The journey towards a personalized customer experience includes overcoming certain limitations in WooCommerce, especially when it comes to customizing products. While WooCommerce proves to be a powerful eCommerce platform on its own, it lacks built-in capabilities for advanced product customization.

A solid plugin can augment WooCommerce’s native utilities, providing additional functionalities such as customizing a distinctive product or crafting a personalized service.

This is where the WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin comes in. 

Seamlessly integrating with your WooCommerce store, it bridges the gap to deliver the comprehensive customization you need.

In this article, we’ll guide you step-by-step through the process of integrating the Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin into your online store. Not only does this plugin supercharge your WooCommerce platform, but it also champions a hand-tailored shopping experience by enabling your customers to design their one-of-a-kind products right from the ground up.

Understanding the need for a product builder plugin in WooCommerce

WooCommerce boasts a dynamic suite of features that breathe life into your online store. It provides an easy-to-navigate platform for product management, payment processing, shipping options, tax calculations, and inventory management. 

Despite this, WooCommerce has room to expand when it comes to accommodating intricate product customization. The platform is somewhat constrained in setting complex configurations, creating in-depth product variations, enabling visual product customization, instituting advanced pricing rules, or computational product customization costs.

WooCommerce store owners often grapple with several dilemmas due to these limitations, such as:

• The inability to provide personalized product options tailor-made to individual customer preferences. 
• Challenges with managing custom orders efficiently and ensuring a seamless customer experience. 

These pain points can significantly hamper the overall sales and effectiveness of the digital storefront.

Product builder plugins provide a key solution to these challenges,by allowing customers to create their own products from scratch. 

The benefits of using a product builder plugin include:

• Enhancing customer experience.
• Achieving a competitive advantage.
• Increasing sales through upselling opportunities.
• Streamlining the management of customizable products.

Consumer trends help us understand the rising demand for product personalization. In a study by Deloitte, 50% of consumers expressed a preference for personalized products as a way to create unique gifts. Up to 41% of shoppers opt for tailor-made products to ensure their purchases stand out. Furthermore, 34% are drawn to customization since standard products or services don’t always meet their needs.

Introducing WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

If limitations in WooCommerce are causing headaches and hindering your ability to customize and adapt your store to your needs, then meet WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate, your new solution for overcoming these hurdles.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

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This resilient plugin fills the gap between WooCommerce’s basic offerings and your store’s unique needs, delivering a range of flexibility and customization options right at your fingertips.

Key features of WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

• Product personalization: The plugin lets customers personalize products by adding extra fields and custom options to product pages. This enriches the shopping experience for your customers while giving you complete control over your product configurations.
• Add unlimited customization fields: You can add any number of extra fields like text boxes, dropdowns, and checkboxes. 
• Support for conditional logic: To make a specific option appear only under a certain circumstance, you can enable conditional logic for dynamic field display using this plugin. 
• Custom pricing options: You can set custom prices for every add-on field or option, and even allow customers to upload a file for customization.
• User-friendly interface: Despite the rich feature set offered by this plugin, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to master. Built with simplicity and functionality, WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate features a user-friendly interface, suitable for users of all experience levels. All you have to do is navigate to your WordPress backend and select the product you want to edit to add extra customization options.

Wondering how this could apply to your business? 

Let’s create a scenario; say you’re running a bespoke gift service, where each order is unique and calls for numerous custom options. Or perhaps you’re managing a subscription box service and need an efficient way of allowing customers to select their own products. 

In both these scenarios, this plugin will prove to be a game-changer, saving you time, reducing complications, and offering your customers a personalized shopping experience.

By leveraging the personalization tools offered by WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate, online store owners can sail past the limitations of WooCommerce’s default customization options, creating a store that truly reflects their vision and serves their specific needs.

Ready to explore some more? Let’s take a look at the plugin’s setup process step-by-step and help you harness its potential to take your WooCommerce store to the next level.

How to implement WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate on your WooCommerce store?

1. Initial setup

Getting started with WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate is as easy as pie.

1. Purchase the WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin from the Plugin Republic website. The plugin has two pricing plans – Basic and Pro. While the Basic plan offers all the essential customization fields you need to get started, we recommend opting for the Pro plan if you truly want to leverage the full potential of product customization.
2. After purchasing, check your email for a download link and license key.
3. Download the plugin’s .zip file to your computer and remember where you saved it.
4. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
5. Upload the .zip file by either dragging it or selecting it from your computer.
6. Click Install Now and then Activate (ensure WooCommerce is also activated).
7. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Product Add-Ons > Licence and enter your license key. Click Activate this license.

2. How to add image swatch fields

This feature is available in the Pro version of the plugin, facilitating a more vibrant product customization.

1. Select Image Swatch from the Field Type dropdown.
2. Customize options for each swatch.

3. Define the number of columns for the swatches display.
4. Hide labels to show only images.
5. Allow multiple selections if needed.
6. Set minimum and maximum swatch choices, considering the Required Field? checkbox if you want to mandate the customer to enter a value. Note that minimum and maximum settings apply when Allow multiple is enabled, and validation occurs when users click Add to cart.

With image swatches, you’re not just amplifying product customization but also dramatically enhancing the aesthetic decor of your product lineup. This feeds into an upgraded shopping experience – an informed buying decision from your customer that not only fulfills their needs but also leaves them feeling satisfied.

3. How to add radio group fields

Adding radio group fields to your WooCommerce store is an easy and straightforward task.

1. Choose Radio Group from the Field Type dropdown.
2. Customize options for each radio group.
3. Define option names and, if needed, assign prices.
4. If specifying a minimum or maximum selection, check the Required Field? for enforcement.

Capitalizing on radio group fields in product customization fetches numerous benefits. 

• They provide a simple yet efficient way to present clear, mutually exclusive options to your customers, making it a perfect choice for product variants or customization options. 
• Its compact design saves screen space and reduces checkout errors by providing a defined set of options for customers to choose from.
• Showcasing the prices for each option enriches pricing transparency, leading to more informed and efficient decision-making from your customers. This clarity doesn’t just create upselling opportunities but also enhances your customer’s shopping experience, potentially reflecting positively on the revenue of your WooCommerce store.

4. How to create text swatches

Minor changes, like adding text swatches, can elevate your product customization and significantly improve the user experience.

1. Determine if users should select one or multiple options per field.
2. For single-option selection, refer to the instructions above for creating a Radio Group field.
3. For multiple-option selection (available in the Pro version), select Checkbox Group as the field type.
4. In the field settings, activate the Display as Swatch option.

The integration of the text swatch format in your WooCommerce product customization offers several benefits:

• Stylish, clear option presentation: Text swatches offer an appealing alternative to traditional option displays.
• User-friendly design: Easy-to-select button-like options ensure a smooth user experience.
• Adaptable for various needs: Text swatches can cater to both single and multiple selection settings.
• Space efficiency: Offering numerous options in a compact visual format, text swatches save valuable screen space.

The versatility of text swatches means that they can be applied in a variety of real-world situations:

• Selecting color, size, or material for apparel and furniture items.
• Adding a personal touch, such as a monogram or custom text to the product.
• Defining detailed configuration options for tech gadgets.
• Choosing flavors for consumable products.
• Displaying product accessories or add-ons available for purchase.
• Inputting personalized messages for cards and jewelry.

Text swatches prove to be a valuable addition to your product pages. These visually engaging, user-friendly, and space-efficient option displays greatly advance your product’s appeal and customization flexibility.

5. Enabling file uploads

If you’re striving for higher levels of customization in your WooCommerce store, file upload fields could be just the feature you need. They streamline the ordering process by giving customers the liberty to upload their custom product images, assure precision, and enforce customization, which results in a versatile product offering.

To enable file uploads for products

1. Access the product’s edit page or create a new product in WooCommerce.
2. Navigate to Products > Add New > Product Add-Ons tab.
3. Click Add Group > Add Field to add a new field.
4. Choose Upload as the field type, set a custom label, and consider marking it as required.
5. Publish or update the product.

For bulk file uploads

1. Enable multiple uploads by checking the Allow multiple uploads? option or specifying the maximum number of files.
2. Alternatively, display multiple upload fields for various uploads as needed.

To charge for file uploads

1. Set a price in the Field Price field and consider making it conditional.
2. Customers can opt for custom uploads for a fee, which dynamically adjusts the product’s final price.

The addition of upload fields introduces numerous benefits that directly contribute to your business’s success. For instance, businesses centered around print-on-demand services can permit customers to upload their custom designs.

Take your WooCommerce store to the next level with WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalized product offerings have transitioned from being a luxury to a necessity. Unfortunately, WooCommerce’s native capabilities often fall short of providing the level of product customization modern online consumers desire. 

Hence the need for an efficient product builder plugin!

We’ve discussed the benefits and features of one such impressive tool: the WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin. Functioning as a comprehensive solution, this plugin unfurls an array of features, starting from effortless customization and efficient time-saving operations, to the offering of an intuitive, user-friendly interface.

The plugin’s versatile upload feature makes it an excellent choice for print-on-demand services. Its personalized subscriptions stand out as a unique feature, benefiting businesses that offer custom box services. Dealing with complex pricing structures is also no longer a daunting task – the plugin offers the ability to assign costs per field or option, rendering it a perfect fit for such scenarios.

With such robust features, online store owners can more effectively address the challenges of product customization. This can advance user experience, turning potential customers into satisfied, regular shoppers, and drawing in sales boosting revenue figures substantially.

So, if you want to unlock a world of endless customization possibilities in your WooCommerce store, consider introducing this nifty plugin to your storefront.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

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Get WooCommrce Product Add-Ons Ultimate and take your eCommerce business to the pinnacle of personalized products today!

The post Easy steps to add a custom product builder in WooCommerce appeared first on Plugin Republic.

In this article, you’ll learn how to set up a WooCommerce cash on delivery fee in two easy steps. It’ll take you less than five minutes.

We’ll also look at some optional extras, like setting minimum or maximum order values for when the fee applies, whether to include shipping costs, and whether to apply tax.

What is cash on delivery in WooCommerce

Just as the name suggest, cash on delivery is a payment method in online stores where the customer pays on receiving their product instead of in advance. Even though it’s not as popular nowadays as it was before, thanks to more advanced online payment options, it’s still a requirement for every eCommerce website to include it. 

Some customers prefer not to disclose credit or debit card information online, which makes cash on delivery (COD) an essential part of any business that doesn’t want to lose potential clients. 

Another reason why you would want to include this method is if you offer customized products and you want to let the customer see whether everything is done per their requirements before committing to payment. 

In the end, including cash on delivery can only enrich the user experience by giving them more control over how they purchase products online.

Why you need to set up WooCommerce cash on delivery fee

There are probably thousands of reasons you might want to charge extra for cash on delivery in your WooCommerce store. Here are the top three:

• It requires additional resources for you to be serving online customers in person.
• You might find that customers who purchase using this method aren’t always there when you deliver – meaning that you need to spend extra time returning products to stock and cancelling orders.
• If your products are perishable, like food items, orders that don’t get delivered can lead to wastage.

In an ideal world, you’d get the payment upfront and online – but this might not be practical.

How much extra should you charge?

This will depend on your store and your products. The only person who can really know the answer to this question is you.

However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Don’t make the extra charge too high as it might lose you some sales.
• Apply the extra fee as a fixed amount or a percentage of the total order cost.
• Consider removing the fee for site members if you have a user role pricing feature to your website. 

You can also remove or lower the cash on delivery fee if the person has ordered above a certain amount and you have tiered pricing enabled.

How to enable a WooCommerce cash on delivery fee – 2 easy steps

To add your WooCommerce cash on delivery fee, you’ll need a copy of the WooCommerce Fees and Discounts plugin. With this plugin installed you’ll be able to add the fee within a couple of minutes.

WooCommerce Fees and Discounts

Create powerful pricing incentives quickly and easily

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Step One: Enable payment gateway settings

• Installed and activated the Fees and Discounts plugin. 
• Go to its settings page at WooCommerce > Settings > Fees and Discounts.
• Make sure the ‘Enable Payment Gateway Fees and Discounts’ option is selected.

Step Two: Add the fee

• Click the ‘Payment Gateways’ submenu under the main tabs. You’ll get another submenu that lists all the payment gateways active on your site. 
• Click on ‘Cash on delivery’.

Now you define exactly how you want to apply your WooCommerce cash on delivery fee. Let’s look at each of the settings:

Label

Enter the text that you’d like to display on the checkout page for the additional fee.

Type

Choose what kind of fee (or discount) you want apply. This can be a fixed amount or a percentage.

Amount

Enter the amount of the fee. If you chose percentage for the fee type, then the value you enter here will be the percentage.

Include shipping costs

If you want to include the shipping costs in the overall order, then check this option.

Minimum and maximum amounts

Maybe you only want to add a cash on delivery fee for orders under or over a certain value. Enter the amounts here.

Apply tax

Select the ‘Apply tax’ option to add tax to the cash on delivery fee. You can choose the tax class from the field below.

Seeing the cash on delivery fee at checkout

Now, when the customer chooses the cash on delivery fee at checkout, they’ll see an extra charge.

What happens if the customer changes their payment method?

If the user changes their payment gateway then the charge will automatically be removed, and the checkout fields will update.

Apply a discount to cash on delivery payments in WooCommerce

Of course, adding a fee to your cash on delivery payments might be the opposite of what you want to do. Perhaps, you want to offer the customer a discount for paying this way.

