customer log in required?

bakdoor:

Tell that to my now over 2000 customers who use PWA (98% of all)

I didnt deny that your clients didnt choose this method,
the farse part is the fact that you are dishonest with a customer,
yo uare in fact creating an account for this person.
thats what the statement about passing th epassword as a hidden variable was about.

and in over 3 years here I can honestly tell you that the people requesting or demanding this feature is actually quite low compared to the number of users.

My post wasnt about starting a heated discussion, merely pointing out that your state statement about no one realizing wasnt quite accurate,

the powers that be ( the ones that are giving you this software ) have stated more than once that they think it is one of the dumbest things that they have ever heard of, but that they will include this feature in a future release when they totally redesign the checkout. ( No timeframe givin )

the fact that with a few well placed statements about WHY an account is beneficial to a cleient ( since your going to have ALL of their details anyway ) is beneficial,

such as quick order next time,
even better, a receipt, and they can check on their order status.

these are all benefits that you ofer a customer since you already have their
name
address
phone
email

Merlinpa1969:

the powers that be ( the ones that are giving you this software ) have stated more than once that they think it is one of the dumbest things that they have ever heard of, but that they will include this feature in a future release when they totally redesign the checkout. ( No timeframe givin )
OK, so here's another request for "the dumbest things that they have ever heard" then.

Sad to see that this has been "on the roadmap" for almost a year now without any result. I agree with bakdoor and others in this thread that we should place as few hurdles as possible in the way of completing the sale. I sell things that most people buy maybe once every 5 years. They don't come back for seconds. The last thing they need is another http://uselessaccount.com/

I have a customer who has had a lot of HIS customers complain about "having to register." I suggested he turn off the customer greeting.

I have never purchased from a website where I didn't have to enter information/create some sort of account, and I've never personally had any of my customers complain about how my ZC is set up (other than they were trying to enter their Yahoogroups login info LOL -- ie. customer error).

I also don't see a benefit to "anonymous purchases," especially if a customer is buying digital/downloadables. Then they won't be able to log in later to access their purchases.

I would suggest going into language files and changing all references to "register" to "customer information" or something along those lines.

Someone mentioned Amazon -- I have purchased from Amazon and it asked me to create an account? So I don't understand where that came from. I can go back in and check my order information.

One way or another, you have to have an account so you can check order status.

Maybe greater flexibility in sorting how the "registration" page displays might help some people having this problem?

I've never personally had any of my customers complain about how my ZC is set up
They may not take the time to complain, instead they may just take their business elsewhere. And you'll never know unless you do a before/after test of your abandon rates with a sufficiently large sample.

I also don't see a benefit to "anonymous purchases," especially if a customer is buying digital/downloadables. Then they won't be able to log in later to access their purchases.
Accounts make perfect sense in many cases and I wasn't arguing to get rid of them altogether. I also wasn't talking about downloads. Just because accounts are a good solution for downloads doesn't mean they are good for everyone.

Someone mentioned Amazon -- I have purchased from Amazon and it asked me to create an account?
Amazon was mentioned in a different context (having a less intimidating checkout form). As for accounts, Amazon certainly can expect repeat business. People will come back to buy other stuff at some point, write reviews etc.

Not every business is like Amazon. I can think of plenty of examples where you would not reasonably expect customers to come back for more: engagement rings, certain medical devices, yearbooks or gowns for a graduating class, the letters for your house number that you put on your driveway, other hand-crafted items, ...

One way or another, you have to have an account so you can check order status.
No, you don't. Have you ever shipped or received sth with a tracking number? Did you need an account with DHL, UPS or FedEx to check on it? No. You just paste in the number and get your status. There's no reason why order tracking couldn't work the same way.

Thanks for the other suggestions though. I'll look into my options.

dude_s:

Have you ever shipped or received sth with a tracking number? Did you need an account with DHL, UPS or FedEx to check on it? No. You just paste in the number and get your status. There's no reason why order tracking couldn't work the same way.How do you suppose one would get the tracking number?

