Templates

A template is a ready-made automation that Piste fills in from your store: its numbers, its schedule in your store's time zone, and where you already read. There are nine, and a workspace can have one of each. Added from the gallery or by asking Piste, a template's first run is a dry run you can read before anything is posted.

Templates are on Automations under "Ready-made for your store". Adding one is covered step by step on Automations; this page is the reference for what each one does.

The nine templates at a glanceCopy Anchor Link

Schedules are the defaults, in your store's time zone. You can change any of them when you create the automation, or later.

A quiet run stays in its chat in Piste and isn't posted. Template tiles that can be quiet say "Quiet when there's nothing to flag".

What do all templates have in common?Copy Anchor Link

• Filled in from your store. The form starts from your workspace's time zone, your store's currency, and your typical order and orders a day over the last 90 days. It says what it used in a line that starts "Set up from your store:".
• The first run is a dry run. Create and try it now creates the automation switched on and starts a dry run that reads your store, writes the report and posts nothing.
• Memory first. Every template checks the workspace's memory before anything else. What you tell Piste about a report ("leave out gift cards") is saved there, so it holds even if you change the schedule.
• Products, never customers. The report templates name products and never a customer: no names, emails or addresses.
• One check-in. The first real run at least 3 days after you create it asks whether the report works for you.
• Your own copy. Once created, the instructions are the automation's own. Open "The instructions it follows" on the form to read them first, and edit them later like any automation's.

The six report templates (Morning sales briefing to Slow movers and dead stock) suggest only. Their instructions say "this report changes nothing": they never change stock, prices or products, create purchase orders or discounts, or contact anyone.

Morning sales briefingCopy Anchor Link

"Yesterday against the same weekday over the last four weeks, the top sellers, and anything that moved."

Each morning it compares yesterday's net sales, orders, average order value and refunds with the average of the same weekday over the four weeks before, lists yesterday's top five products, and flags any figure that moved more than your threshold, with the likeliest reason.

• What counts: "Flag a move bigger than", 25% by default (5% to 100%). Filled in by your store's volume: 30% under 20 orders a day, 20% at 20 or more.
• Needs: Shopify. The top sellers need Shopify's sales reports; without them, the briefing leaves them out and says so in a line.
• Proposes: nothing.

Weekly trading reportCopy Anchor Link

"Monday's look at last week: sales, AOV, new against returning, where sales came from, best and worst products, stock risks."

It covers last week against the week before: sales, orders, average order value, returns and margin; new against returning customers; up to five sources of sales; the top five and falling five products; best sellers low on stock; and one sentence on the most useful thing the numbers point to.

• What counts: "Flag best sellers with less stock than", 14 days (3 to 90), at the last 14 days' sales rate.
• Needs: Shopify, with Shopify's sales reports.
• Proposes: nothing.

Stock watchCopy Anchor Link

"Every morning, the variants about to run out at the rate they're selling, and the ones already sold out."

It lists variants under your days of cover, fewest days first, with how many are left, how fast they sell and the date they run out, then the variants already sold out. It starts from its last report, so it tells you what's new since then.

• What counts: "Warn when stock covers fewer than", 21 days (3 to 120). The form suggests setting it to how long a reorder takes to arrive, plus a week.
• Quiet: "Says nothing when no variant is running low."
• Needs: Shopify, with Shopify's sales reports.
• Proposes: through the stockout guard, up to 3 pre-order cards a run for best sellers about to sell out, and cards to switch pre-order off again. Only the owner can switch pre-orders on. The reorder for your supplier is text on the card; Piste sends nothing.

Returns watchCopy Anchor Link

"Weekly: the store's return rate, the products returned far more than the rest, and the reasons customers gave."

It compares the last 28 days' return rate with the 28 days before, and lists outliers: products returned at least twice as often as the store, with at least two units returned, and the reasons customers gave. It starts from its last report.

• What counts: "Only judge products with at least", 10 units sold in the last 28 days (1 to 500). Filled in as 5 for a store under 10 orders a day.
• Quiet: "Says nothing when no product stands out and the rate hasn't risen." It counts as risen when the rate is more than a quarter higher than the 28 days before.
• Needs: Shopify, with Shopify's sales reports.
• Proposes: nothing. Where a reason points to a fix (sizing, the description, the photos, quality), it says so in a line.

Top customersCopy Anchor Link

"On the 1st: last month's biggest orders, and how much came from returning customers against new ones. No names."