If so, then all you need to do is set the ‘Type’ field to a fixed or percentage discount. Then users will get money off their order if they choose cash on delivery.

Further payment gateway based fees and discounts

That’s it – two easy steps for creating your WooCommerce cash on delivery fee. If you’d like more ideas on payment gateway based fees and discounts, take a look at this article.

And don’t forget the Fees and Discounts plugin – the easiest way to add your WooCommerce cash on delivery fee.

WooCommerce Fees and Discounts

Create powerful pricing incentives quickly and easily

Find Out More

FAQs

Does WooCommerce support cash on delivery?

Yes, you can set COD charges in WooCommerce but some users might find their feature quite restricting as it doesn’t allow adding an extra fee for cash payments or a discount. This is why it’s recommended that you go for the specialized WooCommerce Fees and Discounts plugin and enjoy that extra functionality. 

How do I add cash on delivery payment method in WordPress?

You can add a cash payment method in WordPress by going to the WooCommerce payment settings and toggling on the switch named ‘Cash on Delivery’. 

The post WooCommerce cash on delivery extra fee – in 2 easy steps appeared first on Plugin Republic.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

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The complete guide to WooCommerce variable products

Here’s an overview of what we’re covering in this article. Just click on the heading to jump straight to the section.

WooCommerce variable product example and definition

A variable product is a product type in WooCommerce that allows the product to be divided into different variations that a customer can choose from. A typical example would be a shirt which is available in different sizes and different colors. The customer doesn’t just choose ‘Shirt’; they choose the medium shirt in red.

WooCommerce has several other product ‘types’. These include:

• Simple: This is the basic product type, and for many people, it’s all they will ever need. Simple products are usually physical objects, i.e. you’ll need to ship them, and they don’t have any options. A typical example would be a book.
• Grouped: This is a more complex product type, which combines related products into a single ‘grouped’ product.
• Virtual: A virtual product doesn’t need shipping. It could be something abstract, like a service.
• Downloadable: Again, not a physical product. A typical example would be a plugin.

Some of these ‘types’ are very similar to each other, and many people wonder what the difference is between a grouped product and a variable product. To explain that, we’ll continue with our shirt example from above – that’s a variable product. 

A grouped product, however, would be a whole outfit – the shirt, the pants, the shoes, etc. They can be grouped together for many reasons – they come from the same line, or they are often bought together.

What is the difference between a variable product and a variation?

So having cleared up what a variable product is, we now need to understand what a variation is. And to understand what a variation is, we need to know what an attribute is.

What is a WooCommerce attribute?

Attributes are ways of grouping products. You can create an attribute like ‘Size’ and then configure terms under the attribute, like ‘Small’, ‘Medium’, and ‘Large’, in order to display them in the product table.

In the example of the shirt above, we might have our product, the Shirt, which is available in the following sizes: ‘Small’, ‘Medium’, and ‘Large’. In this case, the attribute is ‘Size’.

Continuing with our shirt example, we have variations according to the ‘Size’ attribute. We create our product, Shirt, then assign it the ‘Size’ attribute. Finally, we create variations for the product according to the attribute terms. These are our variations: ‘Small’, ‘Medium’, and ‘Large’.

It starts to get more complex if we have more than one attribute assigned to a product. Continuing the shirt example, we could assign an additional color variation and now, our shirt is available in all sizes and all colors. This leaves us with a lot of combinations, :

• Small, Red.
• Small, Blue.
• Small, Green.
• Medium, Red.
• Medium, Blue.
• Medium, Green.
• Large, Red.
• Large, Blue.
• Large, Green.

All these combinations are separate variations of the product. Yikes.

Why use variable products in WooCommerce?

Although it can potentially feel confusing to have so many combinations of your product, it’s really useful to be able to manage these as variations. With a simple product that doesn’t have any variations, you can manage stock, price, and SKU, at the product level.

With variable products, however, you can manage data for each individual variation. This means that you can track inventory for your small, red shirts separately from your large, green shirts and make the according changes when a variation is out of stock.

In total, you can manage the following data for each variation of your product:

• Product image
• SKU
• Enabled
• Downloadable
• Virtual
• Manage stock – toggle this on or off to manage stock for the individual variation
• Regular price
• Sale price
• Stock status
• Stock quantity
• Allow backorders
• Weight
• Dimensions
• Shipping class
• Tax class
• Description

What is the difference between variations and attributes?

Hopefully, I’ve answered this question above. But just to clarify: an attribute is a way of defining information about a product – like Size; variations are the specific instances of an attribute – like Small, Medium, Large.

You can think about it another way. Take a look at the screenshot of a product page below.

The attribute is the label for the dropdown field: i.e. ‘Size’; the variations are the options inside the dropdown field: i.e. ‘Small’, ‘Medium’, ‘Large’.

Creating your first variable product: A step-by-step guide

Now, armed with all this knowledge, we can look at how to add product variables in WooCommerce.

Step 1: Create your attribute and its terms

We saw above that for each variable product, we must have at least one attribute. So before creating your product, you need to create your attributes.

Create the attribute

1. Go to WooCommerce > Attributes
2. In the ‘Add new attribute’ form on the left, just enter the name of your attribute in the ‘Name’ field (e.g. ‘Size’)
3. Click ‘Add attribute’

Your attribute has been created and you can see it listed in the table on the right.

Add the attribute terms

1. Click ‘Configure terms’ in the ‘Terms’ column of your attribute
2. In the ‘Add new…’ form on the left, enter the name of your first term (e.g. ‘Small’)
3. Click ‘Add new…’
4. Repeat for each term

When you’ve finished, your table of terms will look something like this:

Step 2: Create a WooCommerce variable product

With your attributes ready, you can create your variable product.

Create a new product

1. Go to Products > Add New
2. Enter your product title and any other information you like
3. Now you can set the ‘Product Type’ field in the ‘Product Data’ tab to ‘Variable product’

For more detail on adding products in WooCommerce, check out this tutorial.

Step 3: Add your attributes to your variable product

Now it’s time to define which attribute(s) you want to use in your variable product.

Add an attribute

1. Click the ‘Attributes’ tab in the ‘Product Data’ section
2. In the ‘Custom product attribute’ dropdown, select the name of your attribute
3. Click ‘Add’

Define the attribute terms to use

1. Assuming you want to use all the terms you’ve defined for your attribute, click the ‘Select all’ button
2. Select the ‘Use for variations’ option
3. Click ‘Save attributes’

Step 4: Add your variations

Now your attributes have been added to your product, you can define your variations. In this example, we’ll add variations for all our attributes.

1. Click the ‘Variations’ tab in the ‘Product Data’ section
2. Select ‘Create variations from all attributes’
3. Click ‘Go’

WooCommerce will add a product variation for each attribute.

You can see each variation listed.

Step 5: Editing your variations

You can edit variations individually or in bulk.

Edit individual variations

To edit an individual variation:

1. Click on the variation to expand its panel
2. Edit the required parameters
3. Click ‘Save changes’

You can see from the screenshot above all the parameters that you can edit for each variation.

Bulk editing variations

It’s highly likely that you’ll want to edit certain, if not all, parameters for your variations in one hit. For example, the price for each variation might not vary so you want to be able to set the price for all variations in one action.

To edit all variations in one go:

1. Click the ‘Add variation’ select field
2. You’ll see a long list of possible actions – select the one you want
3. Click ‘Go’

Depending on the action you’ve chosen, you’ll get an additional pop-up box to enter a value. And if you want to see how you can create a bulk variations form, check out our handy guide on the topic.

Product variation images

You can upload an image for each variation. When the user selects that variation, the main product image will switch to the variation image.

To upload a product variation image:

1. Click the blue image icon
2. Select the image

It’s pretty simple.

(By the way, if you want to display swatches for variations, you can check this guide from RexTheme).

Step 6: Set default variation

Finally, you might like to set a default variation for the customer when they arrive on the product page.

1. In the ‘Default Form Values’, set a default variation for each attribute
2. Click ‘Save changes’

A WooCommerce variable product on the front end

Let’s take a look at the example we’ve used throughout this article: the shirt with colour and size attributes.

Once we’ve created all our variations, we can view the product on the front end. Note that there are two dropdown fields, one for each attribute.

You can see some other information too:

• Price range: in this example, I’ve set some shirts to be more expensive than others. WooCommerce therefore displays a price range under the title showing the customer the minimum and maximum they can expect to pay for the product
• Stock information: under the product attribute fields you can see information about how many items for the selected variation are in stock
• Add to cart button: the add to cart button will be disabled until a variation is selected

If you want, you can also list product variations as a table and it’s going to look like this:

Enhancing WooCommerce product variations

Now, we’ve covered the standard WooCommerce settings for variable products in depth. But you might find that these still don’t meet your exact requirements.

Let’s look at two ways to make your variable product even more powerful and feature-rich by using a WooCommerce variable product plugin.

Adding extra fields to WooCommerce variable products

A popular requirement is to be able to customise products in WooCommerce. This is a step further than having product variations in that it allows customers to create their own personalised versions of products.

This is often achieved by adding input fields to product pages – e.g. you can let a customer define text to be engraved on your product by letting them fill in a text field. The text is captured as part of the product and you, as store owner, receive it as part of the order. You can find out more about the ins and outs of customising products in WooCommerce here.

You can add customisable elements to product variations using the WooCommerce Product Add Ons Ultimate plugin.

Using a WooCommerce plugin

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

Find Out More

Plugins in WooCommerce are great for business owners who want to customize their store and offer a better experience to customers. They can also give you greater control over the product display and fix common issues such as WooCommerce variations not showing properly or at all.

For example, WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate allows you to add extra options to your configurable products and display items as child products. You can also choose to add different options to different variations. So, in the shirt example, we’ve used throughout this article, we could add the option for users to have some custom text stitching done, or even to upload a monogram.

However, we might want to limit the customisation options to certain variations. Perhaps the stitching will only work with certain colour shirts. Using WooCommerce Product Add Ons Ultimate, it’s possible to add custom options to different variations.

Another possibility is to display variations as single products. This option is great for products that have too many variations such as hardware goods or stationary items.

Providing more information about variations

WooCommerce already does a great job of allowing you to create variation-specific information. As well as all the product data, like price, stock, etc, you can also write separate descriptions for each variation.

One drawback is over variation stock control, however. Many users want the ability to disable or grey out variations that are not in stock. WooCommerce Better Variations gives you this ability.

Better Variations – a WooCommerce variable product plugin

WooCommerce Better Variations

Disable, style and sort out-of-stock variations

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Imagine that in our shirt example, the Medium Green variation was sold out. With WooCommerce Better Variations, we can show that to the customer more clearly than standard WooCommerce does.

Better Variations also gives you the chance to set a ‘back in stock’ date that you can display to the customer, just so they know exactly when their item will be available to purchase again.

So, those are two examples of a WooCommerce variable product plugin that you can use to extend your shop’s capabilities.

Get the most out of your store with WooCommerce variable products

Hopefully, this article has given you plenty of pointers about what a variable product is. In addition, it should also have helped give you ideas about how to use variations.

Variable products shouldn’t be too difficult to use, once you get the hang of them. If you need to extend them with some extra functionality, consider the WooCommerce Product Add Ons Ultimate and/or Better Variations plugins.

So, any questions, just leave a comment below.

The post WooCommerce Variable Products: How to Increase Your Store’s Potential appeared first on Plugin Republic.

• Fields to display additional data about a variation.
• Fields to accept user input for customizing the product variation.

We’ll look at both options.

Adding WooCommerce custom fields for variations

I wrote extensively about adding custom fields to WooCommerce products here. In this article, we’ll focus specifically on adding custom fields to variations.

Let’s take a look at an example product. We’ll imagine that we’re selling clothing and we would like to provide specific sizing information about each variation. Of course, you can use this to display any kind of additional product data.

What are custom fields for product variations in WooCommerce?

Custom fields in WooCommerce for product variations allow site owners to add data to a specific product or a variation of this product. Only when a customer clicks or chooses this item can they see the information relating to it. 

Let’s take a look at an example product. Imagine that we’re selling clothing, and would like to provide specific sizing information about each variation. Of course, you can use this to display any kind of additional product data.

When the customer chooses a different variation, the size information changes, and this is the main idea behind custom fields for a specific variation. It makes no sense to fill the page with information that is not required, in this case, size information about XL, when the chosen product is in size S. 

If you’re curious to see this in action, you can view the demo product here.

How do variation custom fields work?

On the back end, variation custom fields are just input fields that are directly connected to the specific variation of the product. It will only show up if a specific condition is met, for example, the customer choosing the size from a drop-down menu or putting the item in their cart.

Why do we need WooCommerce custom fields for variations?

Why not just add one big table for all variations? We could do this and then expect the user to find the data for the variation that they’re interested in.

But this would be clumsy and not helpful to the customer. Much better to give them exactly the information they need.

Custom fields for multiple variations

Note the second table in the screenshot above. It shows some care instructions for the garment. In this case, the custom field is added to multiple variations. We’ll also look at how to achieve this.

How to add custom data fields to WooCommerce variations

To add our custom fields, we’ll need the WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin. This gives us the ability to add all kinds of custom fields to WooCommerce products.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

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Once you’ve downloaded and installed the plugin, you can start adding your custom fields.

Step One: add a new field

Let’s assume our product variations are already set up. To add our variation-specific custom fields, go to the Product Add-Ons tab in the Product data section.

Click ‘Add Group’ then ‘Add Field’. In the ‘Field Type’ setting, choose ‘Information’.

