Launch Checklist
Book a SparkLayer Onboarding Call Remember, our expert team is here to help you go live. If you need assistance along the way please book your free call here.
When you create an account on SparkLayer, you'll get access to the SparkLayer Dashboard. The Dashboard has a customised onboarding process that gently guides you through all the necessary steps before you're ready to start inviting your B2B customers and taking orders on your website. You can learn more about this in our guide here๏ปฟ.
Once you've completed the main onboarding steps, you'll then see a final step "Test & Launch SparkLayer" which our guide below explains.
โ Before you start final testing, make sure:
Our customers typically get up and running in a matter of days and the process works as follows:
Before launching your new B2B store, we strongly recommend going through a testing process. To help with this, you can follow the steps below to make this as seamless as possible and allow you to get up and running!
Frontend widgets installation If you've requested our support team to install the Frontend Interfaces๏ปฟ for you, you can use the below as a way to perform your own testing.
The first step is to test your website as if you were a B2B customer.
We recommend creating an example customer using the guide below.
Before you start! For any customers that you want to place B2B orders, they must have a tag of b2b assigned to them in Shopify. Without this tag, SparkLayer will not load.
Ensure customer accounts are enabled Youโll need to make sure that customer accounts are enabled on your storefront so that customers can sign in. Within your Shopify admin, go to Customer Accounts and select either "Customer Accounts" or "Legacy Accounts" (both are compatible with SparkLayer).
Edit or create a customer record Within your Shopify Customers admin, find an existing customer record or add a new one.
Fill in all the form fields, including the address. It's important that an address is specified otherwise SparkLayer won't find the customer record.
Tag the customer Next, tag the customer with b2b
From within the customer record in Shopify, go to the Tags section and type b2b into the field. You can either choose from an existing tag, or add it as a new tag
Invite the customer If you're using Shopify "Customer Accounts", you can simply direct your customers to the login page and they can then enter their email to receive a 6-digit access code. You can access this by going to www.yourstore.com/account.
If you're using "Legacy accounts" and you're creating a brand new customer record, you'll need to click "Send account invite" and then confirm the account once you've received the activation email (learn more here).
The customer will then receive an email asking them to confirm your account by setting a password. Should you require, you can also edit the contents of this email here.
Login as a customer Finally, return to your website and visit the login page (e.g. www.yourstore.com/account) and enter your customer email and password. If you're using Shopify "Customer Accounts", you'll be prompted to enter a 6-digit code that will be sent to yoru email.
If you can't access this page, make sure you have customer accounts enabled (learn more here).
You'll then see SparkLayer load and you can browse your store as a B2B customer!
Inviting customers See our guide further down this page on how to invite your customers.
Please refer to your platform for details.
Checking a B2B customer You can also check that a B2B customer has successfully synchronised to SparkLayer in the Customer Sync tool within the SparkLayer Dashboard.
Please note For SparkLayer to work, all products that you want B2B customers to see pricing for must have unique SKUs. Without SKUs, SparkLayer has no way to show B2B pricing or our special frontend "widgets"
How to check for SKUs in Shopify Within your Shopify Products admin, if you navigate to any product, you should see a SKU display within the product details.
In our example below, the product has a SKU of MUG-CAT which is the unique identifier for the product.
How to add SKUs If you don't already have SKUs, it's relatively quick to do. You can either edit individual products and add them manually, or you can use the Shopify admin's Import or feature to do this in bulk.
You may also want to consider an app such as Matrixify if you have a lot of SKUs to add.
Ensuring you have unique SKUs For SparkLayer to work, any SKUs added must also be unique (e.g. MUG-CAT, MUG-DOG). If SKUs are "shared" between products, these will need to be adjusted to ensure SKUs are individually set.
No customisations applicable.
For SparkLayer to show B2B pricing, products must be assigned to the B2B Ordering and Online Store sales channels for each product. If the product is not assigned, SparkLayer will not show any pricing.
If you don't want the product to be purchaseable by your B2B customers, leaving B2B Ordering unticked can be a good way to make specific products "Unavailable" to your B2B customers.
No customisations applicable.
Please note SparkLayer will not show any B2B pricing until this step is done.
