For some time now, our team here at Blue Gum has been listening to merchant requests for a Shopify App that allows users to pin their delivery location on a Google Map on their site. Some of the problems that we have been hearing over and over again are:
- “My country does not have standardized addresses and I need more precise delivery info.”
- “We have to manually contact each customer for them to send us their location through Whatsapp.”
- “My delivery provider requires that I send them GPS Coordinates per Order, that I have to then manually look for.”
- “My shipping costs have to be super precise and I need to base them on GPS locations.”
Do you feel identified with any of the above? If so, we can finally offer a solution that might do the trick.
Wayfinder – Shopify App
We have developed and published our own Shopify app to address these issues. The app is called Wayfinder, and you can find it in the Shopify App Store and even try it out for free. The app basically allows you to embed a Google Map on your website, from where your customers can search for their addresses or pin their delivery locations. Their location link and GPS coordinates are then stored in the order details in your Shopify admin.
How To Set Up
1. You need a Google Cloud Account
The first thing you are going to notice after installing the app is that it will require you to provide a Google Cloud API key. Now, don’t worry. Getting one is super easy, and you can obtain it in just a few minutes. You can follow this guide to see instructions on how to get the API key with the necessary requirements. Also, the Blue Gum team is more than available to provide you with the support you need.
2. Insert the Map in Your Website
The map works as a block that you can insert anywhere on your website. You simply go to your theme editor on the page where you want the map placed (the recommendation would be to use the cart page, but you could also place it on a custom page you build for this) and insert the app block:
3. Style and Settings
The app offers many features for customizing the style and settings, as well as adding functionalities that will improve the user experience of your customers.
Some of the built-in features include:
- Change the GPS Coordinates format from Decimal Values to DMS (Degrees, Minutes, Seconds)
- Add custom Map Headline and Customer Instructions texts.
- Hide checkout buttons until customer pins or selects location, making it a required step prior to checkout.
- Display a custom success message to the customer when they select or pin a location.
- Adjust map zoom levels, height and width for both desktop and mobile views.
- Add a default initial map location.
4. Store Customer Location and GPS Coordinates
Once the customer has completed their order, the app will display a direct link to the Google Maps location and the GPS latitude and longitude coordinates in the Notes section of the order in your Shopify admin.
And there you go! No more need to manually contact the customer to request locations; you can integrate all this into your ecommerce flow and save time and money by making faster and more precise deliveries!
If you need help with anything regarding the Wayfinder app setup or functionality, you can email us anytime at: support@bluegum.dev.