In the screenshot above, you can see the Product Add-Ons panel. We’ve selected ‘Information’ as the field type and entered a label for the field.

Step two: add data rows

The Information field allows us to create a table of data for each variation. Click the ‘Add Row’ button to add a new row, then enter a label and data in each field.

Step three: specify the variation

Finally, you can select the variation(s) in the ‘Variations’ field. Choose the variations that you’d like this field to display for.

Note that you can choose more than one variation here if you’d like to display the custom field for multiple variations.

Step four: repeat

Finally, you just need to repeat these steps for any other custom fields you want to add for different variations. The Add-Ons Ultimate plugin allows you to duplicate fields – just click ‘Copy’ at the top of the field you want to duplicate.

This makes it much easier to create multiple fields for all your variations.

On the front end, the product will now look like this.

When the user changes the variation, the custom field will change too.

Adding WooCommerce custom fields to multiple variations

Now let’s look at adding the same custom field to multiple variations. This isn’t particularly different.

In our example product, we created a care instruction table, complete with icons. We’ll display this for all variations:

You can see in the screenshot above that we’ve added this field to multiple variations. You can add custom fields to as many or as few variations as you like.

If you want to display the field for all variations, just leave the ‘Variations’ field empty.

How to add custom input fields to WooCommerce variations

Add-Ons Ultimate allows you to add several input fields to WooCommerce variations, including:

• Calculation fields
• Checkbox fields
• Checkbox groups
• Datepickers
• Image swatches
• Name your price fields
• Number fields
• Child products
• Radio groups
• Select / dropdowns
• Text and textarea fields

Let’s have a look at another example, this time for a custom t-shirt that the user can personalise with their name and an image. You can see the demo product here.

Adding a text field to a WooCommerce variation

Let’s look at how to add a text field to WooCommerce variations. In our example, this is for a custom slogan or name that will get printed on the teeshirt.

Just as above, click ‘Add Field’. Then choose ‘Text’ as the field type:

Text field parameters

Note that there are several parameters that you can use to refine your text field, including:

• Setting the field to be required
• Specifying a minimum and/or maximum number of characters
• Charging a cost per character
• Allowing some free characters
• Only allowing alphanumeric characters
• Only charging for alphanumeric characters

Again, as with the information field above, you can choose whether to display this field for one, some or all variations.

Adding a condition to WooCommerce custom fields 

Another very handy feature of the WooCommerce Product Add Ons Ultimate is the option to add group and field conditions in WooCommerce. 

As the name suggests, conditions are previously specified scenarios that are fulfilled once a certain condition is met. For example, you have a text field that only shows up when the end user selects a certain checkbox. 

To do that, you’ll need two fields – the main one and the dependent one. The main field, the checkbox in our example, will appear no matter what, while the other one depends on the status of the first. 

This is how this looks like in the plugin. 

To add the desired condition, click the Add Condition button and go over the dropdown fields.

In the first one, you can choose between:

• Hide this field if.
• Show this field if.

In the second one, you can choose between: 

• All rules match
• Any rules match

1. After that, you only have to choose the type of the first field (checkbox in our case), the operator (Is), and the value of the field, and you’re done!

Group conditions are created very similarly, but you need to remember that you can’t use group conditions on global groups. 

1. Just like with the field condition, start by clicking the Add Condition button. 

2. Then, you just need to fill in the same fields.

Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin

Hopefully this has been a useful article on how to add custom fields to WooCommerce variations. All you need is the Add-Ons Ultimate plugin.

And if you’re interested in the further customization of your product pages, take a look at the following plugins: 

• Better variations – Disable, style, and sort out-of-stock variations. 
• WooCommerce Order Bump – Increase sales by recommending products and documenting progress. 

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

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The post Mastering WooCommerce: Adding Custom Fields for WooCommerce Variations appeared first on Plugin Republic.

WooCommerce composite product examples

We’ll look at three different examples of composite products:

• The first scenario looks at how to create a ‘build your own computer’ product in WooCommerce
• The second scenario looks at how to create a gift hamper product
• The third scenario shows how to create a build your own bike composite product

You should be able to use the techniques in these examples for any composite product you want to build.

All three scenarios feature links to fully functioning demo products so you can see exactly how the finished product works.

We’ll also look at other aspects of composite products – like how to track stock of your components and some different ways to display fields on the product page and in the cart.

There’s also a list of WooCommerce composite products and demo products.

What are WooCommerce composite products?

Essentially, WooCommerce composite products are a way of assembling a customized product out of several other products. For example, think of a gift hamper where the customer chooses which products are included. Or a computer where the user configures all the components – from motherboard to keyboard. This is the best way to create a WooCommerce build-your-own-product.

Composite products are sometimes referred to as kit-builders, kit-building products, or custom product builders. The user builds up the composite product out of multiple sub-products.

Types of WooCommerce Products: Composite, Grouped, and Product Bundles

To fully understand composite products, it’s good to distinguish them from the other product types – grouped and product bundles. 

• Grouped products: This is a collection of individual products that can be purchased as a group – a set of wine glasses. 
• Product bundles: These are individual products that are categorically connected and often come when purchased together – shampoo and conditioner bundle.

Why use composite products? 

Using composite products in WooCommerce provides several key advantages for store owners and customers. 

• It allows store owners to create complex product kits by combining multiple individual items, offering a customizable product experience to the customers. 
• Customers can build their own product packages, choosing the specific items they want, which can enhance the shopping experience and increase satisfaction.
• It makes inventory management easier as each component in the composite product is tracked separately. This feature also allows for more accurate pricing and shipping calculations since the cost and shipping of each individual item are considered. 

When should you use composite products?

You should take advantage of this option if you want to offer customizable, multi-component products, maintain precise inventory control, and provide an enhanced and flexible shopping experience to your customers.

For example, if your store sells complex products or services that require customer input or selection of various options and components or when you want to provide flexible pricing options, where the total price adjusts based on the components chosen by the customers. Composite products also help when you have a more advanced shipping system that requires accurate calculations based on the individual components selected, as each part may have different weights and dimensions.

Now, let’s look at some specific examples in WooCommerce below, with clear guidance on how to build them, plus links to composite products demo pages.

How to create WooCommerce composite products

Out of the box, WooCommerce doesn’t have the ability to create composite products. So, to create them, you’ll need the Pro version of the Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin. This will give you all the extra functionality you’ll need.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

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Product Add-Ons Ultimate allows you to add extra fields and options to WooCommerce so that customers can personalise your products.

The Pro version of the plugin allows you to add ‘child products’ as options within a main product. Child products will be the components of your composite products.

The benefits of using child products

A key feature of WooCommerce composite products is the ability to treat each component of the build-your-own product as a standalone product in its own right.

Track stock levels of add-ons

Using child products as your add-ons means that you can track your stock levels.

Let’s take the example of a custom PC product that allows the user to choose their own processor, graphics card, and RAM.

The customer should be able to build their own PC from one page – the ‘Build Your Own PC’ product page. On this page, they should have options to pick the processor they want, the graphics card, and the RAM.

However, let’s imagine that you only have a limited number of each processor available. So having these set up as products means that you can track their inventory level. When they’re out of stock, they won’t be available to the customer.

Assign SKUs to your add-ons

Because child products are also standard products, you can assign them with SKUs.

Set weight and dimensions of add-ons

If you’re using child products as add-ons, then you can assign them weight and other dimensions like length and width. This means that you can ensure your add-on options will affect shipping costs.

Hiding your child products

If your components are not available to be purchased separately and can only be bought as part of the composite product, you can choose to hide them. This will prevent these products from appearing in shop archives. But you still get all the benefits above of using real products as add-ons.

If you don’t want users to be able to find or access the hidden products at all, even with the direct URL, you can check the ‘Redirect hidden products’ option in WooCommerce > Settings > Product Add-Ons.

So even if the user knows the direct URL to the hidden product, they won’t be able to view it or purchase it unless it’s part of the composite product.

Other features

The Pro version of Product Add-Ons Ultimate gives you the ability to use child products, which is essential for your composite products. And it has a number of other, advanced features to make your products even more powerful, including:

Minimum and maximum quantities

Add-Ons Ultimate gives you several options for specifying quantities for your components. You can:

• Link the quantity to the main product
• Ensure that the component can only be ordered in a quantity of one
• Allow the customer to choose how many of each component they want to add to their composite product
• Allow the customer to choose the component’s quantity – but set minimum and/or maximum quantities

We’ll look at how you might want to use different settings for component quantities in the gift box example below.

Variations

You can use either simple or variable products as your child products.

Conditional logic

Conditional logic is an essential feature of any advanced composite product. Certain components might only be available depending on the choices the customer has made. For example, your gift box might include different products depending on the size of the box. Conditional logic makes this possible.

Related Tutorial
Find out more about conditional logic here

Grouping

Components can be organised in different fields and groups. This streamlines the purchasing process for the customer.

Groups can be displayed in a single column, as tabs, in an accordion layout so that users can toggle visibility on and off, or in a stepped layout.

Composite product pricing

You can price your composite products in a couple of different ways:

• Either set a fixed product price for your composite product. Whatever components the customer chooses, the price will always be the same.
• Or let the combined price of the component products determine the price.

Discounts

Maybe you want to offer your customers a discount for purchasing products as part of a kit. With Add-Ons Ultimate, you can specify a discount for a child product bought as part of a composite product that wouldn’t be available if the product was purchased by itself.

Component display options

You can choose between different layout options for your components. All options allow you to display product images for each component.

Required fields

Do you need to ensure that some or all components are selected? Add-Ons Ultimate allows you to specify which fields are required.

WooCommerce composite products video

You can check out this video for an overview of many features covered in this article.

Scenario 1: How to create a custom ‘build your own computer’ product in WooCommerce

Let’s look at a couple of specific use cases. These are just examples of how you can build WooCommerce composite products, which you can modify as needed for your own requirements.

To create a build your own computer product in WooCommerce, just follow these steps:

1. Install WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate
2. Create your components as products
3. Create your main product
4. Add fields for each component

You can also refer to this working example of the composite product on the demo site.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

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Step 1: Install WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

You’ll get an email when you purchase Product Add-Ons Ultimate. Download the plugin from the link contained in that email.

Upload and install the plugin by following these instructions.

Step 2: Create your child products

With the Add-Ons Ultimate plugin installed, you can start to create the products that will be used as components for your ‘build your own PC’ product.

In this example, let’s say that we’re going to allow our customers to configure the following items:

• Processor
• Motherboard
• RAM
• Graphics card

We’re also going to let them configure some peripherals, e.g.,

• Monitor
• Keyboard

You may have far more components than these, but hopefully this should be enough of an example.

So you need to create each component as a separate product. Let’s take the first component, processors, as our example. Perhaps your store specializes in Intel processors. You need to create a product for each processor that you stock, e.g.,

• Intel Core i3 Quad Core Processor
• Intel Core i5 Quad Core Processor
• Intel Core i7 Quad Core Processor
• Intel Core i9 Quad Core Processor

Create each one as a separate product.

Once you’ve set up all your processors, you’ll need to repeat for all your different product types.

Step 3: Create your main product

When you’ve created all your components, you need to create one single product that will be the main ‘Build Your Own PC’ product. This will be the composite product.

Composite product prices

If you want to set a base price for your composite product, just enter a value in the ‘Regular price’ field. The total price of the product will be a sum of this price and the price of all the selected components.

Step 4: Add fields for each component

Finally, you need to add the components as add-on fields to your main product.

In the main product edit screen, click on the Product Add-Ons tab here:

Create component groups

From this panel, you can add your extra fields. Let’s create two groups, one for Core Components and one for Peripherals.

• Click ‘Add Group’ and enter the name of the first group, e.g. ‘Core Components’
• Click ‘Add Group’ and enter the name of the second group, e.g. ‘Peripherals’
• You can enter descriptions for each group if you wish.

Set group layout

You might like to organise groups on the page to help your user and create a more ‘step-by-step’ feel for the composite product.

To do this, you can choose either ‘Accordion’ or ‘Tab’ in the ‘Group Layout’ setting.

In the build your own computer demo, I’ve used the ‘Accordion’ layout so that only the fields from one group is visible at a time. The other group is collapsed and all its fields are hidden. This makes it easier for the user, especially when you have a large number of fields.

Create add-on fields for components

You’ll need to repeat the following process for each component:

• In the first group, click ‘Add Field’
• Give the field a name, e.g. ‘Processor’
• Choose ‘Products’ as the field type
• Type the names of your processor products into the ‘Child Products’ field
• Choose the layout for your component, e.g. a select field
• Because the PC will need a processor, select the ‘Required Field’ option

The field will look something like this:

Repeat for each component, ensuring that you add the field to the correct group.

The finished build your own computer product

When you’ve added all your child products as components, you can publish your main product. It should look something like this:

You can preview this product here.

Scenario 2: How to create a WooCommerce gift box product

In this example, we’ll look at creating a gift box or gift hamper product in WooCommerce using composite products. We’ll also incorporate some conditional logic to see how that can be used.

Our example will be a breakfast hamper where the customer can choose different sizes. The number of items included in the hamper will vary depending on its size.

Because we’re such nice people, we’re also going to give the customer a free gift if they pick the larger hamper. Life doesn’t get better than this.

Also, instead of using select fields for each component like the custom PC above, we’ll make it more visual and include an image for each item.

It’s a bit more complex than the PC product, but, again, it’s mainly to help give you some ideas of what’s possible.

