Adding an Email

[Birdsafe]

Not sure if this is even possible -- I would like to have an additional email sent to a customer who places the INITIAL order with a recurring item - currently they will get an email XX day before subsequent recurring orders, but I would like to somehow alert them them that they have placed an order that will be recurring.

I ask this because I had a customer place an order and somehow made it recurring every 5 days (not sure why I have that timeframe set -- need to fix that), but it appeared odd, so I contacted her and she had no intention of it being recurring. It would be nice if a notification could be sent that says "Hey, you are going to be getting this every XX days -- if this is not correct, please contact us."

[NMTEACO]

Not an ideal solution, but I did think of something you could do. Create a custom order status called "recurring reminder" (Or something). For that order status write your email like you want, reminding them that they order a recurring order, and that they can manage it in their account page.

Then when a new order comes in that's recurring, move it to that customer status before you mark it as shipped.

[DeanP]

Birdsafe Joe,

Do you want to do this because people place a recurring order and then gripe because they thought it was a one-time purchase? If so, I don't think the extra email concept is a good solution. For one, it's just an email - who knows if they'll get it or read it, right? Additionally, it doesn't prevent the mistake (ordering something recurring but thinking it's a single purchase) from being made.

Instead, you could create a checkout question (check box) that is required before the order can be submitted. Something like:

"I understand that this is not a single purchase and that I will receive 1 product each month as part of my recurring order."

Would that help do what you want to do?

[elightbox]

DeanP can you actually make the checkout questions dynamic? to only fire for recurring orders, and to show the recurrence schedule?

[DeanP]

NooO! :eek: No, you can't make them dynamic like that. I got ahead of myself and forgot that not all of his products and purchases are recurring. Good solution for people who sell nothing but recurring orders, but not a good solution for Joe.

[Birdsafe]

DeanP Thanks, and yes -- because I received an order where a customer wrongly set it as a recurring order without their wanting to. I think some folks will be curious as to what the drop box is all about and then accidently select one of the time intervals and then add the item to the cart. I wish there were another mechanism that required, say, a 2-step process to start a recurring order.

But like elightbox, YES, if you could make a dynamic question that only appeared for those orders that have recurring items, that would be ideal I think, because you are right about the email not being seen as well.

EDIT: Wrote this before I saw Dean's response. back to square one.

[elightbox]

Birdsafe for the price 3dcart charges for this, the add-on should be a lot more robust. Looks like a friendly thank you reminder call is the best option.

[Birdsafe]

elightbox -- agrreed -- the module is flawed. I may discontinue it -- I set up a test order and it's not triggering a new order. I've got a question in through Support Chat but haven't heard an answer on it. My biggest complaint is that setting "Password Required" is necessary -- though I don't know why -- thereby eliminating anonymous checkouts, yet they don't change the wording on the Checkout Page that says you can continue without creating an account.