An order follow-up flow sends a series of automated emails to customers after they complete an order. Each email in the flow has a different purpose and timing—for example, checking satisfaction after 7 days, requesting a review after 14 days, or offering a discount code after 30 days.
Each email in a flow is a separate automation. You'll create the first email, then duplicate it for subsequent steps, adjusting the delay filters each time.
In Metorik Engage, a "flow" is built using multiple automations with the same trigger conditions but different delay periods. For order follow-ups, the pattern is:
Base trigger: Order status is completed
Delay filter: Order completed over X days ago
Optional targeting: Filter by products, order value, or other criteria
The order completed over X days ago filter is the key—it creates the delay between when an order is marked completed and when the email sends.
Start by creating the first email in your flow. For example, a satisfaction check-in sent 7 days after order completion.
Go to Engage → Automations and click New Automation.
Choose Orders as the resource type.
Give your automation a name like "7-Day Follow-Up".
Click Save & Continue.
In the audience step, add your filters:
Add Order Status → is → Completed as your base trigger.
Add Order Completed → over → 7 → days ago to create the 7-day delay.
The automation will now send 7 days after an order is marked completed.
You can narrow your audience by adding additional filters:
Specific products: Add a product filter to only follow up on orders containing certain items.
Order value: Add a total filter to target high-value orders (e.g., Total Greater than $100).
Product categories: Target customers who purchased from specific categories.
All filters use AND logic by default, so orders must match every filter you add.
In the message step, design your follow-up email:
Set your subject line and preview text.
Use the Email Builder to design your email—see How to use the email builder for guidance.
Add dynamic content like customer name, order details, or a unique discount code.
For a 7-day follow-up, consider asking customers if they're happy with their purchase or if they have any questions.
When activating your automation, you'll see an option to send to current matches or only future matches.
Choose to not send to current matches. This prevents the email from going to all past completed orders in your store. Since you're creating a flow with multiple emails, you only want each step to send to new completions going forward.
For more details on this setting, see Automation Activation: Sending Limits.
For the next emails in your flow, duplicate your first automation and adjust the delay:
Go to your automations list and find your first follow-up email.
Click the ••• menu and select Duplicate.
Rename it (e.g., "14-Day Review Request" or "30-Day Coupon").
In the audience filters, change the delay value from "over 7 days ago" to your new timing (e.g., "over 14 days ago" or "over 30 days ago").
Update the email content for this step's purpose.
Activate without sending to current matches.
Repeat this process for each additional email in your flow.
Here's a typical three-email order follow-up flow:
Timing | Filter | Purpose | |
|---|---|---|---|
Satisfaction Check-In | 7 days after completion | Order completed over 7 days ago | Ask if customer is happy, offer support |
Review Request | 14 days after completion | Order completed over 14 days ago | Request product review or feedback |
Re-engagement Offer | 30 days after completion | Order completed over 30 days ago | Offer discount code for next purchase |
By default, an automation only sends once per order. If a customer places multiple orders in a short period, each order will trigger the follow-up flow separately. This is expected behavior for order-based automations.
If you want to limit emails to once per customer rather than once per order, consider using a customers automation instead, with filters like "Customer's last order completed over X days ago."
These filters work differently:
Order completed over X days ago: Creates a delay. The email won't send until X days have passed since completion. Use this for your flow delays.
Order completed in the past X days: Triggers immediately for any order completed within that window. If you use this during activation, it will send to all past orders within that timeframe.
For flows, always use over X days ago to create the desired delay between order completion and email sending.
You can add product filters alongside your timing filters. For example:
Products → includes → Product A, Product B — Only send to orders containing specific products.
Product Categories → includes → Category Name — Only send to orders from a specific category.
This lets you create different follow-up flows for different product types—for example, a care-tips email for clothing orders and a usage-guide email for electronics.
Once you've set up your order follow-up flow:
Learn more about building automations and the available filter options.
Track performance in the Engage → Automations dashboard to see open rates, click rates, and conversions.
Consider setting up customer onboarding emails for a welcome series after the first purchase.