Step 1: Install WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Follow the step above to install and activate Add-Ons Ultimate. Don’t forget: you’ll need the Pro version.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

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Step 2: Create each gift item as a product

Let’s imagine that our customers are going to be able to choose a certain number of items to fill their food hamper. Depending on the size of hamper they choose, they’re going to be able to add different teas and coffees.

Then, if they select the ‘Deluxe’ hamper, they get a free mug.

Okay, I admin this is probably not the most exciting hamper you’ll receive as a gift but hopefully it’s a good example.

In the demo product, I’ve created several coffee, tea and mug products as individual standalone products. You can do the same for your own hamper items.

Step 3: Create the hamper product

With all your items added, you can create the main product. Again, like the custom built computer, a hamper is just a composite product made up of different components – in this case, teas and coffees.

Step 4: Set gift items as add-on fields in the hamper product

We’re going to create some add-on fields for our hamper product:

• A select field for the user to select the size of hamper
• Two products fields where we’ll enter the component products. Only one of these fields will be displayed at any one time, depending on the value of the select field
• Another products field for the free mug. This will only be displayed if the customer chooses the deluxe option in the select field

Create a select field

In your hamper product, click on the ‘Product Add-Ons’ tab:

1. Click ‘Add Group’
2. Click ‘Add Field’
3. Select ‘Select’ as the field type
4. Click ‘Add Option’ to start adding options

Your field might look something like this:

Create product fields for the component products

1. Add another field and select ‘Products’ as the field type.
2. Enter all your gift items into the ‘Child Products’ field.
3. Set the ‘Products Layout’ to ‘Checkboxes’ and the ‘Products Quantities’ to ‘Independent’ (this means that the customer can set their own quantities for each child product)
4. Set the ‘Minimum Child Products’ and ‘Max Child Products’ to the same value – in this case, 4. This will ensure that the customer will have to select 4 items from this field if they want to buy the hamper

Now, duplicate this field and update the minimum and maximum child products to 6 (or whatever you’re using in your product). We’re going to use these duplicate fields in our conditional logic.

Note also that the ‘Products Layout’ is set to ‘Checkboxes’. This will mean that users can pick different component products as if they were checkboxes – so they can pick more than one, or deselect a previously selected one if they wish.

Also, the ‘Product Quantities’ field is set to ‘Independent’. This means that the customer can choose how many of each component they want: e.g. I’ll have one Colombian blend coffee and two Earl Grey teas.

Step 5: Assign some conditional logic

In your first products field, click ‘Add Condition’.

Set the parameters to ‘Show this field if’ ‘All rules match’. Then choose your select field in the first column and the first value in the last column:

Now, your first products field will only be displayed when the user picks the first hamper type.

Repeat this for the duplicate products field, but change the condition so that it will only be displayed if the user selects the second option:

So this field will only be displayed if the user selects the other option from the select field. In this way, only one products field will ever be displayed at one time.

Add a field for a free gift

Remember that we’re going to tantalise our users with the offer of a free gift if they choose the ‘Deluxe’ hamper option?

We’ll do this by adding another ‘Product’ field and adding a single product to it. We choose a select field as the layout and ‘One only’ as the quantity option. In this way, it will automatically get added to the cart when the user clicks ‘Add to cart’.

The condition is the same as the field above.

The finished gift hamper product

You should end up with a composite product something like this:

Or you can see it working here.

Scenario 3: How to create a build your own bike composite product

In this example, we’ll look at how to let customers build their own bike. They’ll be able to select different components like handlebars and frames. The layout will be slightly different to the previous example – using steps to help the user see their progress through the build.

You can see the working demo product here.

Step 1: Install WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

As before, install and activate Add-Ons Ultimate. Don’t forget: you’ll need the Pro version.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

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Step 2: Create each component as a product

In our example, the user can select different components for their bike including frame, handlebars, wheels.

First, we create these as standalone products. There’s a guide to adding products in WooCommerce here.

Step 3: Create the build a bike product

Now it’s time to make the main build a bike product. Create a new product and give it a title.

In the ‘Product Data’ section, click the ‘Product Add-Ons’ tab and create a new group. Each group will be a different step in the process of building a bike.

Give your group a name. In our example, this group will be for the user to make some selections for the bike frame. You can also add some description to help guide the user.

Now we can add some fields:

1. Click ‘Add Field’
2. Give your field a label, e.g. ‘Frame’
3. Choose ‘Products’ as the field type
4. Enter the products that you previously created in the ‘Child Products’ fields. In this case, you’d be entering the frame products
5. Choose ‘Radio’ in ‘Products Layout’ – this means that the user will only be able to choose one of the frames, not multiple frames
6. Choose ‘One Only’ in ‘Products Quantities’ – this means that the user will only be able to choose a single frame for their bike

Now you can create new groups for each step in the process. In the example product there are steps for Frame, Wheels, Handlebars, Seat and Extra Options.

Step 4: Choose your layout

We’re going for a stepped process in this example. So in the ‘Groups Layout’ field, choose ‘Steps’.

This will give us a layout on the front end like this:

The user can click through the tabs at the top or use ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ buttons.

Step 5: The finished build a bike product

When you’ve added all your groups and fields, you’ll end up with a finished product like this:

You can check this out here.

Composite product price totals and summary panel

Let’s look at a couple of other aspects of composite products built using WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate.

The product price

You can choose an alternative label for the composite product price (or even to hide it altogether).

Combined product price totals

On the front end, note the pricing table just above the Add to cart button. Add-Ons Ultimate breaks down the costs of each component in your composite product.

The table shows the base cost of the product, the combined cost of any selected components, and a combined total.

You can edit the labels if you wish, or hide the table and just display the combined total.

Product summary panel

Alternatively, you can provide the user with a summary of their selected options in a single panel.

To enable this summary panel, go to the Customizer then click the Product Add-Ons Ultimate > General tab. Select the ‘Enable summary panel’ option.

Composite products in the cart

By default, all component products will be listed as separate line items in the cart.

However, when you have a lot of components in your composite product, this can make the cart cluttered. By checking a couple of options in the settings, you can remove the child products as line items and display them as metadata within the main product – like this:

To achieve this, just go to WooCommerce > Settings > Product Add-Ons > Products and check the following options:

• Hide child products in the cart
• Display child products as metadata

Editing composite products

It’s easy to allow your customers to edit composite products, even after they’ve already added them to the cart.

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Product Add-Ons and check ‘Enable editing’.

Customers will then see an option to edit their options for products in the cart.

Receiving orders containing composite products

When a customer purchases a composite product, you’ll receive a standard WooCommerce email itemising every component.

And in the order screen, you’ll also be able to see each component.

Because the components are products in their own right, stock and inventory levels are adjusted, and the correct weight is calculated for shipping purposes.

WooCommerce composite product demo examples

Here’s a list of WooCommerce composite products currently on the demo site:

• Build your own breakfast hamper – product demo
• Build your own computer – product demo
• Build a bike
• Complete the look – product demo
• Create your own cereal – product demo
• Mixed wine case – product demo

You can see a complete list of composite product examples on the demo site in the ‘Build Your Own’ category.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate for building your own products

Hopefully this article has given you some great ideas and some concrete methods for creating WooCommerce composite products.

All you need is Product Add-Ons Ultimate:

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

Personalise products with extra fields and custom options

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Further reading

If you like case studies like this, you might like the following posts too:

• There’s an article on creating mix and match wine cases here
• How to create a takeaway order form for restaurants
• How to build a ‘create your own cereal’ product in WooCommerce
• How to create a mix and match product in WooCommerce

The post WooCommerce composite products: how to build your own product [+video] appeared first on Plugin Republic.

Are you seeking a practical solution to reduce cart abandonment and elevate sales in your WooCommerce store? ‘Save Cart for Later’ WooCommerce plugins could be just the answer you’re looking for, offering a key strategy to unlock higher conversion rates.

These handy plugins allow customers to save their cart – and the products they’ve selected – for a future purchase. Think how useful this can be when shoppers want to think over their choices, await an incoming pay cheque, compare options, or simply hold onto their cart until they’re ready to finalize their purchase.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the key features and benefits of six leading ‘save cart for later’ plugins for WooCommerce. Our aim is to provide you with the information you need to select the most fitting solution for your store. So let’s get stuck in!

Understanding the importance of ‘save cart for later’ WooCommerce plugins

When customers leave their carts filled with potential purchases unfinished, possible sales slip through the cracks. Fortunately, ‘save cart for later’ plugins can be the solution to this widespread problem within WooCommerce.

WooCommerce doesn’t come bundled with a ‘save cart for later’ function. However, the platform’s highly flexible nature allows you to integrate third-party plugins that can seamlessly incorporate this feature into your online storefront.

The core function of these plugins is to extend a lifeline to your customers to bookmark their shopping cart contents and enable them to secure these selections for future purchases. This flexible shopping experience permits your customers to return to their chosen products at a more opportune time.

Transcend this issue by offering your customers an opportunity to ‘pause’ their shopping spree without losing their carefully chosen products. This approach infuses convenience into the shopping experience and significantly reduces the cart abandonment rate.

Beyond convenience and lower abandonment rates, ‘save cart for later’ plugins offer analytical advantages. They can yield pivotal insights into customer shopping behaviors and preferences, illuminating the products frequently added or saved. 

These insights offer a steadfast base for not only redefining your product range and tweaking pricing strategies but also for shaping your marketing initiatives more effectively.

Top 6 ‘save cart for later’ WooCommerce plugins

Here, we’ve compiled an overview of six top WooCommerce plugins designed to allow customers to save products they’re interested in for future purchases.

1. WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate is a feature-rich WordPress plugin, that allows users t to bookmark products they’re interested in but not yet ready to commit to purchasing. By letting customers easily return to their favored products at a later time, the plugin presents an opportunity to boost conversions.

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

Boost sales and increase customer loyalty

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Key features

• Multiple wishlists: Customers can create numerous wishlists to cater to various occasions. This enables users to stay organized and encourages saving more products for future purchasing consideration.
• Support for various product types: Be it physical or digital products, or variants like size and color – this plugin supports them all. The ability to handle a wide range of products heightens the plugin’s utility for various eCommerce stores.
• Privacy settings: Users have the flexibility to set their wishlists as private or shareable. This adjustability gives customers control based on their preferences.
• Direct wishlist access: With the option to view wishlists directly from their account pages, users can easily manage their saved items and make purchases when they’re ready.
• Admin wishlist view: Admins have access to all wishlists, offering critical insights into shopping trends and customer preferences, which can help shape effective sales strategies.
• Easy management and customization: Designed for both coders and non-coders alike, the plugin ensures easy management and is loaded with approachable customization options.
• Options for ‘Add to Wishlist’ display: Choose between a button, link, or a simple icon to display as the ‘Add to Wishlist’ option, ensuring alignment with the website’s design and user preferences.

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate offers considerable benefits to your eCommerce store. It’s an avenue for a boost in sales, increased customer loyalty due to a more individualized shopping experience, a streamlined user experience, and effective store administration.

2. WooCommerce Cart Share and Save

WooCommerce Cart Share and Save is a versatile plugin that enables not only the saving of carts, but also their sharing. This dual functionality is aimed at increasing sales volumes and bolstering customer engagement.

Key features

• Share and reserve cart for later use: The plugin allows users to share their shopping cart with others and reserve it for later use. Further simplifying the sharing process, the plugin generates easily comprehensible URLs for shared carts. 
• Print cart feature: If sharing cart details is needed, the plugin includes a print cart feature, allowing the creation of tangible hard copies. 
• Easy cart restoration: Restoring saved carts is seamless, hence encouraging customers to complete their deferred purchases.
• Access based on user roles: Administrators can find this plugin instrumental due to its capability to allocate cart access based on user roles, providing precise control over access parameters. 

The WooCommerce Cart Share and Save plugin is designed to be lightweight, resulting in swift execution and optimized overall performance. Regular updates and proactive maintenance can contribute to increased sales and solid customer engagement.

3. Save & Share Cart For WooCommerce

The Save & Share Cart For WooCommerce plugin has a user-friendly interface with functionality that allows customers to save, share, or replace their shopping carts, thus reducing cart abandonment rates, enhancing sales, and capitalizing on social media sharing for maximized website traffic.

Key features

• Improved customer experience: This plugin offers various features designed to improve the customer experience and instigate repeat visits, such as allowing users to save their carts for later, share them, or even replace them entirely, with a bulk save option for rapid saving.
• Social cart sharing: The plugin allows the sharing of cart links through Facebook, Twitter, email, Messenger, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Skype. These unique cart links can be viewed and checked out directly by others. Store owners have the power to set a time duration for older cart links, to ensure the removal of irrelevant ones.

The plugin also has abundant customization options, such as altering the popup background color, popup header & footer color, and icon color. By significantly lowering cart abandonment rates, this plugin ensures your investment in marketing does not go to waste. 

4. Save for Later for WooCommerce

The Save for Later for WooCommerce plugin helps enhance customer retention and limit cart abandonment in WooCommerce stores. This nifty plugin allows shoppers who aren’t quite ready to hit the ‘purchase’ button to easily place coveted items onto a ‘Save for Later’ list.

