eStore Manager is a Maximizer tool for creating and publishing your online store. eStore includes everything you need for an Internet storefront—a catalog, shopping cart, and online credit card transaction processing. eStore gives you plenty of flexibility in adding product descriptions, product images, pricing, applicable taxes, and shipping costs. Setting up your eStore online catalog is a breeze.

This diagram shows how an order is created starting with the website visitor’s shopping cart and finishing in the OrderDesk.

Shopping Basket

Order Screen: choose secure or non-secure

Customer Info Screen: eStore site collects customer’s information which is automatically sent to

Maximizer.

Maximizer:

OrderDesk window

Order Screen: choose payment method, taxes, shipping, etc.

Your online catalog is integrated with Address Book entries and campaigns so your customers’ buying experience is customized each time they visit.

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Main Window

Press F1 in any screen or dialog box for help.

eStore makes it easy to construct your online catalog—using a series of wizard screens, you provide eStore with all the information needed to build the catalog.

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Getting Your Catalog Online

eStore makes it easy for you to create and publish your online catalog. To get your catalog online, you need to perform these steps:



Create the template for your online catalog.

A template is an HTML page used by eStore to control the appearance of your catalog. The template contains special eStore tags that are replaced by catalog content when you publish the catalog. Your order screens—the screens that display

a summary of the customer’s order—can also be customized. See

“Designing Your Catalog’s Appearance” on page 435.



Build and publish your online catalog.

eStore’s wizard screens take you through the steps of building your online catalog and publishing it on the web. These steps include providing information about your company, setting up payment methods, and adding catalog sections and items. When you finish building your catalog, the last step is to preview and publish the catalog.



Add links from your company’s website to the eStore

catalog.

The final step is the simplest—add a link (or several, if you like)

from your company's website to your online catalog. See

“Adding Linking to the eStore Catalog” on page 450.

For an example of a completed online catalog, see the Escona sample

Address Book that comes with Maximizer.

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Designing Your Catalog’s Appearance

The design of your online catalog is saved as template in an eStore project. Your company probably has a standard layout for its website, so you might want to create a template that uses the same layout.

In the completed catalog, eStore replaces the tags with the contents of your catalog. This example shows a detailed product description page from the Escona sample Address Book.

You can design your catalog template to look like your company’s website. Just insert the catalog tags in the correct places. This is an example of what a catalog template may look like.

The template is simply an HTML file that contains special eStore tags.

You can make your page look any way you like, as long as you insert your eStore tags in the right location. You select your catalog template before you preview and publish your eStore catalog.

The Catalog Template Tags

For visitors to find your site with Internet search engines, you must register your site with each search engine.

Your HTML template must contain the following tags:

• [THE_META_TAGS] - Insert this tag between the Head tags in your HTML file. At the time you publish your catalog, eStore replaces this tag with the correct keyword meta tags, which allow visitors to find your site using Internet search engines. The keywords in these meta tags are your business classification keywords.

• [THE_HEADER_SCRIPT] - Insert this tag between the Head tags in your HTML file. This tag is replaced by the eStore Javascripts that are needed on certain pages of the site.

<HEAD>[THE_HEADER_SCRIPT]</HEAD>

• [THE_BODY_TAGS] - Insert this as an element within the Body tag. This tag is used to automatically run eStore Javascript functions.

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You can greatly enhance the capabilities of the search page by installing the “Full Text

Search” SQL component. See the

Maximizer CRM

Administrator’s Guide

for more information.

• [THE_CATALOG] - Insert this tag between the Body tags where you wish to place the main body of your catalog, which should be the main portion of your page. This tag is replaced by the catalog content.

<BODY>[THE_CATALOG]</BODY>

• [SEARCH] - Use the Search tag in place of a URL in a link. When your site is published, clicking this link opens the eStore catalog search page, which allows the visitor to search your catalog for specific items. This link can be placed anywhere in the Body of your template.

• A link to “Basket.asp” - In any location in the Body of your catalog template, include a link to “Basket.asp”. When a customer clicks on this link, Maximizer displays the current contents of the customer's shopping basket, where the customer can choose to order the items in the basket. The file

“Basket.asp” is dynamically generated by eStore.

Create the Catalog Template

You can use this example as a starting point for your own template. Keep adding to this basic template until you are satisfied with its appearance.

Create the template using your preferred HTML editor, making sure that you add the eStore template tags in the appropriate places in your markup.

Below is a sample template file that may be used by eStore.

