In-App Notifications
Find sync events, anomaly alerts, and integration warnings in the MerchantFlow notifications dropdown. Configure email summary and notification preferences from settings.
In-App Notifications
The notifications dropdown in the MerchantFlow dashboard header (bell icon) is the central place where the app surfaces background events and alerts that need your attention. It complements the email-based Daily Email Summary and the dashboard AI Insights panel.
What Appears in Notifications
The dropdown surfaces events from across the workspace:
- Sync events - a sync completed (
sync_success) or failed (sync_failed) - Integration errors (
integration_error) - reconnection prompts when a provider connection breaks - Anomaly alerts (
anomaly_critical,anomaly_warning,anomaly_info) - revenue drops, ad spend spikes and drops, ROAS collapse - COGS imports (
cogs_imported) - product costs pulled in from Shopify, WooCommerce, a CSV, a BeProfit export, or a supplier invoice - Billing events (
billing) - subscription state changes - Informational notices (
info) - including record-day notifications when you beat your all-time best revenue or profit day
Each notification carries a severity (success, info, warning, error) that drives its icon and colour, and most carry a deep link into the affected page.
Where to Find It
Click the bell icon in the dashboard header. The dropdown opens with the most recent items first and shows up to 20. A small dot on the bell signals unread notifications - it is a plain indicator dot, not a count. Use Mark all read at the top of the dropdown to clear it.
The dropdown refreshes automatically every 2 minutes while the dashboard is open.
How Notifications Are Generated
Notifications are produced by background services as data syncs and jobs complete. There is no manual "create notification" surface - they are all driven by real events:
- Sync coordinator → posts on sync completion or failure
- Integration health service → posts when a provider connection reports a problem
- Anomaly delivery service → posts for every anomaly the engine opens, before any email filtering, so the bell shows findings even when email is muted
- COGS import service → posts after product costs land from a platform sync or an import
- Billing service → posts on subscription state changes
Notification Preferences (Settings > Notifications)
All email-side preferences live at Settings > Notifications (/dashboard/settings/notifications). Every toggle on that page saves automatically as you flip it, except the Daily AI Summary form which has its own save bar. The in-app bell dropdown itself does not expose per-category mute controls - the settings below govern email delivery.
Privacy & Analytics
Analytics tracking (PostHog) - controls whether anonymous product-usage analytics are collected while you use the dashboard. It helps the MerchantFlow team understand feature usage and fix errors; data is sent to EU-hosted PostHog servers. This is a per-browser consent setting, on unless you opt out.
Daily AI Summary Email
The Daily AI Summary Email card enables the AI-generated morning digest and opens the full configuration form: send time (in your store timezone), frequency (every day, weekdays only, weekly on Monday, or custom days), which email sections to include, a Profit Accuracy option that estimates missing fulfillment costs, and additional recipients. A Preview button renders the email with your current data before you commit. See the dedicated Daily AI Email Summary guide for the full walkthrough.
Email Preference Toggles
Seven independent email categories can be switched on or off. All are on by default, and none of them affect billing notices (payment reminders and receipts always send):
| Toggle | What you receive | Sending limits |
|---|---|---|
| Product updates | If you have not logged in for over a week, a single summary of what shipped while you were away | At most once per 30 days; skipped entirely if nothing changed |
| Win-back emails | If you cancel or your account goes quiet, a win-back or "is everything OK?" note, plus a reminder to export your data before access ends | Occasional, event-driven |
| Lifecycle emails | Milestone emails as you set up and grow: first sync completed, an integration connected, going paid, and trial reminders | One per milestone |
| Tips & nudges | Gentle reminders when something useful is not set up yet - missing COGS, no ad platform connected, no expenses tracked | Capped per week |
| Growth reports | A quarterly "look how far you've come" email comparing revenue and net profit with the same period a year ago | Quarterly, and only sent when your numbers are up |
| Record days | An email when you beat your all-time best single day for revenue or net profit | Only for a genuine all-time record, at most once every 30 days |
| Referral program | An invitation to join the referral program and earn commission for referring other merchants | At most twice, and only if you have not created a referral code |
Turning off Record days silences only the email - the in-app record notification still appears in the bell.
Anomaly Alerts
The Anomaly Alerts card (Pro and Plus tiers) holds the master toggle plus tuning controls: severity floor, deviation threshold, quiet hours, and weekend delivery. These govern email only - anomalies always appear in the bell dropdown. See Anomaly Alerts - Configuring for the full breakdown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I mute specific notification categories in the in-app dropdown?
Not in the current product. Email-side delivery is fully configurable from Settings > Notifications (/dashboard/settings/notifications) - see the toggle table above - but the in-app bell shows everything generated for your tenant.
Do the email toggles affect billing emails?
No. Payment reminders, receipts, and other billing notices always send regardless of your preference toggles. The toggles only control the optional categories listed above.
Are notifications shared across team members?
Yes. The bell dropdown is workspace-scoped, so every team member in the same workspace sees the same list of notifications. Read state is tracked per notification, not per user, so marking one read clears it for everyone in the workspace.
How long are notifications kept?
Notifications do not expire. The dropdown shows the 20 most recent items, newest first; older ones simply fall below that cut-off. The underlying events (sync runs, imports, and so on) remain visible on their own dashboard pages, such as Sync Status.
What's the difference between notifications and AI Insights?
AI Insights cards are always-on findings generated for your current timeframe and surfaced on the main dashboard. Notifications are event-driven items - they fire because something happened (a sync completed, an import landed, an anomaly opened), not because a generator ran. The two surfaces are distinct and do not share content.
Related Guides
- Anomaly Alerts - what triggers proactive alerts and where they surface
- Daily Email Summary - email digest including operational alerts
- AI Insights - the always-on insight cards on the main dashboard
- Sync Status - investigate sync events flagged in notifications
Last updated: August 29, 2026
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Daily AI Email Summary
Receive a daily AI-generated summary of your e-commerce performance via email. Configure sections, frequency, send time, and recipients in MerchantFlow.
Anomaly Alerts for E-commerce
Get proactive alerts when your store deviates from baseline - revenue drops, ROAS shifts, sync failures, and credential expirations - without watching dashboards all day.