As you start your new online business, whether it be for business services or hard goods like shoes or flowers, you will want to use shopping cart software. This essential tool will help you run your business more effectively and safely. This article will show you 10 ways you will benefit from using shopping cart solutions.

1. Customers expect it. Customers are very used to ordering online and using their credit cards. If you don’t have a shopping cart, you will lose sales as people might not pick up the phone to call you to order.

2. Get orders from customers 24 hours a day. The Internet is a world-wide service and you could have people wanting to buy your product when you and your staff are asleep. With a cart, your online store is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is ready, willing and able to take orders for you when your customer is ready to buy  — even if they are halfway around the world.

3. Fraud protection. Each credit card order is verified by a certified company. You will know instantly if the card is valid. This service will protect you from fraudulent charges.

4. Security. Most shopping cart services operate under the highest level of security the Internet can offer. When customers see the code “https:’’ in the URL, they know that your website shopping cart is secure.

5. Sales reports. At the flick of a button, you can create sales reports that show how many of each product were sold on each day, week or month. It’s like having a super assistant!

6. Tracking codes. Higher end shopping carts provide unique tracking codes so you can measure the effectiveness of any advertisement, promotion, article or any other inbound marketing tool. No longer will you wonder where your leads and sales come from. You’ll know the source of your sales so you can spend your marketing dollars effectively and you won’t waste any more advertising dollars.

7. Coupons and discounts. These handy tools can help increase sales. Not every cart has these tools, so be sure to ask. You has complete control over these features so you can determine how large the discount is and for how long the offer lasts.

8. Newsletters and ezines. Some carts let you send newsletters and ezines to your members and subscribers. This service can save you a lot of money because you won’t have to buy another service to send out your newsletters. Again, not all shopping carts have this feature, so if you use one that does.

9. Autoresponders. You might not know the term, but you’ve probably seen this handy tool in action. An autoresponder is a pre-written message that is sent if a condition is met. To put this in plain English, here are a few examples. You buy a product from a company and you immediately find a confirmation message in your mail box. You sign up for a webinar and the codes are sent to you via email. You subscribe to a home study course and each lesson appears in your mailbox. Each of those examples is powered by an autoresponder service. Autoresponders can save you time by sending messages. These powerful tools save you lots of time by delivering your products, supplying customer service or just staying in touch with the customer on a regular basis. You create the messages and you decide when the messages go out. This tool could be the most important feature of a shopping cart. Make sure your cart has it because it will save you time by reducing tasks that you repeat frequently.

To help you make this choice, check out my free report, “7 Ways to Make More Money and Save More Time with Autoresponders” click here

10. Sales tax and shipping calculations. A good shopping cart will have up-to-date information on all the different tax rates that are charged. This feature can save you a lot of time and prevent a lot of headaches — plus it will keep you on the right side of the law when it comes to collecting and paying taxes!

If you look on Google for “autoresponders” or “email marketing systems,” you will find many different options.

Should you buy a stand-alone autoresponder and email marketing system or should you buy an autoresponder that is part of a sophisticated shopping cart?

There are good reasons for either action. I prefer the autoresponder that comes with a shopping cart system, but I want to give you a good idea of both sides of the story so you can make up your own mind.

Reasons for Buying a Stand-Alone Autoresponder and Email Marketing System

When you buy a stand-alone autoresponder from one of the leading autoresponder and email marketing companies, you are getting a very good product. Since this is the only thing they do, you can be assured that the product is best-of-class. You can also be assured that they will constantly add features and services to make it stand out from any competitor.

After all, they have nothing else to fall back on. They have to make this a success. Plus, since this is the only thing they do, they have their ear to the market and they know what services their customers need. They will also charge a competitive price for their service because there are competitors. You get a very fair deal.

What Are the Downsides of Using a Stand-Alone Autoresponder Service?

1. Price. They aren’t very expensive, but they aren’t cheap. In fact, the price of the world class leading autoresponder is just about the price of a sophisticated shopping cart with an autoresponder built in. You could save a few dollars by just using the autoresponder, but not as much as you might think because shopping carts cost just a handful of dollars more.
2. You might be paying for services you won’t use. If you need a lot of high-end features, this is the way to go. If you need only a basic function, then why pay more for services you won’t use?
3. It won’t complete the sales process. It can promote your service, but when people want to buy, they need to go to a shopping cart. Autoresponders can’t process credit cards or collect money. You’ll need to buy a shopping cart to do that.
4. It can amass a large database of prospects, but it is hard or impossible to export the database into a shopping cart. That’s because most shopping carts won’t import large databases of email addresses on the fly because they are afraid of helping spammers. The best shopping cart services will allow you to do this after you affirm the names are double-opt in. And they will charge you when their technicians import the name for you. If you start with the shopping cart that has an autoresponder, the names and email addresses will be part of the shopping cart from the get-go so you will be building one database.

On balance, stand-alone autoresponder services seem like a good deal. So why would you want to get one that’s bundled with a shopping cart?

How I Use My Autoresponder and Online Shopping Cart System

The autoresponder in the shopping cart I have is perfect for my needs. For example, the autoresponder in my shopping cart gets prospects to signup for free reports so I can build my sales funnel.

The autoresponder automatically follows up with the people who order the free reports. Each autoresponder has a link to an order page that sells my products and services. This is tied in to my cart so I can collect money automatically. This is the beauty of having an integrated program that can do your marketing and your sales automatically.

Once people buy my products and services, I have an autoresponder series that provides customer service and educates clients on other products or services that they should be buying. This way I increase the lifetime value of each client. You can’t do this with a stand-alone autoresponder system.

So, not only do I save money since the price of my ecommerce cart is only a few dollars more than the autoresponder – but I’m also making more money off it! The all-in-one autoresponder, cart and email marketing system I use does everything I need as a coach, consultant and digital information marketer. A standalone autoresponder might offer a few higher end features, but I don’t need them. Chances are you don’t either. Compare the two and see if you need the extras. If you do, then make the correct choice.

To help you make this choice, check out my free report, “7 Ways to Make More Money and Save More Time with Autoresponders”

Publicity thought leader Dan Janal offers a variety of coaching, consulting and other publicity services and tools through PR LEADS. He runs several businesses using MyEasyOnlineStore.com and its autoresponder system. See how you can run your business more effectively with a free report, “7 Ways to Make More Money and Save More Time with Autoresponders”