Key features 

• User-centric features: The plugin ensures privacy for anonymous shoppers, whilst automatically identifying logged-in customers, offering total flexibility to save items. 
• Customizing the shopping experience: Shop owners have considerable autonomy in shaping the shopping experience. This includes the ability to determine the duration of display for saved products for guest users, thus creating a sense of urgency to purchase.
• Enabling rules and restrictions: The plugin allows restrictions to be set on the ‘Save for Later’ function, applicable to specific products, categories, or user roles, offering complete administrative control. 
• Theme-specific configuration: The display configuration can be set to default or customized to match your site’s theme, ensuring a seamless experience for shoppers.
• Display personalized messages to shoppers: This feature sets the stage for a deeper relationship with your customers, which can boost customer loyalty and retention rates. 
• Translation-ready: The plugin is translation-ready, making it a good choice for stores catering to a globally diverse customer demographic.

5. Save Cart Later

The Save Cart Later plugin is designed to minimize cart abandonment rates and improve user experience for WooCommerce stores. Providing services to both guest shoppers and those with accounts, it offers the convenience of storing items in their shopping cart for later purchase.

Key features

• Separate shopping carts: Flexibility to create different shopping carts based on the types of products they’re browsing. Whether customers are shopping for home appliances, books, or games, there’s a separate cart for each, enhancing user experience significantly.
• Share cart contents: The plugin allows shoppers the convenience to share their cart contents, as well as the applied discounts, with others for easy payment – an extremely handy feature for gift purchases or when costs are being split. 
• Email reminders: To reduce the chances of forgotten or abandoned carts, the plugin also sends email reminders to customers, reminding them to finalize their purchases.
• Limited-time cart saving: For guest users, there’s a provision to save products, albeit with a time limit. Lastly, with customer convenience in sight, shoppers can move all saved items back to the main cart with a single click.

6. Save Now Buy Later for WooCommerce

Finishing off our list is the Save Now Buy Later for WooCommerce plugin – an intuitive tool that expertly tackles the persistent eCommerce challenge of cart abandonment.

Key features

• One-click saving: All it takes is one click for customers to secure their chosen items for future purchase, taking the stress out of decision-making during a shopping spree and ensuring that their hard-found favorite products won’t slip through the net.
• Smart product removal: When customers remove an item from their cart, the plugin smartly prompts them to save the item for later. This innovative feature sees potential sales as opportunities out on loan, rather than lost forever.
• Convenient cart review: Customers can view their saved items directly below the cart total. This transparency helps customers stay informed about their saved items and streamlines the shopping process.
• Selective application: The ‘Save Cart Later’ button can be configured at a product or category level, giving store owners fine-grained control over where this feature is applied. They even have the power to exclude specific items from this functionality.
• Effortless checkout: With a single click, customers can shift their saved items back to the main cart and proceed to the checkout, making the entire shopping experience smooth and enjoyable.

By including a simple mechanism that allows customers to reserve their cart for a future purchase, the plugin naturally reduces cart abandonment.

Which ‘save cart for later’ WooCommerce plugin should you choose?

Choosing the best ‘save cart for later’ WooCommerce plugin involves carefully evaluating various factors such as the size of your WooCommerce store, your budget, and the specific needs of your shop. Remember, each plugin comes with its unique strengths and potential limitations. 

Here’s a quick recap of the best features of our top four options from the list.

Among these options, WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate has an edge with a well-rounded feature set. Not only does it offer multiple wishlist creation and support for all product types, but it also offers unique insights into customer preferences for store admins.

Elevate your WooCommerce store with Wishlists Ultimate today

eCommerce business owners often grapple with the prevalent issue of cart abandonment. The high cost of customer acquisition highlights the value of each potential sale. When a shopper fills their cart but exits without making a purchase, we’re not just talking about immediate lost revenue. The task of re-engaging those customers once they’ve left your site could also be an uphill battle.

A ‘save cart for later’ plugin is a remedy for these problems. Allowing customers to save their chosen items for future purchasing supports a seamless and engaging shopping experience. Moreover, it also discloses valuable insights about your customers’ preferences and shopping behaviors for you.

This is where the WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate plugin truly stands out with its ability to enable the creation of multiple wishlists and support all kinds of products, among several other features. Don’t let potential sales slip through your fingers. Elevate your customer experience and help shoppers transition from hesitant browsing to decisive action in just a few clicks.

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Begin your journey with Wishlists Ultimate – it’s time to pen your WooCommerce success story!

The post The 6 best ‘save cart for later’ WooCommerce plugins for 2023 appeared first on Plugin Republic.

WooCommerce isn’t just for buying and selling; its donation plugins can transform your site into a versatile fundraising platform suitable for non-profits, charities, and businesses with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. 

These plugins do more than add a ‘Donate Now’ button. They streamline the donation process, increasing donor engagement and overall contributions while automating many fundraising tasks. This frees organizations to focus on their causes rather than transactional complexities.

The best part is that donation plugins aren’t exclusive to charities; they’re also invaluable for businesses to enhance their CSR efforts. Imagine adding a donation at checkout while buying shoes – it’s CSR made interactive. Individuals can also use these tools to raise funds for personal or community projects.

The plugins are customizable, supporting various donation types like one-time gifts, recurring donations, and ‘choose your own amount’ options. This adaptability ensures alignment with your needs and those of your donor base.

Whether you’re a non-profit, a CSR-focused business, or an individual fundraiser, this guide aims to help you pick the right donation plugin for your WooCommerce site, offering tips to maximize your fundraising capabilities. Let’s dive in to unlock the full potential of WooCommerce donation plugins for your online efforts!

Getting started: Donation portal pages vs. donation products

When it comes to setting up a donation mechanism on your WooCommerce website, you have a couple of primary options: utilizing a dedicated donation portal page or creating donation products. 

Both have their merits and drawbacks, and the right choice will depend on your specific needs, the nature of your organization, and your overall fundraising strategy.

What is a donation portal page?

A donation portal page is a standalone webpage on your website dedicated entirely to accepting donations. Unlike standard product pages, a donation portal focuses solely on providing visitors with an opportunity to donate to your cause or organization.

Benefits of a donation portal page

• Detailed information: A dedicated donation portal allows you to provide comprehensive information about your cause. This could include stories, pictures, videos, or statistics that can persuade visitors to contribute.
• Progress tracking: You can display a progress bar or a similar tool to show how close you are to reaching your fundraising goals. This can incentivize donors to contribute more to help you reach your target.
• Encouraging larger donations: With a standalone donation page, you can offer various giving levels and even suggest amounts, which can psychologically encourage larger contributions.

Drawbacks of a donation portal page

• Integration complexity: The standalone nature of a donation portal may make it challenging to integrate this page smoothly into your WooCommerce shopping cart or checkout process.
• Potential for fewer donations: Because the donation portal is separate from the shopping process, visitors may overlook it, resulting in fewer opportunities to capture donations.

What are donation products?

Donation products treat donations like any other item in your WooCommerce store. This allows customers to add a donation to their shopping cart and proceed to checkout, just as they would with a physical product.

Benefits of donation products

• Seamless integration: Because donations are treated like any other product, they integrate effortlessly into your existing WooCommerce setup, ensuring a smooth user experience.
• Impulse donations: The convenience of adding a donation like any other product might encourage spontaneous contributions, especially if customers are already in the mindset to purchase.

Drawbacks of donation products

• Limited information: The product-centric approach may not provide ample space for you to detail the cause or the organization you are fundraising for.
• Donor fatigue: If customers are already purchasing other items, they may be less inclined to add a donation to their cart, particularly if they feel they’ve already spent enough.

TL;DR? Here’s a concise summary of the key differences between the two.

Which method to choose?

The choice between a donation portal page and donation products largely depends on the nature of your fundraising efforts.

If you have a dedicated fundraising team and your primary focus is on in-depth storytelling and tracking fundraising goals, a donation portal page might be more fitting.

For smaller operations, especially those wanting to support multiple causes or looking for a quick way to start collecting donations without much setup, donation products may be more appropriate.

Choosing the pricing structure and tiers of your donations 

Once you’ve decided on the method for accepting donations – be it through a dedicated portal page or as donation products – the next crucial step is determining your pricing structure and tiers. The way you present donation options can have a profound impact on donor behavior, affecting not just whether people donate, but how much they are willing to give.

Types of pricing structures for donations

• Fixed price: A fixed-price structure is the simplest way to go about it. In this setup, you offer a donation option that is linked to a pre-defined amount. The donor has no option but to donate the specified sum.
• Donation levels: Donation levels offer donors several predefined options to choose from. These are often displayed in a user-friendly manner, such as radio buttons that donors can easily click on to select their desired donation amount.
• Name your price: This structure allows donors to enter a custom amount into an input field, thereby offering maximum flexibility.

Choosing the right pricing tiers for donations

• Consider the average donation amount: Analyze past donations if possible, or research the typical donations made to similar causes. This data can guide you in setting your lower, middle, and upper donation tiers.
• Know your donor base: Understanding the financial capacity of your target donor base can offer valuable insights into setting your donation levels. For example, a cause that is primarily supported by students may have different optimal donation tiers compared to one supported by working professionals.
• Align with your cause: Your pricing tiers should reflect the specific needs of your organization or cause. If your project requires a large amount of funding, you might want to include higher tiers to reflect that need and encourage greater contributions.
• Flexibility matters: If your cause or organization has a diverse donor base with varying capacities for donation, it may be wise to offer all three types of pricing structures – fixed price, donation levels, and name your price – to cater to different preferences.

Carefully consider your pricing structure and tiers to create a donation model that not only encourages participation but also maximizes the amount donated. The key lies in understanding your donors and aligning your options with the unique requirements and goals of your fundraising efforts.

Choosing a donation plugin: Top 5 options

Selecting the right donation plugin is a critical step in setting up your WooCommerce-based fundraising platform. With all the various options available, making the right choice can be overwhelming. 

To simplify your decision-making process, we have curated a list of the top five donation plugins for WooCommerce websites. Although each of these plugins comes with its unique features and benefits, we’ll delve deeper into why WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate could be the best fit for your specific needs.

1. WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate offers a versatile platform for adding a donation system to your WooCommerce store. The plugin provides up to 16 different add-on fields that make it remarkably flexible for various use cases. Its ‘Name Your Price’ feature allows donors to contribute at their comfort level, encouraging both lower and higher donations. The ‘Radio Groups’ option simplifies tiered donations, letting donors easily choose from predefined options, which can be further clarified with text swatches.

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Key features

• 16 different field types: Including checkboxes, date pickers, file uploads, and more.
• Pricing options: Assign prices to fields and even opt for price-per-character costs in text fields.
• Conditional logic: Show or hide fields based on other field values or variations.
• File uploads: Allows for single or multiple file uploads with specified file types and sizes.
• Child products: Add multiple products to the cart from one page, perfect for bundles and gift boxes.
• Calculation fields: Create formulas to calculate costs, areas, or other values (Pro only).
• REST API integration: Supports WooCommerce REST API for effortless manipulation of add-on fields.
• ‘Name Your Price’ field: This feature allows donors to enter their custom price and is perfect for accommodating donations of all sizes.
• Radio groups pricing tiers: If your organization prefers tiered donation options, radio groups come in handy. They allow donors to visualize and select from different pricing tiers. Moreover, radio groups can also be represented with text swatches for better readability and user experience.
• Information fields: These can be used to inform donors about how the contributions will be utilized.
• Text fields: Allows donors to leave a message or a note with their donation, adding a personal touch to the donation process.

Recommended for

• NGO/charity organizations: Especially for those working on multiple causes that wish to set up various donation products effortlessly.
• Businesses/entities: If you’re looking to add a donation option for a specific cause while also wanting to leverage the plugin’s add-on functionality across your other products.
• Artisans, artists, start-ups, niche businesses: For those who wish to offer a product at a fixed price but also provide customers the option to donate more.

With options ranging from customizable pricing to informational text fields, WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate allows you to create a comprehensive and intuitive donation experience that benefits both the donor and the recipient.

2. Donation For WooCommerce

Donation For WooCommerce is a specialized extension designed to turn your WooCommerce platform into a robust fundraising mechanism. It is laser-focused on donations and offers an array of features tailored to the needs of organizations, charities, and individual causes.

Key features

• Multi-campaign support: Create and manage multiple donation campaigns simultaneously, providing versatility to your fundraising initiatives.
• Amount types and limits: Choose between predefined and custom donation amounts, and set minimum and maximum limits to guide the donor’s choice.
• Recurring donations: One of the standout features is its support for recurring donations. You can easily set up recurring donations on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
• Goal setting and tracking: Track and display the number of donations collected for specific campaigns with a real-time progress bar, available both in currency value and percentage.
• Multiple donation levels: Offer various donation tiers, allowing for more choice and potential for higher donations.
• Payment gateway support: The plugin seamlessly integrates with various payment gateways, ensuring a smooth donation process.
• Detailed reporting: Allows you to export donation reports via CSV & PDF and view campaign statistics, helping you analyze your efforts more effectively.

3. GiveWP

GiveWP stands as one of the most comprehensive donation plugins available for WordPress. Designed for ease of use and flexibility, this plugin offers an extensive set of features aimed at both the donor and the organization, making the donation process not just simple, but also engaging.

Key features:

• Powerful donation forms: Create highly customizable donation forms that fit the aesthetics and needs of your fundraising campaign.
• Complete donor management: Track your donor’s history, generate tax receipts, and seamlessly integrate with third-party tools for an all-encompassing donor management system.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising: Simplify the peer-to-peer fundraising process with easy integration into your existing GiveWP forms.
• Fundraising goals: Display configurable goals to instill a sense of urgency and competition among donors.
• Currency switching: Accommodate international donors by allowing currency switching right on the donation forms.

