topic Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features? in APIs & Integrations

Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features?

jcarvallo — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 17:06:37 GMT

Hi guys!

We currently run our ecommerce on a local system called "bSale". They are great and agreed to integrate to Hubspot as it was mandatory for us. The integration is done and now I realized they decided to not use the ecommerce bridge API because the V3 is still under development and they didn’t want to use a soon-to-be deprecated API (the V2).

Instead, they used the deals API and contacts API as a workaround.

My questions are:

Will I encounter restrictions on the long run by integrating like this?
Am I losing features with this configuration?
- Can I implement, for instance, browse and cart abandonment flows under this actual configuration?
- One thing I noticed that isn't working is that my integration isn't creating the contact when it fills the checkout form, but only later. Under this situation, we lose the tracking of the "traffic source", is possible to fix this right now or it is a problem related to the fact that we don't use the Ecommerce Bridge API?
Finally, do you guys know when will the V3 available and if it will worth on migrating to it instead of our actual configuration?

Thank you very much!

Re: Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features?

dennisedson — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 16:33:22 GMT

Hey @jcarvallo

Apologies for slow respone here!

Can I implement, for instance, browse and cart abandonment flows under this actual configuration

I guess this really depends on how you have everything set up. I imagine you could set up workflows to handle this

One thing I noticed that isn't working is that my integration isn't creating the contact when it fills the checkout form, but only later. Under this situation, we lose the tracking of the "traffic source", is possible to fix this right now or it is a problem related to the fact that we don't use the Ecommerce Bridge API

What are you using for the checkout form? If it is a HubSpot form, it should be creating/updating a contact ion submission

Finally, do you guys know when will the V3 available and if it will worth on migrating to it instead of our actual configuration?

There is no ETA on the V3. The current version is and will be fully supported for the forseeable future 😀

@himanshurauthan is an ecomm wiz and might have some additional insights!

Re: Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features?

jcarvallo — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 15:08:14 GMT

Thank you Dennis!

As for the checkout form we're using an external form which isn't connected to Hubspot. I noticed Hubspot captures that form's information only when the user uses the chat or fills a Hubspot popup before. How can we solve this? Does the ecommerce bridge requires integration of the checkout form and the fact that I'm not being integrated by that API is the problem here? In that case can I just integrate my form and keep using the deals/contacts API or your advice would be to integrate via the ecommerce API?

Best regards

Re: Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features?

dennisedson — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 20:40:13 GMT

@zaklein , @MatthewShepherd , do you all have any insights here?

Re: Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features?

zaklein — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 11:17:49 GMT

Thanks for the nudge @dennisedson

Typically yes, integrating via the Ecommerce Bridge API would require a separate mechanism in order to gather source attribution data and send this to HubSpot. Typically this use case is handled by HubSpot's JavaScript tracking code.

In my experience, it's best to integrate all website forms with HubSpot (regardless of whether you're using Ecommerce Bridge or not). This is usually as simple as installing your portal's HubSpot JavaScript tracking code. It's my understanding that simply installing this enables HubSpot to automatically create Contact records (with its best guess at source attribution and previous website interaction history) based on third-party and HubSpot form submissions. I can't find any HubSpot docs that reference this specifically for third-party forms (maybe @dennisedson can support here), but this is based on my experience using the platform. If you've already installed the HubSpot JavaScript tracking code on all website pages and you're still having problems with source attribution, there might be an underlying problem with your third-party form provider (e.g. maybe it's embedded as an iframe?).

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Zach

Re: Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features?

jcarvallo — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 14:12:54 GMT

Hi zaklein! The thing I've noticed is that my checkout form is only captured by hubspot when the user previously fills a hubspot form or uses the chatflow on the website. It is not inside an iframe and you can see it here: https://levicechocolat.com/checkout/

Thank you!

Re: Should we wait for ecommerce bridge v3? Is it necessary to use it for having all features?

zaklein — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:05:01 GMT

Hi @jcarvallo

Certainly a strange one. Tough to go any further on my end without knowing much about your e-commerce system bSale and without seeing the HubSpot portal.

All the best,

Zach