Since the last newsletter, we have added more features to SOLO Server than we can probably list in this newsletter! Here are the highlights:
Add customers/lookupcharge.asp for customers to identify
what they purchased
A new customer service page (https://secure.softwarekey.com/solo/customers/lookupcharge.asp)
has been added which allows customers to lookup their purchase history
by entering their email address and the last 5 digits of their credit
card number. If a match is found on only a single customer record, the
customer is automatically logged in to their account. If multiple matching
customers are found, all matching invoices are displayed with links to
both the invoice details page for each invoice and the customer account
page for each customer.
Remove the filtering out of $0 orders from the sales reports
Originally, all of the sales reports automatically filtered out $0 orders.
This filtering has been removed.
Add section to Customer Details to list what mailing lists the customer
is subscribed to
Added a new section to the customer details page that lists all mailing
lists a customer is subscribed to, as well as a link to remove the customer
from each mailing list.
Add no discounts flag to Product Options field list
A new setting has been added to product options called “No Invoice
Discounts”. Setting this to true will cause the shopping cart to
not apply any discounts from author level priority codes
to the option. This does not affect product option level priority codes.
Add new custom html feature to center author logo in header
If no custom html is defined, the order processing pages will now look
for a logo image on your author account. If this is found, the image
will be centered in the header, otherwise the default html will be used.
To activate this feature go to Authors / Author Home, upload a new logo.
Then remove your existing Custom HTML from Authors / Storefront / Custom
HTML.
Allow paypal as a primary merchant account
PayPal can now be used as a primary merchant account, with no requirement
to have a standard credit card gateway account set up.
Show cash/check/money order, and prepaid options on payment for logged
in users
On the “Choose A Payment Method” page in the ordering process,
logged in author users will now see options to pay with Cash, Check,
Money Order, and Prepaid. It is no longer required to use the “PREPAID-XX” credit
card numbers on the credit card details page. If any of these
options are chosen, the collection of credit card details page will be
bypassed. Add ability to remove images from image table
The image upload page for product and product option images now offers
the ability to remove the image. It also now displays the current image
at full size.
Rework marketing sources
The “Customer Details” page in the ordering process has
been change to no longer display the marketing source drop down if no
marketing sources are defined. Previously, when no sources were defined,
SOLO would automatically create an “Other” source and display
the drop down.
Add basic out of stock mechanism to order processing engine
A simple inventory tracking system has been added to the ordering process
of SOLO. This system keeps track of inventory levels in real time, decrementing
the stock quantity on an option any time a license for the option is
added. The system also sends email notifications when stock quantities
reach both zero and a user specified floor minimum quantity. A new page
has also been added to allow updating inventory levels on all tracked
options from a single page. Add marketing source to order notification email
The order notification email now includes the marketing source (selected
from the drop down during ordering) in addition to the text source (entered
in the text field during ordering).
Implement search and replace fields for address fields on order by mail
The order by mail page now has search/replace fields to
allow pre-populating customer and shipping address
information. Since this is a merchant account
feature, this is only available to customers using their
own merchant accounts. If you want to offer phone and
mail orders through your site,
please contact support@softwarekey.com
New SOLO Web Services
Several web services have been added to SOLO allowing both activation
and license registration functions to be completed through web methods.
The new services are as follows:
- ActivationServer – provides activation methods
- ActivateLicense – Provides activation codes for a license
after validating the license information passed in. This is essentially
a web service version of the existing getcode.asp page
- LicenseServer – provides methods for license registration
- AddLicenseAndUnregisteredCustomer – Allow adding a new license
and an unregistered customer associated with the license.
- RegisterLicense – Allows registering an unregistered license
with customer data.
- UpdateLicenseRegistration – Allows updating the registration
information on a license.
- ValidateLicenseRegistration – Validates whether a given license
has been registered.
Expose declined orders functionality to non-master UID author
A new report under Reports --> Pending/Declined OrdersàDeclined
Orders has been added. This report allows viewing any orders
that were declined in order to follow up with the customer
if necessary.
