s a good idea to include notifying relevant team members as additional actions so necessary steps can be taken.
With this workflow, you can create a more pleasing shopping experience, and shift the focus of shoppers towards items they can buy now to boost your revenue.
Another challenge that high sales volumes present is fulfillment. Preparing and keeping tabs on a huge number of orders is anything but a piece of cake when done manually. You may even find that doing it this way is eating away at most of your and your team’s day. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Shopify Flow can work wonders in helping you streamline and optimize your store’s fulfillment process.
(Source: Shopify)
We don’t have to cast our minds too far back to remember just how detrimental late deliveries can be! Customers expect their orders to come on time, but it can be tricky to effectively monitor all your orders without automation.
Using the Wait action on Shopify Flow, you can let the app check in on the fulfillment status of all orders after a set amount of time. If an order hasn’t been fulfilled, you and/or your logistics team will be alerted, allowing you to reach out to the customer and get the order out the door pronto.
This workflow gives your business the chance to be proactive and thus minimize backlash from upset customers. Whilst no one likes a late delivery, your customers will appreciate signs of care, remorse, and effort to rectify the situation.
Additionally, you could modify this workflow to include an action to tag orders that aren’t being fulfilled when expected. This then provides some insight into the types of orders that are being delayed, allowing you to make changes so this doesn’t happen again.
(Source: eCommerce Fast Lane)
Another way to streamline your store’s fulfillment tasks and manage high-volume deliveries is by automatically flagging orders that require faster delivery.
48% of consumers are unlikely to repurchase from a brand that delivers their packages late. This is sure to cause even greater frustration if they’ve paid for their order to arrive quickly.
With a workflow that notifies your logistics team of expedited orders, they can more readily prioritize them to ensure they arrive on time. The addition of order tags will also help your logistics team quickly identify the orders they need to prioritize.
By using this workflow, you’ll avoid upsetting your customers, increase retention, and prevent your logistics team from missing orders that need to take precedence.
High order volume means you’re dealing with a high number of customers. Whilst we’re sure you’re doing everything in your power to provide an excellent experience, it’s impossible to make everyone happy. As a result, you may have a particularly busy customer services team.
Shopify Flow can act as an assistant by flagging actions in your store that require special attention. It’ll enable your CS team to more easily prioritize issues that indicate high discontent. They can then take the necessary steps to improve service, demonstrate empathy, and win back customers.
(Source: Shopify)
A large refund is a massive signal that something was really wrong with an order. If you use Gorgias Live Chat & Helpdesk, a ticket can be sent straight to it when a large refund is issued. Otherwise, you can just change the action to send an email, Slack message, or Asana task to your CS team.
A workflow that alerts your CS team of this gives them the chance to get in touch with disappointed customers. They can then use it as an opportunity to find out what went wrong and figure out how the experience could be improved.
It’s also a great chance to offer customers an incentive, such as a discount, to encourage them to order again. In fact, you could modify this workflow to incorporate an action that automatically fires a win-back email.
Shopify Flow can also be used to get a head start on customer relations by using it to capture negative reviews.
When connected with review apps like Growave, Loox, Okendo, Stamped.io, or Yotpo you can initiate a workflow when a review is posted. If it is negative, the CS team will be notified so they can follow up with a win-back email.
Conversely, you can build a flow that automatically rewards points for positive reviews if you’re using one of the compatible loyalty apps.
Such a workflow would look like this:
High-volume stores can gain a lot by using Shopify Flow. The immense flexibility of the workflows makes it easy for complex and routine tasks to be automated. It also affords you and your team more time to focus on the productive activities that improve your customers’ experience.
Thousands of Shopify merchants are already reaping the rewards of Shopify Flow and so can you. Get a head start by trying out some of our suggested workflows above.
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