Creating Customer Accounts online

[pinkequine]

I can see from the posts that this is a comon question but anyway, I have set up a website with a registration form on it, I do still want people to be able to access clearance items so I need the current checkout process, but the way I have done it looks a bit Naff really and I wondered if I could link the register now button direct to a different set of checkout pages that will still produce the same result, i.e a downloaded set of customer information so I can create an offline account, but without it looking like an order (or asking for payment info).

I have set up the site on www.equinediscountclub.com

Any suggestions on making it look presentable would be greatly appreciated I am not sure that people will sign up to the site looking like it does.

[leehack]

It is not possible to separate checkouts no, but you can setup accounts from an order, once they have made one, so perhaps a products asking would they like an account is the best way for you.

[pinkequine]

Hi Leehack

Thanks, I have done that with the product, so there is a register now button, I just thought it looked a bit messy.

There aren't any other sites I have ever signed up to that require you register by checking out, most have a sign up facility.

oh well, I suppose it will have to do for now. I know you have answered other posts on this subject, I do think even a basic customer account facility would be a worthy addition to Actinic (even if they can't view orders online).

We have thousands of visitors to our website and only a small percentage will purchase, the others are potential customers that we would like to capture email addresses etc to be able to mail them with offers etc. I really like Actinic, certainely its back end functions are really easy to use, but I think a customer having to go through checkout just to make it easier for the shop owner to create accounts is a real shame for an otherwise really slick looking piece of software.

[parklifeclothes]

[QUOTE=pinkequine;232257] small percentage will purchase, the others are potential customers that we would like to capture email addresses etc to be able to mail them with offers etc. [QUOTE]

Why not add a subscribe box to your pages, then you would get many people signing up, we have used verticalresponse, very easy to add and customise and you can build your newsletters in it.

[leehack]

It is a bit clunky i agree and one of the areas they will need to address, its just not right towards the top of the list. Whether your customer has to fill out an application form or buy a product, they will be providing almost identical details. Perhaps you should have a form built capturing the required details and then manually create the accounts. That in essence is the issue at this present time, if you take it outside of the actinic checkout process, you then have to do it manually, rather than use the create account shortcut.

Why not use one of the definable field in the checkout to ask if they would like to sign up for an account, that is then part of the normal process. Another way is to have a newsletter and grab email addresses for that. It sounds to me that you don't actually want customer accounts, you want marketing opportunities, i don't think you should confuse these 2 areas personally, they are very different IMO.

[parklifeclothes]

Just had another look at the questions you are asking to set up an account and should I want to set up an account I would be put off by the Household Income question, I understand that it may be that many browsers might not be able to afford all that you offer but it isn't really that relevant a question. Some of my best customers aren't rolling in it but they buy anyway so why risk putting them off?

You are also offering under 18's the chance to apply, is this such a good idea? I would expect one or two angry parents calling you up for an explanation.
Just my opinion

[RuralWeb]

We have thousands of visitors to our website and only a small percentage will purchase

Im not surprised TBH it looks like an abandoned site to me. Most sections are empty - I would check your stats because I cannot see how they are correct!!

There is also NO WAY ON EARTH i would register on your site asking questions like that.

[pinkequine]

Hi, perhaps I should have explained, it is an add on to my main site, not abandoned but a work in progress..

Our main site is www.pinkequine.com we wanted a separate clearance area to keep it out of the main site. This is the site we get thousands of visitors to, not the one I am talking about here.

I just didn't want to clog up my order processing with loads of zero transactions for customer accounts, hence the project.

I agree about the question about household income, it was one of the ones I wasn't sure about adding, but the rest are valid since certain product ranges will interest certain individuals/age groups/disciplines and competitiveness.

It is a fun product range, so some of the questions are a little tongue in cheek, but nevertheless they do have a purpose when marketing.

Although this site is obviously live, it is still a test site and no one knows its there at the moment. When official it will merely be a link to this area from the main site and vice versa.

Also as regards under 18's we get lots of kids look at our website, they can still enter the draw and eventually we will have some fun kids stuff on the site this is why the filter is there so they will be filtered out of any mailings. Having said this from a stats point of view its still very valuable to be able to categorize the under 18's as advertising will be geared towards publications that reach our main market. We like to be on xmas and birthday lists.

[RuralWeb]

so some of the questions are a little tongue in cheek, but nevertheless they do have a purpose when marketing.

They may have a purpose to you but you would not get me signing up. Most people would on want to give an email - you dont say what advantage there is to me to sign up??

As Darren says you should be using a news letter for marketing. Actinic is ecommerce software not marketing software.

[pinkequine]

Dear RuralWeb

There is a draw for £200 worth of vouchers, this is the advantage. I guess sparkly browbands may not be your thing, but we have quite a following!

Also we do have a newsletter, but the purpose of this site is to have a clearance section that is log in only.

[RuralWeb]

Oh well you know best

[pinkequine]

I was not meaning to offend you Ruralweb, I only wanted some guidance as to how I can make the functionality work better.

However I do thank everyone for their feedback and will take on board your comments

[RuralWeb]

Just let people apply for a login without having to answer loads of questions is my advice. Yes Actinic is clunky in its account system but thats the way it is.

Your post reminded me of a horsey site I built a few years ago http://www.abitdifferent.co.uk/ - which Ive just checked and found not working too well (site owners do play about too much sometimes) so I will contact them and get it sorted.

[Jan]

I was sure I posted a reply to this a couple of days ago, here it is again ... sorry mods if you deleted it.

If you set up your product so that it the answer to each question gives links to a specific hidden product (using the associated product method) then you could use the mailing list features in Actinic to extract the people you want to target.

You email clause needs to be reworded :

"Please note, by signing up to this membership, you are selecting to receive emails of outstanding offers from ourselves and selected manufacturing partners. Please uncheck this box if you would like us to email you further information about this"

Firstly the box isn't checked, secondly you need to separate allowing emails from you and emails from third parties, I would accept emails from a membership I was signing up for but never from selected third parties. There is no way for people to not agree to emails, so it's a slightly confusing box.

You also need to allow people to decline answering the questions by adding an option for that in the dropdowns, the income one will definately put people off and are you really going to only email people with a really high income. That question and your offer of emails from selected third parties, makes it look like you are collecting a mailing list to sell on, which you probably aren't.

I think that there is an option somewhere to set the quantity always to 1,might be worth using this.

I think you should do as Malc said though and use a mailing list instead, find somehing that just accepts the email address but then allows people to come along and add more details if they choose to. That keeps it all under one site and will be IMO more likely to get people. Then the enthusiastic ones can give you more info and the others will just have to have every email you send out.

Regards,

[RuralWeb]

If you use the vertical response that darren uses you can setup custom fields which can then be sorted into lists so you can target your emails. There is a free trial so its worth a look.