<HTML>

<TITLE>Catalog</TITLE>

<HEAD>

[THE_META_TAGS]

[THE_HEADER_SCRIPT]

</HEAD>

<P><A HREF="[SEARCH]">Search the catalog</A>

<P><A HREF="basket.asp">Your shopping basket</A>

<BR>

[THE_CATALOG]

</BODY>

</HTML>

Sample Catalog Templates

eStore lets you select a sample catalog template in the Online Layout screen by clicking the “Samples...” button and choosing the name of a template. Additional files, including graphics, are listed in the

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“Additional files used by template file” pane. You can then preview or publish your site using the sample template.

Or use the Browse button to select your own template. Use the Add button to bring in additional HTML files and graphics. To learn more

about using the Online Layout screen, see “Making the Finishing

Touches and Preview Your Catalog” on page 447.

Customize the Order Screen and Confirmation Email

To find out how to modify your order screens or email templates, open the eStore

Help and look up “order screen templates” in the index.

The order screen uses HTML templates similar to the catalog template. Although the order screen that comes with Maximizer works well, you may wish to customize the order screen to use your company’s logo or to match your company’s website.

This is the order screen as it appears at the time the order is made. Notice that the text in square brackets is now replaced with order information.

This is an example of one of the default order screen templates (“SecureOption.html”). The tags (in square brackets) are replaced with the appropriate information at the time the order is made.

After a successful order, eStore sends a confirmation email message to the customer.

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Letting Your Visitors Know How to Contact You

The first two screens in eStore collect basic information about your business or organization. eStore uses this information in your online catalog and the order screens.

Enter Your Business Contact Information

The company address and phone numbers that you enter in the first screen are used in the order screens—when a visitor orders an item,

Maximizer displays a summary of the order along with your business name and address.

Your company information (above) is displayed when a customer places an order at your catalog website (right).

Select Keywords for Internet Search Engines

One of the principal ways that customers will find your site on the

Internet is through Internet search engines, such as Lycos, Yahoo,

Alta Vista, and others. Keywords identify to the Internet where you fit in as a business. The Business Classification screen allows you to specify keywords and keyword phrases that assist people in finding your website.

Take your time developing this list. The keywords you provide will directly affect the amount of traffic your site receives through

Internet search engines. To ensure that the keywords you select attract the customers you want to your site, keep the following rules in mind.

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Due to technical constraints, some search engines consider repeating the same keyword multiple times during a submission to be “spam”, and will filter out such submissions.

Keyword Rules

• Consider your customers. What words or phrases would they likely use to describe your business, products, or services?

• Use common terms (that is, terms that your customers would commonly use to describe your products).

• Use words that accurately describe your business and products.

• Use synonyms and related words. If your company makes sugarfree gelato, list “gelato” but list “ice cream” too.

• Include phrases and keyword combinations. Many people search for phrases such as “economy car rentals” as well as single words.

• Use the plural form of most keywords (farms, not farm) to capture those who search for the singular form as well as those who search for the plural form. Consider the spelling. If your business is a bakery, include both “bakery” and “bakeries”.

• Use different forms or spellings (even common misspellings) of an important keyword.

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Choosing How to Accept Payment

The Payment Methods screen allows you to specify the currency you will use for pricing and payment on your website. You can also choose whether you will accept credit cards and other payment methods when visitors place an order from your catalog.

In order to accept credit cards online, you must already have a merchant status account with the credit card company, your bank, or both. Once this is set up, you can manage credit card transactions through the OrderDesk window in Maximizer after the customer places the order in your online catalog.

Set Up Online Transaction Processing

You are not required to use online transaction processing—if you wish to use an alternate means of credit card transaction processing, such as manually calling in the transaction, select “[NONE]” in the Transaction Processing screen.

If you have a merchant account with a credit card company or your bank, you may wish to set up online transaction processing. Once this is set up, credit card transactions are processed from your website and are tracked and maintained through the OrderDesk window in

Maximizer.

When you create a payment gateway profile in eStore (or

Maximizer), the profile will not immediately appear in an order's

Payment & Totals tab or the Payment Gateway Profiles dialog box

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until orders have been placed on your website and transferred by the eStore server to OrderDesk.

The method and procedures for online transaction processing will vary depending on the transaction processing company. Some may allow you to pre-authorize funds, process transactions after the product has shipped, and issue refunds. With another company, you may only process transactions—funds are taken directly out of a customer’s account at the time of purchase. To find out about the transaction processing companies that work with Maximizer, please see the Payment Processing Gateways chapter or the Help.

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Building Your Catalog

Have a look at the Escona sample Address Book for an example of an online catalog.