Now you've got your customer account setup, you'll want to test how your B2B pricing works.
You can add all your B2B prices in the Price List section of SparkLayer and set either automatic price lists (a percentage off your retail prices) or manually uploaded prices.
With manually uploaded prices, you can upload prices via CSV if you want to set exact B2B pricing (you can also download a sample price list here๏ปฟ).
Please note If you're wanting to customise shipping for your B2B customers, please follow this step.
SparkLayer will by default use the shipping rules set up within your eCommerce platform (e.g. Shopify).
You can also configure SparkLayer to use special "B2B-specific" shipping rules that only show for your B2B customers and you can get started here.
If you'd rather use your eCommerce platform for shipping rules, you can learn more in our full guide here๏ปฟ .
Providing you have SKUs set up for your products, you can place an order by going to any product page and adding items to your order.
When you add items, they will then appear in the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ and you can then proceed to checkout to complete the order.
How payment methods work
When customers reach the payment step, they'll see available methods and can select their preference.
Payment method | Description |
|---|---|
Payment on Account | ๐ช For the B2B customer: This will allow the customer to checkout without needing to enter any payment details. ๐ฆ For merchants: It's essentially an 'offline' payment method and you can even set credit limit rules and net payment terms such as Net 30, Net 60, etcLearn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ |
Payment by invoice | ๐ช For the B2B customer: This will allow the customer to checkout without having to enter in payment details. ๐ฆ For merchants: Like "Payment on Account", this is essentially an 'offline' payment method. You can then process the order and take payment via offline channels (e.g. by bank transfer) |
Pay Online by Card | ๐ช For the B2B customer: The customer will be directed to your standard checkout process and will be required to make payment right away (e.g. by card or via another payment processor). This is sometimes referred to as "Pro-forma payment". ๐ฆ For merchants: This will come through as a paid (or "completed") order and no further action should be required to collect payment. Note: this is termed "Upfront Payment" within the Customer Groups๏ปฟ area of the SparkLayer Dashboard |
Request for quote | ๐ช For the B2B customer: The customer can submit their order without choosing a payment method. ๐ฆ For merchants: The order will be marked as a 'Draft' order and can subsequently be edited (e.g. changing the shipping cost, adding additional discounts, adding or removing products from an order). |
The diagram below helps to illustrate how payments working with SparkLayer and Shopify, based on the payment method the B2B customer selects.
How orders arrive into Shopify
Depending on which payment method๏ปฟ you've selected, orders will arrive into Shopify in the following ways by default
Payment Method | Flow | Status |
|---|---|---|
Pay by Invoice | The order is submitted as a Draft order within Shopify and then has to be manually acted upon | Order is left in Draft status until the payment is successfully made |
Pay on Account | The order is submitted as a Draft order within Shopify and then has to be manually acted upon | Order is left in Draft status until the payment is successfully made |
Pay Online by Card | The order is submitted as a completed order within Shopify and the customer will receive an order notification | Order is "Paid" status and can be fulfilled (shipped) |
Request for Quote | The order is submitted as a Draft order within Shopify and then has to be manually acted upon | Order is left in Draft status until the payment is successfully made |
Draft orders and "Completed" orders
If you're using Shopify, by default all payment methods other than Upfront Payment will be generated as Draft orders. If you'd prefer to automatically convert Draft orders into Completed orders, you can enable this via the SparkLayer Dashboard.
Shopify checkout payment methods
If a customer selects "Pay Online by Card" (i.e. "Upfront payment"), they'll be directed to the Shopify checkout. By default, they will see all Shopify payment methods you have set up (e.g. card payment, Paypal, etc). It's possible to set rules on which payment methods show for your B2B customers and we recommend exploring available apps here.
Please note that if a customer uses "Pay Online by Card" and doesn't complete their order, this will still show in your Shopify Draft Orders admin for review.
Please note You can automatically convert "Draft" orders into "Completed" orders by turning on the "Auto-complete Shopify Draft orders" in the Sparklayer Dashboard here.
