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The Loqate Shopify Plus Integration Guide

The Loqate Shopify Plus Integration, downloadable via the Shopify App Store, allows you to quickly and easily add Loqate's Address Capture and Address Verify services to the checkout page of your Shopify Plus site. With these enabled you can provide your customers with type-ahead lookup functionality for address fields - reducing both input times and the likelihood of errors - as well as verification for manually-entered addresses.

We've created this integration to take advantage of Shopify's new Checkout Extensibility functionality, which means you can leverage Shopify's latest technology as part of the Loqate app.

Installing and setting up this Shopify Plus app is a straightforward process, and in this guide we will take you through the handful of quick steps required to get up and running. You don't need any in-depth technical knowledge in order to install this app, just familiarity with Shopify Plus.

 

Address Capture and Address Verify

The Loqate Shopify Plus Integration includes two Loqate services: Address Capture, which provides a type-ahead solution for address input, and Address Verify, which ensures the accuracy of manually-entered addresses. Read on to find out more about what each service does, and how they complement each other. 

Address Capture

This is active by default once you've installed and configured the app, adding a new 'Search for address' field onto your checkout form and allowing customers to start typing in their address and then select the relevant one from a list of suggested addresses.

Address Verify

This is an optional feature which, if enabled, adds an extra layer of verification. If a customer selects their address using the Address Capture type-ahead solution, there's no need to verify that address so Address Verify isn't used. If, however, a customer chooses to manually enter their address instead, Address Verify will check that address against our reference data using a process of correction, standardisation, formatting, enhancement and verification. If appropriate, it will then offer an alternative which the customer can then either agree to use, or dismiss in favour of their original entry.

The accuracy of a manually inputted address is presented as a Matchscore figure, which you can read more about here. Customers don't see that score, but you can use it to determine whether or not you want to offer an alternative address, by setting a threshold. For example:

  • Addresses which return a Matchscore of 95% or above (i.e. 'Good' or 'Excellent' addresses): accept, and don't offer an alternative
  • Addresses which return a Matchscore of under 95% (i.e. 'Average' or below): offer an alternative

You can choose what threshold you want to use, based on your own business requirements. When a customer's manually-entered address falls below your chosen threshold, they will be prompted with a suggestion of a new address, and asked to confirm whether they would like to use the suggested address or stick with their original choice.

 

Prerequisites

Before you start installing and setting up the Loqate Shopify Plus Integration, you will need the following:

  • A live Shopify Plus account
  • A live Loqate account*
  • A valid Loqate API key (see the API keys section below for more information on this)

 

Loqate accounts

You can use the Loqate Shopify Plus app with both the Loqate Saas platform (available to North American customers) and Classic platform. If you're in the US and you're not sure which platform you're using, see our guide to the Loqate Saas Platform.

It's important to note, however, that Address Verify functionality is only available via the Classic platform. You can use both Address Capture and Address Verify with a single Classic platform API key. 

 

API keys

If you don't already have a Loqate API key, our Creating API Keys page has lots of information about how to set one up, and what to consider when you're doing that. For the Loqate Saas platform you can use any key; for the Classic platform we recommend you create a generic API key, but any key will work.

For information about how to ensure your Loqate integration is as secure as possible, see our API Security page.

 

Installation

There are a few quick steps to get the Loqate Shopify Plus Integration up and running:

  • Install and configure the Loqate app (which you can find here)
  • Add a checkout block
  • Disable the native address lookup

Follow these steps in order, and you'll get up and running quickly and easily.

 

Installing and configuring the Loqate app

First, install the Loqate app from the Shopify App Store (see the Shopify app installation instructions for more details). Once that is done:

  • You should automatically be taken to the Admin section for your new Loqate app

  • If not, go to accounts.shopify.com, select the Your store option, then select the Loqate app on the left-hand side of the screen to open it

  • Copy and paste your Loqate API key in to the API Key field on this screen:

  • If you're using a Saas platform API key, that's everything you need to do (the Verify section below the API key section will remain greyed out, as it's only available with a Classic platform API key)
  • If you're using a Classic platform API key, once you've entered your key on this screen the Verify section below will become editable:

  • To add the Address Verify functionality to your checkout, select the Enable address verification option
  • Once that's done, you can choose the accuracy threshold after which you want Address Verify to kick in (see the Address Verify section earlier for more information on thresholds). We offer two options as defaults (95% or 80%), or a custom option

 

Adding Loqate to your Shopify checkout experience

In order for your customers to use Loqate to find and verify their addresses at checkout, you need to customise your checkout page with the "Loqate-Checkout" block (See https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/blog/customize-shopify-checkout). Checkout blocks allow you to customise the look and functionality of your checkout layout and process.

  • In the Admin section of your Shopify Plus account, go to Settings > Checkout. From here you can either edit your existing checkout, or create a new draft of your checkout layout.
  • To edit your existing checkout click the Customize button, or to create a new draft checkout click the Duplicate button followed by Customize on the new version.

  • Next, in the Sections menu of the checkout editor, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add app block, then select the loqate-checkout app block.

  • The Loqate checkout extension will now be available on your checkout form - you should now be able to see the Search for address field on your form.

  • Make sure you save the changes to your checkout, then exit the editor. If you created a new checkout draft, you can click the Publish button to make it live.

 

Disabling native address lookup

With that done, the last thing you need to do is disable Shopify's native address lookup, to replace it with Loqate's Address Validation service. To do this:

  • Go to the site Settings page for your Shopify store
  • Select the Checkout option from the left-hand menu
  • Scroll to the Address collection preferences section
  • Un-tick the Use address autocompletion option
  • Click the Save button at the top-right of the screen to save this change

The Loqate Shopify app is now fully installed and ready to use.

 

Usage

Once the Loqate Shopify app is installed and configured, your customers can start using Loqate's Address Capture service when inputting their addresses. We've put together some screenshots of how that might look on an example checkout page, to give you a sense of what to expect.

Here's what the single search field looks like during an address lookup:

And here's how the address fields look after an address has been selected:

If you have enabled Address Verify and a customer has manually entered an address, here's what that will look like:

Note: Verify will trigger when either the Address or Postcode fields are edited.

 

Troubleshooting

I can't see some of the Admin options described in this guide
The Loqate Shopify Integration requires a Shopify Plus account. If you don't use Shopify Plus, you won't see all of the necessary options and won't be able to use this integration.

The Capture autocomplete field is not showing on my checkout
Ensure that the API key is correct on the Admin page.

When selecting an address, the fields do not populate
Ensure that your API key is correct on the Admin page, and that you have sufficient credit on your Loqate account.