Automation rules are very powerful and can help assign shipping services automatically to the orders based on certain criteria of your choosing. You can use automation rules to dictate stock allocations or apply conditions to orders.
Setting the rules for shipping services will help speed up the dispatch process and ensure that the correct service is selected at the time of shipping but shipping services are not the only use of rules.
NOTE:
You will need to add stores and carrier services to Veeqo before you can set up automation rules for them
Multiple rules can apply to the same order and may clash. Please make sure you check your rules to avoid multiple conflicting rules from applying to the same order.
Before You Start
Before you create rules, you should:
add your stores
add your carrier accounts
create any tags you want to use
You can use rules to apply tags to your orders, apply dispatch and due dates, add internal notes, and apply company branding for your templates. We advise that you name your rules appropriately for future reference.
IMPORTANT: more than one rule can apply to a single order. If a rule isn't working, it may be getting overridden by another rule.
Clause Options
Clause Options
Clause Option | Description | Option |
Channel | The store that the order was created from. This will be shown as a list of store names e.g. "Main Site" and not store types e.g. "Amazon". | is: equal, not equal |
Delivery method | The delivery option chosen by the customer during checkout. | is: equal, not equal |
Delivery method name | Similar to Delivery Method condition but it allows you to enter partial text instead of choosing an exact Delivery Method. | is: equal, not equal, in, not in, begins with, doesn't begin with, contains, doesn't contain, ends with, doesn't end with, is empty, is not empty, is null, is not null |
Destination country | Select one or more countries used in the orders Shipping Address. | is: in, not in |
Total price | The value of the orders final price paid by the customer, including taxes and delivery. | is: less, greater, between |
Allocation weights | The weight of the allocation. Note that this is not the total weight of the order as an order can be split into more than one allocation, and multiple items can contribute to one allocation. | is: less, greater, between |
Allocation warehouses | The name of the location that the items were allocated from. | is: in, not in |
Print status | Check if an order has been used to generate any printed document. | is: printed, not printed |
Product tag | The products inside an order/allocation have a specific tag. | is: contains all, contains some, contains none |
Destination postcode | Check if an order has a specific postcode. You can enter a partial or full postcode. This is only available on Order rules and not Allocation rules. Current postcode formats that are supported are:
NOTE: To add multiple postcodes you should create extra conditions. | is: begins with, does not begin with |
Picked status | If an order has been marked as picked or is not currently picked. An order can be marked as picked by Digital Picking or in app from Orders>Pick. | is: equal, not equal |
Order tags | Fine-tune picking groups, switch shipping carriers and add internal notes, all based on your order tags. e.g. Orders tagged with Fraud should not be included in any picking groups, orders tagged with urgent should be switched to a different carrier, add an internal note saying "Fraud" so that it will appear in the printed picking list for the packer to know to check before shipping. | is: contains any of, contains all of, not contains any of |
Order status | Only available on Order Rules and not Allocation Rules. Checks if the order status is currently in:
| Is: in |
Allocation combined product dimensions | Only available in Allocation Rules and not Order Rules. Triggers when the total dimensions of the products match. e.g. if you have an order with the following products: 1 x Apple (Height: 10, Width: 15, Depth: 5) 1 x Pear (Height: 4, Width: 2, Depth: 11) Then the following rule will trigger: "Greater Than - Height: 9, Width: 10, Depth: 10" | Is: less than, greater than |
Amazon Delivery options | Use this for Amazon Prime or Amazon Premium orders. | is: contains, doesn't contain |
Total number of items | The number of items in the order. | is: less, less or equal, greater, greater or equal, between |
How to Create a New Rule
How to Create a New Rule
Click on Settings.
Select Rules.
Click "+ new rule for"
Give your rule a name. This is important to identify the rule for future edits.
Select when your rule should apply to an order from the dropdown under the "When Order" section.
The options are:
When an order is created - This means that the rule will run against the order upon creation in Veeqo. So that would be when the order arrives in Veeqo or if a manual order is created.
When an order is created or updated - This means that the rule will not just run against created orders, but also orders that have been updated in some way.
