Instant AI’s flows usually trigger off shopping behaviour: a purchase, an abandoned cart, a browsed collection. But every so often you need a flow for a specific, one-off moment that doesn’t fit a standard trigger, like a Black Friday waitlist or a competition.

Triggering a flow from a Shopify tag lets you unlock these custom use cases yourself, without waiting for Instant to build a dedicated trigger for each one. A few examples:

  • A sale waitlist, like a Black Friday early-access list
  • A competition, like 1 in every 100 entrants wins
  • A product waitlist for a sold-out or unreleased item
  • A quiz or questionnaire where a shopper’s answers shape what they receive

The method is the same every time. Use Shopify Flows to automatically apply a Shopify tag to the right profiles, then configure a custom flow in Instant that triggers off that tag.

Because it’s a separate custom flow, you don’t interrupt any of your existing automated flows. You build a specific flow just for your use case, and it runs alongside everything else you’re already sending.

The tag does more than trigger the flow, though. You can also use it for segmentation. So you might trigger the flow to send an immediate sequence when someone joins your waitlist, then also send a one-off campaign to everyone with that tag the moment the sale goes live. One tag, a triggered flow and a broadcast, from the same sign-up.

Strong use cases

Sale launch sign-up

Tag: sale-signup

Big sales are where a lot of brands make their year. Father’s Day, Black Friday, a product drop. The shoppers who sign up before it starts are your warmest possible audience for that launch, and they’ve explicitly asked to be told when it goes live.

Put a sign-up form on a landing page or a password-protected pre-sale page. When a shopper signs up, tag them sale-signup and trigger a custom flow that builds anticipation, teases what’s coming, and sends the moment the sale opens. You’ve turned a launch-day scramble into an automated countdown.

The 1-in-100 competition

Tag: competition-winner

Competitions grow your list fast and create a bit of theatre around your brand. One of the most effective formats is “1 in every 100 entrants wins” — it gives every entrant a real reason to hope, and it gives you a group of genuine winners to celebrate.

Collect entries with a Shopify form, then add an automation so that 1 in every 100 submissions gets an extra competition-winner tag. That winner tag triggers a custom flow that tells them they’ve won and what to do next. Want to talk to everyone who entered too? Give all submissions an entry tag and trigger a separate flow off that. Same form, two audiences, two automated conversations.

The waitlist

Tag: waitlist-[product]

A shopper wants something you can’t sell them yet: a sold-out product, an unreleased drop, a size that’s out of stock. That’s not a dead end, it’s a sign-up waiting to happen.

Let them join a waitlist, tag them for that specific product, and trigger a flow that keeps them warm until it’s back, then tells them the moment it is. These shoppers have the highest purchase intent you’ll find, because they’ve asked to buy something that doesn’t exist for them yet.

The questionnaire or quiz

Tags: one per answer, e.g. goal-sleep, goal-recovery, goal-focus

Ask your shoppers what they’re actually looking for, and route each answer to its own tag. A shopper’s response becomes a tag you can act on: trigger a flow tailored to their goal, and use smart rules to swap the content of the email depending on which answer they gave.

You can trigger one flow off any of several answer tags (for example, anyone who picked one of three goals), then let a smart rule personalise the copy inside it per answer. One flow, many personalised experiences, all driven by what the shopper told you.

The event list

Tag: event-[name]

Running a pop-up, a launch party, a webinar, or a VIP night? Tag everyone who registers and trigger a flow that handles the details: confirmation, reminders as the date approaches, and a follow-up afterwards. The list manages itself as people sign up.

How to set it up

There are two parts: the Shopify form and tag automation (in Shopify), and the custom flow (in Instant AI).

This needs custom flows enabled on your account. If you don’t have custom flows, ask your customer success manager for support.

Step 1: Set up your Shopify form and tag automation

This part happens in Shopify. Set up a form to collect entries or sign-ups, then add an automation that applies a Shopify tag based on the submission.

  • Everyone gets a tag. Add the same tag to every submission. Use this for waitlists, sale sign-ups, event lists, and everyone-wins competitions.
  • A subset gets a tag (1 in 100). Add an extra tag to a fraction of submissions, for example 1 in every 100 entrants wins. Trigger the flow off the winner tag.
  • Answers become tags. For a questionnaire or quiz, route each answer to its own tag, so a shopper’s response becomes a tag you can segment and personalise on.

The tag names in this article (sale-signup, competition-winner, and so on) are only examples. Name your tags whatever makes sense for you. All that matters is that the tag you apply in Shopify is the same one you select as the trigger in your custom flow. Anything you want to use in Instant needs to be captured as a Shopify tag, because tags are what flow through to the shopper’s profile and make them usable as triggers, filters, and conditions.

One thing to get right at this stage is consent. Set your Shopify tag up to also grant email marketing consent. The tag will trigger the flow either way, but the shopper won’t receive any email unless their profile also has email marketing consent.

Step 2: Build the custom flow in Instant AI

  1. Go to Flows in your Instant AI dashboard
  2. Scroll to the Custom section and click Create custom flow
  3. Give the flow a Name
  4. Set the Starting point to Shopify customer tags updated
  5. Choose the # of emails in the flow
  6. Set Send once per profile to On if you want each shopper to enter the flow only once
  7. Under Shopify tags, open Filter Conditions and choose Has All, Has Any, or Has None
  8. Search for and select the tag or tags applied by your form (for example your competition-winner tag or your waitlist tag)
  9. Click Apply, then create the flow
  10. Add and edit the emails in the flow, then enable it

Tip: To trigger a flow when a shopper gets any of several tags (for example any of three quiz answers), select those tags and use Has Any.

Step 3: Reuse the tag across Instant AI

The same tag can do more than one job:

  • Immediate response. The flow sends as soon as the tag is added, so sign-ups hear from you right away.
  • One-off campaign. Filter a campaign to shoppers with the tag if you want to retarget the same group later.
  • Smart rules. Change the content of an email for shoppers in that segment, so people in different tags see different copy or offers inside a shared send.

FAQ

Do I need a developer to set this up? No. The form and tag automation are set up in Shopify, and the flow trigger is a Shopify tag you select when you build the custom flow in Instant. If you’re not sure how to do the Shopify side, Shopify has great resources to walk you through it: Shopify Forms for collecting sign-ups, the Add customer tags action in Shopify Flow for applying the tag automatically, and Creating and using tags in Shopify for the basics.

A shopper got the tag but didn’t receive any email. Why? The most common reason is missing email marketing consent. The tag can trigger the flow, but the profile won’t receive email unless it also has email marketing consent. Set your tag up to grant consent.

How long after the form is submitted does the flow trigger? Instant reads the tag within 1 to 2 minutes of it being applied in Shopify. Because the integration sync can take a couple of minutes, we recommend configuring your flow with a 10 minute wait time on the first step to account for this. You can set this to anything you like, but a short wait avoids any race with the sync.

Will sign-ups still get my normal flows and campaigns? Yes. Custom flows sit above your other flows, so a qualifying shopper receives the custom flow as well as any other flows or campaigns they’re valid for.

Can I run a competition where only some entrants win? Yes. Use a Shopify form automation to add an extra tag to the winners (for example 1 in 100), then trigger the flow off the winner tag rather than the entry tag.

I don’t have custom flows in my account. How do I get them? Ask your customer success manager for support.

For more on tagging shoppers and the ways you can use tags in Instant, see Use Shopify Flows to score and tag shoppers for segmentation.