The Catalog screen displays a list of all the products and services in each section of your catalog. From this screen, you define sections for your catalog and enter catalog items for each section. You may include any number of products and/or services in your catalog with ample flexibility regarding the number of graphics, descriptions, or pricing schemes you use.

eStore catalog items are grouped into sections, which are listed in the published catalog’s section index.

eStore Catalog

Section index Catalog sections Catalog item pages

The left pane of the Catalog screen lists all the sections you have set up for your website. The right pane lists all of your items in the selected section. You must define a section before adding items to your catalog.

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Add Sections to Your Catalog

If you create only one catalog section, eStore shows the catalog item list rather than a catalog section index.

A catalog section performs two functions. First, it allows you to organize the catalog items into similar groupings, which makes it easier for your visitor to browse your catalog. Second, the section controls the kind of information that eStore presents for the catalog items in that section.

When you create a new catalog section, eStore asks for a Business

Template. The Generic Business Template might include virtually any type of product; Services could include any type of service; the Real

Estate Business Template is best suited for homes and properties.

Each of these types lets you enter item information that is best suited to the type of service or product you add to the section.

Add Items to a Catalog Section

To learn more about adding items to your catalog, see the eStore Help.

Catalog items are the products or services you are advertising or making available for sale on your website. Each catalog item is assigned to a specific catalog section and may include very specific information.

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Click the Add button in the

Catalog screen to add a new item with the Catalog Item wizard.

Add an Item with the Catalog Item Wizard

You add catalog items using a Catalog Item wizard; click the Add button under the Catalog Items section. The various screens allow you to enter item descriptions, details, specifications, pricing information, related items, and tax/shipping requirements, among others. You may also attach image or media files to specific catalog items.

Use the Inventory section to specify the number of items you have in stock. When the stock is depleted, the shopper sees a “Temporarily out of stock” message. Each time an item is purchased, the inventory is decremented by 1 in the eStore catalog; you should regularly check to ensure the inventory number is correct. You can choose to allow ordering when stock is depleted and the inventory will display in negative units.

Modify Catalog Items with the Tabbed Dialog Box

Click the tab you want and make changes to the catalog item. Click OK when you’ve finished your modifications.

When you modify an item entry, the Catalog Item wizard screens appear as several separate tabs in a comprehensive Catalog Item dialog box.

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Enter the Item Information

For help on entering item information, open the eStore

Help and look up “Adding

Items”.

The information that eStore requires for an item depends on the

Business Template used by the section to which you are adding the item. A catalog section using the Real Estate Business Template, for example, will require an address for each catalog item, but other

Business Templates would not require an address. Below is a listing of all possible the catalog item screens:

Not all screens are available for all catalog section types.

• Address – The address of the property.

• Main – The basic information for the catalog item. May include the name, description, and the main image.

• Bulleted Lists – The items you enter here will appear as a list on the catalog item’s web page.

• Features – A listing of details about the item. These details appear as a bulleted list.

• Specifications – A list of the product’s specifications. These specifications appear as a bulleted list.

• Keywords – The keywords let your customer find this item in a catalog search.

• Details – Size, weight, and other product information.

• Images/Media – This tab lets you include additional images, sounds, or animations for your product.

• Price – Information on how the item is priced.

• Related Items – This list appears on the items page, offering the customer the chance to upgrade or add onto their purchase.

• Options – Specify options such as size or color.

• Tax/Shipping – The shipping cost and tax calculations.

Upsell Your Product with Related Items or Options

Try to keep your list of related items to a few helpful—and strategic—suggestions.

An important feature of an eStore catalog is the ability to show the visitor a list of items or options that are related to the one he or she is viewing. You can use this feature to offer your customer an upgrade or an add-on to their purchase. If your customer is shopping

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To open the Catalog Item dialog box, select the item in the Catalog screen and click

“Modify”.

You add related items using the Related Items/Options tab in the

Catalog Item dialog box. This tab lets you browse your catalog for items to add to the list. In your published catalog, the related items appear as a list of links to each item’s page.

Add Multimedia and Images to Your Catalog Items

In the Catalog Item dialog box, use the Images/Media tab to add graphics, sound, or animations to your item’s web page. Additional images of your product can help your customer get a “feel” for the item. This tab is not available for all Business Template types.

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Making the Finishing Touches and Preview Your Catalog

Press F1 in this screen for help.

The Online Layout screen allows you to select a catalog template and edit additional catalog files.

Choose a Catalog Template

You can try one of the premade sample catalog templates—click the Samples button in the Online Layout screen.

Browse for the HTML template file you created for your online catalog. If the template uses additional files, such as graphics or media files, you must click the Add button to add them to the eStore project. If you make a change to your template, you must re-select the template so the updated template is added to your catalog project. You can then publish the catalog again.

