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Shopify alert recipes

Forty specific things worth being told about, with the threshold, the person who should receive it, and the case for not setting it at all.

Most store teams set alerts the way they set phone notifications: everything on, until it is unbearable, then everything off. Both states cost the same thing, which is that nobody finds out about the one that mattered.

Each recipe below is written to be argued with. It gives a threshold with the reasoning attached, says who should receive it and who should not, and names the action in the imperative. Where an alert is usually a bad idea, the page says so and points at the digest instead.

The test running through all of them is the one in the five-minute rule: if a competent person cannot take a useful action within five minutes of seeing it, it is not an alert.

Stock and supply

How to get alerted when stock runs low in Shopify

A fixed number for every product is why this alert gets ignored. Set it from days of cover instead.

How to get alerted when an advertised product goes out of stock

The expensive version of a stockout is the one where you are still paying to send traffic to it.

How to get alerted when an order goes onto backorder

The order is placed, the stock is not there, and the clock on the customer's expectation has already started.

How to get alerted when inventory goes negative in Shopify

A negative number means you sold something you did not have. Correcting the number does not fix that.

How to get alerted when a supplier delivery is late

A supplier who is going to be late usually knows a week beforehand and will tell you if asked.

Orders and risk

How to get alerted about high-risk orders in Shopify

A flagged order is a decision, not an emergency. The alert only helps if it reaches someone allowed to make it.

How to get alerted when an order has not been fulfilled

Nothing is wrong, nobody is blocked, and the order simply sits there until the customer asks.

How to get alerted when a parcel stops moving

A parcel that moved yesterday is fine even if it shipped a week ago. One that has not moved since Tuesday is not.

How to get alerted about a chargeback

There is a deadline, the evidence is easier to gather now than later, and nobody sees the notification email.

How to get alerted when a large refund is issued

The point is not to catch anyone. It is to make written decision limits mean something.

Team and process

How to get alerted when a task becomes overdue

An overdue alert on a board where half the items are overdue is a description of the board, not a signal.

How to get alerted when someone joins or leaves the workspace

Grants get celebrated and removals get forgotten, which is how a store accumulates access nobody remembers giving.

How to get alerted when a shift handover is missing

Absences are the hardest thing to alert on, because nothing arrives to trigger anything.

How to set up a daily summary instead of more alerts

Demoting things to a daily summary is what makes the remaining alerts worth reading.