Review of Volusion.com

	8/10
Website:	http://www.volusion.com/
Contact:	http://www.volusion.com/contact
Phone:	1-800-646-3517
Location:	UK and USA
Cost:	from $15/month
Year Founded:	1999

About Volusion

Have you ever had a big idea for particular products or inventions but were unsure of how to sell them to the masses? Opening a store can be difficult and costly due to:

• Rent
• Employee overhead
• Inventory expenses

 

In an age where everything seems to be moving towards the digital space, it only makes sense to bring your big idea online as well. While in the past many individuals might have tended to cringe at the thought of developing a website or storefront online, luckily thanks to the ecommerce website Volusion one can make their big idea sell!

 

With over 450 employees, and servicing over 40,000 different businesses currently, Volusion has helped merchants earn over $14billion in sales worldwide to date. The company is based out of Austin, Texas and specializes in a platform for merchants that want to create online stores. In addition to building up your business online, Volusion helps with search engine optimization, marketing, order management, and payments processing. Unlike newly formed e-commerce sites that are just popping up, Volusion has a solid past. Volusion was founded in 1999 and therefore has some mileage and valuable experienced under its belt.

Top Features

Volusion didn’t become one of the top e-commerce sites on the market today without having some first-rate features. What separates Volusion apart from competitors in the space is that it’s a one-stop-shop, which provides all the features a business owner would be looking for in an ecommerce solution. Particularly if you’re paying for one of the higher plans (which come in Silver, Gold or Platinum) Volusion also offers access to a full range of professional services from custom design to online marketing to help you be even more successful. It is with these flexible and easy-to-use website designs that you will really be able to make your website pop and stand out, which ultimately will help lead to sales. With a number of pre-made website templates, Volusion makes it easy to set up a store with just the click of a mouse. The site provides step-by-step instructions, which are very easy to follow when creating and shaping one’s business site.

Volusion is full of tons of add-ons and social extensions. In total there are over 900 documented features that Volusion can offer to your site. These include add-ons such as deal of the day, merchandising features, eBay, Amazon and Facebook integration and more. All plans, regardless of price, come with: 24/7 support, mobile commerce, Facebook Store, social media tools and automatic tax rates (which can be helpful if you’re transacting across domestic or international borders). Some of the other add-ons such as Amazon and eBay can be added at an extra fee, and are not necessarily needed for every business type.

In order to help e-commerce storeowners at every possible touch point, Volusion has a handy mobile app that can be downloaded and accessed from anywhere there is an Internet or phone connection. This allows users to dip into their dashboard even when they are away from their desk. Having up-to-date insight on store status allows owners to adjust according to demand. Thanks to the mobile app, proactive owners can now access vital store information even quicker. Upon installing the app on their mobile phone or tablet, storeowners can easily access store specifics such as: orders, revenue, stock status and more. For most intensive purposes, the mobile app offers everything users get from their desktop version, aside from merchandising.

Volusion is also a leader in the space thanks to its ability to provide advanced marketing and SEO capabilities. Most recently, the company rolled out a new powerful new SEO feature that gives merchants the ability to display rich snippets of text in organic search results that can include product ratings and reviews. This is clutch because it’s common for customers to make purchase decisions based on product ratings and reviews. One of the other major benefits of this feature is that it has the ability for merchants to become more visible in organic search results. This combined with product ranking and reviews will help increase traffic to a site, which not only improves the click-through-rate for SEO, but there is also a better chance to convert to more sales.

What Does It Cost

There is a Volusion package to fit every business owner’s budget. There are plans as low as $15 a month and as high as $135 a month. The storage space, features and customer service available differs depending on the package that is selected so it is important for one to evaluate each package’s benefits prior to making a decision. The most common package is the $75 a month plan which includes Amazon and eBay integration. As an incentive for one to try and use Volusion for their small business, the company offers a 30-day risk-free trial.

Criticism Of Volusion

The main criticisms of the Volusion service have to do with how hidden fees can slowly sneak up on users. While Volusion does offer many compelling features, many of them do come at a cost. To that point, there is limited bandwidth on some of the smaller packages, which means in order to have access to an expanded list of features one may have to spend a little more money as your small business starts to grow.

Volusion’s place in the market has also been marked by a little bit of sub-par customer service in the past. The Volusion team seems to have learned from its mistakes and is making efforts to have an increased customer service presence. This is achieved through hiring more representatives to handle any issues consumers may encounter.

Customer Service & Support

Although customer service may have been a weak spot for Volusion in years past, the company began making a strong push to improve service last year. With a number of pre-made website templates, Volusion makes it easy to set up a store with just the click of a mouse. The site provides step-by-step instructions, which are overall very easy to follow when creating and shaping one’s business site. That said, it is still very comforting to the business owner to know that there is help and support only a click or call away.

With Volusion one is able to easily chat with a representative who is there to answer all one’s questions and cater to one’s needs. In addition, the Volusion professional service provides a ticketing service where one can e-mail a particular request that will be answered in a timely manner. One can also reach out for assistance the old-fashioned way by picking up the phone and calling a 1-800 number for help.

Final Thoughts On Volusion

In an age where it’s almost nearly impossible not to use an electronic device or log onto the Internet, it only makes sense that more and more businesses are starting to operate solely on the Internet. Not only is creating a website for your business a cost-effective way to sell products, but it can also help you reach a broad audience since anyone can shop on your website from anywhere in the world. Volusion offers an end-to-end ecommerce solution, where one can host their online store, choose an appropriate free template, purchase a premium template or even engage a designer to help you out. This is particularly handy if you’re starting out from scratch since the Volusion service is basically a one-stop-shop. Volusion is the ultimate resource for helping one set up a small business online. The company now provides improved customer support and has a proven track record of helping businesses succeed.