Quoting Engine

please note the sparklayer quoting engine is available on the sparklayer pro and enterprise plan or as an addon for $49 per month on any plan you can change your plan here https //app sparklayer io/settings/plan or learn more https //www sparklayer io/pricing/ about our how pricing works introduction the sparklayer quoting engine introduces a unified solution that streamlines the entire "quote to order" process directly from your existing online store it allows you to handle quotes more effectively, converting them into completed orders faster than ever! the sparklayer quoting engine works by allowing your b2b customers to easily request quotes for review, and for your sales team to then communicate with the customer until they're ready to complete their order use cases include managing the negotiation process with a customer managing pre ordering where customers need to request quotes ahead of time managing sales assisted orders where your sales team can add products to an order that your customer can then make edits to before they finalise managing price on application (poa) products where your customers can add items to a quote before finalising pricing this guide runs through how to get started with the sparklayer quoting engine and how you can configure it for your own business requirements want to test it out? try our interactive demo of the sparklayer quoting engine features by way of summary, the sparklayer quoting engine currently supports the following range of features and configurations you can learn more throughout the guide below item details configurations the ability to hide or show “request a quote” based on a customer group the ability to email when the sales team receives a new quote workflows the ability to assign a quote to a sales person for handling the ability to set a quote status against the quote to group quotes the ability to define a default quote status quote statuses that can provide rules including whether the customer can edit the quote whether the the customer can complete the quote whether the customer can download a pdf whether an expiry date is required ordering the ability to add custom line items the ability to add custom shipping the ability to add unavailable / poa (price on application) products to the quote the ability to add out of stock products to the quote the ability to set payment method against the quote pdf the ability to download the quote as a pdf the ability to theme and customise the pdf expiration the ability to set quotes to expire after a specific date date timeline and communications the ability to send messages to the customer the ability to save internal notes to be viewed by all sales agents the ability to track changes that are made to the quote the ability to send email notifications when a change is made to the quote or a message is received getting started 🚀 upgrading to the latest sparklayer version to begin using the sparklayer quoting engine, you'll need to be using version 3 7 or above to learn more about how to upgrade, see frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp to get started with the quoting engine, you'll need to enable a special setting within the sparklayer dashboard, go to the settings area https //app sparklayer io/configuration/settings/general and switch on "enable quotes" once enabled, this then allows your b2b customers to request an order as a quote for subsequent review (see "how it works" below) you'll also see the option to set the following configuration details quote statuses quote statuses allow you to specify actions and permissions against a specific status (see "quote statuses" below) quote notifications this allow you to set which email recipients are notified of quote activity we recommend configuring this before launching quoting on your store please note if you've been using sparklayer before march, 2025, the sparklayer quoting engine replaces the previous "request for quote" payment method that shows during the checkout process once enabled, this payment method will no longer show to customers during the checkout process when enabling quoting, you will be prompted to how it works want to test it out? try our interactive demo of the sparklayer quoting engine to understand how the sparklayer quoting engine works, it's useful to illustrate the process at a high level and how it also works as a b2b customer and a sales agent the quote to order process generally speaking, the process of requesting and completing a quote works as follows the quote is requested active participants the b2b customer active participants the b2b customer first, the b2b customer adds products to their cart and rather than selecting "checkout", they select "request quote" they can then select their preferred payment method (once the quote is approved) and sumit a request for review the quote is reviewed active participants the sales team active participants the sales team next, your team (e g a sales agent) is notified of the new quote and the review process begins the sales agent can login, view the contents of the quote, communicate with the customer, and make any edits the quote is negotiated active participants the b2b customer & the sales team active participants the b2b customer & the sales team your sales team and the customer can continue to communicate and make edits to the point where the quote is complete and ready to complete as an order the quote is completed active participants the b2b customer active participants the b2b customer once the quote is ready, the customer can then confirm their payment method (e g net terms, pay online by card), and the order is then marked as "processing" and goes through your standard order processing workflows until it's shipped the process as a b2b customer when a customer is ready to request a quote, the end to end process works as follows customer adds items to an order as they would do with a regular order, the customer can browse your online store and add items to my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t once they're ready and providing the quoting engine is turned on they'll then see the option to "request quote" at the bottom customer goes through checkout the customer then selects