How to Create a Request-a-Quote Website for your Business?

Not all eCommerce businesses are the same, and in order to avoid losing sales due to your pricing, it is crucial for you to provide a way for your buyers and website visitors to get in touch with you via the Request a Quote option. There are many instances where a set product price and an add-to-cart option are insufficient. Manufacturers, wholesale merchants, and high-ticket companies may have very flexible price practices and may need to allow the customer to request quotes. Instead of creating a typical e-commerce website with WordPress and WooCommerce, it can be used as a quote generator; alternatively, both options can be used simultaneously if you are dealing with two separate types of customers (Retail and Wholesale).

Offering your customers the best rates will be made possible by established communications and quotation proposals. In this article, we'll walk you through the steps of creating and launching a request for a quote website for your business. But before we get started, let's take a quick look at how to set up an eCommerce store with WordPress and WooCommerce, what a request a quote button is, and the reasons why you might need one.

The Basics of Creating an eCommerce Website

WooCommerce is a plugin that may be installed on any WordPress-based website. Upon installation, it adds eCommerce functionality to your website. The prerequisites for creating an eCommerce website are getting a hosting service, installing WordPress, and then installing and activating the WooCommerce plugin, in that order. Let's quickly go through each of these steps before we add the request a quote functionality to our store. 

You've come up with a fantastic plan for an eCommerce store and selected the perfect domain name but first, you have to rent a space for your store i.e choose a hosting partner. It's like renting a portion of commercial internet real estate where you can later invite and host your customers. There are many hosting providers such as Bluehost, and GoDaddy that have plans with pre-installed WordPress, WooCommerce, themes, and security certificates. The best hosting company depends on your specific requirements but we would recommend one that is scalable, secure and provides data backup to ensure the growth and security of your business.

Suggested video: 8 Best Managed WordPress Hosting

You now have a blank canvas to begin developing your website. The next step is to install WordPress which is the foundation of your eCommerce business. One-click WordPress installation is frequently offered by hosting providers, so be sure to check for it. If not, you can download WordPress.org and install it manually. Even though this process is a bit tedious, you will find many helpful articles and videos to guide you through the detailed steps.

Now that your website is live, it's time to add e-commerce capabilities by installing the WooCommerce plugin. The best part is that WooCommerce is completely free to get started. You can either get a pre-installed solution from your hosting provider or download the Woocommerce plugin from your WordPress dashboard by navigating to Plugins > Add New > Search plugins. A Setup Wizard will appear once you install and activate the plugin which will guide you through all of the steps to make your eCommerce store functional. You can watch this video for a detailed guide to setting up your WooCommerce store.

What Does "Request a Quote" Mean?

Now that we have an eCommerce store up and running, let's cut to the chase. We as consumers are usually drawn to the word "Discount." So much so that we can wait all year for a good deal. The request a quote functionality enables you to stay open with your prices rather than offering a fixed product price. Its main objective is for customers to find out more about the pricing for specific product quantities, which leads to bargaining for a great price that deems fit for both the business and the customer.

The ability to create a custom pricing proposal based on the requirements and purchase quantities of the customer is a useful feature for wholesale businesses and when you are selling customized products or services. Additionally, retail eCommerce companies can make use of this functionality by allowing customers to request quotes and avail quantity or purchase value-based discounts.

Advantages of using a Request a Quote Plugin

Online shopping involves no bargaining or price negotiations when compared to buying from a real brick-and-mortar store. You can turn this around by using a Request a Quote plugin. As a result, your customers are free to look into their options for negotiating a decent offer when purchasing from you which over time increases sales and customer satisfaction. There are quite a few advantages of using a Request a Quote plugin on your WooCommerce store:

