jmertens Posted December 31, 2002 Posted December 31, 2002 Some of my customers will not want to register or login. I checked the addons like guest checkout etc. and while they look nice, they still show too many choices, too many buttons. :roll: Here is what I did: - removed login text from 1st page - simplified the login page and made it look like a plain request for name and address - reduced password length to zero, that means like () not (0) - wrote optional on the password box It seems to work, I can order without password or more exactly with password field empty. The create_account_success tells them that if they didn't, they can always create an account later and even right away using the link in the top bar. Problem: if somebody knows a buyers email, he can login with a blank password. And emails can be guessed from our customers tech. support web site. Solution (I'll do it tomorrow): - write a little cron job to delete all rows where the password field ==() every day. Does anybody see anything wrong with that? I don't want to loose impulse buyers: the check-out of OSCopmmerce is long. All together, OSCommerce is great, the best, but a quick check-out addon would be great. We run e-commerce web sites since 1995 and tested dropped shopping carts rates with different types of checkouts, believe me, it should be short. Anyway, suggestions and critics are welcome and I will post a link to the test site as soon as I secure some stuff. Happy New-Year!
jficarra Posted January 1, 2003 Posted January 1, 2003 There are a few contributions to do what you're trying to do: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...ions,215/page,6 http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...ions,355/page,7 http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contri...ions,111/page,7 Check them out...it may just do the trick. -Jim
jmertens Posted January 1, 2003 Author Posted January 1, 2003 Thanks, I checked those addons and instead of simplifying, they add another choice to further confuse or delay the checkout decision. I want something more user friendly, something that does not scare people away by giving the impression that there is a registration process.
d-woo Posted January 30, 2003 Posted January 30, 2003 How did your modifications go? I am interested in knowing if you got everything to work?
jmertens Posted January 31, 2003 Author Posted January 31, 2003 I was busy with other jobs and that project is on the back burner. However, I got it to work relatively well. I used the autologon add-on and removed all references to password. As is, the logon is with a blank password but it is completely transparent to the user. With the cookie, it recognizes the user and he can see his history etc. It fills the form if he places a second order, easy. Bottom line: very user friendly, superb for impulse buyers. I have to fine tune it for security and to keep the users table reasonable. Maybe I'll go for a quick and dirty method like a cron job to clean up or better, I'll cut and paste some code from my other sites. For example, it would write all users who order to a new table . . . don't know. I also want to get as close as possible to a one click check-out. As it is, OS commerce asks the customers to many confirmations and details. How would you feel if a sales clerk kept asking you questions: are you certain that this is your shipping address? Do you really want it? Click here and we'll show you another screen. OK, only one more click to go. There, click again and maybe we'll process the order. I'll walk out of that store. OSCommerce is beautiful, elegant code, great admin tools but not customer oriented. I would not be able to write 10% of that script but I know how to sell online. I'll work on it again within 2 weeks. I am not certain that I will stay with OSCommerce, we'll see.
d-woo Posted January 31, 2003 Posted January 31, 2003 Jacques... You make some excellent points and I have slimlined my store as much as possible. One scenario that I run into, and I'm curious how your autologon handles this, is people who share computers at work to purchase on-line. With autologon, that would only work for people who have a dedicated PC/workstation, correct?
MikeF Posted January 31, 2003 Posted January 31, 2003 Hi, I have to agree with you about osc not being customer orientated when it comes to the order process. It is a great app and I hope it will get better in that regard. thank you for all your efforts! I dont know how to write code so the best I can do is compliment you (you deserve it) and I hope only the best for you, OSC and all the contributers. I will be making a donation. With the cookie, it recognizes the user and he can see his history etc. It fills the form if he places a second order, easy.Bottom line: very user friendly, superb for impulse buyers. I also want to get as close as possible to a one click check-out. As it is, OS commerce asks the customers to many confirmations and details. How would you feel if a sales clerk kept asking you questions: are you certain that this is your shipping address? Do you really want it? Click here and we'll show you another screen. OK, only one more click to go. There, click again and maybe we'll process the order. I'll walk out of that store. OSCommerce is beautiful, elegant code, great admin tools but not customer oriented. I would not be able to write 10% of that script but I know how to sell online. I'll work on it again within 2 weeks. I am not certain that I will stay with OSCommerce, we'll see.
Guest Posted February 7, 2003 Posted February 7, 2003 I agree thoroughly with the topcs brought up here. You can over close. The less questions, steps, and clicks... the better. Something approaching Amazon's 1 click model would be awfully nice. And amazon uses cookies to detect when you visit again, too. But when you go to do anything secure, like checkout, or view your account details, it only asks to verify your password (1 field) to make sure it's you. Or, if it's not you, you enter your email address and password (2 fields), or if you don't have an account, click here to create one... They have pretty darn well thought out (and tested!!) process flow. It's too complex for, say, a 1 product shop, but most osC shops aren't one product shops. Carefully analyzing and duplicating the streamlining Amazon has done would be a good starting point for osC. Then grow from there with novel forms of optimization.
jalil Posted February 10, 2003 Posted February 10, 2003 Something approaching Amazon's 1 click model would be awfully nice. If I am not mistaken the 1 click model is patented by Amazon. However it's nice for OSC to have sort of fast checkout without creating account, it has to be customer friendly. Regards, Jalil Please give your rating on OSCommerce at FreebiesCafe.com, a search directory for free scripts, software, services and resources.
Guest Posted February 10, 2003 Posted February 10, 2003 Something approaching Amazon's 1 click model would be awfully nice. If I am not mistaken the 1 click model is patented by Amazon. Right. And that's why I said approach Amazon's 1-click system, I didn't say "implenent", heh. :) You can always approach it, or just do it differently. You only violate a patent directly, by copying it's means to an end, you can't violate the 'spirit' of the it. That's why reverse engineering thrives. It's much like how you can put an article in your own words, and it's "yours" in a legal sense. To violate copyright, you must copy it directly -- directly lift the text. Here's the patent. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/amazonpatent.html It's pretty darn specific. To get close legally, you just remove superfluous steps, without actually creating an identical 1-click system that obviates the shopping cart model. However it's nice for OSC to have sort of fast checkout without creating account, it has to be customer friendly. Jalil Sure is! Hope to see less and less clicks and interaction needed in the checkout process.
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