Typical Integration Steps

This documentation is intended to walk merchants through the typical steps followed to get Skio integrated into the merchant's Shopify store frontend. Please feel free to send any questions that you may have on this process to our Support team (help@skio.com)!

Overview

• Before Getting Started
• The Skio integration: What does it entail?
• Launch Team Scope of Work
• Common Skio Integration FAQs

Before Getting Started

Merchants signing up with Skio will have likely discussed the Skio platform with someone from the Skio Sales team. Once the deal is ready to move forward, the Sales team will send you (the merchant) a Stripe invoice over email; this is how Skio prefers to bill merchants for recurring payments, rather than via Shopify's billing API.

As soon as you pay the Stripe invoice sent over from the Sales team, the Skio Launch team will add your store to our "Merchant Queue" for our white-glove onboarding process. You will receive an email from the Launch Team with a list of items that we need completed before we can get started on your Launch process. These items include:

• Install the Skio app from the Shopify App Store.
  • If you've paid an invoice with our Sales team via Stripe, you will NOT be charged by both Skio and Shopify. You will only pay the Skio invoice via Stripe, and the Launch Team will handle canceling / disabling the Shopify charge for you.
    
    
• Your Shopify store's ".myshopify.com" URL
  • You can find this by logging into your Shopify admin and viewing the URL (ex. https://admin.shopify.com/store/my-shopify-url-here ), or by clicking Settings -> Domains.
    Note: your ".myshopify.com" URL may be different from your store's primary domain.
    
    
• Your 4-digit Collaborator access security code. You can learn more about access codes here.
  • You can find your access code by logging into your Shopify admin, then clicking Settings -> Users and permissions -> Collaborators
    
    
• Complete our Launch onboarding form. This gives our Launch team more information about your store and your subscription setup needs. We use this information to get a head start on the integration (saving back-and-forth emails), as well as assigning the correct resources for your specific needs!
  
  
• Complete our SMS verification form with your company's information. This allows for Skio to send subscription notifications to your customers on your behalf.

Please note: The Launch team requires all merchants to complete these steps before assigning your store to a Launch engineer.

The Skio integration: What does it entail?

The Launch Team integration will cover everything on the Shopify side needed to get you up and running selling subscriptions via Skio!

This includes everything from setting up your subscription products in the Skio app, to setting up the Skio widget on your Products pages, to finally migrating your existing subscribers into Skio (if applicable).

To start, the Launch team will use the Collaborator access you granted in the first step to access your store. We'll then duplicate and download the Shopify theme indicated in your onboarding form in order to add the necessary Skio code into the theme codebase.
Important note: the Launch team does not do any work that will affect your store's live Shopify theme that your customers interact with. We will only ever push code updates to your live store with prior merchant approval.

When integrating Skio into your store's theme code, the Launch team has two primary tasks:

1. Assess the theme code base to ensure that Skio selling plans will not show up on the live theme. Occasionally, themes may have subscription-related code that is set up to show any and all selling plan information to customers, regardless of what app the selling plan information comes from. 
2. Add all of the Skio code you'll need for selling subscriptions to your customers! Our scope of work (below) defines the specifics of this process, including what changes/customizations are able to be made based on merchant feedback.

After all Skio code has been added to your theme, the Launch team will set up your subscription products in Skio. This involves creating Selling Plan Groups, which will control the subscription options available for a given list of products. These options include what products should be available for subscription, any applicable discounts for subscribing (ex. 10% off), and frequency options to choose from (ex. Every 30, 45, 60 Days). Please provide the desired subscription setup details in the Launch Onboarding form (mentioned above in "Before Getting Started"). If you are currently using a different subscription provider, the Launch team can "mirror" the existing subscription setup into Skio.

As soon as all Skio selling plans and Skio code are in place, we will send your team a preview of everything for you to review and make a test purchase; this will allow your team to QA the Skio widget as well as the entire user-flow when purchasing a subscription via the Skio widget.

After you've reviewed the Skio theme, have made the test purchase, and have approved the user-flow, we'll be ready to get Skio live on the frontend of your store! All that needs to be done is to publish the development theme we set and up (or otherwise merge the Skio updates into the currently-published theme), and Skio is live!

Launch Team Scope of Work

When integrating Skio into your store, the scope of items that the Launch team can work on are:

1. Skio widget: If you have a subscription platform currently, our team will match the look and feel of your current subscription widget on the Product page (PDP) and the Cart element (if you have one). If you are new to subscriptions, your store will be set up with the default Skio widget layout, which can be customized using the Shopify Customizer tool.
   
   Note: the Launch team cannot match parity with an existing subscription platform's Login page or Customer Portal pages, as the Skio app has its own Login and Customer Portal pages.
   
   Note: the Launch team is able to setup Shopify-hosted "Landing pages" with the Skio widget, as long as the widget matches the design and functionality of the Skio widget used on the Product pages.
2. Product setup: our team will set up your Selling Plan Groups in Skio, where we can match parity with any current subscription platform's product setup (products available for subscription, discount rates, frequency options). If the merchant is new to subscriptions, our team can setup products for the merchant in Skio as desired.
   
   
3. Additional features: our team can setup Automations, Rules, and Free Subscription Shipping for your store as needed. Our team can also guide merchants in setting up the Build-a-Box feature (Dynamic , Sectioned , Static), however please note that some actions may be required of the merchant when setting up this feature.
   
   Note: any features not listed above (such as email / SMS notifications) should be discussed and set up with the Skio Merchant Success team (success@skio.com) during your Training call, or otherwise during your Post-launch Audit call.
   
   
4. Data migration from previous platform: for merchants who have a previous subscription platform prior to Skio, our team will be able to migrate all non-canceled subscriptions that have valid payment methods on file into Skio. Our team additionally ensures there is no “gap” during the transition from the old subscription platform to Skio where new subscribers could “slip” into the old subscription platform, ensuring that all data in Skio is correct and up-to-date as soon as the data migration is complete!

Common Skio Integration FAQs

Will I be charged twice when installing the Skio app?

• Nope! If you have paid a Skio invoice via Stripe, you will not be charged by Shopify after installing the app.

Can I publish the theme when I'm ready, or does Skio need to publish the Skio theme?

• You can publish the theme as soon as you are ready to go live with Skio! By the time we have sent your theme preview, your Skio setup is ready to go live as soon as you're ready to start selling subscriptions.

How long will the launch process take?

• In general, we have found that it typically takes 2 to 4 weeks to get fully live with Skio. Several factors affect this timeline, such as your team's availability and response time to emails, as well as the Launch team's current merchant queue. The best way to ensure that your integration moves quickly is to 1) read the Launch Guide prior to beginning the Launch process so that you know what to expect from the process, as well as 2) reply to emails from the Launch team as soon as possible to keep the project moving along!

I have my own developers. Can they integrate Skio into my store?

• Absolutely! Our team can provide any guidance your developers may need in getting Skio setup themselves. The Launch team is here to help in any way we can!