Edit Additional Files

Files associated with the HTML template you are using display in the

“Additional files used by...” list in the Online Layout screen. To edit a graphic, for example, select it, click Save To File, and specify a directory. Use a graphics editor like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop to edit the graphic. Use the Add button to bring it back into the catalog database. The edited file will not overwrite the original if the names are identical; use the Remove button to delete the old version of the file before you add the new version.

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Publishing Your Catalog on the Internet

To learn more about publishing your catalog, open the eStore Help and look up

“upload” in the index.

The final stage of building your catalog is to publish the catalog.

Publishing the catalog is actually a very simple process—eStore generates the files that make up your eStore website, then copies them to a publicly-accessible folder on your company’s web server

(the computer running Microsoft Internet Information Server).

For security reasons, your production site—the site where you publish the catalog—may be on a different computer than your preview site.

Specify the Physical Location of the Catalog Files

Make sure you have two virtual directories set up on your IIS server: an internal virtual directory for previewing your catalog and a publicly-accessible virtual directory for the completed catalog. When you specify the location to store the files for preview, you specify the physical location of the preview folder on the IIS server (e.g.,

“\\servername\catalog”). A virtual directory “points” to the folder in which your catalog’s website files are stored.

Enter the URL of Your Preview Site

Enter the IIS server’s URL (or the IP address) and the virtual directory of your preview site. If you are working at the IIS server that hosts your site, you can enter “127.0.0.1” as the IP address. eStore uses this

URL to display the preview site for you in your web browser.

An example of a URL using an IP address would be in this format:

“http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/catalogpreview”, where “xxx” is the IP

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address. You can also use a domain name (e.g., www.esconawines.com) in place of the IP.

As soon as you publish the catalog, visitors can go to your catalog using their web browser.

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Adding Linking to the eStore Catalog

Setting up virtual directories is normally a task for a system administrator or someone familiar with Microsoft IIS.

You can also use a relative

URL, rather than the full URL shown here (e.g., “\catalog”).

The final step in getting your catalog online comes after you publish your catalog. When you publish your catalog, eStore copies the catalog website files to the folder on the IIS server that you specify in the “Publish Your Store” screen. You or your system administrator can set up a virtual directory in IIS that “points” to this physical folder. It is this virtual directory that is the URL—or the web address—of your catalog. For example, if you create the virtual directory “catalog” on your server, then your catalog’s URL would be

“http://www.yourserveraddress.com/catalog”.

You can add links from your company's website—perhaps right in a navigation bar or menu—to the catalog’s URL. For example, if you publish your catalog to “http://www.escona.com/catalog”, you could include a link in your company's website like the following HTML example:

<A HREF="http://www.escona.com/catalog/">See our online catalog!</A>

Alternatively, you can use a graphic in place of text in your link, as shown in the example below.

This is an example of what your site could look like.

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Your Customer’s eStore Experience

Understanding your customer’s experience is an important part of designing your eStore catalog. The illustration below shows an example of a visit to an eStore catalog using the Escona sample website.

1. The customer arrives at your eStore catalog website using his/her browser.

2. Using the Search page, the customer can search for products by keyword or simply browse the catalog.

3. In the shopping basket screen, the visitor clicks the

“Order Now” button to continue with the order.

5. The customer is taken to a customer login page.

Information such as the customer’s first and last name is captured. This information is automatically sent to

Maximizer.

4. The customer is taken to the “order screens” for the catalog. Clicking the Continue button, as illustrated above, ensures credit card information is encrypted.

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6. The customer is then taken to the order screen.

7. The customer chooses how the order will be paid for. If you set up online transaction processing, eStore collects the credit card information in another screen.

8. After the transaction is complete, a “thank you” page appears. Further details provide the customer with information about order email transactions, and shipping. From this screen, a customer may also return to the online catalog.

To further confirm the order, eStore sends a confirmation email message to the customer using the email address supplied.

Your Customer’s Shopping Basket

Your customer will likely want to browse your catalog first before buying anything. As your customer shops, he or she can add items to a shopping basket. Just like a real shopping basket, the eStore basket

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lets customers add items as they shop and, before paying, review the contents of the basket.

The shopping basket lets the customer adjust quantities, remove items, and view subtotals before ordering.

Select the currency in the

Payment Method screen. See

“Choosing How to Accept

Payment” on page 440.

The information shown in the shopping basket includes:

• The type of currency used

• The items, quantities, and options

• The item subtotals

• The basket subtotal

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Enhancing Your Catalog with the Catalog Search Page

When a visitor arrives at your site, he or she may already have an idea of what to buy, but your catalog may be large enough to make it hard to find certain items by browsing the catalog sections. You need to include a link to the eStore catalog search page.

