By job · 7 posts
Automation workflows
Choosing between Make, Zapier and n8n, wiring up inquiry and order flows, and who looks after them when they break.
Choosing between Zapier, Make and n8n comes down to two questions: does the workflow branch, and who fixes it when it breaks? Zapier is quicker for a linear trigger and one or two actions, Make's canvas pays off once there's a real branch, and self-hosting n8n only makes sense if someone can maintain it.
Typical jobs include logging supplier replies into a shared sheet, routing new WhatsApp messages to a person for approval, and flagging competitor price changes. Automate the tracking, not the decisions, and make sure failures reach a human.
Playbooks
5 posts- 9 minPlaybooks
How to Auto-Reply to B2B Sales Enquiries with AI
From sorting incoming enquiries and having AI draft replies to a salesperson approving and sending them: how to build an enquiry automation pipeline for an export business, step by step.
- 7 minPlaybooks
Monitoring Competitor Prices and Listing Changes with AI
Decide what change triggers what action, collect through official channels and sampling rather than aggressive scraping, and let AI summarise diffs, not decide.
- 7 minPlaybooks
Setting Up a Shopify Abandoned Cart Flow in Klaviyo That Doesn't Annoy Buyers
Most abandoned cart problems are trigger problems, not copy problems. A three-email Klaviyo flow built so buyers who already paid stop receiving reminders.
- 7 minPlaybooks
Automating WhatsApp Business Support with AI for Cross-Border Sellers
For sellers reaching Latin America, Southeast Asia, or the Middle East, most day-to-day customer conversation happens on WhatsApp, not email. The same knowledge-base-first automation idea applies, but WhatsApp's own rules change the playbook.
- 8 minPlaybooks
AI-Assisted Supplier Outreach: A Workflow for Small Importers
A small importer's playbook for using AI to draft, translate, and track supplier outreach, and where automation should stop and a human should take over.
Comparisons
2 posts- 8 minTool comparisons
n8n or Make: Should a Small Team Self-Host Its Automation?
The real difference isn't node count; it's who fixes this when it breaks. Judged on data boundaries, failure handling and long-term upkeep.
- 8 minTool comparisons
Zapier vs Make for a Two-Person Ecommerce Team
Which one actually gets a small team's real workflows running faster: a simple order-notification Zap versus a branching supplier-reply router.
Common questions
Should a two-person team use Zapier or Make?
For a genuinely linear workflow, such as a new Shopify order posted to Slack and logged in a sheet, Zapier is faster to set up and easier for a non-technical teammate to read. Once a workflow needs a real branch, like routing supplier replies by quoted price, Make's visual canvas is worth the steeper learning curve. Running both is reasonable. Read more →
Is it worth self-hosting n8n for a small business?
Usually not, unless you have a genuine data-residency requirement, stable high volume and a second person who can maintain it. Self-hosting saves subscription fees and per-operation billing, but you take on upgrades, backups, alerting and debugging. If nobody can own the server, use a managed option: Make, or n8n's own cloud. Read more →
How often should I check competitor prices?
Daily is usually enough for price and stock unless the category is genuinely volatile. Check titles, main images and variants weekly, and review counts weekly or monthly as a trend. Monitor only the SKUs on your list, and collect through platform reports, licensed data or restrained low-frequency access that respects the terms of service and robots rules. Read more →
Topics
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