2010 Volusion Review: Overview

• All-in-One Ecommerce Solution
• 5 Packages Based on Inventory
• Affiliate & Email Marketing Tools
• Very Robust Feature Set
• Helping Businesses Succeed Since 1999

Note: This is an older review of Volusion done in 2010. To see the latest about what this ecommerce solution has to offer, check out our 2011 Volusion review.

Volusion Review: Expert Shopping Cart Review

Volusion has been focusing on fulfilling the ecommerce software solution needs of online merchants since 1999, and today they continue to offer ecommerce solutions that businesses need to effectively sell online. Being in business for over 10 years has given Volusion a solid reputation among online merchants who have been using their ecommerce suite of products for many years. Volusion has offices in Austin, Texas and Simi Valley, California. The Volusion PCI/CISP certified ecommerce solution is perfectly suited for small to medium sized business who want to be able to sell their products online. It is very common for those using ecommerce solutions like Yahoo or GoDaddy to get frustrated with the service or lack of features and leave for a new solution. Many of them then decide to try Volusion's 14-day free trial, which then gets them excited to switch, as it offers a more robust feature set for their online business. Below is a more in depth review of the Volusion ecommerce software solution, and all of the features which are included for the various ecommerce packages.

Managing Your Products With the Volusion "All-in-One" Solution

Volusion focuses on proving an "all-in-one" ecommerce solution, which you will get an immediate sense for once you start using the software to set up your online store. The first thing you most likely want to know about is getting your products into your Volusion online store. Inventory management is excellent in Volusion as you can easily do bulk data import and exports of your products, so you can quickly get your store up and running. This aspect of Volusion is very flexible, offering unlimited photos per product, drag and drop management, and the ability to handle color swatches for those online stores that need it. One product related feature that many customers are enjoying is the Social Store Builder, which lets merchants sell on sites like Facebook and MySpace. Another useful product related feature from Volusion is the integration of Google Base with tracking links, which lets you expand where you can market your products. However these last two features are only available on the Gold or Platinum Volusion packages.

Using the Volusion Admin Panel For Management and Design

Now that you have your products set up in Volusion, you will want to familiarize yourself with their powerful administrative tools to manage your online store. Their web based administrative tools are quite robust, as they provide a complete CRM tool, in-depth reporting to get detailed insight on store performance, as well as the ability to quickly print packing slips, receipts, and invoices. Once you're comfortable with the administrative capabilities, you will want to explore the design options to customize your online store how you see fit. Regardless of whether you have an existing brand, or want to create a new one, the Volusion ecommerce solution has the design tools and templates you need to accomplish your goals. Since you have access to the HTML and CSS, you can make almost any change you can think of to ensure that the design of your online store meets your standards. Volusion also recently enhanced their language settings, so that you can have your online store in any language. Many people get their Volusion powered ecommerce store up in a day, and most have everything live in less than a week, depending on how much time they spend perfecting everything before setting it live.

Volusion's SEO and Customer Marketing Tools

Once you have your online store live, Volusion lets you take advantage of a variety of marketing tools available, so that you can get more people to your store and generate more sales. Volusion has you covered on the SEO front, as it has search engine friendly URLs and can handle sub-domains and 301 redirects to aid with your SEO efforts. You also can utilize the built-in email marketing and newsletter system, so that you can continue to stay engaged with your customers and give them a reason to come back to your online store to make another purchase. Merchants can easily export their product feeds to various shopping comparison engines, to help diversify traffic and increase online sales as well. Once people arrive at your online store, Volusion provides many tools to increase sales including gift certificates, discount/coupon codes, and free shipping options. They also provide wish list and registry solutions, as another way to engage with visitors and increase the likelihood of a purchase.

Customer Support & Satisfaction

Volusion is a unique ecommerce software solution in many ways, but something that makes them stand out is their dedication to customers. This focus on customer satisfaction is one of the reasons that Volusion has been in business for so long and is what helps them grow as a company, because they are in business to help businesses succeed. They view customer service as a core foundation of their business and because of this, they hired a Chief Customer Officer before hiring a CFO. They have a customer team focused on finding new ways to improve the customer experience which includes veterans from leading companies like Rackspace, Intuit, eBay, Apple and Disney. Customers of http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-3529775-10765963Volusion can expect free 24/7/365 phone, chat, and email support for any issues. Customer of Volusion are also involved in the process of improving their ecommerce software solution because Volusion is consistently interacting with their merchants and requesting any and all feedback. In fact, they actually provide a customer feedback interface in which customers can suggest feature changes and then publicly vote up these requests in a Digg style format. These are just some of the ways that Volusion works hard to keep up a 99% customer satisfaction rating.

Secure Purchasing Power Made Easy For You and Your Customers

When a customer is ready to complete their purchase at a Volusion powered ecommerce site, they will experience a simple 1 page checkout process which is completely secure. The Volusion ecommerce solution has a PCI/CISP certified shopping cart, which is as good as it gets in the industry. Not all ecommerce software solutions have a PCI/CISP certified shopping cart, so this is an important feature to compare when choosing an ecommerce solution provider as it ensures that you can securely receive credit card payments without facing strict fines from Visa or Mastercard. Volusion also provides SSL Encryption, and a seal to show people that the site is up-to-date and secure. Beyond this, customers and merchants will be pleased with the number of shipping and payment options they can use with the Volusion ecommerce solution.

Volusion Hosting and Packages

Volusion has 5 package levels available with their entry level package starting out at only $24.99 per month. Packages have almost identical feature sets, with the higher level packages having a few extra perks. Beyond features, two main factors play into differentiating the packages: Data transfer and number of products. In addition, merchants receive Volusion Premium Hosting, as part of their monthly ecommerce solution package. Volusion used to use Rackspace as their hosting partner, but recently brought hosting in-house. This gives Volusion a unique edge in that they can now monitor up-time and ensure proper performance of their solution and hosting all under one roof.

If you get stuck along the way with the set-up or running of your online store, you can always utilize Volusion's free 24x7 live telephone technical support, which is based in-house within the United States. They also have options to use live chat or just send them an email and their customer service team will be sure to do what they can to help you with your Volusion powered ecommerce store. If you are still unsure about whether Volusion is right for you, you can test out their ecommerce solution using their 14-day FREE trial, which does not require a credit card. So if you are new to running an online store, or looking to switch from another ecommerce solution provider, then you should test drive Volusion to see why so many people use their ecommerce software.