How to Use Automation Rules

This article explains how to use Automation Rules in ShipHero to save time and effort in your warehouse and operations. Think of them as automatic helpers that take actions based on specific order conditions. For example, you can set up a rule to automatically email someone if an order contains a certain product or to assign a specific shipping method to orders going to certain ZIP codes.

This article covers:

• Understanding Automation Rules
• How Automation Rules Work Step-By-Step
• Triggers and Actions in Detail
• Important Notes and Considerations
• Best Practices

NOTE For 3PLs: Automation rules must be created and managed at the child account level. Automation Rules need to be configured for each client individually. If you need assistance copying a list of Automation Rules from one child account to another, please put in a request with our support team, who can route you to our ProServe team to assist. Please note the ProServe request is a paid service.

For more information on troubleshooting Automation Rules, please see the article "Why is my Automation Rule not working?"

Understanding Automation Rules 

You can configure and manage the Automation Rules in your ShipHero account by going to the Orders > Automation Rules page. On this page, you will create, edit, and sort the order in which your automation rules are processed for your orders. Additionally, you can activate, deactivate, and delete rules as well as create and manage different data lists for more complex rules.   

An automation rule has two main parts:

• Triggers: These are the conditions that an order must meet for the rule to apply. It's the "IF" part of the rule.
• Actions: These are the tasks that ShipHero will automatically perform when an order matches the triggers. It's the "THEN" part of the rule.

Automation rules run when an order is created or imported into ShipHero. It's essential to know that these rules are applied before a warehouse is assigned to the order; if you need a rule to run after an order is allocated to the warehouse, use the setting "Only Run after MWA" with the appropriate triggers as explained in this article: How to Use Automation Rules with Multi Warehouse Allocation.

How Automation Rules Work Step-by-Step

• Sequential Processing: When a new order comes in, ShipHero checks your automation rules individually, starting from the top of your list and going down.
• Rules can overwrite other rules: If the Trigger conditions are met on an order for multiple rules that have a similar action, the rule that is lower in the list can overwrite a rule higher in the list. To prevent unwanted overwrites, ensure lower "priority" rules are located at the bottom of the list so they can override other rules that may have a similar action.
  • For example, if you have a rule to "Set Shipping Method" to Cheapest:Ever but also need to "Set Shipping Method" for FedEx Overnight for specific orders, then the FedEx Overnight Rule should be listed after the Cheapest:Ever Rule.
• Wait Before Making Manual Changes: Let all the automation rules run on an order before making any manual changes. This ensures that all actions are completed. You can see which rules have been applied to a specific order by checking the order history.
• Activate and Deactivate: By default, automation rules are active when created. You can deactivate them by unchecking the box while editing the rule or clicking on the page where all the rules are listed.
• Deleting: Use the garbage can icon to delete an automation rule from the list. Please note that deleting an automation rule will break the link in the order history note for any previous orders it ran on. For this reason, we recommend deactivating the rule for a period of time before completely deleting it to allow for troubleshooting as needed.

• Applied to New Orders ONLY: Automation rules only apply to orders placed after you create the rule and will not apply to orders already in the system.  

  NOTE: Exception for Clients using Shopify

  The "Rerun this rule on order tags import" setting is enabled by default. This is an exclusive Shopify order tag import. This means that if an order tag is added to the order in Shopify, after the order already exists in ShipHero, AND you use that tag as a trigger the automation rule will rerun. Adding an order tag to an order in ShipHero after import will NOT rerun the automation rule with this setting.

  

Triggers and Actions in Detail

Automation rules can be created for simple one-to-one scenarios or by setting more complex rules in the triggers. Understanding how triggers function ensures the rule runs as expected and that the requested actions are executed. 

• Using a Single Trigger: Any order that meets that criterion will be triggered to execute the action.

For example, in the rule below, we want an operator hold applied to all orders placed after 5/14/2025.

• Using Multiple Triggers: Use multiple triggers when the automation rules need to be more specific for the orders to which they're applied. The (+) means AND when in use; in other words, if an order has this (+) AND this, then do this.

For example, if we only wanted the rule above to apply to orders created/imported from a specific store connected, we would add (+) AND "If Store Name is xxx" as an additional trigger.

• Using and Managing Lists: Lists are great if you have multiple criteria that need to trigger the same action. Think of lists as an "Or" function. For example, if the SKU is ABC-123 or XYZ-456, then do this. 

Available Triggers and Actions

The chart below lists all the Triggers and Actions available in ShipHero. If any documentation exists regarding as specific trigger or action, it is linked in the table below.

Important Notes and Considerations

1. Address Validations occurs after Automation Rules run.
   • When using any of the address fields as a trigger, the system will use the address information the order is imported with. Naturally, this has a higher variability rate than other triggers. For example, if an order is created with "United States" as the country but the trigger is "Country equals US," the rule will not run as expected. 
   • When using the Set Address Hold: "No" action, address holds may be overridden by the automated address validation. We recommend using this action with the action Ignore address validation errors to assist with potential overwrites.
2. Automation rules do not run for orders created with a Canceled of Fulfilled status.
   • Automation rules need to have a pending status to run on an order, this includes ShipHero's default status as well as any custom statuses created in the account. An order is seen as pending as long as it has at least one line item with a pending fulfillment quantity of at least 1. If a rule cancels all pending line items on an order it will move to a Fulfilled status and any rules positioned after that rule in the list will not be triggered.
3. Changes to an automation rule do not retroactively update orders that meet the trigger conditions. 
   • Only new orders will be considered for the updated rule. If needed, you will need to make manual edits to the orders that are in ShipHero before the automation rule was updated.
   • Unsure about who made what changes to an automation rule? Reach out to support@shiphero.com, with the Automation Rule ID (the last strand of numbers in the URL) and they can help you investigate using our backend logs.  

Best Practices

1. Regularly review and test your automation rules
2. Understand the specific conditions that trigger your rules
3. Monitor order processing to ensure rules work as expected