removing login info

I wanted to share something that I did to my site that seems to have helped the abandoned cart situation a little. I noticed a lot of people leaving once they got to the sign up page and I thought there has got to be a way to make them feel more comfortable with this. So this is what I have done....

Instead of making them feel like they are creating an account, why not make something else the more dominant theme on that page, which is that they are entering their billing information. All they are doing is entering their billing information and they happen to be adding a password to it.

On the login page, you have the login box on the left and the sign up box on the right. I changed the sign up box on the right to say:

"New Customers: Enter Billing Info---------------------------------
Welcome and thanks for visiting us! To continue, click on "enter billing information".
After you place an order with us, you'll always be able to track the status of your current orders and review your previous orders."

Instead of the usual button that says "sign up", my button now says "enter billing information". When you click on it, you go to the normal "create account" page, except my page has an image on the top that says "Enter Billing Information" and underneath that is says "PLEASE CONTINUE BY ENTERING YOUR BILLING INFORMATION BELOW."

Now I go on to offer a free gift with the order, they enter their info, they enter a password. Now I figured, once they got to the password field, they'd think "What the hell, I got this far. I might as well continue!" Underneath the password field, I remind them that they will not be spammed, this is solely for them to track current and previous orders, etc. An optional newsletter field follows. They hit enter and are taken to the "Success" page, where I have two buttons. One says "If you were in the process of checking out, click here to go to the shipping information page". The other button says "If you were not checking out, please click here to return to the home page."

The whole point is that you are taking the emphasis away from "signing up" and putting it more on "entering billing information". Although I myself am smart enough to see that I am "signing up" since I am entering a password, some people don't see things that way. I don't see a problem with this as long as I stand by my promise to not spam people, which I fully intend to stand by. I have had a lot of new sign ups all of a sudden and I have noticed through "user tracking" that people have been coming back, signing in, and checking on their order (even though they received the shipping email). It just seems there are many times in life where if you just word it a different way, it changes peoples perspectives. "I'm not fat, I'm just big-boned!"

Does anyone see a problem with this that I may have missed? I'm always ready for criticism, so lemme have it.....

(and a quick note: I had 6 people join before I made these changes. After the change...... 19.)

I think you have hit a great idea here. As a matter of fact I am going to share your post with a couple clients who might benefit from this change as well.

Thanks for sharing your solution !

Hi,
I want to make the login optional for my customers. While I would prefer that they all signed up for accounts, there are many in my client base that would not be happy about this. I am, however, a bit unclear as to how to edit the code, and in which files to edit the code to make the login optional. If anyone could give me clear instructions, I'd appreciate it.
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saddlebred

Hi,
I want to make the login optional for my customers. While I would prefer that they all signed up for accounts, there are many in my client base that would not be happy about this. I am, however, a bit unclear as to how to edit the code, and in which files to edit the code to make the login optional. If anyone could give me clear instructions, I'd appreciate it.
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

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Hi Melissa,

There is no way to make it optional. Zen Cart does not currently support this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by craftzombie

Hi Melissa,

There is no way to make it optional. Zen Cart does not currently support this.

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Okay, I understand that it is not currently supported, but I've seen mention, in this thread, about how to edit the code so that it is not required. The instructions were not clear. First there was mention of simpling editing 2 files, but no mention of which 2 to edit, then there was mention of editing the creat_account.php file, but there are a couple of files named creat_account.php located in different directories. So, now I'm really confused.
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

Craftzombie hit on exactly what I need. The majority of this thread was giving me a headache and I was wondering if I was going to find a solution to the create an account thing - something that would lose my company the majority of it's online customers.

I've got a mortuary florist shop to put up. These products need to be selected but they aren't going anywhere. The customers just want to select flowers for someone's service - usually because they are not local and want to pay their respects. They are probably not going to be a return customer in the near future and don't want the hassle of a login/password. That kind of thing makes a lot of our customers nervous. This is a tough industry. People don't want to face the fact that their family and friends died. When selecting flowers for a funeral they just want to choose the flowers, choose a sentiment or write one, enter their card and billing info and get a confirmation email. If they have to do much more than that the sale is lost.

All the assuming that the majority of vendors do have return customers may be correct but doesn't address the concerns of those of us who don't and neither does the arguing. Kudos to Craftzombie for getting to the heart of this for those of us who require another solution for our company's customers.

Craftzombie, this might work for me. At least it might make it a bit less intimidating. One question, though. On my login page, I have the login where they enter their email and password. then there is the form to fill out to creat an account, not a signup button. Where would I change this to be a button, instead of the form. I think customers wold be a bit suspicious if there was just the form there.
Thanks,
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saddlebred

Craftzombie, this might work for me. At least it might make it a bit less intimidating. One question, though. On my login page, I have the login where they enter their email and password. then there is the form to fill out to creat an account, not a signup button. Where would I change this to be a button, instead of the form. I think customers wold be a bit suspicious if there was just the form there.
Thanks,
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

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Melissa, I forogt to mention that I am using the "Split Login" mod found in the downloads section. This mod gives you a login box on the left and a sign up box on the right instead of the page you currently have. Then I changed the sign up box on the right to an "enter billing info" box.

the Split Login mod is here: http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=169

You could even put a note on the create account page that says something like "We have added a login feature for your convenience. Enter a password and you'll never have to see this page ever again! Yay!"

The "for your convenience" part is the heart of this whole topic. Although there are certain benefits for us obviously, the main benefit is and always has been FOR THE CUSTOMER. We just need a good way to let them know this.

"In case you ever come back......you can just log in"
"We don't want you to get carpal tunnel from too much typing..... you can just log in"
"We will bribe you with a coupon if you enter a password!"
"We will give you a free gift if you enter a password!"

"JUST ENTER A DAMN PASSWORD ALREADY! IT TAKES 2 SECONDS!"

Okay, maybe not the last one, but I can dream can't I?

(also, someone previously said that its too much of a hassle for customers to remember another password. am I the only one who uses the same password on every site?)