Volusion Review

What is Volusion?

Volusion is one of the largest eCommerce shopping platforms there is. They help everyone from newbies to big companies, such as intel, 3M, National Geographic, and the Chicago Tribune.

Volusion is an eCommerce shopping cart, and it is a very popular all-in-one solution. It has features that help you build a website , and give you website hosting for your online business. They give you the ability to add and manage inventory, improve checkout, handle payment processing, manage orders, manage customers, create newsletters, etc.

All you need is a good internet connection and an internet browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) to run Volusion. Just make sure you have everything updated.

If you are a beginner just starting out online click here!

What Happens After You Sign Up?

After you sign up you are automatically taken to your member dashboard. On this dashboard you can either start on your own and play around with some settings, or you can go to the links they suggest you start with (the links are at the top of the screen). The links include “Watch a Video, Choose a Template, Update Your Logo, Add Some Products, and Start Selling.”

“Watch a Video” is basically an introduction to Volusion. The rest of the links are not training walkthroughs or tutorials, they just take you to the other sections of the dashboard so you can customize it to your liking.

If you want more help, there are other links on the right sidebar that have video tutorials and a “Getting Started Guide.” This is exactly what the new users need in order to start their business out strongly, however the guide needs a little work in my opinion. If you are using Volusion with a mobile device there might be a few glitches, other than that it is pretty easy to navigate and it’s user friendly.

Hosting

Volusion used to use Rackspace for their hosting, but in 2009 they put everything “in-house.” There were a few problems after moving everything, but now things are getting better. They have invested millions of dollars into their hosting in the last few years, and now have a 99.98% uptime.

Pros and Cons of Volusion

Pros

• No Transactions Fees
• Good Customer Service and Support
• Easy to Use
• Built-In Daily Deals Module
• Automated Back-Ups
• Mobile Friendly
• Unlimited Product Variations

Cons

• Bandwidth Overage Charges – $7 for every GB you go over the limit of your package
• Free Templates are Bland
• Poor Startup Tutorial (the “Getting Started” one)

Volusion Features

Here are Volusion’s most important features.

• Unlimited product options – other carts limit you on product options ( Shopify .)
• Integrated one-page checkout
• SmartMatch technology – detects which product option combinations are currently in stock
• Daily deals feature
• Ability to create coupons and discounts
• Built-in customer reviews and feedback
• Abandoned live cart feature – see which customers abandoned their cart, or currently have a cart with products in it
• Built-in affiliate management system – you can get affiliate marketers to sell your products
• Built-in SEO features – to help promote your site
• Built-in “My Rewards” loyalty rewards program – you can give points to loyal customers to use for discounts
• Website Analytics – see your stats (people who click on your site and where they click)
• Supports iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android
• eBay integration
• Amazon integration
• Sell your products on social media
• Integration with Facebook and Twitter
• Social sharing app built-in
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system – helps you communicate with your customers
• Manage inventory
• Built-in recurring billing

Website Design

Volusion offers almost 120 free templates, but only 23 of them are mobile friendly. They aren’t very pretty designs either, but you can purchase a premium one that looks better (ranging from $50 -$900).

How Much Does Volusion Cost?

When you begin Volusion, all the plans come with a FREE 14-day trial, and there are no fees. Here are the monthly subscriptions, and a list of what they come with. If you pay annually instead you will get a 10% discount.

Mini – $15/month

• Unlimited storage
• 1GB Bandwidth
• 100 products
• 24/7 online support
• Free templates
• Mobile store
• Facebook store
• Social media tools.

Plus – $35/month (contains everything above, and…)

• 3GB Bandwidth
• 1,000 products
• 24/7 online and phone support
• Abandoned cart reports
• Ratings and reviews
• Newsletters

Pro – $75/month (contains everything above, and…)

• 10GB Bandwidth
• 10,000 products
• 24/7 priority online and phone support
• Amazon and eBay integration
• API access
• CRM tools

Premium – $135/month (contains everything above, and…)

• 35GB Bandwidth
• Unlimited products
• Dedicated account manager

You will need to purchase a yearly SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate before you can start doing business. It will ensure that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private. Volusion offers one of the most affordable ones (at $89/year), but they also offer other options.

Payment Processing

Volusion does not charge any transaction fees with their monthly subscription, but only if you use your own payment gateway. If you use their “in-house” gateway to make payments, Volusion has a 2.15% rate. They can also hit you with bandwidth overages and upsells, which can get very pricey. ($7 for every GB you go over your plan). There is also a $3.41/month compliance fee.

Volusion Training and Support

Volusion offers 24/7 live support from a real person to all packages above the Mini (which provides online support only). They have support through phone, chat, or email. The Pro and Premium memberships get priority support (shorter wait times).

Volusion also has these resources you can go to for help:

• Knowledge Base – Has lots of videos and articles
• Webinars and Video Tutorials– They cover eCommerce, marketing, and how to setup/run your store
• Social Media Profiles
• Dev Wiki– For developers that want code samples, and other documentations

When I started my free trial, I contacted their customer support right away. It was the end of a business day, and I asked a lot of questions on the Live Chat. An actual person (with good English grammar) was helping me in about 5 minutes, and answered all of my questions.

Final Thought

Overall I have had a positive experience with Volusion. There are actual human beings working there, and I love that.

Volusion serves a huge variety of businesses, and most of them are very pleased with this platform. I’ve seen few complaints, but they have tried to respond to them quickly.

This is a great platform for creating an online business, but to me nothing compares to Wealthy Affiliate . It’s what I use, it is just as dependable (if not more) than Volusion, and it is better for beginners trying to make it in the online world! Here is a comparison of Wealthy Affiliate and Volusion…

Verdict