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orion_joel
10-30-2008, 01:23 AM
Hi All,

One thing that i would like to achieve from my website is to be focusing on potential local customers. Which is what i am trying to do with my adwords advertising with localized keywords as a start.

What the problem i want to try and solve, is to have some sort of system where a customer can confirm that they want to order or at least consider an order, without needing to go through a full shopping cart system. But more so that i can create a link/button on a page where when they click, it saves the product info, brings up a form, to end name, email, contact number and address. Then sends a confirmation. Then i follow this up with either the further information they request or a proforma invoice requesting payment if they are ordering.

It is really for the most part a online shopping cart, but i want it to be a part of my normal website where i just add the code for a button.

Any ideas would be helpful. Things like Zen Cart, Cube cart, Oscommerce, i think will have ordering systems that are over kill for what i want.

vangogh
10-30-2008, 02:25 AM
Is it that people will only select one product or do you want them to be able to select multiple products?

If multiple products you probably do want some kind of shopping cart. You might be able to find a light cart script and set it up so instead of processing an order it emails the info to you.

If it's just one product you can easily link the product to a simple form. Sounds like you just need the basic contact info. On the page with the product you have a link to the form. That link can pass a variable (the product name maybe) that could be added as a hidden field to the form which then gets passed to the script that processes the form.

A simple mail script can send the contents of the form to you and also to the person who filled it out.

Have you ever written the code to mail the contents of a form with PHP? It's pretty simple. Here's the php mail function (http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php). If you scroll down the page you can see some examples of how it's used. You'd want to send one email to you and one to the person who filled out the form.

billbenson
10-30-2008, 03:23 PM
One thing I did for my personal use that I was thinking about putting on my site is a quote generator. I have a table with price, weight, cost, part number, description on the site. I enter the quantity and part number into a form and it spits out a quote and saves it in a different table. Shipping, Billing, and Contact fields are optional. I use it so if a customer calls I can get him a quote in a few seconds.

You could do a version of the above and ad an automatic email to it so the customer gets a quote and can call you with a credit card. Just make all the fields except part number and quantity optional. That way he doesn't have to fill out very many fields if he doesn't want to.

The only thing you loose is automatic card processing.

orion_joel
10-31-2008, 01:31 AM
I am actually not to concerned about the card processing thing. I currently don't have credit card facility at all, just cash cheque or bank transfer. I am going to have to look at card processing in the future, however i am still not sure of going online with this. As i am sure many people are online and offering card payment as an option, i am just kind of wary in offering it as an automated service, for purchasing computer products.

The main reason i am one wary and two not really interested in offering payment by card on my website is that i am not really looking for the customer that wants it the cheapest, they can get it. I want the customers that want the extra service who are actually looking to work with someone to make their purchase rather then just punching in the details and waiting for it to arrive.

I also want to get to a point where i am using my website to enable quick ordering fr local clients, so that i don't have to be at a phone to take orders all day, but can be on the road seeing to clients needs, So getting the basic details and sending them via email to me, can allow me to work easier on a mobile basis rather then trying to stick to a phone, even if it is a mobile phone.

vangogh
10-31-2008, 02:57 AM
I don't think a card means you'll get customers who are looking to get the cheapest product. I think it makes things more convenient for both them and you. People will have different ways they want to pay and it's good to offer as many as you can.

I find being able to take credit cards very convenient for me too. It's so much easier to take a card than it is to have to keep track of whether or not a check arrived and then head down to the bank to deposit it.

KristineS
10-31-2008, 03:49 PM
I'd have to agree with Vangogh, having as many methods of payment as possible is a good thing. I hate writing checks, even for local things, and will always pay online if that is an option. Even if it is something local, I'd rather pay online if I can. That way I don't have to write a check, find a stamp and envelope and all the rest. I also save myself the cost of mailing a check and having to buy more checks if I pay online, since most companies don't charge for that service.