Implement WorldPay payment gateway
SOLO now supports the WorldPay (http://www.worldpay.com) payment gateway. Duplicate product option feature
Existing product options can now be quickly duplicated by users with
the Add Product permission by clicking the Duplicate link at the top
of the option details page. The duplicate page then asks the user for
the new option name and price, as well as whether to duplicate priority
codes, shipping options, upsells, and rules. Secure Upgrade Rules Engine
A new rules engine has been added to the cart, allowing
restrictions to be placed on when options can be purchased. Rules
can be set up on
a product option setting the conditions under which a license
can be purchased, based on either the customer’s license
history, the current cart contents, or both.
Add encoding meta tag to custom html
An issue was discovered with SOLO’s client side validation routines
in browsers that do not default to a European character set. This has
been resolved for the non customizable areas of SOLO, but may still be
an issue for authors using a virtual storefront. If you are using a virtual
storefront, you should add the following line of code to the section
of your top custom HTML:
This line of code will force the browser to use a European character set which works with SOLO’s validation routines.
Refund mailing only supports html
Now the refund mailing can be a text email.
Network Merchants Integration
SOLO now supports the Network Merchants (http://www.networkmerchants.com)
payment gateway.
Email Campaign System
A new abandoned cart email marketing campaign system has
been added. This system allows sending up to two automated marketing
emails to customers
who have abandoned their shopping carts without making a
purchase. The automated emails can offer priority codes to customers
offering a discount
if they complete the purchase, and can also contain links
directly back to the customer’s existing shopping cart.
Return error in unlock/getcode.asp when computer ID is 0
In both the standard activation page (getcode.asp) and the ActivationServer.ActivateLicense
web service method, if the computer ID (code2) is zero, an error will
be returned. THIS WAS REVERSED DUE TO BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY ISSUES.
Make trial signup work like newsletter signup
Our trial tracking service has undergone several improvements. In addition
to the current service in which we host your trial form, we also have
a new version of the service where the trial form can be hosted on your
own site. This allows you full control of your trial page. Your self
hosted page simply posts the signup information to SOLO, which then processes
the data and sends any necessary emails, and redirects back to a specified
page on your site.
Any existing trial download customers can have their form converted to
take advantage of the new features. Please contact support@softwarekey.com for assistance.
Add support for ResetExpirationAtActivation
A new setting has been added to product options called “Reset
Expiration at Activation”. If this is set to true, upon the first
activation of a license for this option, the download expiration date
will be reset to the current date plus the days to download of the option.
This is useful for subscription based licensing, allowing the user’s
subscription to begin at the time they activate instead of
at the time of license creation.
Create cart catalog pages
The current product catalog pages are restricted to using the single
order mode of the cart for backwards compatibility reasons. These pages
have now been duplicated for use with the cart in full shopping cart
mode. In addition, these new pages have been reformatted and updated
to use the existing cart stylesheet elements.
Add login failure velocity checking
A velocity check on the author login page has been implemented. If a
particular User ID or IP Address has over 6 failed logins over a 30 minute
period, the account will be locked for 30 minutes. If you manage to get
locked out of your account, contact support@softwarekey.com to have your
account unlocked.
Create new button on license page to email customer
A new button has been added to the license details page
labeled “Email
Customer”. Clicking this button will allow you to send a mailing
to the customer with license details. The mailing supports
several search and replace parameters, and can also be sent to an alternate
email address.
Add web services and support for using the payment page as the landing
page
A new CartServer web service has been added to allow interaction
with shopping cart from outside of SOLO. The new service allows users
to create
carts, add items to cart, add shipping details to carts,
and, when used in conjunction with the CustomerServer web service, associate
customers
with carts.
Use of this web service allows you to build a cart from outside
of SOLO and link into SOLO’s order processing pages at any point
up to the select payment page.
Repeat license password down near the License ID
The password on the invoice is now repeated next to the license id,
reducing customer confusion and the inherent support issues.
Add activation report
A new report has been added which generates data on activations.
New .NET Notification Engine
Right now, you can customize some of the text on the order confirmation
page. In the near future, we will be rolling out a reformatted and improved
invoice. Shortly thereafter, we will be offering authors the option of
having their own fully customized invoice. If you are interested in having
your invoice customized, create a mock up of your desired invoice format
and contact support@softwarekey.com providing this mock up.
|
