Pipeline examples: shops and food orders
Two worked pipelines — an online shop with checkout in the chat, and a restaurant or food business taking orders
These are illustrations of the method in Design a pipeline that fits your business, not a closed list. Every setting used here exists in Pipeline settings and Configure stage. For the bot to take orders, your products and your order settings must be set up.
1. Online shop with checkout in the chat
Fits: shops that sell from a catalog and take the order in the conversation. The sale is short: often one conversation.
- Start from: the Online orders template.
- Who closes the sale: The bot completes the sale.
- How the bot moves contacts: Move them automatically, after a first period on Suggest a move. The steps are short and visible in the chat, so automatic moves fit well.
- Goal: Help each customer choose products and complete their order.
| Stage | What the bot does in this stage | When it leaves this stage | Who handles it |
|---|---|---|---|
| New (entry) | Ask what product they are looking for and help them find it in the catalog. | The customer found the product they want. | Only the bot |
| Building the order | Confirm quantities, variants and how they want to receive it. | The customer confirmed what they want to order and how to receive it. | Only the bot |
| Awaiting payment | Guide the customer through payment and answer questions about it. | (empty — the confirmed order closes it) | Bot and a person |
- Automatic event: the template puts Order confirmed on its Won stage, named Order confirmed. When the order is confirmed the lead is closed as Won with nobody touching the card.
- Lost: a person drags abandoned leads to Lost; the bot never does.
- Second pipeline? Add a Wholesale pipeline only if bulk buyers follow different steps (a quote, a person closing). Describe it under Who belongs here: "Businesses asking for wholesale prices or large quantities."
2. Restaurant or food orders
Fits: restaurants, bakeries, dark kitchens — many short conversations, most of them an order for today, some of them a larger request such as catering.
- Start from: the Online orders template, then rename the stages.
- Who closes the sale: The bot completes the sale.
- How the bot moves contacts: Move them automatically.
- Goal: Take each customer's order quickly and correctly, with the delivery or pickup details.
| Stage | What the bot does in this stage | When it leaves this stage | Who handles it |
|---|---|---|---|
| New (entry) | Find out what they would like to order, and whether it is for delivery or pickup. | The customer said what they want to order. | Only the bot |
| Building the order | Confirm each item, the quantities, and the delivery address or pickup time. | The customer confirmed the full order and how they will receive it. | Only the bot |
| Awaiting confirmation | Tell the customer the order is being confirmed and answer questions about it. | (empty — the confirmed order closes it) | Bot and a person |
- Automatic event: Order confirmed on the Won stage, as the template sets it.
- Keep the board clean: leave Add everyone who writes from an ad and Add everyone who comments on your posts off. People asking for the menu or the opening hours are not leads, and with the switches off they stay out of the board until they show interest in ordering.
- Catering and events: these are a different sale — quoted by a person, decided over days. Give them their own pipeline with A person closes the sale, built like the high-value example in Pipeline examples: sales closed by a person, and fill in Who belongs here: "People asking for catering, events or large orders for a date."
Choosing between these shapes
| If the sale… | Look at |
|---|---|
| ends with a booked appointment | Appointment-based service |
| ends with an order taken in the chat | Online shop, or Restaurant |
| needs a quote or a negotiation by a person | High-value sale closed by a person |
| includes a visit and then a negotiation | Real estate agency |
| ends with an advisor completing a sign-up | Course or program enrollment |
If your business is none of these, go back to the eight questions in Design a pipeline that fits your business: the answers always give you the stages.