2011 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

Volusion provides a very popular ecommerce solution that has been around since 1999 and trusted among merchants throughout the world. Their feature set includes all of the tools a merchant would need to find success selling online like the ability to sell directly on Facebook, a built in email marketing system, an SEO friendly backend, and more. Volusion offers 5 packages, with almost the exact same set of features available at every price level. Features differ only slightly in the higher end packages which include API Access and the Social Store Builder (sell on Facebook), which are features not available in the first 3 tiers. Package prices also vary based on number of products you are willing to sell and bandwidth. To learn about the pros and cons of Volusion and whether or not this is the right ecommerce solution for you, consider Volusion's overall ZippyScore™ below and then continue on to read the expert Volusion review.

Volusion Review: Shopping Cart Report Card

Shopping Cart Feature	ZippyScore (out of 5.00)	Shopping Cart Feature	ZippyScore (out of 5.00)
Overall Value (15%)	4.26	Customer Service (15%)	4.05
Level of Customization (15%)	4.29	Ease of Use (15%)	4.37
Search Engine Friendliness (10%)	4.35	Range of Tools Available (10%)	4.46
Depth of Reporting Tools (5%)	4.39	Social Media / Social Commerce Integration (5%)	4.47
Mobile Commerce Integration (5%)	4.37	Free Trial Features (5%)	4.50

Overall ZippyScore: 4.31 out of 5.00

2011 Volusion Review: Expert Shopping Cart Review

Volusion is a trusted name in the ecommerce software space that has been helping merchants sell online since 1999. Now in 2011, they continue to attract new merchants who want to use their All-in-One solution. Their history working in the ecommerce industry has allowed them to build a large following of merchants, who continue to use the Volusion ecommerce solution year after year. The Volusion team is headquartered in Austin, Texas, but they also have staff working in Simi Valley, California. As more merchants choose to use the Volusion ecommerce software solution, the team has had to ramp up, and they now have well over 100 employees between the two offices. Their All-in-One ecommerce solution is popular among merchants who have been selling for a few years, and become unhappy with their existing software. Ebay sellers are also another group that like to utilize the software from Volusion, so they can take their online business to the next level. One of the best ways to determine if Volusion is the right ecommerce solution for your online business is to try out the software with a 14-day free trial (no credit card required), which will have you working with their interface in a matter of minutes. Below you can read a more detailed expert review of the ecommerce software from Volusion, and all of the features and tools that they provide to help merchants succeed.

Volusion Setup & Design

Volusion strives to make it very easy for merchants to complete the setup and design process of an online store, by providing a solid video introduction and a step-by-step guide to get things started. The first step is to jump into designing your online store, and Volusion provides an additional video and extra content to help merchants better understand how to accomplish this task. It begins with selecting and installing a free template provided by Volusion, as most ecommerce merchants will not want to create their own, but this is an option. This is also the time when you can add your logo, so that your brand is clearly displayed. Next merchants will dive into the category setup, which is key as it will provide the framework for your products to be added and dictate the navigation of your ecommerce site. Once the categories are in place, then all the products can be added so you can fill up your online store. However before you get started selling, you need to also address inputting certain vital information, like company details, shipping, tax, payments, and types of currencies you want to accept.

Volusion provides a variety of professionally designed templates that are included free with the ecommerce solution. These templates are completely customizable, to ensure that any merchant can make their storefront look clean and unique. There are also a variety of premium design templates that you can buy for prices ranging from $395 to $995. Volusion also offers design services if you would like a custom design, as well as templates for Twitter and Blogger to ensure your online presence is cohesive. Merchants should also note that they will have HTML and CSS access so that they can create a fully customized web design for their online store. If you do not know CSS or HTML, Volusion is still easy, as they have easy editing in design mode. They provide drag and drop design tools, which are not as comprehensive as other hosted shopping carts, but still do the trick. Design mode also lets you click on features and edit them from within the store. Still, if you really want your site to look unique, you'll need to either purchase a premium template, or bring some HTML and CSS skills to the mix when using a free template. Overall the process of setting up and designing an online store with the Volusion ecommerce software solution should be a task that almost any merchant can complete on their own.

