Integrations

An integration connects your Spiffy Store to another third-party web application. This allows you to tie together the events and data generated by your online store and use them with other applications to perform additional business tasks. This can often allow you to automate some of the more tedious activities such as book keeping, or can allow you to expand the service you give your customers by enhancing their buying experience.

Using Zapier Integrations

Zapier is a web service that allows you to easily connect your Spiffy Store to hundreds of other web applications.

Some of the integration categories include

• Billing, Accounting and Invoicing
• Bookmarking
• Generic apps
• Charting
• Content Management Systems
• Customer Relationshop Management
• Customer Support
• Developer Tools
• Ecommerce
• Electronic Signature
• Email Marketing
• Event Management
• File Management
• Forms
• Games
• Help Desk
• Instant Messaging
• Lead Generation
• Marketing
• Payment Processing
• Personal
• Project Management
• Sentiment Analysis
• Server Monitoring
• SMS and Phone
• Social
• Surveys
• Time Tracking
• Video

Getting Started with Zapier

First off, you're going to need a Zapier account. You can signup here. They have a free starter plan which supports a limited number of tasks per month, but this is often enough to get you going, when you're just starting out.

It's worth noting, however, that some of the apps on the Zapier platform are premium apps and cannot be used on the free starter plan.

Once you've got an account and have logged in, you're ready to make your first Zap, which is a connection between your Spiffy Store and another of the apps on the Zapier platform.

Authorizing Access for Zapier

Our Spiffy Stores app is still in beta mode, so at the moment, you'll need to accept an invitation to use the app before you can see it in your accunt.

Click on the following link to accept the invitition.

https://zapier.com/developer/invite/36458/b94cb991ca73859a3463dc5867caa3ab/

Before Zapier can connect to your Spiffy Store, you will need to create a Private API Key for Zapier. You can find instructions on how to do this in our article on Creating_Private_API_Keys. You'll need the newly generated API Key and Password shortly, as you'll have to copy and paste them into Zapier to connect to your store.

Make a Zap!

Back in your Zapier dashboard, click on the 'Make a Zap!' button to start the zap creation process.

This is a multi-stage process as you go through a number of steps to join up everything correctly.

The first step is to choose a trigger app. This is going to be your Spiffy Store, so in the search bar, enter 'Spiffy Stores' and the Spiffy Stores app should pop up. Select it, and then you'll move into the next step where you need to choose a trigger.

Choose a Trigger

The next step is to choose the trigger event for this Zap. Currently we support the following events:

• New Customer
• New Paid Order
• New Order

Choose the event that suits the target app that you're going to use, and then click 'Save + Continue'.

For example, if you want to create invoices in your accounting software, then you'd choose the 'New Paid Order' event.

If you're looking to add new customers to your mailing list manager, then 'New Customer' is the event for you.

Connect to your Spiffy Store

If you've already connected your Spiffy Store, then just skip to the next step.

If not, then you'll need to click on 'Connect a new account'.

A popup will prompt you to enter three items. All of the information you need is available on the 'API Keys' page that you used earlier to create your Private API Key. Once you've created your new API key for Zapier, you will have to click on the new key to view the details which is where you can find the password.

• Account Name
• API Key
• Password

Once this data has been entered, click the button to continue and Zapier will test the account connection. All being well, you should be returned to the 'Select Spiffy Stores Account' page, where you'll see your new account.

Choose the account and click 'Save + Continue' to continue.

Test the Connection

The next step allows Zapier to test the connection. If you choose to do this test, you will need to create either a new customer or order depending upon the type of event you have registered.

This may not be convenient or easy to do, so you do have the option of skipping the test by clicking on 'Skip Test & Continue'. Zapier normally uses the data from the test to help map the fields to the data fields required by the action app you've selected. However, we've supplied some sample data to use instead, so you don't have to reply on this test to continue to set up your new Zap.

If you skip the test, Zapier informs you that it has been skipped and you can preview the sample data before continuing.

Choose an Action App

Use the search bar to select the app that you want to connect to.

Once you've selected the app, you'll be shown a list of actions that the app supports. Just select the action you're interested in.

The next step will ask you to connect to your account for the action app.

Rememeber that Zapier doesn't create any accounts for you in the action apps. If you want to perform an action using GMail, then you will need a GMail account first. Similarly, you can't use Xero accounting, without first having created and configured a Xero account for your business first.

The method of connecting the account for your action app will vary depending on the app you've chosen. It may ask you to provide API keys and passwords, or it may require you to login with your account password to authorize the request to connect.

Mapping your data to the Action App

The final step of the process is to map the data that has been provided by your Spiffy Store into the format that your Action App requires.

For example, a mailing list manager will need an email address and possibly a name to create a new entry in the mailing list. When you connect to the mailing list app, you'll be presented with a series of prompts for each of the required and optional fields that the Action App needs. The drop downs for these prompts will be populated with all of the fields that have been provided by your Spiffy Store, but you need to choose which field maps to which, and select the correct field value.

The actual mapping isn't usually that difficult as the names and values required are pretty obvious. If an email address, there will be a field lablelled 'email'. Similarly names can be mapped from the various fields such as 'first_name' and 'last_name'.

We'll be adding some specific guides on how to use popular applications such as Xero, Sassu, Wufoo, Mailchimp and so on.