"vote" for new products

[jxm28788]

I am starting a new website soon which features a wide range of products. Due to the very high costs of stocking the entire range from scratch (and not knowing how well it will sell) I am going to start with a subset of the range.

However, I would like the option of being able to get the customers to 'vote' for products they would like added.

I'm thinking along the lines of having the products listed along with the 'in stock' items, but instead of having an 'add to basket' button they would have a 'vote for me' button (obviously with some explaining test next to the item.

What is the best way of doing this? I guess it could be done by creating zero value items, and instead of calling it 'product 1' I could call it 'vote for product 1', have the description explain something like 'we do not currently stock this item, but if you would like us to stock it in future please add this to your basket to vote for it - we will start stocking items that receive the most votes'. THe problem with this is it's a bit messy, and the results would have to be collated by hand by reading the votes off the orders as they come in.

So, is there a clever way of doing this?

[cdicken]

A better way to do this may be to not do it with Actinic, and just have a separate page with a mail form and a list of product to vote for on them...

Alternatively, I would use a non-optional component with the voteable products to include the explanatory text into the HTML, and do make a nice clear entry in the shopping cart (and the packing list) that this item is a vote rather than an order.

[Mike Hughes]

You can do it as you desribe, but rather than using an 'add to cart' button, just submit the product name as a hidden value to a PHP page (or whatever scripting language you want) that emails you the vote and and redirects the voter to a 'thank you' page.

Most hosts support PHP and it's pretty easy to do.

Mike

[jxm28788]

You can do it as you desribe, but rather than using an 'add to cart' button, just submit the product name as a hidden value to a PHP page (or whatever scripting language you want) that emails you the vote and and redirects the voter to a 'thank you' page.

You lost me after the word 'just'...

[Mike Hughes]

Can you run php scripts on your server ?

Let me know if you can and I'll see if I can pull something together for you.

Mike

[jxm28788]

um, pinbrook can I run php scripting on my server?

[Mike Hughes]

I'm assuming the answer is yes. Here's what to do:

1. Create a file called voteform.php with the following in it:

<?php
# This is the vote emailer.
# This line prevents values being entered in a URL:

if ($HTTP_SERVER_VARS['REQUEST_METHOD'] != "POST")
{echo "<META http-equiv='refresh' content='0;URL=http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/index.html'>";}

# Define Fixed variables

$mailto = "votes@lowcarbgoodies.co.uk";
$subject = "New Product Vote";
$From = "votes@lowcarbgoodies.co.uk";

# setup the information to send in the email

$safename = stripslashes($HTTP_POST_VARS['productname']);
$ip = $_SERVER[REMOTE_ADDR];
$return=$HTTP_REFERER;


# Create the email

$message = "1 Vote for: $safename\n\nVote came from IP address: $ip\n\n";
$headers = "From: " . $From . "\n" . "Return-Path: " . $From . "\n" . "Reply-To: " . $From . "\n";
mail($mailto,$subject,$message,$headers);

# Redirect the voter back to the page they came from

echo "<META http-equiv='refresh' content='0;URL=".$return."'>";

exit;
?>

2. ftp the voteform.php file into your /acatalog directory

3. Create a new product template by taking one with the layout you want to use but make the following changes to it:

a. Comment out the line that has <Actinic:Actions> in it by putting <!-- at the start and --> at the end.

b. Put this text after the commented out line:

</form>
<form method=post action="voteform.php">
<input name="productname" type=hidden value="NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTNAME">
<input type=submit value="VOTE">
</form>

There's only one solid rule about using this. You must always place any real product before the 'vote' products. This is because the changes stop the actinic add to cart form, so any real products placed after it won't be orderable.

I have tested this on my system and it worked fine for me.

Mike

Final comments:

i) I just returned the user to page they came from for simplicty. It's easily changed though.
ii) Change the email addresses if you want to. They're self explanatory.
iii) I've logged the IP address of the voter in the email so you can delete any emails where the voter is cheating by voting several times.

[pinbrook]

Yes you can run PHP on our server. We "just" need to install it for you.

[NormanRouxel]

Mike / jxm

If you comment out the NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTFORMBEGIN and NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTFORMEND in your special Vote template you won't need that leading </form> as above. I'd also recommend commenting out NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTQUANTITY as well.

Then you can use Quantity on Product Page type sections (without the Single Add To Cart button) without having to worry about putting these Vote products at the end. They can go anywhere.

Norman

[Mike Hughes]

Thanks Norman,

I wasn't sure if the leading </form> was needed or not. I remembered from the past (probably in V4) that the actinic <form> placement was a bit messy so decided to include it anyway.

Mike

[Marci]

Or... you can use a simple PHP Rating system nested in <iframe> tags within your product template... and remove the "add to order" button... thus displaying the product on your site with a "rating" option. Ask your customers to rate a product with regards their opinion on stocking it with 1 being don't bother and 5 being stock it please! It'll then display the average rating (thus average interest in the product) alongside the number of peeps who voted for it so you can assess how popular the product will be.

It's something I have implemented over at http://store.over-clock.com

[jxm28788]

How would I go about doing that? Nice store btw, although very similar to www.overclockers.co.uk...

[Marci]

S'wot happens when you get multiple businesses in the same field all using Actinic.

[Marci]

And to do it, find a free php rating system (google php rating script), and stick it in your product templates between <iframe> tags as I stated above...

[jxm28788]

S'wot happens when you get multiple businesses in the same field all using Actinic.

overclockers is on actinic?? I've ordered from them before but the checkout didn't jump out at me as being an actinic checkout. I wonder if they've used a 3rd party checkout? or redesigned the actnic one? or maybe I just wasn't paying attention...