spaceman Posted September 22, 2002 Posted September 22, 2002 I know a mod exists for this (I implemented it, but it still needed a fair amount of tweaking to get right), but I feel that many shoppers have a marginal or major distrust of being 'forced' to open an account prior to being able to make a purchase. I think the reason shoppers may not want to open an account are: 1. Yet more usernames and passwords! 2. The fear that they are adding their email addresses to yet another database which might mean more spam. OK, so our customer should be encouraged to create an account, but if they just want to breeze through, make a purchase, and then walk away - fine! Let them - don't put barriers to purchasing in their way.
Mark Evans Posted September 22, 2002 Posted September 22, 2002 OK, so our customer should be encouraged to create an account, but if they just want to breeze through, make a purchase, and then walk away - fine! Let them - don't put barriers to purchasing in their way. This should be much easier to do once the new checkout proceedure has been commited :) Mark Evans osCommerce Monkey & Lead Guitarist for "Sparky + the Monkeys" (Album on sale in all good record shops) --------------------------------------- Software is like sex: It's better when it's free. (Linus Torvalds)
yoja Posted September 22, 2002 Posted September 22, 2002 This should be much easier to do once the new checkout proceedure has been commited Do you have any idea how long this wil take? (weeks/months)
yoja Posted September 22, 2002 Posted September 22, 2002 This should be much easier to do once the new checkout proceedure has been commited Do you have any idea how long this wil take? (weeks/months)
spaceman Posted November 21, 2002 Author Posted November 21, 2002 As mentioned in my opening message, I have successfully implemented a non-member checkout procedure in my implementation of oscommerce at www.softwareclearance.com.au. I've been monitoring the proportion of customers who choose _not_ to become a member, and those that do. Approximately, the figures are: 30% choose not to become members, about 70% do (sample size: about 220 customers) I wonder how many of these 30% would still have bought from the store if membership was compulsory? Bottom line: I think this is strong evidence that a non-membership option is important. I heard recently that the idea has been dropped from the current feature list - is this true? It's would be a pity if it is.
Ian-San Posted November 21, 2002 Posted November 21, 2002 I have more than 950 customers in one store and all but a few are Guests. The wierd thing is that the only difference between a Guest and a Registered customer is that for a Guest, I apply a Random password and surpress the email confirmation letter. I also allow Guests to get member discounts, to register many times as a Guest using the same email address (when they do this their earlier Guest Account becomes marked with an @_ in front of the email address and name fields to prevent problems), I also allow Guests to covert to Member accounts by using the password forgotten feature. (Although I do not allow members to register as Guests). And also strange is that more than 50% of my Guest Accounts have subscribed to my Newsletter. Can anyone work out the customer's logic here ???? Ian-san Flawlessnet
spaceman Posted November 22, 2002 Author Posted November 22, 2002 LOL! Interesting post, Ian-San. I think what you're demonstrating is that Guests can be gently nudged towards membership - but those same Guests wouldn't choose to become 'full' members straight away. I'm a huge usability fan. If I go to make a purchase in a shop, and I'm told by the cashier that in order to make a purchase I have to first become a member, then I'd tell the cashier where to go and leave. So why should online buying being different? To a lot of people, 'membership' implies some sort of commitment or responsibility, like when you become a member of a club. When I make a purchase I just want to make a purchase - I don't want any commitment or responsibity, and (credit card records and in-store surveillance cameras aside), and I'd probably prefer to remain anonymous. Don't get me wrong - personally I'm quite happy becoming a 'member' of various sites in order to make purchases - but let's get real. A lot of people are genuinely put off by the membership concept online - especially if it's a site that they've just stumbled across with no track record that they're aware of. Oh, and another thing - the worldwide anti-spam sentiment is massive and growing. I believe that some people (rightly or wrongly) equate 'membership' with an increased chance of being spammed. Bottom line - osCommerce should have a non-member checkout option!
johnglobal Posted November 22, 2002 Posted November 22, 2002 Spaceman how did you do the <$5 ? Did you create a <$5 category and manually put all the products in there or does it do it on the fly ? Thanks John
spaceman Posted November 22, 2002 Author Posted November 22, 2002 We created <$5 as a category, and then manually copied <$5 products in there from other categories. Would be kinda cool if it was dynamic. Maybe another one for the suggestion box? But I'd prefer non-member checkout to happen first...!
mattice Posted November 22, 2002 Posted November 22, 2002 Would be kinda cool if it was dynamic. Maybe another one for the suggestion box? But I'd prefer non-member checkout to happen first...! that is really simple to do. Hardcode a link in your (categories) box that has an URL that points to advanced_search.php with the additional price / search parameters added. HTH Mattice "Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them"
elari Posted November 22, 2002 Posted November 22, 2002 Hi Spaceman may you provide info or the modif file used for non member shop :) my shop look like that before but was 100% javascript caddy since i work with osc i lost more than 50% customers....
