Show shipping before signup?

[shiftlocked]

Wonder if anyone here has some thoughts about showing shipping before a customer sign up or keep it till after? If someone has to sign up for shipping costs then surely thats another potential lead even if they dont purchase from you the first time around?

 

Whats the score with shipping modules for the uk? Does anyone have some suggestions as to what they use?

[choosealogin]

My opinion is that it's better to post the info somewhere. I think people might turn around and avoid the hassle when they see that they need to fill out a "big form" in order to see the "real" total.

 

If someone has to sign up for shipping costs then surely thats another potential lead even if they dont purchase from you the first time around?

 

...valid point. I think, though, that if people sign up just to see the total that the likelihood of giving bogus info might go up, just to rush through and get the total. :huh:

[cannuck1964]

The difficult part about this is finding where the person lives. Without knowing how can an estimate be computed? The only thing I could think of is to use the IP and generate a very approximate shipping cost. If the information about the customer is entered, then shipping costs can reflect the true vaules, else, that will always be an approximation and people may be thrown off if once they sign in, the shipping costs rise dramactically....

 

cheers,

Peter M

[Guest]

how about using one of the shipping estimator contributions? It can be integrated with the shopping cart page or box and so you enter the zipcode/country and you get pretty good results.

[shiftlocked]

At the moment it shouldnt be that much of an issue to show shipping costs because im keeping things UK mainland for the time being until things expand.

 

I like the sound off the Estimate shipping costscontribution but I cant visualise so Id prefer to see a screen shot of it first.

 

Suppose i can setup a 2nd store just for testing mods on and then decide what to implement.

 

Ive had a couple of people already rush through the form to get to the shipping totals. Perhaps a link to a static page on the cart page or something like that.

[Guest]

users don't click links. they're so obsessed with shipping rates they fly through the checkout process and completely miss the "Shipping & Returns" link in the information box, led alone the "Estimated Shipping Costs" on the shopping cart page

 

from my experience, anyone that's so concerned with shipping rates that they don't bother to look in the utterly most obvious spots of an ecommerce site, they are unlikely to follow through with their purchase anyway

[shiftlocked]

I know when Im shopping I like to add to cart and then see the shipping costs but thats only my opinion when I go shopping. Its a PITA to sign up to get shipping costs but thats as a consumer.. As a retailer Im thinking that the best bet is to stop the fake sign ups and people rushing in with a simple method of showing shipping when an item is added to the cart?

 

Whats are others thoughts?

[Guest]

i agree with you there, i always look for a shipping rate page before i even add anything to my cart.

 

i've installed estimated shipping and the click offs didn't decrease by any percent. of course, there's always the option of throwing it at them when they hit the shopping cart page though; but then you have to worry about the fickle shoppers who think they can get a deal elsewhere (as many of you probably know, unless your shipping is FREE it's too expensive!); many people that go through the checkout process will still buy the item if your rates are reasonable, just because they made it that far.

 

it's one of those things that have to be tried on trial and error to see what suits your customer-base the best