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Ecommerce

Shipping Delay Watchdog

Flags at-risk orders before customers complain — stuck-in-transit orders hit Slack daily.

Saves about ~2 hrs per week

What it does

  • Tracks order and shipping status across carriers
  • Flags orders stuck in transit or past their ETA
  • Posts a daily digest of at-risk orders to Slack
  • Drafts a proactive update you can send customers

How it works

  1. Order statuses pulled on a schedule
  2. Carrier data checked for delays
  3. At-risk orders flagged in a daily digest
  4. Proactive customer update drafted

What's included

  • Carrier connection
  • Delay flagging rules
  • Daily Slack digest

Set it up yourself

Follow these 4 steps in order. You will need accounts for: Shopify, Slack.

Step 1: Connect carriers

  1. Choose your tracking integration: ShipStation, AfterShip, or direct carrier APIs.
  2. Create the account and API key for the service.
  3. In the workflow, add the order-tracking node with your key.
  4. Set the fields: order ref, tracking number, current status, ETA.
  5. Test the pull returns tracking data for a real past order.

Watch out: If you ship multiple carriers, use a tracking aggregator (ShipStation/AfterShip) — direct carrier APIs don't speak to each other.

Step 2: Set delay rules

  1. Define what counts as at-risk: no scan in 72h, or past ETA by 48h.
  2. Add a rule for 'exception' statuses (returned, held, address issue).
  3. Compute days-since-last-scan from the tracking data.
  4. Test against a few old orders to sanity-check thresholds.
  5. Store at-risk orders in a sheet for the digest.

Watch out: 'No scan for 72h' catches silent stalls; 'past ETA 48h' catches the ones customers are already asking about.

Step 3: Add the Slack digest

  1. Create a Slack app with an Incoming Webhook to your #ops or #shipping channel.
  2. Schedule the digest daily at 9am: at-risk orders with order #, customer, days stuck, status.
  3. Sort the digest by urgency (worst first).
  4. Add a count line ('12 orders at risk').
  5. Test the daily output.

Watch out: Daily at a fixed time, not continuously — 50 pings a day about the same 12 orders trains you to ignore the channel.

Step 4: Draft the customer update

  1. Add a step that drafts a proactive customer email: 'Your order is delayed — here's what we're seeing and the new ETA.'
  2. Use AI to draft from the tracking data with an honest tone.
  3. Queue these as drafts for you to review before sending.
  4. Log which orders you proactively emailed.
  5. Watch how many refund requests the proactive emails prevent.

Watch out: Proactive beats reactive — the email that arrives before the complaint costs one effort and saves three.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Shipping Delay Watchdog automation do?

Flags at-risk orders before customers complain — stuck-in-transit orders hit Slack daily. Tracks order and shipping status across carriers

How much time does Shipping Delay Watchdog save?

It is estimated to save ~2 hrs per week. Actual savings depend on your volume.

Which tools does Shipping Delay Watchdog use?

It works with Shopify and Slack.

What does Shipping Delay Watchdog include?

Carrier connection, Delay flagging rules, Daily Slack digest.

Can I set up Shipping Delay Watchdog myself?

Yes. The do-it-yourself guide on this page walks through 4 steps, from getting access to testing the finished automation.