I Made a purchase from https://www.knex.com recently and was ticked that I couldnt view my order history, couldnt track shipping, nothing,

DrByte:

How do you suppose one would get the tracking number?
Email.

Merlinpa1969:

I Made a purchase from https://www.knex.com recently and was ticked that I couldnt view my order history, couldnt track shipping, nothing,
Look Merlinpa, I noticed you have a strong opinion about this. I've seen you arguing against having that option in several threads I've dug up about this topic.

Why? I don't understand. I, and I believe everyone else who has ever asked for this option, don't argue to take accounts away entirely. Whatever works best for you, man. If you feel strongly that you should require accounts then you should have them. Similarly, what's wrong with giving the option of having a direct checkout to business owners who feel strongly that this would better serve their needs? I thought Zencart is all about choice?

I've read the argument that, hey, the account is just one more line (the password). No, it's not "just another line". People can type in their address without even thinking about it. Not so with the password. It stops you in your tracks for a moment. You have to think about what password to use, maybe write it down somewhere to remember, type it in again - blindly - for confirmation. It reminds people that all their activity is being tracked and probably being used to market to them. Some people don't like that. It also makes you wonder what happens with the "account" and all the info in it after you left, esp. if you likely never come back. It makes you wonder how you can cancel the account if you don't want it anymore. It's much more involved than typing your zip code. I don't want anything to stop people in their tracks on their way of hitting that Confirm button.

whoa,

I was NOT arguing for or against, I answered your questions the other day and pointed you to where there is a mod for this, and also suggested that you could do what others have done and thats reword it, to make it an incentive for the customer.

I could really care less anymore,

I merely made a statement, I bought stuff a few months ago and was pissed that I couldn't follow my order, thats all that was about, and had to play wait and see.

I'm amazed this option does'nt exist in the core code seeing as EU ecommerce policy compliance includes:

There must be a way to order without saving the userdata within a customer account and without registering first. Therefore the customer orders and his data must not be saved anywhere outside the order dataset. Also only order relevant data may be collected. Tip: Generate another method -> Order without registering a customer account

Please post a link to the Article from which you are quoting.

I need to contribute to this discussion. I find it sad that even though those requesting a non-registered/account purchase capability are few compared to the number of zen-cart users, that it is viewed as silly or rediculous.

Sadness aside, I deal with people who do not wish to give out their email. Our customer base is not usually computer literate, in fact in the short time our site has been live we already have 2 of our first 10 customers gave up because they made mistakes while creating an account during checkout only to get totally confused the next time they came back (i.e. your email is already registered, etc.).

There are a lot of people out there who are not as computer literate as you think and some of us are trying to reach them.

I don't think our customers would mind if we created an account for them, in my situation we have no need to pretend about what we're doing-- but we do need the ability to place an order without requiring an email address and password. Of course having said that, how to identify an "account" without an email address is problematic, so we would be happy with just placing the order and not worry about associating it with an account at this time.

Since the site I just launch is currently only a publication subscription site-- many of our customers are used to simple one-page forms rather than stores. We want to grow into other products (in fact we have other sites that handle that now), that's why we started with Zen-Cart in order to consolidate-- but there's no way to make it simple for the truly simple-minded and/or simply scared folks.

In my case alone, we have thousands of potential customers, a high percentage who really behave like most people did literally 10+ years ago with respect to internet experience. You can't assume the whole world is ok with providing an email address or even remembering a password for a store.

BFTUK:

I'm amazed this option does'nt exist in the core code seeing as EU ecommerce policy compliance includes:I think this is an interpretation for a particular business/site. It is my understanding that it is completely consistent with EU privacy policy (in fact, it may be required) to say that if you don't supply this personal information you may not be able to fully utilize all the features of the site.

I would not be surprised if there is a valid argument that email address and password are not required to purchase something. Therefore they must not be required to be collected simply to perform the purchase.