Additional order details
When an order is placed via SparkLayer, it will also include the following additional data:
Attribute | Notes |
|---|---|
tag | A tag of b2b is added to any order placed via SparkLayer. This is particularly useful for filtering and segmenting orders, or even adding more advanced automations |
note | Order Note: sparkCartId This is added as an order note. This is primarily for internal use for debugging |
note | Order Note: sparkPaymentType This is added as an order note. This contains the name of the payment option used:
|
Viewing B2B orders in Shopify You can quickly view B2B orders by logging into your Shopify admin and adding this to the URL orders?tag=b2b or by going here๏ปฟ
No customisations applicable.
Please note If you've requested our team to install SparkLayer for you, this step will already be completed.
We typically recommend adding some basic CSS customisations to your website to match your styling.
If you'd like to customise these further, please see Customising the Design๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
Please note It's worth noting that you may not require a registration form at all if you are manually inviting your B2B customers. You can learn more in our "Inviting your customers" guide lower down on this page.
There are three recommended ways to set up a B2B registration process.
- Use a third-party app: To really customise the registration process on Shopify, you may want to consider installing a form builder app to allow you more control over the experience. We strongly recommend Customer Fields๏ปฟ by Helium
- Use our "trade login" page: We've a ready-made "trade login" template that also includes a registration form. You can see this in action on our demo store๏ปฟ. Our team can also help set this up
- Use custom Shopify coding: this is a more advanced approach but it is possible to use your existing Shopify store and customise a registration form without apps. You can learn more here.
No customisations applicable.
Please note This step is optional and you can continue testing without applying customisations if you do not require them.
We've got a variety of additional features you can add such as showing a live stock level, pack sizes, B2B-only products, retail prices (RRP), and much more.
You can explore all available SparkLayer features in our our interactive demo.
Customer experience โ Set up a B2B login page๏ปฟ โ Set up a B2B registration page๏ปฟ โ Hiding B2B products from regular DTC customers๏ปฟ โ Show B2B-only content๏ปฟ โ Create a B2B-only navigation menu๏ปฟ โ Modify your B2B email notifications๏ปฟ
Checkout process โ Configure B2B-only shipping๏ปฟ โ Customise your B2B payment methods๏ปฟ โ Configure custom checkout data fields๏ปฟ
Product configurations โ Setup product pack sizing๏ปฟ โ Setup minimum and maximum quantities๏ปฟ โ Show live inventory levels๏ปฟ โ Setup pre-orders and backorders๏ปฟ โ Set "reserve inventory" for your DTC customers๏ปฟ You can explore our full list of configurations here๏ปฟ.
To see what else is possible, check our full guide here๏ปฟ.
Book a SparkLayer Onboarding Call Remember, our expert team is here to help you go live. If you need assistance along the way please book your free call here.
Need help troubleshooting? Please see our Troubleshooting๏ปฟ guide for how to solve the most common queries.
If you want to take your B2B store even further, you can enable a range of advanced configurations via SparkLayer! You can explore all available SparkLayer features in our our interactive demo. This currently includes a range of example products that show you how advanced configurations work such as pack sizing, quantity pricing, MSRP pricing, and more
When you're ready to begin inviting your B2B customers, we've some recommend tips you can use as part of your onboarding process.
Before you invite your customers We strongly recommend you perform a full end-to-end test of the steps within "Test & Launch SparkLayer". Once you're done, you may want to invite a subset of customers to guage any feedback before inviting all your customers!
Inviting customers When you're ready to begin inviting your B2B customers to your Shopify store, you can easily manage this via the Shopify admin by following the process below.
Within your Shopify admin, go to Customer Accounts and select either "Customer Accounts" or "Legacy Accounts" (both are compatible with SparkLayer).
Edit or create a customer record First, within your Shopify Customers admin, find an existing customer record or add a new one.
Fill in all the form fields, including the address. It's important that an address is specified otherwise SparkLayer won't find the customer record.
Tag the customer Next, tag the customer with b2b
From within the customer record in Shopify, go to the Tags section and type b2b into the field. You can either choose from an existing tag, or add it as a new tag
Invite the customer If you're using Shopify "Customer Accounts", you can simply direct your customers to the login page and they can then enter their email to receive a 6-digit access code.
