What Is Shopify Flow
Shopify Flow is included with Shopify and Shopify Plus plans. It works on an "if this, then that" principle: when a trigger event occurs (like a new order), it checks conditions (like order value above £200), and executes actions (like tagging the customer as VIP).
Flow can connect to other Shopify features and some third-party apps. It is not a full integration platform like Zapier, but it handles a wide range of in-Shopify automation tasks very effectively.
Triggers, Conditions, and Actions
Triggers are the starting point of every Flow. Common triggers include: Order Created, Order Fulfilled, Customer Created, Product Added, and Inventory Level Changed.
Conditions filter which instances of a trigger should continue through the workflow. You can chain multiple conditions: order total greater than £100 AND customer tag does not contain VIP.
Actions are what Flow does when conditions are met. Actions include: add or remove customer tags, add order tags, send an internal email, create a metafield value, or send a webhook to an external system.
Common Automations
Re-order point alerts: Trigger when inventory level falls below a threshold. Action: email your purchasing manager with the product name and current stock level.
High-value order flag: Trigger on order creation. Condition: order value above £500. Action: tag order as "high-value" and send a priority fulfilment notification.
Fraud risk escalation: Trigger on order creation. Condition: Shopify fraud analysis risk level is high. Action: tag order as "review-needed" and pause automatic fulfilment.
Fraud Prevention
Flow is extremely useful for managing fraud risk. Create a workflow that triggers on every order, checks Shopify's fraud analysis score, and automatically holds high-risk orders for manual review. This prevents chargebacks without requiring you to manually review every order.
You can also flag orders that match other risk patterns: orders with mismatched billing and shipping countries, orders using free email providers for high-value purchases, or first-time orders above a certain threshold.
Customer Tagging
Customer tags enable segmentation for email marketing, B2B pricing, and personalisation. Create flows to automatically tag customers based on their behaviour: repeat buyer (tagged after 2nd purchase), high spender (tagged when lifetime spend exceeds £500), or wholesale (tagged when they submit a wholesale application form).
Inventory Workflows
Inventory-triggered workflows are among Flow's most practical applications. Set up alerts when any product variant drops below your reorder point. Create notifications when a product goes out of stock. Automatically unpublish products when inventory reaches zero if you do not want to show out-of-stock items.
Testing Flows
Always test your flows before activating them. Use the "Test" button in the Flow editor to simulate a trigger event and trace how conditions and actions would execute. Check that the right data is being passed to each action and that conditions evaluate as expected.