Ian-San Posted November 22, 2002 Posted November 22, 2002 If anyone is interested, I have posted my version of a Guest Account here: http://www.oscommerce.com/downloads.php/co...ions,704/type,3 Ian-san Flawlessnet
elari Posted November 23, 2002 Posted November 23, 2002 thanks Ian i will try to work on it for nov snap
xaraya Posted November 23, 2002 Posted November 23, 2002 Thanks Ian!... perfect timing. I've been combing these forums for the last 24 hours for any last minute help and contribs... I have a shop that's about to go live... again. The only shop I've ever done. Hopefully not the last :wink:
Ian-San Posted November 23, 2002 Posted November 23, 2002 If anyone has any experience of the New Checkout System, I would be interested to know in due course if this method of Guest Account will work with it. You should also be aware, that Guests are recorded in the Customer Database - so you must have some data protection issues to consider ie. dont send mailshots to Guests etc. This is why I left in the Newsletter option - so if they subscribe they are de facto giving permission to store their data, if they do not then their entry must be deleted in due course. Ian-san Flawlessnet
spaceman Posted November 24, 2002 Author Posted November 24, 2002 Hi Spaceman may you provide info or the modif file used for non member shop :) my shop look like that before but was 100% javascript caddy since i work with osc i lost more than 50% customers.... I used strider's mod here: http://www.oscommerce.com/downloads.php/co...ions,312/type,3 BUT, (no disrespect to strider who did 95% of the hard work), so I still had to make a fair few changes. You have been warned!
antinomia Posted November 25, 2002 Posted November 25, 2002 Don't get me wrong - personally I'm quite happy becoming a 'member' of various sites in order to make purchases - but let's get real. A lot of people are genuinely put off by the membership concept online - especially if it's a site that they've just stumbled across with no track record that they're aware of. ... Bottom line - osCommerce should have a non-member checkout option! Or, get rid of the 'member' idea altogether, sign everyone up without a big to-do, and just email them a random password when they complete their first purchase. :?:
johnglobal Posted November 25, 2002 Posted November 25, 2002 Clever Mattice, will try that. Is it easy to hardcode links into the categories box, without messing it up ? Thanks John
Guest Posted January 16, 2004 Posted January 16, 2004 As mentioned in my opening message, I have successfully implemented a non-member checkout procedure in my implementation of oscommerce at www.softwareclearance.com.au. Bottom line: I think this is strong evidence that a non-membership option is important. I heard recently that the idea has been dropped from the current feature list - is this true? It's would be a pity if it is. I tried using various keywords to find a contribution for "non-member checkout" ... to no avail. Do you mind sharing the steps of your procedure?
Guest Posted January 16, 2004 Posted January 16, 2004 Sorry for the previous posting. I had missed that there were two pages of replies. I found the contribution "non-member checkout processing v1.0" (http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,215) but it doesn't seem to be tested with the latest version (i.e.: Files in this release were last updated on 07-12-2002 and are based on 20020709 cvs) . I would appreciate if you could highlight the "fair few changes" you had to make. Thanks in advance
Guest Posted January 16, 2004 Posted January 16, 2004 Me again, I just discovered by fluck (the search function in "contributions" is not very accurate) a "Purchase Without Account" contribution -- http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,355 I haven't tried to install it yet.
Guest Posted January 16, 2004 Posted January 16, 2004 Me again, I just discovered by fluck (the search function in "contributions" is not very accurate)Hint 1: search for one word at a time, e.g. search for "without" rather than "purchase without account". Hint 2: use the forum search to search the two Contributions forums. Forum search is more robust and can handle complicated situations like multiple words in a reasonable fashion. There is also a post on this subject in Tips & Tricks. However, it requires active development to get to work (i.e. no one has contributed it yet). Hth, Matt
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