Anatomy of a flow
How a SmartyTap flow works: the trigger that starts it, trigger filters, re-entry, profile filters, Email steps, time delays and Splits, and how to turn it on.
Last updated: 2026-10-19
A flow is an automation that sells and cares for customers while you work on something else. It starts when a customer does something, like placing an order or leaving checkout, and runs steps for that customer: emails, waits, order tags and Splits. A campaign is one send you schedule; a flow keeps running for every customer who qualifies until you turn it off.
Every flow has the same parts. Learn them once and you can build any flow.
| Part | Answers the question |
|---|---|
| Trigger | What starts the flow? |
| Trigger filters | Which of those events count? |
| Re-entry | Can the same person go through it again? |
| Profile filters | Who stays in it, and who leaves early? |
| Steps | What happens, and when? |
Find your flows
In SmartyTap, open Campaigns > All flows. The Workflows page lists each flow with its status, Active or Inactive. Click Create workflow to start one, then Select a trigger. Recent flow runs shows every customer's trip through your flows.
1. The trigger
In Select a trigger, browse Recommended or All triggers. Flows start from two kinds of events:
- Order events from Shopify: Order created, Order created or updated, Order tags, Order tags removed, Order paid, Order fulfilled, Order partially fulfilled, Order cancelled and Refund created. See Order flows.
- Storefront activity from the Chargezen pixel: Viewed Product, Added to Cart and Checkout Started. These power browse abandonment and abandoned checkout.
Each order starts a flow once, so a repeated or late order event from Shopify never sends the same email twice.
2. Trigger filters
Trigger filters decide which events count, using details of the event itself: Order total, Currency, Order tags or Item SKUs for orders, and product or cart details for storefront events. With no filters, every event starts the flow.
Click Add filter. Use Add AND requirement when an event must match several rules, and Add OR alternative when any one of several rules will do. Example: Item SKUs contains COFFEE-1KG AND Order total is at least 50.
3. Re-entry
Under Re-entry criteria, choose how often one person can go through the flow:
- Allow re-entry: every time the trigger happens. Right for order updates, like a shipping email for each order.
- No re-entry: once, ever. Right for a first-order thank-you.
- Allow re-entry after a time period: again only after a Re-entry period in minutes, hours or days. Storefront flows start at 30 days, so regular visitors don't feel watched.
A flow counts events from the moment it's turned on. Orders and visits from before don't start it.
4. Profile filters
Profile filters are about the person, not the event. They're checked when someone enters and again before every step. Anyone who stops matching leaves the flow. That's how a reminder stops the moment its job is done.
Click Add profile filter. You can check:
- What someone has done: Placed order, Viewed product, Added to cart, Started checkout or Started subscription, over a time period such as Since starting this flow, In the last or Over all time.
- Segment membership and List membership.
- Marketing eligibility: whether they can receive marketing.
- Active Shopify subscription SKUs, the Current contact's details and Custom contact property values.
A new profile filter starts as Placed order = 0 since starting this flow. Keep it on any reminder or win-back flow, so customers who buy stop getting nudged to buy.
5. Steps
Drag a step from Actions onto the flow, or choose a step to add after it.
Name and write it
Give it an Email name, a Subject and Preview text. Click Select template to start from a saved email, or create one with Drag and drop, Plain text or HTML.
Check the sender
Click Edit sender to change the Sender email, Sender name and where Replies go.
Pick the email type
Under Sending, set Email type to Marketing or Transactional. Transactional emails skip marketing consent, so use them only for order and account updates. Anything that promotes a product is marketing.
Set Smart Sending
For marketing emails, Skip recently emailed profiles skips anyone who got a marketing email in the last 16 hours. Choose whether that counts campaign messages, flow messages, or both.
Preview
Use Preview & check fields to see it with sample data on desktop and mobile, then Done.
Time delay
A Time delay waits before the next step: a Delay amount in days, hours or minutes. For delays in days, you can also Delay until a specific time of day or Delay until specific days of the week, in the Recipient local timezone or your Account timezone. Example: wait 2 days, then send at 10 a.m. the customer's time, on weekdays only.
Conditional split
A Conditional split sends people down different paths. Add a path for each group with Add path and Add condition. Paths are checked in order, the first match wins, and everyone else follows the last path. A Split can check everything a profile filter can, plus the Triggering order (or storefront event) and a Random sample for testing two paths against each other.
Example: after a fulfilled order, Path 1 is Item SKUs contains a coffee SKU and gets brewing tips; everyone else gets general care tips.
Add order tags
Add order tags adds tags to the order that started the flow, like thank-you-sent, so your team can filter on it in Shopify.
Turn it on
Name the flow
Type a name in the top bar, where it says New Workflow.
Preview the flow
Click Preview to see each step and when it would run. No customer run is started.
Save or turn on
Click Save draft to keep working, or Turn on workflow and confirm with Turn on. SmartyTap checks every step first and tells you what's missing, like a subject line or a sender.
Changes to an active flow apply when you save. If you delete a step or a Split path, people waiting in it leave the flow. To stop a flow, click Save draft: it goes back to Draft and cancels runs in progress.
See who went through it
Recent flow runs lists every run with its flow, trigger, status (Completed, Waiting, Running, Failed, Cancelled), its current step and when it resumes. A run that failed shows why.
Flows to build first
Order flows
Thank-you, shipping, order tag, cancellation and refund emails
Abandoned checkout
Bring back shoppers who started checkout
Browse abandonment
One helpful email about a product they viewed
Birthday email
Birthday points and an email on the day
FAQ
Can I build flows by asking Claude or ChatGPT?
Yes. Connect SmartyTap to Claude or ChatGPT and describe the flow. The AI app writes the email, saves the flow as a Draft and turns it on when you ask. See SmartyTap in Claude.
Do flows respect unsubscribes?
Yes. Marketing emails go only to customers who agreed to marketing email. Transactional emails go to everyone, so keep them about the order.
Why can't I edit a flow?
Creating and changing flows needs the SmartyTap flows permission. Ask a workspace owner to give it to you.
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