When an order is updated - This is useful for orders that were possibly not eligible for the rule to run against it due to not having the correct criteria but after an order update it now has the desired criteria and can now have the rule applied.
Once you have decided on when the rule should run, select your "If" clauses by clicking on the dropdown in the "if" section and set the option next to it. For example, IF order tag contains any of [Urgent]. You can add multiple "If" conditions and group them to customise the rule. More information on this can be found below under the section "If Clauses".
Once you have set your IF conditions, you need to set THEN conditions. This is the action(s) you want the rule to take. Tick the box next to the then option you desire and fill in the specifics using the dropdown boxes. The tickbox must be selected as well as an option chosen for the rule to work.
Click save.
NOTE:
If you're unsure, it can be helpful to work backwards and start with what you want to happen when your rule applies (the THEN section)
It can be really helpful to add an internal note in the THEN section with the name of the rule. This means you will be able to see which rules have caught on an order and will help you to identify conflicting rules / immediately see if a rule has caught on an order.
Different Parts of Rules
Rules can be split into two main parts: "if" clauses and "then" clauses. The "if" clause is what makes an order eligible for a rule and the "then" clause applies the action.
IF Clauses
IF Clauses
Using the IF section you need to select which types of orders your rule should apply to.
Select the category you want to create an IF statement for (e.g channel) For more information on the available options, check out the table below.
Once you select a category, two more dropdown lists will appear. On the dropdown that appears underneath your category you need to select the condition (e.g which channel's orders should the rule apply to?)
On the dropdown to the right, you will choose the relationship between the two options (e.g equal to or not equal to)
Additional Rule Criteria
Additional Rule Criteria
You may want to add further categories to your rule to contain multiple "if" clauses. If you do, follow these steps:
Click on the + Add Rule icon at the top right. Now you can see that another dropdown has appeared for you to select another category from.
At the top left you now have the option to select "AND" or "OR". These options are there to give you the choice to have either all of the criteria match (AND) or to have the rule match one or the other criteria (OR).
You can repeat the steps above as many times as needed to add all of the criteria for your rule.
Rule Groups
Rule Groups
Sometimes a little bit more complexity is needed to make a rule work. A Rule group is used when you need to have both "AND" and "OR" in a rule.
To add a rule group, follow these steps:
Click on "Add group". You will see a new section appear.
To get the additional "AND" and "OR" options, you should click on the "Add rule" button and you will see the new options appear.
Now you can build the rule to make use of the additional options available.
For example, if you wanted a rule to apply to:
all orders from Phone which are tagged "Urgent"
Orders which are tagged "Customer Collecting"
You could make the rule:
Add a group:
Order tag contains "Customer collecting"
Add a rule:
If CHANNEL equal to Phone
AND order tag contains "Urgent"
THEN [apply "then" clause]
Then Clauses
Then Clauses
Now that we have the criteria that need to be met, we want the rule to do something. Simply select the action you want the rule to apply. We recommend creating an order tag with the rule name and having the rule also apply a tag. This means you can clearly see which orders your rule has applied to.
Below are the options for "then" clauses:
Then Clause | Description |
Set preferred shipping options | Use this to apply the Carrier, Carrier Account, Service, and Packaging. NOTE: You will need to have pulled in a shipping carrier's rates to Veeqo before you can use them in automation rules. |
Apply dispatch date | Use this to set the date the order should be shipped. You can set this from Next day to +6 days time. |
Apply due date | Use this to set the date the order should be delivered by. |
Apply order tags | This will apply the set tag(s) to the orders. The tag must be created before you can use it in a rule. |
Apply internal note | Use this to add a note to the order visible to your team. |
Apply a company brand | This will set the company brand for the order. The company brand will appear on documentation printed for this order if you have enabled this in printing settings. For more information on brands, checkout this guide. |
Ready to Use Your Rule?
Once you have completed your selections and are happy with the new rule you have created you can save the rule by clicking on the "Create Rule" Blue button at the bottom of the page.
NOTE: Please be aware, any changes made to rules will NOT apply to existing orders that are in your orders screen. New rules and updated rules will ONLY apply to new orders coming through to Veeqo.