Protecting your Reseller Account

When I opened my mailbox this morning I found the following question from a reseller: Why do my customers have to sign up before they can see anything on the storefront?

Every once in awhile this question seems to return along with another question I get asked: What do you do to make sure my customer places an order through my reseller account?

In general, the most important thing for us is to make sure that you feel you can rely on our services. Without you as a reseller we would not be able to sell any product so it is in our own best interest to make sure that you and your customers keep coming back.

To answer both questions, and maybe more, let me describe the paths your customer might take to get to the storefront. It all has to do with cookies and linking.

1. If your customer has never visited NextDayPC.com before and types in http://www.nextdaypc.com/ he will see a secure sign in page, where he will be asked to set up an account and to include a discount code. To try this just delete your NextDayPC.com cookie, close all browser windows, and visit http://www.nextdaypc.com. If you think that this is just what your customer might do, make sure you give them your discount code.
   


2. The most common path for your customer is probably from clicking a link on your website or in an e-mail. To get detailed instructions on how to do this, click here. As soon as that customer goes to the storefront, a cookie with your discount code is placed on the customer's machine and from then on and determines the look and feel of the site and the product pricing. This takes us to the next possible path.
   


3. Once your customer has a cookie and returns to the storefront, even if they just type in http://www.nextdaypc.com, the discount code information will be read and the pricing and layout will change on the fly. Your customer will never see this secure sign in page.

If your customer decides to delete the cookie, he returns to the first option described above, leaving him with the option to sign in or to create a new account. If he signs in because he had created an account previously , the storefront will recognize the customer, associates him with the appropriate reseller and will put another cookie on your customer's machine.

I hope this clears up the some of these questions. Feel free to comment on this post or ask me a question by clicking here.