Guest vs. Registered Customers

ProductCart v4 supports the ability for customers to checkout as “guests”. This results in the following scenarios:

• Registered Customer: a customer that created an account (saved a password) during checkout.
• Guest Customer: a customer that opted not to create an account (did not save a password) during checkout

ProductCart v4.1 allows you to change directly in the Control Panel how the store behaves in terms of allowing or not allowing Guest Checkout. There are three options for Guest Checkout: enabled, allowed, and disabled. Read more about these stores settings.

There are certain features that are not available to “Guests”. These include the ability to…

• Accrue and redeem Reward Points
• View saved shopping carts
• View saved products (Wish List)
• Create and manage a Gift Registry
• Manage multiple shipping addresses
• Repeat a previously placed order
• Initiate a RMA Request

Guests can convert their account to a registered account at any time as explained below. Until they do, multiple accounts with the same e-mail address might exist in the store database if the same customer places multiple orders. Please keep in mind that this can create an issue if you are using an external application that uses the e-mail address to “map” customer accounts.

When a customer completes a purchase as a guest (i.e. the customer chose not to save a password during checkout), ProductCart will record the different account status. The storefront will ask the customer whether they want to convert their “guest” account to a “registered account”:

• On the 'order completed' page
• On the order details page, if and when they login to review the order details at a later time, using their e-mail address and order code.

Converting a guest account into a registered account is as simple as entering a password in the corresponding fields and pressing a button. Here is an example of how that section of the page looks.

Once an email address is associated with a registered account it can no longer be used for a Guest Checkout. The customer will be advised to checkout using their account.

The store manager can convert a customer account from “guest” to “registered” status at any time by adding a password to the account on the Edit Customer page.

If a customer converts a guest account into a registered customer account, and ProductCart detects that there are other customer accounts that use the same e-mail address, the storefront will prompt the customer to easily consolidate them.

• A message will inform the customer
• The customer can press a button to begin the consolidation process
• An e-mail will be sent to the customer to confirm the consolidation process
• Clicking on the link contained in the e-mail message completes the process
  • The guest account is removed
  • Orders placed as a guest are moved to the registered customer account

The Store Manager can always consolidate customer accounts, even if they do not share the same e-mail address. Click on “Consolidate Accounts” on the Edit Customer page to begin the process.

If you attempt to change the customer status from guest to registered, and ProductCart detects that there is already a registered account in the database that shares the same e-mail address, the system will prompt you to first consolidate the account(s).