4. Woo Donations

If you are looking for a straightforward yet robust way to integrate a donation feature into your WooCommerce website, Woo Donations is an excellent choice. This plugin adds a seamless donation process to your existing eCommerce setup, making it easier for you to collect funds for various causes.

Key features

• Flexible donation field: The plugin adds an ‘Add Donation’ field on the cart and checkout page, allowing end-users to enter their desired donation amount.
• Non-shipping, no-tax product: Choose a non-shipping and no-taxable product specifically for donation, making the process simpler for both you and your donors.
• Customizable buttons: You can change the donation button’s color and text to match your website’s theme.
• Dynamic labels: The plugin offers dynamic label options to fit your branding needs.
• WordPress multisite compatible: This feature makes the plugin even more flexible if you run multiple WordPress installations.
• Predefined and custom price options: Give your donors more choices by displaying predefined donation amounts, or allow them to input their own.
• Donation popup and widgets: Show a donation request popup or add a donation widget to your site’s sidebar or footer.
• Email templates: Send customized emails to donors, further enhancing the giving experience.

5. WPForms

WPForms stands tall as one of the most powerful, versatile, and user-friendly form builders on the WordPress market. Designed to offer an unparalleled form creation experience, WPForms packs a punch with its multitude of features designed to suit both novice and experienced WordPress users alike.

Key features

• Drag & drop form builder: Craft amazing forms within minutes through the intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
• Form templates: Jumpstart your form creation with pre-built templates, covering everything from simple contact forms to intricate surveys.
• Responsive design: WPForms scales gracefully, delivering a seamless user experience on mobiles, tablets, and desktops.
• Entry management: A centralized dashboard displays all submissions, streamlining your workflow for better efficiency.
• File uploads & user registration: WPForms not only allows for file and media uploads but also provides features to create custom user registration forms.
• Spam protection: The smart CAPTCHA and spam filters automatically weed out unwanted submissions.
• Multi-page forms: Long forms can be broken down into multiple pages, enhancing user experience.
• Geolocation, CAPTCHA, signatures, and more: The feature list goes on with add-ons for capturing geolocation data, adding custom CAPTCHA, enabling electronic signatures, and so forth.

Setting up donation products with WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate holds its place as our top pick for customizing WooCommerce products, including setting up donation products. With its robust features and user-friendly interface, it is ideal for organizations looking to streamline and enhance their online donation processes. 

Let’s look at a step-by-step guide on how to set up donation products using WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate:

1. Creating a donation product

• From your WordPress dashboard, go to ‘Products’ and then select ‘Add New‘.
• On the new product page, enter the name of your donation product. For example, you can name it ‘Donation to [Insert Name Here]’.’
• Scroll down to the ‘Product Data‘ section and from the dropdown, choose ‘Simple Product’.

• Set the price of the product to $0 and add ‘Hide Price’ as the price label.
• Click ‘Publish’ to save your basic donation product.

2. Adding ‘Name Your Price’ fields

• Scroll down to find the ‘Product Add-Ons‘ tab beneath the ‘Product Data‘ section.
• Click ‘Add Group‘, then ‘Add Field‘.
• From the dropdown menu, select ‘Name Your Price‘.
• Add labels and any other information necessary to guide the donor.

3. Adding multiple donation options using Radio Groups

• Create a new field group by clicking ‘Add Group‘ and then ‘Add Field‘.
• From the dropdown, choose ‘Radio Group‘.
• Create options like ‘$10’, ‘$20’, ‘$50’, etc., to allow users to select their preferred donation amount quickly.
• You’ll also need to enter corresponding values in the ‘Price column’. 

4. Using information fields and text fields

• Create a new group and field and from the dropdown, choose ‘Textarea’.
• Label it as ‘Any Additional Information‘ or similar to provide a space where donors can add a personalized message or specify how they want their donation to be used.

• You can add an ‘Information’ field in the field group to offer extra details that may encourage people to donate. For example, information about what the donation will achieve, who it will help, etc.

• After all these steps are complete, remember to hit ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ to save the changes.

And there you have it – your donation product is now fully set up with customization options that enhance the user experience and, in turn, could encourage more generous contributions.

Advanced tips and tricks for encouraging donations on WooCommerce

Effectively encouraging donations on your WooCommerce website requires more than just a functional plugin. A successful donation campaign hinges on clear communication, transparency, and other strategies that enhance the donor experience.

Maintain clear communication and transparency

Clear communication is the cornerstone of any successful donation campaign. It begins with a straightforward explanation of why donations are needed. The potential donor should not have to navigate through complex jargon or convoluted explanations to understand the purpose behind their contribution. 

A simple yet detailed account of what the funds will be used for will help you connect directly with the potential donor’s concerns or passions.

Explicitly state the objectives of the fundraising campaign and break down how exactly the funds will be allocated. 

For example, if the donations will be used for multiple purposes, provide a percentage breakdown: ‘50% will go towards research, 30% for outreach, and 20% for administrative costs’.’ This detailed explanation not only informs but also reassures the donor that their contribution will be used judiciously.

Another excellent way to foster transparency is through consistent communication post-donation. Sending out regular updates via email or through a dedicated blog on your website can go a long way. These updates can include financial reports, stories of impact, testimonials, or even photos and videos of your projects in action. 

This not only confirms that their money is being put to good use but also makes them feel part of a larger community striving for a shared goal.

Create a custom thank you page

A custom ‘Thank You’ page is more than just a final touch to your donation process; it’s an essential part of the donor’s journey that offers a multitude of benefits for both the donor and the organization.

The primary function of a thank-you page is to acknowledge and appreciate the donor’s contribution. A generic thank-you note can seem impersonal, while a custom thank-you page allows you to express your gratitude in a way that aligns with your organization’s mission and values.

A well-designed thank-you page can serve as a portal for additional actions the donor can take to deepen their engagement, such as:

• Hinting at future projects or upcoming fundraising campaigns and subtly encouraging them to become a recurring donor. 
• Offering coupons or discount codes for your online store. This not only serves as an added thank-you gesture but also encourages the donor to further engage with your organization through purchasing products or services.

For those using WooCommerce, the WooCommerce Thank You Pages plugin is a highly effective tool for creating and customizing thank-you pages. It provides a seamless and user-friendly way to add all of the aforementioned elements to your thank-you page, making it easier to create a page that not only looks good but also serves multiple functional purposes.

Collect newsletter sign-ups

Collecting newsletter sign-ups during the donation process is a strategic move that serves to keep the donor engaged well beyond the initial act of giving. A newsletter serves as a consistent touchpoint between your organization and the donor, providing an excellent platform to keep your donors informed about the latest developments within your organization and cause and making it easier to build a long-lasting relationship.

Regular updates about how the donated funds are being utilized for impactful work not only keeps transparency but also enhances donor trust.

This is where WordPress newsletter plugins like MailPoet come into play.

Newsletter plugins allow you to seamlessly integrate sign-up forms into your donation process. With features like automated emails, analytics tracking, and a plethora of customizable templates, these plugins simplify the process of creating, sending, and tracking newsletters. 

This enables you to maintain regular and meaningful communication with your donors without investing excessive time and resources in manual processes.

Set up guest checkout

Not every donor wants to go through the multi-step process of creating an account, verifying an email address, and then finally being able to donate. A complicated checkout process can act as a deterrent, causing potential donors to leave before completing their donations. A guest checkout option reduces the number of steps in the process, thereby lowering the chance of cart abandonment.

The guest checkout option is particularly beneficial for attracting one-time donors or individuals who are giving impulsively in response to a specific campaign or event. These donors may not have a long-term engagement plan, but are essential for meeting immediate fundraising goals. 

Add testimonials

Testimonials play an integral role in building trust and credibility for your organization. When potential donors visit your website, they are more likely to contribute if they see positive feedback from those who have benefitted from the donations. This first-hand experience acts as social proof, effectively influencing new visitors to participate in the cause.

Testimonials from beneficiaries or previous donors can do more than just assure the financial integrity of your organization. They can depict the emotional and tangible impact of the contributions, making the cause more relatable. This emotional connection can encourage more donations, as potential donors can better visualize the difference their contributions could make.

Get started with WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate for donations

It’s clear that having a robust and flexible solution is crucial for success. WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate emerges as our top choice for managing donations effectively and efficiently. Its features are tailored to enhance the functionality of donation products, offering everything from ‘Name Your Price‘ fields to multiple donation options using radio groups. 

This plugin not only makes the setup process a breeze but also incorporates advanced features to help maximize donations.

Now that you’re equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to set up a successful donation system, it’s time to take action. By choosing the right tools and implementing these best practices, you’re not just setting up a donation system; you’re building a sustainable way to support your cause.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate

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Don’t let another opportunity for generating donations slip away. Click here to get WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate and transform your WooCommerce site into a powerful donation platform today!

The post WooCommerce donation plugins: Tips and tricks for success appeared first on Plugin Republic.

As a WooCommerce store owner, one of the many features that can enhance your customers’ shopping experience is a wishlist functionality. Now, if you’ve scoured through WooCommerce’s documentation, you might have wondered: Is there a WooCommerce wishlist shortcode to quickly implement this feature?

Shortcodes are essentially small pieces of code enclosed in square brackets, enabling you to embed a variety of functionalities into your WordPress or WooCommerce posts, pages, or widgets without requiring any coding skills. 

For instance, with the [featured_products] shortcode, you can display a list of highlighted items in your store. Similarly, [woocommerce_edit_account] and [woocommerce_pay] allow users to edit their account details and view the payment page for an order, respectively.

Considering their convenience, you might be surprised to know that WooCommerce does not offer a shortcode for adding a wishlist feature directly.

So, in this comprehensive tutorial, we are focusing on the best way to help you achieve this – using the WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate plugin. 

If you’re keen on offering a wishlist feature to keep your customers engaged and, more importantly, coming back to make a purchase, you’re in the right place. Let’s delve into our step-by-step guide to setting up WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate and boosting your store’s functionality.

Introducing WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, enabling you to offer an intuitive wishlist experience to your customers. Let’s unpack the features that make this plugin indispensable for enhancing your online store.

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Features for users

• Multiple wishlists: The plugin allows your customers to create multiple wishlists. Each wishlist can have a unique name, offering users a customized way to keep track of different categories of products they wish to buy – be it gifts for upcoming holidays, personal indulgences, or future investments.
• Privacy settings: As privacy is of paramount importance in today’s day and age, the plugin provides users with the ability to set a privacy level for each wishlist. They can opt to make it public, keep it private, or even share it with a select audience by providing a unique link.
• Account page access: For easy navigation, users can view all their wishlists directly from their account page. This centralized location ensures that users don’t have to keep searching the site to find their saved products.
• Product management: From each wishlist, users can not only view the products but also select the quantities they desire. If they decide to make a purchase, adding products to the cart is a simple click away, streamlining the journey from interest to transaction.

Features for store owners

• Unified settings dashboard: WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate simplifies accessibility to plugin settings by housing all settings in one consolidated place: WooCommerce > Settings > Wishlists. No more sifting through multiple menus or worrying about shortcodes.
• Supports all product types: Whether you’re selling simple products, bundled items, or even product variations, the plugin has you covered. It supports all product types by default, making it a flexible solution for diverse inventory types.
• Optimized user experience: It displays ‘Add to Wishlist‘ buttons automatically on product pages. All you need to do is make some fine-tuning, such as how the ‘Add to Wishlist‘ call-to-action (CTA) appears, be it as a button, a link, or an icon, and where it should be placed in relation to the ‘Add to Cart’ CTA.
• Customization: You get control over the entire messaging and default settings surrounding the wishlist functionality. From deciding the default privacy settings to customizing textual cues, everything can be adjusted to align with your brand voice.

How to set up WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

Adding a wishlist functionality to your online store is easier than you might think, especially with a plugin as intuitive as WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate. Let’s see how!

Step 1: Download, install, and activate the plugin

Download the WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate plugin directly from the Plugin Republic website or the WordPress plugin repository. Once downloaded:

1. Navigate to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Go to Plugins > Add New.
3. Click on the ‘Upload Plugin‘ button and upload the .zip file you just downloaded.

4. After uploading, click on ‘Install Now’.
5. Once installed, activate the plugin by clicking on the ‘Activate Plugin’ button.

Step 2: Enable wishlist functionality

After the plugin is activated, it’s time to enable the wishlist feature across all products in your store.

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings.
2. Navigate to the Wishlists tab.
3. You’ll find a checkbox labeled ‘Enable wishlist functionality’. Tick this box.
4. Click ‘Save Changes’.

Step 3: Configure display settings for wishlists

1. Display type: Under the ‘General’ tab, you’ll find an option that allows you to display the wishlist functionality as a button, link, or icon. Choose the one that best fits your website’s design language.

2. Button placement: Right beneath, there’s an option to decide the placement of the ‘Add to Wishlist‘ button. You can opt to have it displayed either below or next to the ‘Add to Cart‘ button.

Under the Messages tab, you can customize the text associated with the wishlist functionality.

3. Add to wishlist: The default text for adding a product to a wishlist can be changed. If you prefer, you can have it say ‘Bookmark’ or ‘Save for Later’.

4. Create new wishlist: This is the text that appears when a user is about to create a new wishlist. You could customize it to say something like ‘Start a New Collection’.

5. Product already exists: This is the message displayed when a user tries to add a product already in their wishlist. Instead of the default message, you could have it say ‘You’ve Already Saved This Item’.

6. Product added: The message displayed when a product is successfully added can also be changed. Perhaps something like ‘Product Successfully Saved to Your Wishlist‘ might work for you.

