How I Automated My Entire E-commerce Store With DashNex + n8n

Last year, I was spending 15+ hours per week on manual tasks in my e-commerce business. Today? Less than 2 hours. Here’s exactly how I did it with DashNex and n8n automation.

The Problem: Death by a Thousand Manual Tasks

Running an online store meant I was constantly:

• Manually processing every order
• Copy-pasting customer data between tools
• Sending follow-up emails one by one
• Checking inventory levels daily
• Creating weekly reports in spreadsheets
• Responding to the same customer questions over and over

Sound familiar? This is not scalable.

The Solution: Automation-First Architecture

Instead of building a store and then trying to automate it, I flipped the approach. I designed my entire business around automation from day one.

My Tech Stack

• DashNex: Store platform + CRM + email marketing (one-time payment, no monthly fees)
• n8n: Free, open-source automation (replaces Zapier)
• Google Sheets: Data warehouse
• Slack: Real-time notifications

Total monthly cost: $0 (after initial one-time investment in DashNex)

The 10 Workflows That Changed Everything

1. Order Processing Automation

Trigger: New order in DashNex
Actions:

• Send instant Slack notification with order details
• Log order to Google Sheets
• Send customer welcome email
• Forward order to fulfillment partner via email
• Add customer to email sequence

Time saved: 5 minutes per order × 50 orders/week = 4 hours/week

// n8n workflow logic (simplified)
if (newOrder) {
  notifySlack(orderDetails);
  logToSheets(orderData);
  sendWelcomeEmail(customer);
  forwardToFulfillment(orderInfo);
  addToEmailSequence(customer);
}

2. Abandoned Cart Recovery

Trigger: Cart abandoned for 1 hour
Actions:

• Send first recovery email (product reminder)
• Wait 24 hours
• Send second email (10% discount)
• Wait 48 hours
• Send final email (limited time offer)

Results: 15-20% cart recovery rate

3. Customer Support Automation

Trigger: New support ticket
Actions:

• Categorize by keyword matching
• Route to appropriate department
• Send auto-response with expected wait time
• Create Slack notification for urgent issues
• Track response time in Google Sheets

Time saved: 30 minutes/day = 3.5 hours/week

4. Inventory Monitoring

Trigger: Runs every 6 hours
Actions:

• Check inventory levels for all products
• If stock < 10: Send alert to Slack
• If stock < 5: Send urgent email
• If stock = 0: Pause product listing automatically

Prevented stockouts: Countless

5. Review Request Sequence

Trigger: Order delivered (7 days after fulfillment)
Actions:

• Send review request email
• If no response after 3 days: Send reminder
• If review received: Thank you email + 10% next order coupon

Review rate: Increased from 2% to 18%

The Results (Numbers Don’t Lie)

Before Automation:

• Time spent on operations: 15 hours/week
• Tool costs: $355/month
• Orders processed: ~50/week
• Customer satisfaction: 85%

After Automation:

• Time spent on operations: 2 hours/week
• Tool costs: $0/month (after one-time DashNex purchase)
• Orders processed: ~200/week
• Customer satisfaction: 94%

How to Implement This Yourself

Step 1: Get Your Platform

Start with DashNex (lifetime license, one payment). You get:

• E-commerce store
• CRM system
• Email marketing
• Sales funnels
• Checkout system

Calculate your savings here →

Step 2: Set Up n8n

n8n is free and open-source. You can:

• Self-host on a $5/month VPS
• Use n8n.cloud (starts at $20/month)
• Run locally during development

Step 3: Connect Everything

DashNex has webhooks that can trigger n8n workflows:

• New order webhook
• New customer webhook
• Cart abandoned webhook
• Support ticket webhook

Step 4: Build Core Workflows

Start with these three essential workflows:

1. Order Processing (saves 4+ hours/week)
2. Abandoned Cart (recovers 15-20% of lost sales)
3. Customer Support (saves 3+ hours/week)

I’m giving away these three workflows for free to anyone who starts with DashNex through my link.

Get the free workflows →

Step 5: Monitor and Optimize

Use Google Sheets as your data warehouse. Track:

• Order volume by day/week/month
• Cart abandonment rates
• Email open/click rates
• Customer lifetime value
• Response times

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Mistake 1: Automating Too Much, Too Fast

Start with one workflow. Perfect it. Then add another.

❌ Mistake 2: Not Testing Edge Cases

What happens if a customer orders twice in one day? What if someone replies to an automated email? Plan for these scenarios.

❌ Mistake 3: No Manual Override

Always build in a way to manually intervene when needed. Automation should assist you, not trap you.

❌ Mistake 4: Forgetting About Customers

Your automation should make the customer experience BETTER, not just easier for you. Test everything from the customer’s perspective.

The Bottom Line

Building an automated e-commerce store isn’t about having the fanciest tools or the most complex workflows. It’s about:

1. Identifying repetitive tasks
2. Automating them one by one
3. Monitoring and improving continuously

The best part? You don’t need to pay $500/month for SaaS tools to do this. With DashNex (one payment) and n8n (free), you can build a completely automated business for under $500 total.

Want My Complete Automation Library?

I’ve built 25+ automation workflows for DashNex + n8n covering:

• Order processing and fulfillment
• Customer communication
• Inventory management
• Marketing automation
• Analytics and reporting

Get instant access when you start with DashNex through my link:

Get DashNex + Free Automation Workflows →

Questions? Comments? Drop me a line at [email protected] or find me on LinkedIn.

Ready to calculate your potential savings? Use my free calculator to see exactly how much you could save by switching to a one-time payment platform.