Publish “Buy now” buttons in your Telegram channel via a bot to make your readers follow them and proceed to the checkout within a special Telegram-styled storefront without leaving the messenger.
This functionality is available as of Shop-Script version 12.0.
How to set up
Setup both within Shop-Script and within Telegram is required.
In Shop-Script
Proceed to adding a new sales channel in section Shop-Script › Sales channels › Telegram:
Enter a name and an optional comment (both for your internal use, they will not be visible to your customers).
Select a storefront whose settings must be used in a Telegram-based storefront: available product types, default currency, available shipping & payment methods, main stock, display of out-of-stock products.
It can be: a) Your usual main storefront — a usual recommended option that requires no additional setup. b) A separate storefront for Telegram — create a new storefront with the required settings, mark it as hidden on the site, and then select it here. Even if it is marked as hidden on the site, it will work in Telegram anyway.
The selected storefront must have Headless API enabled. It is required to ensure the data exchange between the Telegram mini-app and Shop-Script. This option is usually enabled automatically when a new Telegram sales channel is created but it would be useful to check anyway that it is on — in section Shop-Script › Site › Headless API.
Set up the basic UI of the Telegram mini-app: select colors, interface elements’ border rounding radius, and the number of product displayed in a row, and select the Telegram storefront’s locale.
Set up the home page of the Telegram storefront: enable the display of promo cards, select a promo product set, and write a welcome text to be displayed ar the page bottom.
Set up the checkout: if necessary, disable the checkout in the messenger to make customers be redirected to a browser, select the required contact fields to be filled during the checkout, select a country to limit the order delivery region, enter the URL of your website’s page with the checkout and privacy terms.
In field Your public Telegram channel, enter your channel’s identifier starting with the @ character. If you do not have such a channel then simply enter any desired identifier, and Shop-Script will attempt to create it for you if the identifier is not occupied.
A channel identifier is required for the Shop-Script bot to post messages in your Telegram channel. If you do not want to post links to your products to a Telegram channel then leave this field empty; if necessary, you will be able to fill it in at any time later.
Save the settings.
In Telegram
If you do not have a publick Telegram channel then skip this part of the manual and simply invite messenger users to place orders via your Telegram bot.
Add the @WebasystShopScript_bot bot to the list of administrators of your channel with the message posting option enabled. It is a strict requirement by Telegram that a bot must be added as an administrator so that it is allowed to post “Buy now” buttons pointing to your Telegram storefront.
Done: your online store in Telegram has been set up!
How to post “Buy now” buttons to your channel and start selling via the messenger
Ensure that you have saved your public Telegram channel’s identifier in the Shop-Script sales channel’s settings. If this is not done then posting to your channel will not work.
Sign in with Webasyst ID. It must be done only once when you open your Telegram storefront for the first time.
Select your storefront in the bot’s interface.
Select the sales channel, which you have just set up, under the Open mini-app button.
Click the Open mini-app button.
The Telegram-styled storefront will open as it is displayed to customers with the only exception that, as administrator, you will also see the Post button below. On whichever storefront page you may click that button, its URL will be added to a “Buy now” button posted in your channel. You can post them for the home page, and for category pages, and for individual product pages.
Click on Post. In the popup dialog, enter a title and text for the message to be posted, select or upload an image, and set the caption text for the button.
Confirm the posting, and a new message will appear in your channel, with a button pointing to your Telegram storefront.
Click the posted button to proceed to your channel as your customers would do and place a test order.
See how your new order will appear in your Shop-Script backend interface as usual. To view all orders placed via Telegram, select filter ALl orders › Sales channels › [Telegram sales channel name].
If the “Post” button is not available
Check whether you have saved your Telegram channel’s identifier in the Shop-Script sales channel’s settings.
If the “Buy now” button has not appeared in your channel
Perhaps, the bot lacks sufficient permissions for your channel. Check that it is added to the channel as administrator and is allowed to post messages to it.
If an error message is displayed, send it to our support team, and we will help you with the setup.
Connecting your own bot instead of @WebasystShopScript_bot
In this case the channel readers will see your bot’s name (which you can write just as you like) instead of the default “Shop-Script” title next to posted “Buy now” buttons.
Your bot will have a button opening your Telegram storefront’s mini-app within the messenger.
Having a public Telegram channel in this case is not required. If you don’t have it then simply advertise your bot as an interaction point with your company within Telegram as you find convenient. But if you do have a channel then you can also post “Buy now” buttons via the @WebasystShopScript_bot bot, and customers will be redirected to your custom bot.
Your bot can also be linked to the Webasyst CRM app, which will alow you to chat with your clients using the built-in AI to quickly write nicely composed replies to their requests. With that app, you can also provide your clients with fast auto-replies to frequently asked questions.
How to create & set up your custom bot
Setup both within Shop-Script and within Telegram is required.
In Telegram
Open the built-in @BotFather bot in the messenger (it is used to manage all bots) and create a new bot with it by entering a name and an identifier (username) for your bot. A bot identifier must end with bot. If the identifier you have entered turns out to be occupied then try another one. Confirm the bot creation using a button.
Once the bot has been created, copy its token.
In Shop-Script
Proceed to the settings of the Telegram sales channel that you have already added, at Shop-Script › Sales channels › [Telegram sales channel name].
Paste the copied token into the Your bot’s token field. Click the button next the token field and wait until the bot’s identifier appears next to it. This will mean that the connection has been successfully established.
Save the sales channel settings.
After saving, the mini-app URL will appear in the corresponding field. Copy that URL.
Instead of using @BotFather, you can also open the bot’s settings via its profile editing menu.
In the bot settings, open the Enable Mini App menu and send the copied mini-app URL. This will add the Open button to your bot via which special version of your storefront will be opened within Telegram. The button will be displayed next to the bot’s name in Telegram’s chat list.
If necessary, you may also add a similar button next to the text field where users can send messages to your bot.
Open your bot’s settings via @BotFather and select menu item Bot settings › Menu button.
Send the mini-app URL and then a caption text for the button; e.g., Open, View products, or To shopping!
Done: your Telegram bot with a mini-app has been set up!
Now start directing customers to your bot as you find appropriate and encourage them to open your Telegram storefront and place orders.
Posting “Buy now” buttons on behalf of your custom bot
If you have set up your own bot and you have a public Telegram channel then post “Buy now” buttons in the same way, via the @WebasystShopScript_bot bot. In this case, the posted buttons will appear as if posted by your bot.
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