It covers last month's customers and sales, returning against new, the big orders, what returning customers bought, new customers' first buys, and where new customers came from. Big orders are listed by order number only.

• What counts: "A big order is at least", optional. Filled in as three times your typical order, rounded. Leave it blank and each run works it out from the last 90 days.
• Needs: Shopify, with Shopify's sales reports.
• Proposes: nothing.

Slow movers and dead stockCopy Anchor Link

"On the 1st: products with stock and no sales for weeks, and the cash tied up in them."

It lists dead stock (products with stock and no sales in your number of days) by value, with an estimate at cost and at retail, then slow products that sold under one unit a week.

• What counts: "Dead stock has had no sales in", 60 days (14 to 365). Filled in as 90 for a store under 10 orders a day.
• Quiet: "Says nothing when every product in stock has sold lately."
• Needs: Shopify, with Shopify's sales reports. Value at cost needs product costs in Shopify; without them it gives retail value only.
• Proposes: nothing.

Ad spend watchCopy Anchor Link

"Every morning: yesterday's ad spend against Shopify's orders, and up to three fixes worth making, each one a decision unless it's a kind you've let Piste make itself."

Early access Google Ads and Meta connections are in early access and aren't available to every workspace yet. Without a connected ad account, the form warns "No ad account is connected" and each run says so and stops.

• What counts: no settings.
• Never quiet: on a day with nothing to fix it says "Nothing to decide today."
• Needs: a Google Ads or Meta account, and Shopify.
• Proposes: up to 3 ad changes a run, each a card. A week after a change is applied, it replies under that card with what the spend did. Once earned, it can offer the owner a standing approval.

Change follow-upsCopy Anchor Link

"A verdict a week after each price change, discount or product launch: what moved, and whether to keep it. Weekly, it proposes markdowns for stock that stopped selling and a small price probe; nothing in the store changes until someone presses its button."

Each run looks for new price changes, discounts and product launches in your store, and posts a follow-up for each one that's 7 days old, comparing the week after with the week before (for a launch, its first week).

• What counts: no settings.
• Quiet: "Says nothing when no follow-up is due."
• Needs: Shopify. Price and launch follow-ups need Shopify's sales reports. Revert and the store edits it proposes need Shopify's permission to change prices or discounts, which the store owner grants in Piste's page in the Shopify admin.
• Proposes: a card per follow-up, at most 3 a run; at most 1 card a run to limit a discount code that looks leaked to one use per customer; and once a week, up to 3 clearance markdowns and a price probe. See Store edits.

When a price probe ends, this run puts the price back to exactly what the probe replaced, only if nobody has changed it since. It's the one store write that happens without anyone pressing a button.

Margin memoCopy Anchor Link

"Mondays: what last week made after product cost and ad spend, by product, with what it leaves out, and the one product worth a decision."

It reads last week (Monday to Sunday), takes out product cost and ad spend, and ends with at most one product worth deciding on, as a plain line. Payment fees, shipping you pay for, staff, rent, apps and taxes are never taken out, and the memo says so. See Margin memo.

• What counts: no settings.
• Never quiet: it posts every week.
• Needs: Shopify, with product costs and Shopify's sales reports. Ad spend comes in only when an ad account Early access is connected.
• Proposes: nothing. Its decision is a line of text, never a card.

Where do template results post?Copy Anchor Link

Any template can post to the web, Slack or iMessage. The form starts with where you already read: your Slack DM, else iMessage, else the web.

Ad spend watch and Change follow-ups can also be started in a Slack channel of their own, #piste-ad-spend and #piste-changes, from the Kickoff conversation. If the owner sets up team channels, templates that are on and already post in a Slack channel move to their team's channel:

Margin memo belongs to no team and stays where it posts. See Channels.

Automations Piste sets up for youCopy Anchor Link

Some automations aren't in the gallery:

• Weekly measurement plan Early access: created when the first ad account connects, Mondays at 8:00. Moved to #piste-budget, it becomes the Monday budget memo. See Weekly plan.
• Watches: made when you press Keep me posted under a chart. See Schedule and watches.
• Routines: added by a playbook, switched off until you turn them on.

Settings at a glanceCopy Anchor Link

Ad spend watch, Change follow-ups and Margin memo have no settings.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Automations: create, try, pause and delete an automation.
• Proposals and cards: how the cards under a run's post are decided.
• Memory: where what you say about a report is kept.