My Checkout Without Account Mod

[TPHoare]

Hi Joe again - Have sorted out the error above - missing ' around 'COWOA_account' I think. Emails are being sent but they don't reflect the change of status - so status could be 'On Order' but email just has no subject and no content.

[TPHoare]

By the way, I'm personally not worried about sending emails from PDFOrder Center, because we very rarely, if ever, send bulk emails and much prefer to update status from the normal ZenCart order admin module. So, don't burn the midnight oil just on my account.

[craftzombie]

Hi Joe,

I downloaded the new version but haven't been able to take a look at it yet. I am wondering, for those of us who are using the old version... is it better to switch to the new version? I have had several orders placed using the old version and everything seems to be working great. In the long run, are there any problems you can think of if I just leave it the way it is? Or did you foresee future problems (perhaps with the period at the end of the email addresses) and that is why you made a new version? Much thanks again!

[KGZotU]

TPHoare:

Hmm...can you tell me if there's the same problem with orders made from permanent accounts?

craftzombie:

It was mainly an issue of a minority of servers not liking the set up. I think that the only feature that I didn't have implemented before the SQL version was the extra drop e-mail, newsletter, coupon, gv, etc. drop down option by which you can elect to send only to permanent account holders.

If you were to move to the SQL version, the only issues you would face with the old COWOA accounts would be as you update their order status.

Hope this helps,
Joe

[godspeed27]

How much have people noticed sales go up w/ this?

[postergame]

KGZotU

It's great that you are working to solve the checkout with or without account options that should have been included with ZenCart all along. I am happily using CraftZombie's checkout without account module right now.

I have one layout suggestion. Your login page is a bit confusing and intimidating when one first see's it. Maybe it's because the third option of checkout without account is not emphasized with a bold title, or that the customer has to read in two directions to decide on a choice. I think since customers have 3 distinct choices, that the choices should carry equal weight. Here is a site with an easy to follow login page:

https://www.fanshawemusicstore.com/login.php

I am told it is an OSCommerce page.

Thanks for all your hard work!

[KGZotU]

Good advice. It's basically a hack of the split login page, and on that note I would definitely recommend split login over traditional if you're using this mod.

On my live store, I've been using a bold header which I think does the job. Anyone interested can see it in the wiki with the screen shots. But, based on your note that the mod is somewhat confusing I think I'll include this bold header by default.

It's hard for me to step back at this point and judge the two pages. I think there's a good possibility that your link is less confusing. I'm a bit reluctant, though, to implement it at this point. I might a bit later when I'm in a position to do conversion testing.

That said, I do appreciate template change suggestions. Anything that gives anyone else an idea of how to make their store better is good. (; At this point, however, I think I'm going to step back from the presentation and maintain the code. If anybody comes up with some good template changes, I'll host and link them from the wiki.

Thank you again,
Joe

PS: For that bold header, just use this definition of TEXT_RATHER_COWOA:

define('TEXT_RATHER_COWOA', '<strong>Don\'t Want an Account?</strong<br /><br />Would you rather check out without an account?  Click the button below to do so.<br />');

[postergame]

You're right, your live site is much better. That "Don't Want an Account" title stands out very well. Nice job.

[craftzombie]

How much have people noticed sales go up w/ this?

I have had increased sales, but I do not know if it is in fact this mod that did the trick or if it is some of the other things I have been doing to increase traffic, improve the speed of the site, etc. When I had the old version of this mod installed, most people checked out without creating an account (could tell back them with the period at the end of their email address).
That certainly tells me something.

[craftzombie]

Geez, I just wont shut up.....


Joe, I tested the Super Orders code changes and this is what happened:

1054 Unknown column 'COWOA_account' in 'field list'
in:
[SELECT customers_name, customers_email_address, date_purchased, COWOA_account FROM orders WHERE orders_id = '16666']
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