their preferred shipping method and payment method and reviews the details of the quote before finally clicking "request quote" it's important to note that the selected shipping and payment method will subsequently be used when the customer is ready to complete their order customer views the quote at any point, the customer can access the quote by going to my account interface docid\ lqxani7ivdqna09d9soap and viewing their recent activity they can quickly see item details requested on the date the quote was requested expiry date the expiry date of the quote if a quote status is set to "archive", when an expiry date is passed, no further changes to the quote can be made and it will be cancelled assignee the sales agent the quote has been assigned to status the status of the quote, as specified in "quote statuses" (see below) items the line items (i e the products) within the quote with quantities and pricing customer communicates with sales team the quote includes a special "timeline" view that allows short form messages to be sent between the customer and the sales team for example, you may want to send the sales team a revision to your quote or ask a specific question the timeline review gives customers a history of all communication in one place and is a great way to keep all correspondence unified within the my account area any communication sent via the timeline is also sent in an email to the customer customer selects an action depending on the actions and permissions set in "quote statuses" (see below), the customer can then perform a range of actions on the quote action details edit quote this allows the customer to make edits to the quote such as adding/removing products, changing quantities and more clicking this will load the my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t with the quote pre populated confirm & complete when the customer is ready to complete the quote, clicking this will take them through to the checkout process to confirm the order the shipping and payment details will be pre populated based on the options selected when originally requesting the quote (these can be edited if required) cancel & archive this will cancel the quote and prevent any further edits or updates being performed against it this should only be used if the quote is not longer require customer completes the quote once the customer is ready to complete their quote, they can click the "confirm & complete" button (see above) this takes them through to the final step of the b2b checkout process where they can then confirm their preferred shipping and payment method (noting that these will be pre populated based on the options selected when originally requesting the quote) the customer can then perform a final review of the quote and click "complete order" order is ready for processing once the quote has been completed, it will be "converted" into an order and then undergoes your standard workflows for shipping the order to the customer the process as a sales agent using the quoting engine as a sales agents is one of the best use cases of this feature it gives your sales team a great way to proactively create quotes for your customers which can then be reviewed and modified before requesting as an order please note for quoting, you need to have setup a sales agent within sparklayer a sales agent could be anyone in your business that wants to be able to place orders on behalf your customers in sparklayer learn more about how sales agents work in sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx roles in some areas of our docs, we refer to “sales agent” as a general term however, there is a distinction between sales agents and sales admins only a sales admin can assign quotes and perform certain higher level tasks the process of reviewing a quote works in much the same way as detailed above with the exception of some sales agent specific actions that streamline the review process notification of a new quote based on how you've set up notifications (see "quote notifications" below), an email will be sent informing your team that a quote has been requested this will include the customer's details and the items within their quote sales agent is assigned to a quote within the notifcation sent (see above), the "review quote" button allows the quote process to begin when clicked, you'll be prompted to sign in to the website and you'll then be taken to the quote where a number of actions can be performed by clicking the edit icon within the yellow box if the quote needs to be assigned, this can be done by a sales admin please note only sales agents assigned to the quote by a sales admin can perform these changes the following details can be edited item details assigned sales agent a sales admin can assign a specific sales agent to the quote once saved, they'll be notified to sign in to review the quote quote status this allows a status to be assigned to the quote based on the options set up within "quote statuses" (see below) expiry date this allows an expiry date to be set against the quote if a quote status is set to "archive", when an expiry date is passed, no further changes to the quote can be made and it will be cancelled sales agent begins review process when a quote is assigned to a sales agent by a sales admin, the sales agent will be notified via email and can then proceed to begin their review the sales agent can also view a quote at any point by signing into their account and seeing their recent activity the "status" gives an easy way to distinguish quotes versus regular orders sales agent communicates with the customer as with the customer, the sales agent can use the special "timeline" to send messages to the customer as well as private "internal notes" this is a great way to leave an audit trail of any important activity related to the quote sales agent selects an action based on an actions required, the sales agent can perform an number of activities against the quote action details edit quote this allows the sales agent to make edits to the quote such as adding/removing products, updating line item pricing, editing shipping costs, changing quantities and more clicking this will load the my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t