Complete the Store Intake form

In order to configure your store, the Store setup specialist needs some information about the store, as well as the products in it. In this article, we’ll discuss how to complete the Store Intake form to customize your store experience. After you’ve completed this form, you’ll fill out the Product spreadsheet so we can help you upload your inventory into the store. 

Note: Some of the settings in this form cannot be changed later without assistance from Finalsite, so it’s important to fill out this form as accurately as possible. Our team is happy to clarify any of the settings you aren’t sure about.

Store Information

The first section of the form covers the basic information about your store: its name, logo, email, address, and phone number. This information will be displayed on invoices and notifications, and it may have other uses, as well.

• Store name: What’s in a name? This name will also become part of your store’s URL, so choose a good one!
• Store logo: For best results, we recommend a logo size of 240 x 100 px, and the file must be in JPG or PNG format. 
• Store email: This is an address where store users can contact you with questions or issues about the store. For security purposes, this shouldn’t be the same as any of the admin emails you use for the store. 
• Store address: This address is used to calculate shipping costs, so you’ll need to specify where your products are located to get the most accurate estimates during checkout.
• Store phone number: If you opt to include a phone number, it appears alongside your store email address in the “Questions on your order?” block that customers see after placing their order.

Google Analytics ID

One more thing! If you’d like to use Google Analytics to track events in your store, please enter your Google Analytics Web Property ID.​ You’ll complete the setup within Google Analytics, but for now we just need the ID, which should look like: UA-XXXXX-YY.

Admins

Next, we need to know who will be managing the back end of the store. If you’re filling out this form, that’s probably you! You may want to include additional admins, as well. Admins will receive: 

• Order Notification Emails, which are sent when an order is placed. This email contains information about order items, shipping, and billing.

• Low Stock Notifications, which are sent when a product in the store has reached a low stock limit. You can configure this limit for each product in your catalog, so you’ll always know when it’s time to reorder.

Taxes

If you’re selling something, chances are good that you’ll need to charge taxes! Taxes can be calculated in one of two ways:

• Automatic: For users in the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe, Finalsite Store calculates tax rates for you based on your store and customer locations. Your store automatically charges a proper tax rate at checkout according to country and regional tax regulations, which means you don’t need to worry about setting anything up.

• Manual: Manual tax rates are determined by you depending on destination and products sold. You fully control the calculation of your taxes, set up taxes per customer location (country, state, zip/postal code), add tax per group of products, and set up tax-free products. Your specialist will work with you to set up the different options.

Tax-exempt customers can be configured individually, so you can still opt for “automatic” tax calculations on a global level. If you select “manual” on the form, your Store setup specialist will follow up to obtain full details about your needs. 

Payments

A big question on your mind might be, “How are we going to get paid?” Finalsite Store can accommodate a number of payment options, including check, charge a student account, credit card, and more. 

If you intend to use a payment method not listed on the form, contact your Store setup specialist to find out what information is necessary. Otherwise, select the checkboxes for each payment type you want to set up.

• For check or charge student account, describe the process in the field that pops up so that your users will know how to provide payment. You’ll be processing these payment types manually, so make sure you request enough information to do so!
• For credit cards, choose your gateway from the dropdown list. If your gateway doesn’t appear on the list, select “Other” and type in the name of the gateway. If it is on the list of supported gateways, your Store setup specialist will follow up with more information about using that gateway.

Note: If you’ll be using a payment gateway that you already use with another Finalsite module (most likely Forms or Forms Manager), you will need to submit the Payment Gateway Request form, as well. 

Cart/Checkout

Does your payment gateway (or your accounting department) require you to collect a phone number and/or billing address when you process a payment? If so, we can add those fields to the checkout process for you.

Customer notifications

After they’ve submitted an order, a big question on your customers’ minds might be, “When will I get my stuff?” You can send up to four email notifications to your customers to let them know what’s going on with their order. On the form, select which of the following customer notifications to send:

• Order Confirmation: This email is sent to the customer after they have successfully placed an order, to acknowledge its receipt. It contains information about order items, shipping, billing, and order status.
• Order Status Change: These emails are sent when the order's status changes, to inform the customer about progress in order fulfillment. They’ll find out when the order status is Processing, Ready for Pickup, Shipped, Delivered, Delivery Canceled, and/or Returned.
• Order Shipped: This email is sent when a tracking number to the order is assigned, or when the order's status is changed to "Shipped," to notify the customer that their purchased items are on the way.
• Order Ready for Pickup: This email is sent when the order status is changed to "Ready for Pickup," to notify the customer that purchased items are ready for pickup.

Order Processing and Completion

Finally, we need to know how you plan to fulfill all those orders that you’ll soon be processing in your new store! You can select three options on the form (but if you have something else in mind, talk to your Store setup specialist). The selections you make in the form will serve as your global shipping methods, but you will be able to customize the options by product if necessary.

Shipping 

If you’re planning to ship items, you may want to calculate the shipping costs automatically, based on the provider you’ll be using to ship the product. Select “Automatic rates from shipping provider,” then choose whether you will use USPS, UPS, and/or FedEx as your provider. 

Another option is “subtotal-based rates,” a flat fee for shipping based on the cost of the order. If you select this method of calculating shipping costs, please specify in the field the rate(s) you want to use for subtotals within a certain range. For example, you may want to charge $5.99 shipping for orders up to $49.99, and have free shipping for orders over $50.

You may also have another method in mind for calculating these costs. Please choose “Other” and describe it, and your Store setup specialist will follow up if they need more information.

Pickup

If you want to allow customers to pick up their purchases, you can configure Finalsite Store to let users schedule a convenient pickup time when they place the order. Indicate how much time you will need to get the customer’s order ready, as well as the days and times orders will be available for pickup. 

Send home with student

In a school environment, it may be easiest to send an online order home with a student. If you’d like to make use of this option, let us know what information you need to connect the order with its student delivery-person, such as their full name and their classroom. 

Next steps

You made it! Submit the form, then sit back and relax while your Store setup specialist gets to work creating your store. Or rather, move on to start collecting all your product information and images to send along for your specialist to upload.