Sometimes an automation runs every time, shows a green tick every time, and still gets things wrong. The welcome email starts "Hi ,". The spreadsheet says an order came in on 4 March when it was 3 April. A phone number has lost its first zero.

Nothing failed, so nothing warned you. The automation did exactly what it was set up to do. Usually, something around it changed.

This guide is a check you can do yourself in about ten minutes. You don't change anything. You only look.

The signs

  • Emails to customers with a gap where the name should be, or with something like {first_name} showing.
  • Dates that look odd: the day and month swapped, or a strange year such as 1970.
  • Prices a hundred times too big or too small, like 1250 instead of 12.50.
  • Phone numbers that start with 7 instead of 07.
  • Information landing in the wrong column, or a column that has been empty since a certain date.

Why a "successful" run can still be wrong

The run history marks a run as successful when every step ran without an error. It doesn't check whether the details make sense, so a blank name or a swapped date passes straight through.

These are the usual reasons:

  • A column or a form question was renamed or moved. Automations find information by its name or its position. Rename "First name" to "Name", or add a column in the middle of a spreadsheet, and the automation may fill the box with nothing, or with the wrong thing.
  • A box is sometimes empty. An optional question on a form, a customer with no phone number, a gift order with no message. Automations are usually built and tried out with every box filled in.
  • Dates are written differently in different countries. Many apps write dates the American way, month first, so 03/04 can mean 3 April or March 4. A swap like this only shows on the 1st to the 12th of each month, which makes it easy to miss.
  • Numbers turn into text, or text into numbers. A spreadsheet can drop the 0 at the start of a phone number, treat "£12.50" as words rather than a price, or lose the pence.
  • Names with apostrophes, hyphens and accents. Some steps show O'Brien with odd symbols where the apostrophe was, or drop the accent from Zoë. The guide on sign-up forms has real details to try.

The 10-minute check

1. Pick five recent runs

Open the run history (Zap history in Zapier, the scenario's History tab in Make, Executions in n8n). Pick five recent runs. If you can, include one for a customer with an unusual name, or an order where a box was left empty.

Run history is only kept for a while, sometimes just a week, so recent runs are the ones to look at.

2. Compare what went in with what came out

Open each run. For every step, the tool shows what went in and what came out:

  • Zapier: select a run, then a step, and look at the Data In and Data Out tabs.
  • Make: select Details next to a run, then the small bubble above a step, to see its Input and Output.
  • n8n: open the execution, then double-click a step to see what went in and what came out.

Put the original order or form next to it and compare the name, email address, date, price, phone number and address.

You're not looking for anything technical. Just ask: is this the same information the customer gave?

3. Look down the columns

Open the spreadsheet or list the automation writes to, and look down each column for the last 30 rows or so. Look for gaps, odd dates, odd prices and phone numbers without the 0.

If a column is empty from a certain date onwards, that date is a valuable clue. Ask what changed that day.

4. Read a few messages as your customer would

If the automation sends emails, open five recent ones from your sent folder or your email tool's history. Read each one as if you were the customer receiving it.

Habits that keep the details right

  • Ask before renaming. Before anyone renames a column, changes a form question or adds a field, ask one question: "Does an automation use this?"
  • A test customer with awkward details. Keep a set of tricky test details, like the names and postcode in the sign-up form guide. After any change, ask whoever looks after the automation to run them through a copy of it.
  • A kind fallback. Ask for emails to say "Hi there" when the name is missing, rather than "Hi ,".

What to do with what you found

If all five runs matched the originals, well done. Repeat the check after any change to your forms, your shop or your spreadsheet.

If you found a gap or a swap, write down the run, what went in and what came out. That's exactly what whoever looks after your automation needs to put it right.

And if there's nobody to ask, I can look at it for you, read-only. Here's an example of the findings note you'd get, which includes three candles that were skipped every night because "&" and "and" didn't match.