Step 4: Configuring default user settings

This is a crucial step to ensure that users get off to a smooth start when interacting with the wishlist functionality for the first time.

1. Create a default wishlist name

• Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings.
• Click on the Wishlists tab.
• Scroll down until you see an option labeled ‘Default Wishlist Name’.
• Enter a name that you think best suits a generic wishlist; this could be something like ‘My Wishlist‘ or ‘Saved Items’.
• Save your changes.

2. Enable multiple wishlists per user

• Under the Wishlists tab, look for the option that says ‘Allow Multiple Wishlists’.
• Check this box to enable the feature.
• Save your changes.

3. Set default privacy settings

• Locate the ‘Default Privacy Settings‘ option within the Wishlists tab.
• Choose from three options: Public, Private, or Shared. The default setting will be applied to all newly created wishlists.
• Save your changes.

Note that these are just default settings designed to create a uniform and straightforward experience for all first-time users. 

However, the plugin allows users to override these defaults according to their preferences, depending on their user roles. For instance, even if you set the default wishlist privacy setting to ‘Public’, users can change this to ‘Private’ or ‘Shared’ for their individual wishlists as they see fit.

Add wishlist functionality to your store today

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this comprehensive tutorial, demystifying the process of adding a wishlist feature to your WooCommerce store. 

While it’s true that WooCommerce doesn’t offer a built-in shortcode for wishlists, we’ve seen how effortlessly this gap can be filled by using a specialized plugin like WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate.

This wishlist feature provides a richer, more personalized shopping experience. Users can plan their purchases better, share wishlists with friends and family, and even categorize their preferred items into multiple wishlists for different occasions or needs.

In addition, the plugin also has the potential to increase sales. When customers save items to a wishlist, it’s a step closer to a purchase. Plus, the ease of managing this functionality allows you to focus more on other aspects of your business.

If you’re still on the fence, consider this: In today’s competitive ecommerce landscape, anything that makes your store more engaging and user-friendly can set you apart. 

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate offers a streamlined solution that’s easy to install, simple to manage, and invaluable in enhancing customer satisfaction.

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

Boost sales and increase customer loyalty

Find Out More

So why wait? Add WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate to your store today and take your customer experience to the next level.

The post WooCommerce wishlist tutorial: Enhancing your store’s functionality appeared first on Plugin Republic.

The world of eCommerce is a dynamic realm, where online retailers constantly seek innovative ways to provide exceptional shopping experiences. Among the multitude of strategies to captivate customers and boost conversions, integrating a wishlist feature into your WooCommerce store stands out as a powerful and customer-centric approach. 

Wishlists not only empower shoppers to curate their ideal shopping lists but can also contribute to increased customer satisfaction and sales.

Unfortunately, WooCommerce – the leading eCommerce plugin for WordPress that powers 8.9% of all websites – does not inherently provide wishlist functionality. This gap necessitates the need for specialized plugins that can add this critical feature to your WooCommerce-powered online store. 

That’s why we’ve sifted through numerous options and cherry-picked eight of the best wishlist plugins that integrate smoothly with WooCommerce. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the specifics of each of these top eight plugins to help you find the best fit for your online store based on your unique needs and objectives.

Understanding the importance of wishlist plugins for WooCommerce

A wishlist plugin serves as a personal curation tool for online shoppers. It’s a digital bookmarking system that allows customers to gather and save their desired products right within an eCommerce platform.

If you’ve ever wondered about the importance of wishlist plugins for WooCommerce, you’re not alone. In fact, a staggering 40% of shoppers believe their shopping experience would be significantly improved if they could save items in a wishlist. This statistic alone speaks volumes about the multitude of benefits that wishlist plugins provide, including: 

• Collecting data and gaining customer insights: Wishlist plugins offer a treasure trove of valuable data about customer preferences. By analyzing this data, you can gain deep insights into popular products, trending items, and user interests, which can be leveraged to inform your marketing strategies, product offerings, and inventory management.
• Increasing conversions and repeat visits: Shoppers often come back to review and purchase items they’ve saved, thereby boosting conversion rates and extending the customer lifecycle. 
• Empowering customers to share their wishlists with friends and family: This feature effectively turns your customers into brand advocates, spreading the word about your products and services. As a result, your products receive more visibility and exposure through word-of-mouth and social sharing, potentially attracting new customers to your store.
• Reducing cart abandonment rates: Wishlists act as a safety net for shoppers who might otherwise abandon their carts due to various reasons, such as distractions, indecision, or budget constraints.
• Contributing to a personalized shopping journey: Customers can curate and organize their saved products, creating a sense of ownership and involvement. This personalized experience fosters a stronger emotional connection with your brand, enhancing customer loyalty and lifetime value.

From data-driven business decisions and increased conversions to social exposure and personalized customer experiences, employing a wishlist plugin in your WooCommerce store is an investment that can significantly enhance your business’s performance and profitability.

Essential features of a wishlist plugin

When choosing a wishlist plugin for your WooCommerce site, it’s crucial to consider the features that will best enhance your customers’ shopping experience based on your business goals and requirements. Keep the following considerations in mind:

• Multi-wishlist support: Whether it’s a list for birthday gifts, holiday shopping, or personal indulgences, the ability to maintain separate wishlists enhances organization and personalization. This feature caters to diverse shopping preferences and makes the shopping journey more flexible and enjoyable for your customers.
• Privacy settings: These settings allow users to choose whether their wishlists are public, private, or shareable by invitation only. Privacy settings also add an element of control and personalization to the shopping experience.
• Shopping options within the wishlist: An effective wishlist plugin should enable users to add products directly to their cart from their wishlist. This streamlined process simplifies the user journey, reducing friction and increasing the likelihood of conversions. It makes the transition from browsing to buying seamless and effortless.
• Support for all kinds of products: Accommodating a wide range of product variations like sizes, colors, and styles ensures that users can save and track their desired items accurately, regardless of their complexity or assortment. 

Top 8 WooCommerce wishlist plugins

From streamlining the shopping process to fostering customer loyalty, let’s explore the most feature-rich and seamlessly integrated wishlist plugin options available. 

1. WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate 

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

Boost sales and increase customer loyalty

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When it comes to a complete solution for adding a wishlist feature to your online store, WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate stands out from the crowd. This comprehensive plugin comes packed with all the essential features you need for an effective wishlist:

• Support for all types of products, including product variations. For instance, if a customer prefers a size M T-shirt, they can save the right-sized product directly to their wishlist.
• The ability to create and manage multiple wishlists. Users can name each wishlist according to different occasions or interests, such as birthday gifts, wedding gifts, or home decor ideas.
• Privacy settings that allow users to set their wishlists to private or public. 
• The capability to update quantities or remove products from their wishlists, and add products directly to the cart from the wishlist.
• Full control over the customer prompts and messaging, such as ‘add to wishlist’, ‘product already exists in wishlist’, and more. 
• Flexibility in displaying the ‘Add to Wishlist’ call-to-action (CTA). You can choose to display it as a button, link, or icon, and position it below the ‘Add to Cart’ button or next to it.

You can get a feel of how this plugin works by visiting its demo site – even better, there is a 14-day money-back guarantee, which makes purchasing this plugin risk-free.

2. WooCommerce Wishlists by Element Stark

WooCommerce Wishlists offers a reliable and feature-rich solution for your wishlist needs, such as: 

• Social media sharing capability, enabling users to share their wishlists on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and even via email with a custom message.
• Allowing both guest visitors and registered customers to create their own wishlists.
  • For guest visitors, the wishlists are stored for a maximum of 30 days or until they clear their cookies. 
  • Registered customers can store their wishlists indefinitely.
• Alerting and notifying customers if an item already exists in a wishlist when onsite browsing.

This plugin also offers a one-year support service (assistance with product installations, configuration, and use) when you purchase it.

3. TI WooCommerce Wishlist by TemplateInvaders

TI WooCommerce Wishlist is another excellent choice for your WooCommerce store. With a plethora of customizable options, ranging from buttons to columns, this plugin will empower you to curate a wishlist experience for your customers that aligns perfectly with your brand’s identity.

This plugin provides:

• Full control over the look and functionality of your wishlist. You can enable or disable each element of the wishlist page and table from the admin panel.
• A unique feature where a popup appears every time a user adds an item to their wishlist. In this popup, users can choose an existing wishlist or create a new one, which adds a layer of interactivity and personalization to the user experience.

TI WooCommerce Wishlist comes in a free version and a few premium options with extra features.

4. WPC Smart Wishlist for WooCommerce by WPClever

The WPC Smart Wishlist plugin offers a robust and user-friendly solution to assist your customers in creating product wishlists and organizing them for future buying. This plugin offers a variety of notable features, such as:

• Smart display of product details, including title, price, date of adding, stock status, and product image preview.
• Easy addition, removal, and checkout of wishlist products. 
• The option to auto-remove products after adding them to the cart, further streamlining the user journey.
• Choosing a specific page as the wishlist page and initiating an action triggered by clicking the wishlist button, like displaying a message or opening the product list.

What makes this plugin an attractive option to some is its free open-source nature. If you’re tech-savvy, you can leverage this to your advantage by customizing the plugin to fit your business model using PHP code.

5. WishSuite – Wishlist for WooCommerce by HasTheme

WishSuite is a versatile wishlist plugin that offers a range of features to enhance your WooCommerce store, like:

• The ability to show a wishlist table on any page of your website. You can customize this table by showing or hiding columns as per your preference.
• Allowing users to add a wishlist anywhere on a page using a shortcode. 
• Enabling users to share their wishlists on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, WhatsApp, email, Reddit, and Telegram.

This plugin is another free open-source software on this list. You can easily browse its code or view its SVN repository.

6. Wish List for WooCommerce by WPFactory

Wish List for WooCommerce is known for its minimalist design and user-friendly features, such as:

• Allowing both logged-in and unlogged users to add items to their wishlists. 
• Supporting AJAX for adding or removing items, making the process smooth and fast.
• Having stock alert notifications, which notify the customers if a product becomes available to ensure that they never miss out on their desired items. 
• Enabling customers to add custom notes to personalize their wishlists.

This plugin could be an ideal choice if you’re a developer or have experience with coding since it’s free and open-source.

7. WooCommerce Wishlists by Premmerce

Premmerce WooCommerce Wishlists allows online store owners to integrate wishlists into their websites easily to provide a better shopping experience for their customers. It offers a range of features, like: 

• The ability for admins to review customers’ wishlists in the dashboard, providing valuable insights into customer preferences.
• Supporting widgets for displaying wishlists, adding flexibility to your site design.
• Various integration options, making it a versatile choice for any eCommerce store.

Moreover, this plugin is also free and open-source, which means you can harness all its benefits without paying any fees, and even modify its code yourself if you’re technically inclined.

8. Sparks for WooCommerce by Themeisle

Last but not least, Sparks for WooCommerce provides wishlist functionality along with other conversions-focused features, including: 

• Comparison tables. 
• Variation swatches.
• Quick view.
• Multi-announcement bars.

While this plugin might be overkill for store owners who just want a wishlist plugin, it’s an excellent choice for those looking for a comprehensive solution to boost their store’s conversions.

Your choice of wishlist plugin primarily depends on your specific needs and business objectives. However, if you’re looking for a comprehensive, feature-rich, and user-friendly solution that provides the biggest bang for your buck, WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate should be your go-to.

How to add wishlist functionality to your store with WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

It’s essential to provide your customers with a shopping experience that goes beyond the ordinary. When it comes to implementing this attribute seamlessly, WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate stands out as a prime choice.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to incorporate wishlist functionality into your WooCommerce store:

1. Visit the WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate webpage, purchase the plugin, and download it to your PC.
2. Upload the plugin to your WordPress backend by navigating to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin from your WP admin dashboard, then install and activate it.
3. Go to WooCommerce > Setting > Wishlists> General and select the checkbox for Enable wishlists. Configure the rest of the options according to your needs.
   • Choose whether wishlists should be public, private, or shareable by invitation only.
   • Enable users to create and manage multiple wishlists, and name each of them according to different occasions or interests.
   • Specify whether to display the Add to Wishlist CTA as a button, link, or icon, and choose its positioning either below the Add to Cart button or next to it.

4. You can also adjust the alert messages to your preference. Navigate to WooCommerce > Setting > Wishlists> messages and type out the messages you want to display for each use case.

The result will look something like this:

When the customer clicks on the Add to wishlist button, the product will be added to their personal wishlist. If the customer doesn’t already have a wishlist created, they will be prompted to create one and given the option to keep this wishlist private or share it publicly.

The customer can then access their wishlist from their account dashboard.

They will be able to see if their wishlist products are in stock or not, and can also add the products in their wishlist directly to their shopping cart and specify the quantity they want.

That’s it – you now have wishlist functionality on your WooCommerce store in less than two minutes!

Get started with WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

Adding wishlist functionality to your WooCommerce store is no longer just a luxury, but a powerful tool in your conversions arsenal. It significantly enhances the shopping experience, increases customer engagement, and boosts sales. 

It allows your customers to save their favorite items for later, organize their shopping needs, and share the products they desire with friends and family. It also provides store owners with valuable insights into their customer preferences, bolstering data-driven business decisions.

With a plethora of WordPress plugin options on the market, choosing the most fitting one for your business can get quite perplexing. Look for key features such as a user-friendly interface, support for all types of products and variations, the ability to create multiple and shareable wishlists, and data analytics capability. These features ensure a seamless shopping experience for your customers and provide you with the tools you need to optimize your online store.

