🪜What is the Sequential Flow Builder?

The Sequential Flow Builder is a powerful tool designed to enable merchants to create subscription lifecycles by enabling a sequence of products after a certain number of deliveries.

Last updated: April 7, 2024

If you're a merchant who uses subscriptions to power refills, or who wants to use your subscriptions to create a custom order journey experience, then the Sequential Flow Builder is for you. You can use this tool to swap the product that is delivered to the customer after certain order numbers.

1. Accessing the Sequential Flow Builder

To access the Sequential Flow Builder, follow these steps:

Log in to your merchant account. Navigate to Subscription Programs > Manage on the program you wish to add the flow to. Scroll down and Look for the card labeled "Sequential Flow Builder."

2. Creating a Sequential Flow

Click on the "Add flow" button.

Define the starting product by clicking "Browse" next to the text: "When the following item(s) are purchased:".

Next, indicate how many orders should eclipse before the swap action happens. By default, this is after order number one.

Tip: Order #1 is considered the initial order the customer places in Shopify. Order #2 is considered the first recurring subscription order. For example, if you're swapping to a refill product, you would want the swap to happen after order #1.

Then, select the product variant that should be delivered after the defined order number.

Tip: Want to have more than one swap action? Hover over the indented action steps to reveal icons to quickly add or duplicate another action step.

Finally, confirm a flow end behavior. By default, this is is Send last item in perpetuity—which means that the customer will continue to receive the last item that the subscription swapped to. You can also opt to End sequence flow—which will terminate the subscription after all swaps have occurred.

Press "Confirm" to save your flow.

3. Editing an Existing Sequential Flow

To edit an existing sequential flow, click the "Manage flow" button to reopen the modal:

4. Deleting a Sequential Flow

To delete a sequential flow, press the red "Delete this flow" button. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Warning: Before you can delete flows that already have subscriptions associated with them, you will be prompted to either Cancel all active subscriptions with this sequence or Send the current item in the customers' active subscriptions in perpetuity before you can continue with flow deletion.

5. Sequential Best Practices and Tips

1. Did you know you can create multiple flows from within a Subscription Program? To prevent conflicting swaps, each flow is required to have a unique start product.
2. Don't neglect your flows after creation; reguarly review and update your sequential flows based on changing product offerings or customer feedback.

Congratulations! You are now ready to leverage the Sequential Flow Builder to enhance your subscription management and offer a personalized order journey experience for your customers. If you encounter any issues or have further questions, reach out at [e-mail].