Importing orders from Kickstarter can be tricky, the data that's exported from Kickstarter doesn't cleanly and easily map to Shopify fields.  The columns that are exported may need some data manipulation as they are either missing data or they may be formatted incorrectly.  This article is intended to help you try and setup your data mapping so you can import your orders to Shopify.  You may have to make some changes to your file importing your backer data.

Export From Kickstarter

This first thing you're going to want to do is ensure you've exported your data correctly. From the Kickstarter Backer Report make sure to export your backer data using the SKU per line item. EZ Importer needs each order to be on a separate row, this is how we determine if an order has multiple line items.

One other issue that may arise is if you have extra rewards.  Every row that is going to be imported as a line item on your Shopify order MUST be on a new line in your CSV file with the same backer number.  You read more about how this works here.

Review Your Kickstarter Data Mapping

There are some fields that you may need to change or update before you try to import your backer data.  By default Shopify does require a small set of fields on all imports, mainly the line item price, line item title and line item quantity.  You can not import any data into Shopify without these fields.  You'll also need to ensure the quantity is greater than 0 or Shopify will return an error on import. 

Let's start off by paying close attention to the following fields:

1. name
2. line_item.title
3. line_item.price
4. line_item.quantity

You will need to make sure these fields exist in your CSV file before import.  We've seen some CSV files missing the quantity field, if your file is missing a quantity you can add a column with the quantity.  Some Kickstarters have the same quantity for every product they're shipping to backers, if this the case you can setup a default field for the quantity. 

We've also seen some exports missing a price field, so check to make sure you have a column in your CSV file called Pledge Amount. If Pledge Amount or another price field is not present in your CSV file you'll have to add a field that you can map to the line_items.price field.  We recommend using a field in your CSV file.  If your Kickstarter campaign does not have a price, you can create a price column and set the values to 0. This will not cause a problem.

You will also need to map the line item title to a column in your CSV file.  We recommend using the Reward Title column.  If you do not have this column in your CSV file or if you don't want to use this column you can add another column in your CSV file with your products title or use the link by SKU option explained below (assuming you have your product SKU's setup in Shopify).

Mapping Your Backer Name and Creating Customers

One big issue we've seen merchants run into when importing their Kickstarter backer data is with the backer name.  This is probably the biggest cause of confusion so it's important you pay attention to this field.  The Kickstarter backer file should have a column with your backers name, this is typically a single column with the backers first and last name in a single column (we've seen it called Backer Name in the past).  This causes a mapping issue because Shopify expects you to have a two columns for your customers name, a first name column and a last name column.  If you try to map the customer name column to the customer.first_name field in Shopify your customers name will look to be duplicated on the import.  Meaning the name will display twice when you look at their customer record.  You will need to split the name column into two separate columns.  

Splitting the name into two separate columns can be tricky, we recommend this article to help you walk through the process, https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/KnowledgeBase/6142-separate-contacts-first-name-and-last-name-in-excel?lang=en_US.  We recommend you back up your original file before making any changes and please verify that all backer names were split properly before moving forward with your import.

Mapping the Product SKU, Address and Fulfillment Status

Mapping the additional fields in your backer report may be tricky as they are not cleanly and consistently labeled.  This makes it hard to put together a default template that will make it easy for you to map your files.   Below are some of our notes on some of the other complications with mapping your Kickstarter backer data to Shopify.

1. We have not seen a consistent set of column names in the Kickstarter CSV file for these fields. If you want to import your backer shipping and billing address you'll have to map them. We have a set of default field names setup for your shipping address, you'll just have to activate the fields if you want them to be imported. Click here to read more about Address fields.
2. If you have your products SKU setup in Shopify and want to map the product to the order, you'll need to map the SKU in your CSV file. You can add the column and the map the field. The SKU fields MUST be associated with your products in Shopify and they must match EXACTLY as SKU's are case-sensitive.  Click here to read more about mapping your SKU.
3. It's assumed you will not be importing your orders as Fulfilled but in the case that you do want your orders to be marked as fulfilled you'll need to add a fulfilled column to your CSV file. You'll want to add the value fulfilled to the column and map it to the fulfillment_status field on the Line Items tab.  Alternatively you can setup a default field for the line_item.fulfillment_status field if all your orders are going to be marked fulfilled.
4. By default Shopify marks all imports as Paid. If you want to import your orders as unpaid you'll have to add a column to your CSV file and map it to the financial_status field on the Order Details tab. You'll want to add the value pending to each order.  Again, you can use a default field field here if all of your orders need to be imported with the same financial_status value.

Below is a sample import from a Kickstarter backer report file. As you can see we have the customer name, address and products mapped as well as the default fields.

As you can see from the image above we have everything we need to start fulfilling our backers orders. The order was imported as Unfulfilled, we have the customer name and email address as well as the shipping and billing address..  You can't see it in the above screenshot but we also have properly separated and mapped the name in our backer file to customer.first_name and customer.last_name.

If you need more help mapping your CSV feel free to reach out and we can give you a hand.