That’s where WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate stands out as the superior choice! 

It incorporates all the key features discussed above and provides additional benefits such as customizable messaging and flexible display options for the Add to Wishlist CTA. Even better, it offers a clean, intuitive interface that makes it easy even for non-tech-savvy users to navigate and manage their wishlists.

WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate

Boost sales and increase customer loyalty

Find Out More

So, why wait? Get started with WooCommerce Wishlists Ultimate today and enhance your profitability by taking your online store to the next level.

The post 8 top-rated WooCommerce wishlist plugins appeared first on Plugin Republic.

In today’s fast-paced era, businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to meet their customers’ needs. Whether you run a boutique hotel, a bustling fitness studio, or a serene spa retreat, the ability to offer seamless booking experiences is a hallmark of exceptional customer service. 

This is precisely where the transformative prowess of WooCommerce booking plugins comes into play, revolutionizing ordinary online stores into dynamic hubs of real-time reservations and appointments.

While WooCommerce doesn’t come with an in-built booking system, the versatility of the WordPress plugin ecosystem makes up for it. WooCommerce booking plugins are the digital bridge that connects businesses and customers seamlessly. They inject a dose of efficiency into the booking process, putting the power of choice firmly into the hands of customers and revolutionizing the way businesses handle appointments, events, and reservations.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into the essentials of a WooCommerce booking plugin, explore five distinct options, and walk you through the setup of a booking system using our top pick – Bookings for WooCommerce!

Whether you’re a tech-savvy entrepreneur or a business owner taking your first digital steps, this article will serve as your compass in navigating the exciting realm of online bookings on WooCommerce.

Introduction to WooCommerce for booking and rental websites

WooCommerce offers a sturdy, powerful, and versatile foundation for businesses of various sizes and niches, especially those looking to set up a booking or WooCommerce rental website.

Leveraging WooCommerce for your booking or rental business will enable you to effortlessly manage reservations for appointments, events, accommodations, and much more. You’ll be able to define availability, set pricing structures, and even factor in additional costs or discounts.

For example, if you’re running a bicycle rental shop or a photography studio on WooCommerce, you can easily display rental periods, pricing tiers, and availability calendars to your customers. This will result in an intuitive and user-friendly site that simplifies the rental process for both you and your clientele.

Advantages of using a plugin to integrate a booking system on your site

Integrating a booking system on your WooCommerce store can be a game-changer, offering key benefits like:

• Efficiency and time-saving potential: Utilizing a dedicated plugin streamlines the process significantly. This translates into quicker implementation, allowing you to focus on refining other aspects of your business.
• Better user experience: Seamlessly integrating the booking system into your existing WooCommerce website, ensures a consistent user experience for your customers, as they can book rentals directly from your website without being redirected to a third-party platform.
• Plug-and-play simplicity: Integrating booking and rental functionalities becomes as simple as installing a plugin and configuring its settings to match your business model.
• Customizability without complexity: From defining booking time slots to setting up pricing structures, you can wield full control without grappling with technical aspects.
• Updates: By relying on a plugin, you tap into a cycle of continuous improvement without the headache of implementing these upgrades yourself. The plugin developers handle all the technical enhancements of the plugin. All you have to do is update the plugin when a new release comes out or enable automatic updates.
• Support: Most reputable plugins offer customer support, ensuring you have expert assistance whenever you encounter hurdles.
• Cost-efficiency: Plugins present a cost-effective solution compared to using a third-party booking service that may charge additional fees or commissions per booking. A monthly or yearly subscription-based plugin may be more affordable in the long run.
• Data control: When you rely on third-party booking vendors, you may not have full control over the customer data and booking information. With a plugin on your own website, you retain ownership of the data and can use it to improve your marketing and customer service efforts.

By tapping into the power of pre-built solutions, you can focus on what truly matters – growing your business and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

What to look for in a WooCommerce booking plugin?

Regardless of whether you’re running a yoga studio with daily classes, managing a tour company with intricate itineraries, or overseeing a rental service with various items to lease, booking plugins adapt to cater to your unique business requirements.

However, not all plugins are created equal. To ensure you make the right choice, keep the following key aspects in mind:

Availability management

A robust booking plugin should empower you to take control of your booking product’s availability effortlessly. 

This entails setting precise dates or designated periods when your rentals are open for booking. 

Whether you’re dealing with vacation homes, equipment rentals, or event spaces, the ability to define availability is vital.

Real-time availability updates

Double bookings can lead to customer frustration and tarnish your reputation. That’s why a reliable booking plugin should offer real-time availability updates, ensuring that customers can instantly see the current status of your bookable products, preventing overlaps, and garnering trust and satisfaction.

Flexible booking rules

No two businesses are alike, and your booking system should reflect that. Seek a plugin that offers a range of booking rules and options to tailor the experience to your specific needs. 

This encompasses establishing:

• Minimum and maximum booking durations.
• Lead times for reservations.
• Maximum booking capacity.
• Flexibility to set custom pricing structures for diverse seasons or particular days.

Customizable booking forms

A good plugin should offer a high level of customization. You should be able to modify the booking form, calendar layout, and email notifications to align with your brand’s aesthetic.

Look for a plugin that offers customizable booking forms, allowing you to capture pertinent information from customers during the booking process, like preferences regarding the rental and options for additional services. 

Tailoring these forms to suit your business ensures a seamless and personalized experience for your clientele.

Automated confirmations and notifications

Automation is the epitome of time-saving. A top-tier booking plugin should automate the confirmation process, sending out instant confirmation emails to customers once a booking is successfully completed. 

Even better, the ability to set up email notifications for both administrators and customers can be fruitful. These notifications can include booking reminders, cancellations, or modifications, keeping all parties informed and engaged.

Booking calendar

Visual aids can significantly simplify complex information. A visual booking calendar is an invaluable tool for customers and administrators alike. It provides a clear overview of rental product availability, making it easier for customers to find suitable booking slots and for administrators to manage their inventory efficiently.

Seasonal pricing and discounts

Flexibility in pricing is essential, especially if your rental rates fluctuate with the changing seasons or specific dates. 

A rich booking plugin should accommodate seasonal pricing structures seamlessly and should provide the ability to offer discounts and promotions during specific periods. This can not only attract customers but also incentivize bookings.

Features and functionality

A top-tier booking tool should offer an array of essential functions, including:

• Multiple booking types to cater to various rental scenarios. 
• Automatic reminders to enhance the user experience by sending timely notifications to customers, minimizing no-shows, and providing a seamless booking journey. 
• Integrated payment gateways to streamline transactions.
• Reporting capabilities to gain valuable insights into your business’s performance.

Pricing structure

Different plugins may come with diverse pricing models. Discern whether the plugin is offered as a subscription-based service or a freemium model with optional add-ons. 

Also, explore any potential hidden costs, such as fees for additional features or customer support. Having a clear understanding of the pricing structure ensures that your chosen plugin aligns with your budget and long-term business goals.

User reviews and ratings

User reviews and ratings provide genuine insights into the plugin’s quality, reliability, and overall user satisfaction. Positive reviews highlight the strengths and advantages of the tool, while any concerns raised can offer you a well-rounded perspective on potential limitations or challenges. 

Taking the time to explore user feedback can guide you toward a plugin that resonates with your business needs and delivers on its promises.

Investing time in plugin research and considering the above tips now can save you headaches and hassle down the line, guaranteeing that you pick a plugin that suits your business needs the most.

Top 5 WooCommerce booking plugins

1. Bookings for WooCommerce

Bookings for WooCommerce

Accept bookings and rentals for your WooCommerce products

Find Out More

Bookings for WooCommerce is your ultimate solution for seamless booking management. This dynamic booking plugin caters to a diverse array of businesses specializing in bookings, rentals, and accommodations.

What sets this plugin apart is its comprehensive suite of features that provides:

• Unparalleled flexibility in configuring your booking units, whether it’s based on days, nights, or weeks. 
• The ability to add booking forms to product pages, enabling customers to specify quantities and other booking or rental information.
• Complete control to define booking durations according to your business needs by setting minimum and maximum booking lengths effortlessly, ensuring optimal utilization of your resources.
• Easy conditional discount setting (e.g., book for a whole week and get a 30% discount).
• The option to set buffer time between bookings and even set postponed starts to enable businesses like hotels or apartments to meticulously prepare before guests arrive.
• Availability management and automatic calendar updates to prevent duplicate bookings or bookings during blocked-out periods.
• Automatic booking confirmation via email.
• Seamless integration with third-party services that employ the iCal format, syncing with platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, or VRBO.

Seamlessly integrated into your online store, Bookings for WooCommerce offers two pricing plans: one for a single site and the other for an unlimited number of sites.

Even better, the 14-day money-back guarantee makes purchasing this tool totally risk-free. This will enable you to assess the plugin within your unique setup, encompassing your specific theme and assortment of plugins so you can confidently confirm that the plugin aligns with your requirements.

2. WooCommerce Bookings by WooCommerce

The WooCommerce Bookings plugin is a prominent contender in the booking domain. This official WooCommerce plugin offers a myriad of features for managing appointments and resources by:

• Enabling businesses to set fixed time slots and define time slots in days, hours, or even minutes.
• Customizing pricing for groups, individuals, specific days, or special occasions.
• Displaying availability in the customer’s time zone.
• Sending reminder emails to reduce no-shows and confirm bookings.
• Managing the calendar view, updating bookings, and syncing with Google Calendar.

WooCommerce Bookings is via a subscription-based pricing plan; however, you may need to purchase additional add-ons to meet your specific business requirements. 

Also, its complexity might pose a challenge for beginners because of its slightly steep learning curve, requiring a period of acclimatization to master its functionalities.

3. WooCommerce Bookings And Appointments by Plugin Hive

Bookings and Appointments can be a good match for businesses that need recurring bookings. It presents an array of tools to craft a booking system tailored to your business requisites, like:

• Offering booking durations in minutes, hours, days, or months, and allowing multi-day and multi-appointment bookings.
• Enabling various pricing rules such as special prices based on days selected, people, specific days, weekdays, months/seasons, and even different prices for staff.
• Providing extensive control over booking availability by setting time limits, booking window periods, and restricting bookings to specific days or weekdays.
• Attaching extra resources like parking, extra beds, etc., with bookings, enabling automatic or customer-driven resource assignment.
• Facilitating effective communication through email notifications to users and admin for new bookings, confirmations, and cancellations.

This plugin offers a free version, which offers limited functionality. Alternatively, you can choose from three licensing types to get all the benefits of this plugin.

4. Bookings for WooCommerce by WP Swings

Bookings for WooCommerce provides a serviceable set of features – albeit more restricted in comparison to its peers: 

• Enables turning products into time-limited booking options.
• Allows setting maximum daily bookings.
• Gives the user the option between displaying unavailable or available booking dates.

While adept at handling straightforward booking needs, this plugin may come up short when faced with more intricate scheduling demands.

This plugin has a free version and three premium versions, starting at $79/year pricing plans, including 24/7 customer care service.

5. WordPress/WooCommerce Bookings & Rentals by SalesIgniter

This plugin goes the extra mile by offering additional inventory management features, catering to a broader array of businesses. Its key features include:

• Enabling customers to select their start and end date, or just start date with rental length.
• Quantity-based or serial number-based tracking for rental products.
• Manual inventory reservation for special events or offline orders.
• Option to allow overbooking or not.

This plugin might be ideal for you if you’re dealing with supply chain and inventory management, and it comes in two payment options.

How to set up a booking system with Bookings for WooCommerce

Our top choice, Bookings for WooCommerce, makes setting up bookings and rentals on your site a breeze – here’s how: 

1. Purchase the plugin from the Plugin Republic website and download it to your computer.
2. From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add Plugin > Upload Plugin, then install and activate the plugin.

3. Go to your products list, find the unit that you want to add booking functionality to, and click edit.

4. Scroll down to the Product data section and select Booking from the drop-down menu.

5. Fill in the details of your booking interface according to your business needs. For this tutorial, we are setting a per-night booking that has a minimum booking period of five nights and a maximum booking period of 28 nights. We are also setting the standard cost per night to £60, and we are not going to allow bookings after the 30th of September.

This will be the result in the frontend:

6. Set non-standard booking costs if your business requires such an option, by going to the Custom Pricing tab. For this example, we are going to mark down the price per night to £40 starting the 23rd of September till the end of the bookable period we defined in the previous step. You can also add a discount rule in the Discounts tab.

The result will look like this:

That’s it – that’s how easy it is to set up bookings and rentals on your WooCommerce store using the Bookings for WooCommerce plugin! 

Get started with Bookings for WooCommerce

WooCommerce booking plugins are advantageous for businesses offering booking and renting services. With the right plugin, you can streamline your operations, offer a seamless booking process to your customers, and ultimately, boost your revenue. 

Among the myriad of options available, Bookings for WooCommerce stands head and shoulders above the rest. It offers a plethora of features, including flexible booking rules, real-time availability updates, customizable booking forms, automated confirmations and notifications, and much more. Furthermore, it’s easy to set up and manage, making it an excellent tool for managing bookings and rentals with utmost efficiency.

Bookings for WooCommerce

Accept bookings and rentals for your WooCommerce products

Find Out More

Why wait? It’s time to take your business to the next level. Enhance your booking process, increase your efficiency, and provide a top-notch user experience by using Bookings for WooCommerce today!

The post The ultimate guide to WooCommerce booking plugins appeared first on Plugin Republic.