Shopify Order Automation — 66% Staff Cost Saving

The Challenge

Matt runs a sports card grading business with a 3–6 month turnaround on every order. His team of 6 admin staff spent most of their time manually chasing customers — sending order confirmations, providing monthly progress updates, and answering the same questions over and over.

Every update was a manual task. Every customer needed a personal email. The volume was overwhelming and the cost was unsustainable.

The Solution

We built a complete order automation system using Make.com, Google Sheets and Gmail. The system:

• Automatically sends order confirmations the moment a Shopify order is placed
• Sends personalised monthly progress updates to every customer — no manual work
• Handles the most common customer questions automatically
• Flags exceptions that genuinely need human attention

The system was designed around how Matt's business actually works — not a generic off-the-shelf tool. It was built and live within days.

The Result

Matt went from 6 admin staff to 2. A 66% reduction in staff costs, achieved not by cutting corners but by eliminating the manual work that didn't need to be manual in the first place.

The remaining 2 staff now handle genuine customer relationships and exceptions — work that actually requires a human. Everything else runs automatically.