Marketing, Social Media, & SEO with Volusion

Running a successful online store requires customers, and this is why marketing and SEO are so important to a merchant, as they can help to bring in the right type of visitors that will convert into paying customers. Merchants who choose the Volusion ecommerce solution need to know about all the options they have when it comes to social media, marketing, and SEO tools. Volusion creates search engine friendly URL's for their merchants' online stores, plus they offer the ability to handle 301 redirects, which is great for those merchants who are switching from another ecommerce software solution. Other SEO features include a Google sitemap generator, the addition of a canonical URL, and the ability to edit title and meta tags. There are some missing SEO features with Volusion though, which include the ability to directly edit URL naming conventions and generate a robots.txt file. When setting up your search engine friendly URLs, Volusion offers the option to use underscores or hyphens. This is a weird option, as most SEO experts will tell you to never use underscores, so always be sure to choose hyphens if you are using Volusion as your ecommerce solution.

When it comes to social media, Volusion has their Social Store Builder, which will allow a merchant to set up shop on Facebook or MySpace, however this is only available on their Gold level or higher packages. Comparable solutions provide the ability to sell on Facebook in all package levels, so if this is important to you but you have a limited budget, consider 3dcart or CoreCommerce instead.

Another way in which merchants can expand the reach of their online store is by exporting their product feeds to third-party shopping marketplaces, so that your products can be seen by a much larger audience, and hopefully result in increased sales. Other marketing tools include the ability to offer coupon and discounts codes, a gift registry, as well as gift certificates, which are great ways to increase your conversion rate. The Volusion ecommerce solution also comes with a built-in email marketing and news letter system, which is a great tool for merchants as it allows for them to continually interact with their customers.

One of the other marketing features that merchants enjoy using with the Volusion ecommerce software solution is their affiliate system, which will allow you to recruit web publishers who want to promote your online store in return for a small fee whenever they send a paying customer your way. Volusion's affiliate tools are really powerful, so if you are looking for a top ecommerce solution with great affiliate tools, Volusion is a perfect option. Merchants can often find affiliate marketing to be a powerful tool to expand the reach of an online store, and attract customers which might have never known that your online store exists.

Online Store Merchandising & Management

Merchants who run an online store know how important it is to have great merchandising and management tools, as they can help make things more efficient, so that there is more time to find prospective customers. Volusion knows how vital these tools are for merchants, so they made sure to provide features like real time inventory management, and the ability to bulk import and export data. Their All-in-One ecommerce solution also gives merchants the option to have as many photos as they desire for each product, and drag and drop tools for managing the categories in your online store. Other features that merchants enjoy about Volusion include being able to assign their products to multiple categories and subcategories, which is key to organizing an online store so that customers can find what they need.

Overall merchants should be pleased with all of the tools and features which are included with the Volusion ecommerce solution, and can try them out now by testing the software via their 14-day free trial (no credit card required).

Volusion Customer Service & Support

Most merchants partner with a hosted ecommerce software solution like Volusion because they know that there is a support team available to help out with anything the merchant needs to get their online store up and running. Volusion has a serious focus on customer service, as they even hired a Chief Customer Officer, whose core focus is on the overall experience that merchants receive. There are a number of ways in which merchants can get help from Volusion if they have troubles with their ecommerce software, as they provide free 24x7 technical support via the telephone, the option to email questions, or even use Volusion Live Chat to quickly get the help they need. The Volusion ecommerce support team are all based in the U.S., which is a big plus for merchants who have had bad experiences with other solutions who outsource support overseas. Additionally merchants have extensive documentation to review in their admin area, plus a variety of online training videos and tutorials to provide extra help.

When secret shopped by ZippyCart, Volusion phone support was quick to answer questions and provide us with detailed steps to solve problems right the first time. That said, live chat isn't always the way to go when trying to get support from Volusion, as their default answer is often to simply paste a link to further documentation rather than provide a detailed answer. Their ticketing system is great, as problems get resolved quickly and respectfully.

Volusion Review: Conclusion, Packages, & Pricing

Now that you know more about the ecommerce software solution from Volusion, the next things to learn about are their hosted packages and pricing information. Smaller merchants should look at the entry level hosted package from Volusion, which is only $29 per month, with no setup fee to get started. However there are also other packages Volusion offers, which range from $39 to $179 per month, with more features being provided on the higher end packages. Each package has a specific number of products that a merchant can sell, plus a bandwidth limit. If Volusion seems like the right ecommerce solution for the needs of your online business, then you should test out the software via their 14-day free trial (no credit card required), so you can be confident in your decision.