If you're using "Legacy accounts" and you're creating a brand new customer record, you'll need to click 'Send account invite'
The customer will then receive an email asking them to confirm your account by setting a password. You can edit the contents of this email here.
Login as a customer Finally, the customer can return to your website and visit the login page (e.g. www.yourstore.com/account) and enter their customer email and password. If you're using Shopify "Customer Accounts", you'll be prompted to enter a 6-digit code.
If they can't access this page, make sure you have customer accounts enabled (learn more here).
They'll then see SparkLayer load and they can browse your store as a B2B customer!
Please refer to your platform for details.
- If you're looking to invite a set of B2B customers in one go, you can use third-party Shopify apps to streamline this for you. A popular option is Matrixify which has built-in tools to quickly create customer records and invite them.
- If you're looking to bulk invite customers but want to skip sending them emails, you can also try BAIS Bulk Account Invite๏ปฟ
Automating the approval process To further automate the process, it's possible to allow customers to "apply for access" on your store that you can then moderate before granting them the ability to place B2B orders. We've detailed some great options in our guide here.
Please refer to your platform for details.
๏ปฟ
Automating the approval process To further automate the process, it's possible to allow customers to "apply for access" on your store that you can then moderate before granting them the ability to place B2B orders. We've detailed some great options in our guide here.
Please refer to your platform for details.
๏ปฟ
To help with the process of inviting your customers, we've put together an example email you could send to them! Perhaps this could be sent in a newsletter or as a personal email from your B2B sales team.
๏ปฟDear [Valued Partner],๏ปฟ
๏ปฟWeโre excited to announce our new online B2B store and weโre excited to have you join!๏ปฟ
๏ปฟTo ensure a smooth start, weโve put together a guide to help you activate your account and start placing orders.๏ปฟ
๏ปฟAccount Activation: The First Step to Joining๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟLook Out for Our Email: Keep an eye on your inbox for an email from [My Store] with the subject "Activate Your [My Store] Partner Account."๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟActivate with a Click: Within that email, you'll find the โActivate My Accountโ button. Click it to move forward with your activation.๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟSecure Your Login: Follow the link to create your own secure password. After this, your account is all set and ready to go.๏ปฟ
๏ปฟB2B Portal: Streamlining Your Business๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟFast Track with Quick Order: Speed is essential in business. That's why our โQuick Orderโ feature offers a simple layout to place your orders quickly and efficiently - perfect for when you know exactly what you need.๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟExplore Products in Detail: Curious about a product? Visit the โProductsโ page for an in-depth look at the benefits, and quickly add to your order๏ปฟ
๏ปฟEffortless Account Management๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟYour Orders, Simplified: By clicking on the โAccountโ or โCartโ icons, you can view your Order Summary, adjust account settings, and monitor your orders in real-time.๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟGet a Shipping Quote: Ready to finalize your order? Get live shipping costs right before you place your order๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟApproval Before Payment: If you need administrative approval, select 'Pay on Account' to submit your order and we'll take care of the rest.๏ปฟ
๏ปฟAccount Extras:๏ปฟ
๏ปฟWithin โMy Account,โ youโll also discover tools to:๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟReview your order history.๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟSave personalized shopping lists for quick reordering.๏ปฟ
- ๏ปฟUpdate your shipping addresses whenever necessary.๏ปฟ
๏ปฟWe're Here for You๏ปฟ
๏ปฟShould you have any questions or need assistance, our dedicated team is ready to help at [Your Support Email].๏ปฟ
๏ปฟThank you for choosing [My Store] as your partner, weโre excited to have you on board!๏ปฟ
๏ปฟWarm regards,๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ[Your Name] [Your Position] [My Store] [Contact Information]๏ปฟ
Alongside the above recommendations, there are also a variety of "on site" updates you could think about to encourage your B2B customers to access your B2B store:
- Navigation: Add a clear link to your navigation, e.g. in the header or footer. You can typically do this from your Shopify Admin, under "Online Store" and clicking "Navigation"
- Landing page: Set up a landing page to entice new (and existing) customers. This could include graphics, some selling points of your B2B store, testimonials, featured products, and more
- Emails: think about how you can update any email marketing you have to promote your new B2B store!
Please refer to your platform for details.
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