How do I contact people with abandoned carts?

[smcelligott]

This may sound rather obscure, but I would like to notified when "forgotten password" is used. I often see on "Who's Online" that a customer with something in his/her cart is at Forgotten Password, but then they don't log in. Therefore I can't contact them via the abandoned cart module (forgotten the name). I'm thinking that we can contact the customer with a more personalised follow-up asking if they were having problems with the process. Also when an e-mail is not generated (perhaps the customer used a different e-mail address for their original purchase), I'd like to follow through again with a more personalised query about what they were trying to do.

I've gone through e-mail options and I can see where I can get copies of nearly every other system generated e-mail but not the Forgotten Password query . . . any ideas?

Cheers, Seán

[DrByte]

The "forgotten password" feature specifically is only ever sent to the customer because it's nobody else's business what their password is, including yours. Plus, sending you copies of that would make you responsible for any misuse of their account.

Why not use the Recover Cart plugin, or similar tool, to follow up abandoned carts?

[schoolboy]

Depending on your marketplace (location), there is also the issue of Data Privacy.

Unless the visitor has specifically indicated willingness to receive correspondence from you (usually by signing up to the newsletter), you might be in breach of a Data Privacy law.

[smcelligott]

The "forgotten password" feature specifically is only ever sent to the customer because it's nobody else's business what their password is, including yours. Plus, sending you copies of that would make you responsible for any misuse of their account.

Why not use the Recover Cart plugin, or similar tool, to follow up abandoned carts?

Nobody else's business? In YOUR opinion I suppose . . . well, you probably know what they say about opinions . . . ;)

Using Master Password, I can do anything I want with a customer's account, so really seeing a temporary password that might be changed within a couple of minutes of the e-mail being sent, is a pretty trivial thing, in MY opinion - but again opinions here are irrelevant. I'm not asking whether this should be done, what I should have asked is, if anyone has done this, or has some advice as to how I might accomplish what I intend to do.

This is a different issue that abandoned carts (though there may be some overlap) because the customer may or may not actually log in and put something in his/her cart. I am assuming though that if a customer clicks on forgotten password, they were at least contemplating a purchase. I just want to make sure that if they were, and they haven't done so - that I am doing everything in my power to facilitate that purchase.

Thanks Schoolboy for the warning . . . but I think our privacy policy covers us. I would categorise this as normal correspondence relating to the use of our store - in the same way that a customer who opts out of receiving newsletters will still receive an order confirmation, a shipping notification, or (LOL) a forgotten password e-mail - so it 'should' be exempt from the data privacy laws intended to prevent exploitation of the data.

So any ideas . . .

[Design75]

Thanks Schoolboy for the warning . . . but I think our privacy policy covers us. I would categorise this as normal correspondence relating to the use of our store - in the same way that a customer who opts out of receiving newsletters will still receive an order confirmation, a shipping notification, or (LOL) a forgotten password e-mail - so it 'should' be exempt from the data privacy laws intended to prevent exploitation of the data.

It doesn't matter what you put in you privacy policy, it doesn't mean anything if it is against the law. In other words if you say in your Privacy policy You are allowed to contact the customer when you like, and your laws say you can not then you are in trouble.

[smcelligott]

It doesn't matter what you put in you privacy policy, it doesn't mean anything if it is against the law. In other words if you say in your Privacy policy You are allowed to contact the customer when you like, and your laws say you can not then you are in trouble.

Thanks for the legal advice. Apparently Australia is not quite as litigious as some of the places where people on this forum live. Another great reason to call Australia home, I suppose. I'm quite happy to deal with the legal, moral, and ethical repercussions for my decisions.

But since presumably very few amongst us are experts in Australian or international law, it probably makes sense to confine this discussion to matters of code (which we might know something about), rather than law (which is quite likely outside of our areas of expertise).

So back on topic, does anyone have any coding ideas as to how we can accomplish this task?

[schoolboy]

Naturally you will interpret local laws accordingly, and I trust you will make a sensible decision.

Here in the UK, the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) is getting very sticky about Data Privacy and you may have heard of the "Cookie Law" enacted by the European Union in May last year.

I have had two clients approached by the ICO in recent months, alerting them to the fact that they do not (yet) have a "cookie advisory system" on their websites. The upper end of the fine is £50,000, and while it is extremely unlikely they will be prosecuted - let alone convicted and fined - the "advice" received from the ICO has prompted both to take action.

While this forum is chiefly interested in providing "technical" advice, it is helpful for posters to remind people to be aware of related issues when operating in an eCommerce environment.

You may want to visit: http://www.privacy.gov.au/law

[gilby]

Also
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310572
Subject to "interpretation" or course!

[smcelligott]

Also
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310572
Subject to "interpretation" or course!

Gilby,

Thanks and that did have some relevant information, which IN MY OPINION, supports my intent.

I was particularly interested in the topic, "Responding to a customer enquiry: do I have consent?"

To which ACMA responds, "If you are replying to a customer enquiry, you have that person’s consent to send them a commercial electronic message related to their enquiry. You may also include extra information (such as price lists and a link to your website) if the customer could reasonably expect to receive such information as a result of their enquiry . . . "

As my goal is to more personally follow-up with a forgotten password enquiry to insure that the customer is not experiencing continued issues with his/her access to our site, IN MY OPINION, that is information that one could reasonable expect to receive as a result of their enquiry . . . again I'll accept the fallout if ACMA decides that my customer service efforts are unreasonable. Each of you must make your own decisions about your sites and businesses (or consult your lawyers, LOL).

In any event, the task was fairly easy to implement. I now get an e-mail that says, "Hi Admin, A user named Jane Doe has made a forgotten password request and his/her email address is [email protected]." Three files changed - easy peasy.

First five days. Nine recovered password requests followed up on. Three customers responded positively (needing further assistance), and two have already made purchases. No complaints or lawsuits yet ;)

If anyone needs to solution, PM me. Cheers, Sean

[philip937]

Whos online - worst invention ever!

I have only just got over a 3 year obsession with whosonline! if you want my advise only use it in a situation you perhaps need to try and guide a customer around and check they are looking at the product/page you are tryin gto advise them. Other than that I would advise you to walk away from it, it will only drive you insane.

Concentrate on your sites functionality and products. Have a store email and telephone number clearly accessible and even consider installing a chat system (plently of them about) - if your customers want of need help they if you make it easy for them they proabably will.

Chances are what you are seeing is rogue spiders crawling your site and trying to create accounts etc.

if you want to monitor visitors and trend use google analytics. If you really want to see them real time use analytic real time beta it far more representative of *REAL* visitors. Do a test, I guarentee if youcomapre whosonline with real time beta you will see users that google does not count..

If you like I'll give you the number for "WhosOnline Anonomous" meetings LOL