Automation & Workflows

By default, when you set up SparkLayer on your Shopify store, unless you're using 'Upfront Payment', all orders created by customers will be generated as Draft orders within Shopify (learn about Shopify Draft Orders). You can access these in the Shopify admin by clicking Orders and then Draft Orders.

One of the big benefits of using Draft orders is the ability to make changes before you then take payment and fulfil. For example, you may need to adjust quantities of products ordered or apply a special shipping method.

It's possible to automatically mark these orders as paid and then process them like any other order via the SparkLayer Dashboard under Settings.

If your customers are placing orders and paying by manual payment methods (such as Pay by Invoice or Request for Quote), these orders will automatically come through to Shopify as Draft orders. By default, Shopify doesn't notify you of Draft orders but there are some great ways to solve this. One such way is to use Shopify Flow, a free app made by Shopify. This allows you to create workflows to automate many tasks in your store and across apps.

In our Shopify Flow for B2B guide, you can find some ready-made "Flow templates" that can help automate your email notifications.

Another option would be to use the highly popular Shopify app called Mechanic, which is a development and automation platform available to all Shopify merchants. Similarly to Shopify Flow, it gives the flexibility to automate actions to suit your own business workflows. We've provided a sample below that you can simply set up within Mechanic.

If customers have opted to pay via manual payment methods, you can automatically send an email to a specified email address to notify them to review the order.