Customer Account Numbers

[Star]

Apologies if this has been raised or even addressed by the developers.

The number one criticism we get (of which there are very few) is regular customers having to input their details consistently in the shopping cart. Whilst they do have account numbers, this only prevents them from inputting credit card info.

Is there plans for customers to simply enter name and account number at the <B>beginning</B> of the checkout section?

[bcarroll]

While this issue would be an annoyance to regular customers I do feel it also prevents missed sales from users who have "forgotten" their details. - this was an issue with my last system - even with automated password reminders etc users constantly had issues with remembering a user name and password.

[Star]

Not sure I follow your logic.

At the moment EVERYONE needs to go through the process to fill in their details. If those that knew their name (most people) and account number (some people) it would save them the inconvenience of inputting details.

For everyone else, they can fill in their details - as they do now.

It is merely an added feature, those that did not want it would not have to incorporate the feature - bit like choosing your methods of payment.

[dferguson]

Many online stores these days have the ability to 'remember' customers so that when they return to purchase in the future the website will remember all their address/payment details to save the customer having to re enter them. ezimerchant Professional however doesnt currently have this feature - so every time someone attempts to purchase somthing the system will ask them for all their details.

We have however worked on a log in feature (which we have working in house on our development servers). This feature will be released when its ready and fully tested.

[Star]

David, I am talking about something much simpler than that - that also does not require sensitive data to be stored on the server.

At the moment, the customer has the facility to enter an account number for payment - AFTER they have filled in all of their address details. What I am proposing is the option for this information to be at the start of the checkout so the customer needs only use name and account number. Then when the order is received, we can simply process their order using their previous details.

It might be top end but we presently have 40% of existing customers emailing orders through rather than going thru the website and simply saying 'usual details please' as they are aware we store these.

[Star]

Further to this request

I just had a regular customer (not very pleasant either :() phone me about this issue.

He stated it was too time consuming sitting there and typing all of his details everytime he wanted to buy a case of wine (couple of times a week). He informed me in no uncertain terms if we "didn't fix it to remember details" it was much simpler for him to stop by a Dan Murphys on the way home.

Obviously there are many requests on the wish list but is there a way customers can log on and the server remember details?

One comment he made (even though I think it is a wank) is how when he logs on, a 'Welcome Bob' message appears.

[dferguson]

Hi Bert

Our system does not have a log in facility.

If your customer used his 'profile assistant' in Internet explorer or even the google toolbar it can auto fill out the order form for him.

There are other ecommerce systems out there with log in facilities however I think they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

I fill in probably 20 ezimerchant GTS order forms a day while I test ezimerchant and to be fair to ezimerchant it doesnt take that long at all.. Infact our checkout system is one of the quickest i have ever seen - including those with log in features.

We dont ask the customer to jump through a million hoops to order - just three steps. Name/address, payment and confirmation.

However - We have been working on a log in system for ezimerchant for some time. Its still in development but it will allow customers to create an account (where they can log in) and the system will remember their details for the next time they order. This feature has no ETA as yet, but we are working on it.

[Star]

David

I agree with you

I often preach about safety and security and the like - but this comes up more than any other request and one would hate to lose sales because of the functionality of the system.

Bert

[Koogee]

This is a problem for us and we get many faxed orders rather than go through the web site. I am not technical but can't ezimerchant set a cookie on the customers machine that is used to auto fill the order form. The customer would be happy to put in the credit card number if it just filled in all the name and address fields. Giving them user names and passwords is not the answer, we all have so many of them already, that would be a disincentive to order.

Derek

[dferguson]

There are so many 'auto form filling programs' out there now...

Eg. Internet Explorer can automatically fill in the ezimerchant order forms if the profile assistant is turned on.

Google Toolbar, yahoo toolbar and probably most other toolbars can perform auto form completions.

[star]

David

I hear you but you can't expect to tell the thousands of people using the system to utilise these tools.

In our case the ability to even enter a customer number at the start of the checkout process would do the trick (as opposed to after entering address details). No need to facilitate a log in and a feature I would imagine would be quite easy to implement.

Bert

[horsepowerinabox]

I have similar problems, and have been instructing the existing customers to enter name and "as before" or "999999" in the required fields to cut down data entry.. seems to work OK but a log in would be better and more professional.

Morrie
Horsepowerinabox.com

[Star]

Morrie, thank for your input, that does work - but I think it is a bit unprofessional.

I still don't see why customers cannot enter a supplied number at the beginning of the checkout process then submit the order. Simple.

e.g Joe Bloggs finishes shopping, proceeds to checkout where he is prompted for his customer number, so he inputs his name and unique pin and he is done.