with the quote pre populatd confirm & complete this allows the sales agent to complete the quote on behalf of the customer clicking this will take them through to the checkout process to confirm the order the shipping and payment details will be pre populated based on the options selected when originally requesting the quote (these can be edited if required) cancel & archive this will cancel the quote and prevent any further edits or updates being performed against it this should only be used if the quote is not longer require if the sales agent selects to edit the quote and they subsequently make changes, they'll be prompted on the to confirm the quote status, expiry date, and they can optionally leave notes you can learn more about "quote statuses" below sales agent finalises the quote the final step of the process is to "confirm & complete" the quote this may be performed by the customer themselves or by the sales agent once the quote has been completed, it will be "converted" into an order and then undergoes your standard workflows for shipping the order to the customer quote statuses quote statuses allow you to customise rules and workflows around how the quote process works for example, you may want to restrict customers performing specific actions (e g being able to edit a quote), or you want quotes to automatically archive once the quote expiry date has passed by assigning a status to a quote, you can control how the quote process works and how you engage your sales team and customer throughout to get started with the quote statuses, within the sparklayer dashboard go to the settings area https //app sparklayer io/configuration/settings/general and clicked the "edit" button next to "quote statuses" you'll then see active statuses as well as the option to "add new status" by default, all quotes are set to a status of "quote requested" and there's an additional status of "awaiting customer" that can be used when sales agents perform actions when editting or adding a new status, you can configure a range of rules that will take effect when a quote is assigned to this specific status item details quote status display name this is the status that will show when viewing the quote via the my account on your website quote status handle this is used for internal purposes only set as default quote status for customers when set to active, all new quotes requested will use this status initially quote status when edited when a quote is edited (either by the customer or sales agent), the quote can automatically be assigned a status actions allowed specific actions can be assigned to a status once you made changes to your quote statuses, you'll then see these reflect when viewing the details of the quote within the my account area please note only sales agents assigned to the quote can perform changes to quote statuses quote notifications notifications are triggered based on certain activities (see "email notifications sent" below) and it's possible to configure how these work the notifications work as follows recipient details sales agent when a sales admin assigns a quote to a sales agent, they will receive all subsequent notifications to the email address you've set up for them additional email addresses you can optionally specify additional email addresses to send quote activity to (see below) store email (fallback) if a sales agent hasn't been assigned to a quote ad no additional email addresses have been configured, notifications will be sent to your store email (see below) sales agent this will be the email address you use when setting up a sales agent via our sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx tool additional email addresses for quotes that aren't assigned to a sales agent, you can also manage who receives notifications of quote activity via the configurations section of the sparklayer dashboard this will take effect for new quotes or if a quote is unassigned once you've enabled quotes, simply click edit next to quote notifications and you can add any email addresses you require store email (fallback) the store email can be managed within your shopify admin by going to settings, general and modifying your store details this is typically the email address where standard shopify notifications are sent to for more information, please refer to the sparklayer technical docs email notifications sent please note the content for notifications sent are managed by the templates section of the sparklayer dashboard you can learn how this works in settings docid\ gznstztqcrfflfzstaw0n we also recommend enabling my account interface docid\ lqxani7ivdqna09d9soap to make it easier to view quotes via clicking the link within the email notification the following notifications are triggered during the quote process based on specific activities performed new quote notification (sent to merchant) trigger sent when an end customer places a new quote subject action required review new quote request recipient sales administrator (and any emails configured in "quote notifications") template emails/new quote notification to merchant ( settings docid\ gznstztqcrfflfzstaw0n ) new quote assigned (sent to sales agent) trigger sent when a quote is assigned to a sales agent subject notification a quote has been assigned to you recipient sales agent template emails/quote assigned notification to agent ( settings docid\ gznstztqcrfflfzstaw0n timeline message sent by sales agent trigger sent to a customer when a sales agent leaves a note subject new message \[sales agent name] has sent a message about your quote recipient end customer template emails/purchase history message notification to customer ( settings docid\ gznstztqcrfflfzstaw0n timeline message sent by customer trigger sent to a sales agent when a customer leaves a note subject new message \[company name] has sent a message about their quote recipient sales agent template emails/purchase history message notification to agent settings docid\ gznstztqcrfflfzstaw0n reviewing quotes when reviewing a quote requested by a customer, there are a number of key areas to be aware of these relate to how you're notified of new quotes, right through to how you can communicate with the customer about the