2020.3: a new version for the e-commerce boom
Published by Incomedia in WebSite X5 News · Thursday 15 Oct 2020
Here we are, on time as always, ready for our third update of the year for our favorite software: WebSite X5.
After digging into SEO with Structured Data in v2020.2, version 2020.3 puts the focus back on e-commerce, developing a product search feature for online shopping carts, introducing the option to adjust shipping costs by country, and increasing safeguards for supported payment systems. That's not all, of course: it was also time to review how user comments and ratings were displayed, and to update the Row Style window to make it more user-friendly.
We're sure that you'll appreciate all these new updates, because you requested many of them yourselves. Let's take a closer look at them.
Customized product search filters
When we launched v2020.1 in April, we introduced the e-commerce search engine, which was a hit. After all, when a store starts to offer a large number of products for sale, it's crucial to give Customers the ability to quickly find exactly what they're looking for.
Now, you can make your search page even more powerful because, in addition to the classic Search bar and standard filters that display items by category, by price range, or only new products or sale items, you can also add very useful customized filters.
The mechanism behind it is very simple. Want to allow your clients to search by "brand", "model", or "dimensions"? All you need to do is create and configure the right properties for each product, and you're all set. Each property you configure automatically becomes a filter that your Customers can use to search for products in your online catalog.
Shipping costs by Country
If you're already selling your products in different Countries around the world, you know that each market is different: they each have their own particularities and require specific tactics.
One of the variables is shipping costs: for example, if you're based in Italy and need to ship abroad, you'll need to factor in a cost of X if you're shipping to France and a cost of Y, which is probably significantly higher than X, if you're shipping to Japan.
That's why it's important to be able to set different shipping costs depending on the Country in which your Customers place their orders.
All you need to do is configure a base shipping rate, then specify the cost difference for each Country you want to do business in. Easy, right?!
PayPal Commerce Platform payments
Last month, we enhanced WebSite X5 by integrating the PayPal Commerce Platform, PayPal's innovative new solution that makes life easier for sellers and, more generally, improves the online shopping experience for millions of users.
Thanks to the PayPal Commerce Platform, you can manage all the most popular payment methods in the world, including many local methods like MyBank, iDeal, Sofort, and Giropay, from one account. In practice, the system is designed to offer each client a selection of the most appropriate payment methods depending on their country and the device they are using. This improves the purchasing experience, increasing the likelihood that they will successfully complete the transaction.
We've now gone taken a step further: we integrated the 3D Secure protocol to increase the level of security for Credit Card transactions, and we've activated new measures to ensure that returns are processed correctly.
Basically, if you haven't yet done so, now's the time to connect your PayPal account to your online store and activate the PayPal Commerce Platform: you'll soon reap the benefits.
New layout for user reviews
We all know how important reviews are: people are more likely to trust those who have already purchased a product and tried it out, rather than what the manufacturer says.
What's more, asking your users to share their opinions, leave a comment, or give a rating lets them know that you're listening to them in order to improve your service, or that you're open to conversation if you're running a blog.
WebSite X5 has long included the tools necessary to integrate comments at the bottom of blog articles or within a page (using the Comments and Ratings object).
In this new version, we've updated the layout in which comments and ratings are displayed: with a more modern, clean, and user-friendly look, reading feedback from anybody who wants to share their thoughts is a pleasure.
As usual, for a detailed list of all the changes we've introduced in the new version 2020.3, visit the News page.
If you already have an active WebSite X5 license, you can install this new version right away: just launch the program and you'll find instructions for doing so in just a few clicks.
If your WebSite X5 license has expired, renew it today to receive the new version 2020.3.
Finally, if you don't have WebSite X5, take this opportunity to buy it now. The user license includes a 12-month guarantee of receiving updates and new versions as we release them, as well as access to our Priority Assistance service