• If a website sells highly customized products or services, for instance, it could be challenging to price out all possible combinations. It may be similarly challenging to determine which choices can be combined by the customer. Great examples of this would be the website of a lawyer, wedding planner, graphic designer, etc.; there can be numerous variables and customizations to take into consideration before sending a quote.
• A request a quote feature can be quite beneficial for B2B or wholesale eCommerce websites because pricing can depend on order numbers and other factors. You don't want to drive away customers with a fixed price that cannot be negotiated by any means.
• It might be simpler to sell high-ticket products by offering some form of consultation based on requirements and negotiations. Customers frequently want to know more details and ask questions about the product before making a big purchase.
• Spending time and effort on back-and-forth messages and calls is probably the last thing your customers want to do. This difficulty is removed for both you and your customers when you have an easy-to-use online quote functionality. Additionally, this way the interactions between your company and its customers don't seem like a persuasive sales pitch but rather like a professional negotiation.
• A request a quote functionality also reduces cart abandonment and pricing leakage. Customers won't immediately remove products from their shopping carts if the price is too high after they see that they may either buy the product straightaway or negotiate a better deal. Instead, they will wait until they see that your store offers both options, giving them more opportunities to negotiate a fair price. This also helps you to maintain a competitive edge without disclosing your prices.
• You can retain access to the customers' information for use in their marketing efforts even if you were unable to close transactions after negotiating the price. This makes it possible for you to retarget them hereafter.

How to Add a Request a Quote Functionality to your WooCommerce Store?

We will demonstrate adding a request a quote functionality using the ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote plugin. With this plugin, you will be able to begin selling wholesale products to retail enterprises by allowing them to place orders as 'quotes' rather than adding products to the cart straightaway. Both the shop and individual product pages allow for the addition or deletion of any customized buttons, including the Add to Cart and Add to Quote buttons. This plugin allows you to apply the request a quote functionality globally, list specific products, and make them accessible for purchase as quotations, as well as exclude specific products. It converts your eCommerce website into a single interface where buyers and businesses may get quotes and/or add items to their carts, ensuring that you do not miss out on any sales opportunities. 

You can access the plugin's settings by going to Dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins > ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote Plugin> Settings after it has been installed and activated.

Under general settings, you can configure and customize the add to cart button and the API settings. This enables you to edit button colors, title, location, layout, action, etc.

Next, under the include/exclude products tab, you can include or exclude the request a quote functionality to specific products based on product name, categories, and tags. Here you can also specify if you want to include or exclude the functionality for specific user roles, disable the request a quote option for unregistered or guest users, and enable or disable the functionality based on your store's stock quantities.

In the form settings tab, you can set a custom URL to which the customer will be redirected upon clicking the submit button, set a custom submit button success message, and customize your request a quote form by adding custom fields.

Next under the notifications tab, you can configure and trigger custom email notifications to the store admin and the customer based on the order status. You can also get up SMS notifications and google chat alerts to keep store agents informed at all times and not miss out on a single sale. 

Under template settings, you can customize the emails, notifications, and alerts that will be automatically triggered based on order statuses. The subject of the email, email body, chat, and SMS body, can all be customized based on your store's needs.

If you wish to hide the 'add to cart' option for the shop page or individual product pages, you can do so under the Hide Add to Cart tab. You can configure this to only display the "Add to Cart" button for specific products depending on their category, name, and tags if you wish to deactivate the "Add to Cart" option for all of the products in your shop. If you want to add particular user roles for the accessibility of ‘Add to Cart’, select the user roles accordingly in this section.

Lastly, the plugin also gives you the option to add a mini cart to your eCommerce store. When you enable this option under the minicart icon tab, a quote cart icon will appear on the right side of the page, and when it is hovered over, the updated list of quotes that have been added to the cart will be displayed.

You can go through the product documentation for a detailed step-by-step guide on how to configure and set up the ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote Plugin.

To Conclude

And with that, this article comes to an end. We hope it has given you a better understanding of how to create a Request a Quote website and the numerous benefits of doing so. If you have any questions regarding the functionality, please let us know in the comments section below.

Featured image by Ales Nesetril on Unsplash