quote making edits to a quote it's possible to make edits to a quote such as updating quantities, adding or removing products, shipping methods and more please see "how it works" above to learn more the quote timeline the sparklayer quoting engine features a special "timeline" that allows communication relevant to a quote to be centralised in one place it's a great way for customers and sales agents to interact and ensures a full audit of the quote is made in the process timeline activities the quote timeline will display the following activities item details quote actions including when it was requested and updated customer messages any messages requested by the customer sales agent messages any messages requested by a sales agent internal notes any private messages requested by a sales agent quote edits any edits are detailed with an audit log of what changes were made adding messages the timeline works by enabling a message box when viewing a specific quote with the my account interface docid\ lqxani7ivdqna09d9soap any messages added are also sent as email notifications to the recipient (see "notifications sent" above) based on the user type, the timeline works slightly differently the sales agent is given the option to send a message (and notify the customer) or save as an internal note when saving as an internal note, the message is denoted in a yellow box and kept private from the customer only other sales agents can see these notes the customer will see a simple message box in the timeline view when adding a message, these are displayed with the date and time logged converting a quote to an order when any quote is requested, the final part of the process is to complete the quote and convert it into an order at this point, the order can then be processed and shipped just like any other to learn more about how this works, see "how it works" above configuring customer groups it's possible to configure which customer groups docid 5 lwmnohhjbjjppg9e6vh you'd like to be able to request quotes via your website, allowing you to control which customers can access the feature to get started, go to the customer groups section of the sparklayer dashboard and edit the appropriate customer group by clicking the edit icon within the "quoting engine" section, simply check the box to enable quoting for that specific customer group quick links to view quotes sparklayer has built in functionality that can optionally 'auto redirect' a customer or sales agent directly to the order or quote details, simply by clicking a link to learn how this works, please see my account interface docid\ lqxani7ivdqna09d9soap frequently asked questions can i restrict which customer groups can request quotes? yes, please see "configuring customer groups" above do i need to have sales agents to use the quoting engine? if you don't have sales agents within your business, you can still use the quoting engine you will however need to configure a user to essentially act as a sales agent as the quoting process does require being able to login on behalf of a customer to begin the quote review process you can do this easily via the sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx tool and setting up an account to have "sales adminstrator" access can i edit the prices and shipping costs on a quote? yes when viewing a customer's quote as a sales agent (with sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx access), you can edit the prices of products in an order as well as the shipping cost can i apply discounts to a quote? it is not currently possible to add discounts to a quote at this time how do i edit the email notifications sent? the content for notifications sent are managed by the "themes" section of the sparklayer dashboard if you requite changes to notifications, please support docid\ nnuw1g9z7eaj4m78vk7t9 can i use "request for quote" as a payment method alongside this? it is not possible to use both the sparklayer quoting engine replaces the "request for quote" payment method that shows during the checkout process once enabled, this payment method will no longer show to customers during the checkout process does the quoting engine create a draft order in shopify? no, the sparklayer quoting engine manages quotes entirely within sparklayer a draft order is not created in shopify once a quote is confirmed by the customer, it’s converted into a regular shopify order that enters your usual order processing flow customising text it's possible to adjust the text specific to the quoting engine functionality by adding special code to the sparklayer core script updating language and text you can update the default text by adding code to your frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp languages & international docid\ klrs7wtxn3wncdy8z5zvu about how to update text on sparklayer / add the below code into the sparklayer core script / / please refer to our help guide on how to do this / translations { en { "pdp messaging poa" "poa", "account order view\ quote" "view & download quote", "account order view\ edit quote" "edit quote", "account order view\ confirm and complete" "confirm & complete", "account order view\ cancel and archive" "cancel and archive ", "account order view\ redirect to checkout" "you'll be redirected to the checkout to edit or complete your order ", "account order view\ quote not required" "no longer require this quote?", }, }, / end of code / limitations the sparklayer quoting engine will be subject to many ongoing improvements, however please be aware of the following limitations currently item description company users it is not currently possible for limited users to request quotes learn more about company users docid wwfewvjy9xrsuncqlfoz out of stock products bigcommerce does not allow out of stock items when creating or editing a quote coming soon as part of ongoing improvements to the sparklayer quoting engine, there will be a number of improvements planned item description out of stock products when completing a quote, if products in the order are out of stock, this will prevent the quote from being finalised feedback we've love to know if you have feedback on the sparklayer quoting engine let our team know by emailing product\@sparklayer io