I also see a valid argument that an email address (but not password) is required "When you purchase a product online you may be asked for information needed to complete your order, contact you to confirm the order and, provide related customer service." -- except that an address or phone number may also suffice, all of which are specific business decisions (not EU policy).

dhcernese:

I find it sad that even though those requesting a non-registered/account purchase capability are few compared to the number of zen-cart users, that it is viewed as silly or rediculous.
I don't think that it is viewed as being silly or ridiculous. At the moment it is just a fact of life that Zen Cart requires an account to place an order. There are ways to work around this, like getting Zen Cart to automatically create the account for you, but the fundamental need is still there. You can also re-work the checkout process to be easier to use by changing the wording and layout. Personally I went with an Amazon style checkout process and that has worked well but it isn't for everyone.

Looking at the published road map, the checkout process is due to be re-written in v1.5 and until then I don't think there is much the Zen Cart devs can do. The need for an account is very ingrained into the checkout/ordering process and administration. Removing it will have to be very carefully done and require a lot of testing.

Regards,
Christian.

I set up my first Zen Cart site about 9 months ago, and my second a couple of months later. Since then I've been closely following this debate in several threads, including what is probably the main one. (See here.)

I thought eventually I'd get up the nerve to do the deed and install COWA. But instead I found a thread with a link to the 20 Surefire Ways to Increase Sales Using Zen Cart site. (No, he doesn't pay me for testimonials. :no:)

I followed almost all the ideas in this e-publication and am happy with the results. It's a little too early to tell for sure, but orders seem to have doubled. People still are creating an account but it's a lot more comfortable a process for them now, and that, coupled with an optimized and re-labelled order process, is helping a lot.

I've no doubt that some similar changes are in store for Zen Cart in v1.5, but that's a long way off. In the meantime, rather than beating this particular dead horse to a pulp, you can either do what I did, or use the COWA mod.

Rob

Hello Zen Gurus,
This thread is very close to what I'm seeking. I'd like to reduce the customer fields for registration and here's why. I don't need a mailing address because most products are virtual; video downloads. User name and email is all I need because PayPal handles the money. I can get a shipping address through an email request for address - only if they order a physical product.
Another workable would be shipping address needed only if order includes a shipping required product. I realize people don't want to leave a home address and I don't blame them!
You buoys and gulls are brilliant! Thank you x 1,000,000
Please visit our store and grab some free videos and relax for a couple minutes. You deserve it.
hd2o.tv

Total newbie to Zen Cart and E-commerce in general, but setting up a new site soon. Just installed ZenCart on my server to check it out and the 1st thing I noticed was there was no way to eliminate the customer registration. As a shopper I hate to register to check out. My site will deal with items that customers may want to consider private and I'm sure registration will be a huge conversion problem. I purchase things often on the internet without registration. I read the 20 Surefire Ways to Increase Sales Using Zen Cart and while quite good it doesn't eliminate the registration problem.

Where can I find the COWA mod and can someone explain it?

I bet if you do a search on:
COWA

by clicking on the link for Search that is in the blue bar along the menu, typing into the input box: COWA and then click GO you would find suggestions on what you can do with this ... :smile:

Good luck with your site!

I think it is actually COWOA, I can find it on the message boards - but I don't think it is available in downloads.

I feel this is going to be an uphill battle ... when I first thought so simple.

Sorry it is not built into Zen Cart at this time ...

Someone has made various attempts to make this work but you may have to search a little bit for this ...

You should of already found it within 4 threads with 1 simple search ...

I don't remember the link, I'd have to search for it to find it ... :smartalec:

rmartin929:

I think it is actually COWOA, I can find it on the message boards - but I don't think it is available in downloads.

I feel this is going to be an uphill battle ... when I first thought so simple.
fyi -- I'm using COWOA now, our staff loves it, it's already improved our connect rate in the first DAY!

notes --

• if you run it on something earlier than 1.3.7 you have to comment out all the paypal express stuff, it's not conditional
• if you have Where Did You Hear About Us? (referrals) you have to merge this in very carefully since there are similar files changed but each package did the the overrides differently

http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Contribution:Integrated_Checkout_Without_Account

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59189