Agency Workflows in MerchantFlow

Agency Workflows in MerchantFlow

Agency workflows in MerchantFlow provide a dedicated workspace model for e-commerce agencies and partners that manage multiple client brands. Agency workspaces are designed for brand-portfolio oversight, client relationship management, and white-label client reporting rather than connecting a single storefront.

What Is an Agency Workspace?

An agency workspace is a tenant type in MerchantFlow that gives agencies and partners a central hub for managing multiple e-commerce brands. Instead of connecting a store directly, agencies invite client merchants and switch between their connected workspaces.

How Agency Signup Works

When you choose Agency at signup:

• MerchantFlow creates an agency tenant
• You skip /onboarding/choice entirely and go straight to /onboarding/agency/profile
• You complete six steps - profile, branding, tour, billing, an optional first-client invite, and a completion screen - before landing in your workspace

For details on account creation, see Create Account.

Agency Onboarding Flow

After signing up, agencies move through a six-step onboarding sequence:

1. Profile (/onboarding/agency/profile) - Enter your agency name and type (Digital Marketing, 3PL/Fulfillment, Consulting, Media Buying, Full-Service, or Other). Website, phone, and business address are optional. These fields populate your branding defaults and the footer of any white-label PDF reports. Name and type are required.
2. Branding (/onboarding/agency/branding) - Upload a logo (up to 500 KB) and pick a brand colour, entered as a hex value or through the colour picker. A live preview shows how your branding, name, and contact address will appear on client-facing output. You can skip this step.
3. Tour (/onboarding/agency/tour) - A short walkthrough of the agency workspace: portfolio, fulfillment ops, clients, white-labeled reports, cross-tenant alerts, and valuation.
4. Billing (/onboarding/agency/billing) - Activate the agency plan with a 14-day free trial. One flat fee covers your whole client portfolio: $499/month or $4,790/year (a 20% annual saving). Your email must be verified before checkout will start.
5. Invite first client (/onboarding/agency/invite) - Optionally send your first client invitation. Skip it and invite from the dashboard later.
6. Complete (/onboarding/agency/complete) - Lands you on Portfolio Overview (/dashboard/portfolio), or Fulfillment Overview (/dashboard/portfolio/fulfillment) if you registered as a 3PL.

Finishing onboarding is paywalled: the completion step requires an active or trialing agency subscription and bounces you back to the billing step without one.

You can revisit and edit branding any time from Settings > Branding (/dashboard/settings/branding).

What the Agency Plan Includes

• Unlimited invited client connections (each brand keeps its own MerchantFlow subscription)
• 10 agency-billed client stores included, then $29/month per additional store
• Portfolio roll-up: MER, blended CAC, and profit across all brands
• White-labeled PDF reports and branded client emails
• Flow AI, Business Valuation, and the rest of the Plus toolkit

How to Invite Brands to Your Agency

Agencies add brands from the Clients page. Click Add Brand on /dashboard/clients and the Add a client store dialog offers two routes.

Option A: Invite by Email

Best when the brand already runs its own MerchantFlow workspace, or wants to own its own billing.

1. Enter the brand owner's email
2. Choose the permission level
3. Send the invitation

The brand keeps its own MerchantFlow subscription - invited stores are never billed to your agency plan.

Option B: Connect Their Shopify

Best when you hold collaborator or admin access to the client's Shopify store and want to run everything yourself.

1. Enter the client's .myshopify.com domain
2. Complete the Shopify install with your collaborator access
3. MerchantFlow provisions and manages the store on your agency plan - no action needed from the client

Your first 10 client stores are included; additional stores are $29/month each. If the store already has a MerchantFlow account, MerchantFlow will not take it over and falls back to the email invite flow instead.

Choosing a Permission Level

The invite flow supports two permission levels:

• Read Only (read) - View data and reports
• Read & Write (read_write) - Manage settings too

Merchant Approval

For email invites, MerchantFlow generates an approval link and emails it to the brand owner. They approve the connection at /agency/connect?token=.... You can also copy the approval link straight out of the confirmation dialog.

Active Relationship

Once approved:

• The relationship becomes active
• The agency can switch into that merchant workspace
• The permission level controls what the agency can do there

What Are the Relationship States?

You may see client relationships in four states, which are also the filters on the Clients page:

Sending an invite is an administration action, so it requires an owner or admin role on the agency workspace. 3PL agencies cannot invite or link brands at all - the Clients section is replaced by Fulfillment Ops.

White-Label PDF Reports

White-label exports are part of the agency plan - an active or trialing agency subscription unlocks the full Plus feature matrix, so there is no separate tier to buy. (On a regular merchant workspace, white-label exports are a Plus tier feature.)

To export:

1. Open any report at /dashboard/reports/<id>
2. Click Download branded PDF (merchant workspaces show Download PDF)
3. The generated PDF uses the branding configured at Settings > Branding (/dashboard/settings/branding) - or the defaults you set during agency onboarding

PDFs are produced server-side, so the layout is consistent across browsers and ready to send to a client without further editing. The same report page also exports CSV. See Reports for the full report builder reference.

Best Practices for Agency and Merchant Workspaces

Your agency navigation is shaped by the agency type you chose at signup:

Keep the agency workspace focused on:

• Portfolio oversight and cross-client reporting
• Client relationship management
• Workspace switching between connected brands
• White-label PDF deliverables to clients

Keep the merchant workspace focused on:

• Commerce connections (Shopify, WooCommerce)
• Billing ownership and subscription management
• Store-specific data operations and integrations

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I switch between client workspaces?

Once a brand relationship is active, navigate to /dashboard/clients and select the client workspace you want to view, or use the workspace switcher in the dashboard header. MerchantFlow switches your session context to that merchant's data.

Can an agency connect a store directly?

Not on the agency workspace itself - agency tenants are excluded from background syncs and have no integrations of their own. But an agency can install Shopify on a client's behalf via Connect their Shopify, which creates a separate client workspace covered by the agency plan. With the email-invite route instead, the merchant retains billing and data ownership.

What happens if a merchant revokes access?

When a merchant revokes the agency relationship, the status changes to revoked and the agency loses access to that workspace. The merchant's data and integrations remain unaffected.

Can I update my agency branding later?

Yes. Open Settings > Branding (/dashboard/settings/branding) to update logo, brand colour, and contact details at any time. The next white-label PDF you export reflects the new branding.

Can I invite multiple team members to an agency workspace?

Yes. Use Team Management to invite additional agency team members with roles such as admin, analyst, or viewer.

Which plan unlocks white-label PDF reports?

Every active agency plan includes them. On a standard merchant workspace, white-label exports are a Plus tier feature.

Can I demo MerchantFlow to a prospect?

Yes. Portfolio Overview (and Fulfillment Ops for 3PL agencies) has a Preview Demo button that gives you read-only access to a seeded sample merchant workspace and switches you into it, so you can walk a prospect through the full merchant dashboard. Use the workspace switcher to come back.

Related Guides

• Agency Workspace Dashboard - Navigate the agency portfolio and client views
• Reports - Build the reports you will export as branded PDFs
• Team Management - Manage roles and permissions for your agency team
• Create Account - Set up your agency or partner account
• Pricing Plans - Merchant tiers, and where white-label PDF exports sit

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Last updated: August 23, 2026