Enhancing the Trade Customer Registration System

Objectives: Enhance the registration system on our website to allow existing trade customers in Sage/other CRMs to create their own accounts and log in seamlessly.

Improve time to user access so they don't have to rely on our availability before they can purchase, potentially increasing site conversions and ensuring they don't shop elsewhere.

Reduce the number of trade customers signing up in the retail side and requiring one of our team to manually convert the purchaser and set up the trade account. Also improving the purchasers access to trade pricing and not having them think the retail prices are what they pay and potentially losing conversions.

Process Overview:

1. Self-Service Registration:

   • New website users, who are existing trade customers in Sage, should be able to register themselves.

   • During registration, the user should confirm their trade account details using information from a recent invoice (e.g., account number, invoice postcode, invoice number, or invoice amount including VAT).

2. Verification Steps:

   • The system will verify the entered details against the Sage database.

   • If the details match, the user's company details will be pre-loaded into web admin (if it doesnt already exist in the admin) to streamline the new purchaser registration process on the trade account.

   • The user will need to confirm additional details to further authenticate their identity.

3. Account Approval Process:

   • If the account manager on the trade account prefers, they can administer the final approval for their colleague.

   • This step ensures that the new purchaser details are verified and that access to company-specific pricing and ordering is granted appropriately.

Implementation Considerations:

1. Integration with Sage and Web Admin:

   • The registration system should handle scenarios where the trade customer exists in Sage but is not yet in the web admin.

   • If the customer exists in both Sage and the web admin, the system should allow the purchaser to confirm the aforementioned details and create their own login.

Customer exists in Sage but not in Web Admin:

• If the trade customer exists in Sage but not in the web admin, the purchaser registration details (email, phone number, password etc) could be held in a suspended state pending our approval. Once we approve the import of the details from Sage it approved the suspended purchaser details and sends an email.

Customer does not exist in Sage and does not exist in Web Admin

• Treat as new trade account registration - send details to us to set up and confirm as usual

Customer exists in Sage and exists in Web Admin - Automated and Manual Approval Processes:

• Automatically add the purchaser to the account and send their login details.

• Or if the account managers wish - Notify the account manager(s) on the trade account about the new purchaser request, allowing the account manager to approve with an email approval link - as well as us being able to approve on behalf of the account manager.

Key Benefits:

• Streamlines the account creation process for existing trade customers.

• Enhances security by verifying trade customer details through multiple steps.

• Provides flexibility in account approval, balancing automation and manual oversight.

Next Steps if considered for development:

1. Define the user interface and user experience flow for the new registration process, many users prefer one page sign up forms / one page checkouts. It could be multi step still but for example the Screwfix checkout process is multistep but doesn't feel like you're going to page after page due to more steps revealing as some are completed.

By implementing this enhanced registration system, we aim to provide a more efficient and secure way for trade customers to access their accounts, improving their overall experience with our website and perhaps driving website adoption.