What is needed?
There are three main steps to setting up an integration between OpenCRM and your eCommerce platform:
- Produce a suitable CSV export of your orders from your eCommerce platform
- Setup your import mapping in OpenCRM to create Orders or Invoices from your CSV file
- Setup automatic export / import of your orders (optional, please contact your account manager.)
Importing your orders to OpenCRM
Let's first look at the format of the file you need to produce for import to OpenCRM.
OpenCRM is able to import Quotes, Sales Orders and Invoices from a CSV file and many eCommerce platforms are able to produce a file in the required format or have plugins available which will do so.
Linked below is our FAQ on importing Sales Orders and Invoices to OpenCRM. It provides an example of the data structure that is needed.
How can I import Invoices / Sales Orders / Quotes?
To summarise the FAQ, you will need to produce a CSV file, each row in the CSV will represent one product line from a given order, each row will need to indicate the order to which it relates, along with the details of the customer, and products. Generally for the product line information the following is needed: a product identifier such as an ID, Name or Code, the unit price, the quantity and VAT rate, OpenCRM will automatically calculate the line total and order totals so these do not need to be provided.
Exporting your orders from your eCommerce platform
To integrate your eCommerce system with OpenCRM you will need to produce a CSV export of your orders including customer information from your eCommerce platform.
The first thing we will need is an example of the export that you can produce from eCommerce platform, it needs to be in a format that OpenCRM can process without any manual intervention.
If you are using WooCommerce there are a number of options for exporting your data. You may find this external article from Metorik of interest: How to Export WooCommerce Orders, Products and Customers to a CSV
Automating your import
To automate the export / import process you will need to be able to schedule a regular export from your eCommerce platform and upload the output CSV file to an FTP location which we can provide.
When selecting an appropriate plugin to export your orders you should pay special attention to the export options as not all support FTP file exchange.
If you are using WooCommerce
Whilst not a recommendation, some customers have found that the "WooCommerce Customer / Order / Coupon Export" plugin provides what they need, it supports CSV export and transfer via FTP. You can find out more here: WooCommerce Customer / Order / Coupon Export
Some plugins which do not offer direct FTP transfer may still be an option but would require additional development or services:
- Some plugins work with Zapier which allows your exporter to be integrated with other services, one such service is Brick FTP, which will enable the exported file to be uploaded to our FTP server.
- Other plugins may allow the CSV to be emailed to you. If you are using Pop2OpenCRM. this email and the attached CSV file can be captured and imported. Integrating this way will require a small amount of development for you by OpenCRM.
If you would like to discuss automating your eCommerce integration please contact your Account Manager or our Support Team.