From the search page, a visitor can search for items by keyword to bring up a list of possible matches.

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Managing Your Online Orders and Inquiries

Use the Maximizer Web

Inquiry Form wizard to create an online data collection form.

See “Creating Web Inquiry

Forms for Your Website” on page 107.

When potential customers visit your ecommerce site, they can complete an online form to either inquire about or order products and services. The data from this form—such as name, address, credit card numbers—is then written to the Maximizer Address Book as an

Address Book entry with an attached OrderDesk entry.

If you are using eStore, orders and inquiries automatically arrive in the OrderDesk window from your website.

If you are using ecBuilder, orders and inquiries arrive in your

Maximizer Email window as email messages with an MEC file attachment. Select “All eCommerce Messages” from the Email window’s View bar. Order/inquiry email messages have the subject line “ecBuilder Inquiry”, “ecBuilder Order”, or a similar subject. You may wish to save the MEC files in their own folder and double-click the files to import the order/inquiry information.

Order numbers are automatically generated. The prefix indicates the source of the order—MA indicates a manually entered order and OL indicates an order from the online catalog.

Double-click an entry to view or change the details. If you do not use an online transaction processing company, you can open the order and manually mark the payment as received.

Use the OrderDesk window to enter a new order, capture a payment for an order, pre-authorize a payment for an order, complete a preauthorized payment for an order, and refund a payment for orders that come to you by telephone, mail, or other methods.

OrderDesk allows you to track the status of your inquiries and orders, whether your customers have received a response or had their order fulfilled. It lets you mark specific orders or inquiries as urgent, ignore inquiries without deleting them, and track shipping and payment status for your orders.

You can open the order or inquiry in the OrderDesk window and send a summary of the inquiry by email to the associated customer

(Address Book entry) with an automatic reply. You also can send a summary of the inquiry to one or more Maximizer users.

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Credit Card Transaction Processing

Profiles also can be set up using ecBuilder and eStore

(see the respective documentation).

If you are using a third-party transaction processing company, the

OrderDesk window acts as a desktop point-of-sale software solution that supports real-time credit card transactions. This includes preauthorization of credit card information, pre-authorization completion and/or capture of funds, and refunds that generate a credit on the customer’s credit card account.

With the use of a transaction processing company, funds from the consumer’s credit card can be captured immediately. Once the credit card information has been verified and the purchase has been authorized, the information can be securely forwarded via a confirmation email message to both the consumer and the merchant.

Payment gateway profiles, sometimes referred to as payment gateway guides or merchant account profiles, are used to facilitate online credit-card transaction processing from your website (which you created with ecBuilder or eStore). When you process an order’s credit card transaction using the OrderDesk window, you select the appropriate payment gateway profile from the Payment & Totals tab.

To see which transaction processing companies are supported by

Maximizer, select the OrderDesk window, click the Add button in the

File > Edit Gateway Settings dialog box and view the items in the

Company drop-down list. There is one payment gateway profile per transaction processing company.

Before you set up a profile in Maximizer, you must contact the company and set up a merchant account. This can be done using the

Acquire Merchant Account button in the File > Edit Gateway Settings

> Add dialog box.

Manually Enter Orders or Inquiries

To learn more about

OrderDesk, look up

“OrderDesk” in the Maximizer

Help index. Refer also to

“Using OrderDesk” on page 109.

Because you will likely receive orders from other sources besides your

Maximizer website, OrderDesk allows you to enter orders manually, allowing you to manage all your orders using the same application.

The order entry screen in OrderDesk gathers the same information as the online forms that your customers fill out on your website.

An order or inquiry always must be associated with an Address Book entry, so ensure the appropriate entry is selected before clicking the

New button in the OrderDesk or Address Book OrderDesk window.

You can also drag an Address Book entry to the OrderDesk icon from the Address Book window. Enter the order or inquiry information, pressing F1 at any time for detailed assistance.



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➤

To enter an order



Use the Main tab to enter the items ordered and set the payment and shipping status.



Specify the shipping method and taxes, and enter the

shipping address.



Use the Payment & Totals tab to record the payment information. If you have online transaction processing set up, you can process credit card transactions—payments, authorizations, refunds, and more





As shown in the previous example, manually entering an order is a simple three-step process. The “Order Status” settings in the Main tab let you manage and track the progress of orders—you can sort your OrderDesk list by either status column to help you find unshipped orders or orders that need attention.

When you manually add an item to an order, you can save yourself time by selecting the item (and its information) from your Maximizer online catalog using the Get Info From Catalog button in the Item dialog box.