Ecommerce vs. Donation Form

Jill Harms

We currently have not utilized the Ecommerce feature but are looking into it.  We have an event called Ales for Adoptable Tails where people give a $25 donation for a ticket.  They can also upgrade the ticket for $20 and they become VIPs.  I am attaching a document that was used last year for ticket registrations.  We were hoping to do something similar within Convio but in looking at the donation forms we may have to set it up differently.  With Ecommerce it appears that the VIP upgrade is considered a "premium" and it won't allow me to have a premium.  So I am little confused on which route to go.  Any suggestions would be super helpful!  THanks!

Jill

Michelle Shefter

Hi Jill,

You should be able to add a product option that would include add'l cost for an item in eCommerce.  Here's a link to an example of a product with an option that adds cost:

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=5701&store_id=8721

There are three additional gift options on that page, and the third of those three indicates that there is an additional $8 fee for it.  You'd configure this on the product configuration in the "product options" step.

Another advantage of eCommerce is that for each ticket sold, you could also capture the name of the attendee.

For a link to a site that is using eCommerce for ticket sales for an event, you can check out:

https://secure3.convio.net/acrf/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1101

In this example, they offer 2 different "products" -- one is the regular ticket and the other is the general admission ticket.

Jill Harms

Michelle Shefter:

Hi Jill,

You should be able to add a product option that would include add'l cost for an item in eCommerce.  Here's a link to an example of a product with an option that adds cost:

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=5701&store_id=8721

There are three additional gift options on that page, and the third of those three indicates that there is an additional $8 fee for it.  You'd configure this on the product configuration in the "product options" step.

Another advantage of eCommerce is that for each ticket sold, you could also capture the name of the attendee.

For a link to a site that is using eCommerce for ticket sales for an event, you can check out:

https://secure3.convio.net/acrf/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1101

In this example, they offer 2 different "products" -- one is the regular ticket and the other is the general admission ticket.

Michelle,

Thanks so much for the info and the links!  That hlelps out a lot to be able to see what it will look like.  One other question.....where am I able to add the "Guest Name" field and another customized field "How Did You Hear About Ales for Adoptable Tails?" For the latter field we have used a drop down menu with choices.  Again I really I appreciate your help!

Sincerely,

Jill Harms

Michelle Shefter

Jill Harms:

Michelle,

Thanks so much for the info and the links!  That hlelps out a lot to be able to see what it will look like.  One other question.....where am I able to add the "Guest Name" field and another customized field "How Did You Hear About Ales for Adoptable Tails?" For the latter field we have used a drop down menu with choices.  Again I really I appreciate your help!

Sincerely,

Jill Harms

The name would be added by using one of the tribute fields that are configured in the "Tribute Configuration" step of the product configuration.  You can give the fields any label you want and use any of them to capture tribute name.  The one warning I'd give is to make sure you use the same field on every product so that the name of the guest(s) appears in the same column of your report that you run.  i.e. if you use "first tribute name" on the regular ticket type, then also use "first tribute name" on the second ticket type.

Unfortunately, unlike with donation forms, there is not an ideal place where you can add the custom question of "how did you hear about us" to the checkout page.  I suppose you could make it an open question on all products (by leveraging the tribute fields), but then it wouldn't be a drop-down and it would require that the constituent answers the question for every ticket, rather than just once for the entire transaction.  Another option would be to use source codes in your different acquisition sources (if they are electronic).  So, for instance, if one source was Google Adwords, then you could add a source code to the url and that would be appended to the transaction w/out the constituent ever seeing it or having to answer a question.  For print ads/sources, you could create short cuts for different publications that convert to urls with a source code when the user types them in.  While not as simple as asking the question, the results you get are a little more accurate than self-reported information.

Another potential option would be to do a post-registration survey to gather feedback about the ticket purchase process.

Hope this helps.....let me know if you have any add'l questions....

Jill Harms

Michelle Shefter:

Hi Jill,

You should be able to add a product option that would include add'l cost for an item in eCommerce.  Here's a link to an example of a product with an option that adds cost:

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=5701&store_id=8721

There are three additional gift options on that page, and the third of those three indicates that there is an additional $8 fee for it.  You'd configure this on the product configuration in the "product options" step.

Another advantage of eCommerce is that for each ticket sold, you could also capture the name of the attendee.

For a link to a site that is using eCommerce for ticket sales for an event, you can check out:

https://secure3.convio.net/acrf/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1101

In this example, they offer 2 different "products" -- one is the regular ticket and the other is the general admission ticket.

Michelle,

I can't thank you enough for all your help!  I have been looking at the http://www.akroncantonfoodbank.org/taste-of-the-nfl.aspx; is that page considered the store front?  I have the product set up now I am working on the store.  I really would like to model ours after the food bank one.

Thanks!

Jill Harms

Michelle Shefter

Jill Harms:

Michelle,

I can't thank you enough for all your help!  I have been looking at the http://www.akroncantonfoodbank.org/taste-of-the-nfl.aspx; is that page considered the store front?  I have the product set up now I am working on the store.  I really would like to model ours after the food bank one.

Thanks!

Jill Harms

That page seems to be a page that is hosted on their main site that they are using as the store home page -- not a page that is configured in Convio eCommerce. You could actually create a page that looks like this EITHER on your main site OR in Convio eCommerce.  If you'd like to do it in eCommerce, here's what you'll need to do:

1.  in the "presentation options" step of the store creation, check the box that says, "Yes, create a separate home page for the store"

2.  in the "configure standard pages" section of the store creation, edit the store home page.  This is basically a big WYSIWYG display that you can add items to, such as the cart summary, the checkout and view cart buttons, and catalog search bars.