This blog post explains the “Request a Quote” feature for WooCommerce stores. Learn the importance of setting up a quotation request option and how to efficiently manage quote requests from your customers.
Quotation is a common feature in many B2B and B2C business websites. If you are selling custom products, wholesale products, or personalized items, adding a quotation system is important. Your customers can ask for a preferred price for the products they are interested in.
This can be convenient for customers who buy large quantities of products or personalized items such as engraved keychains, toys, etc.
If you are interested in setting up quotes for your WooCommerce store, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of setting up the “Request a Quote” option on your WooCommerce store.
Key Takeaways:
- Quote requests are a standard feature in various B2B and B2C eCommerce stores.
- This allows customers to request a customized price for specific products based on their desired quantity and needs. Store owners have the flexibility to accept, decline, or negotiate these quotations.
- With the WebToffee WooCommerce Quotes plugin, you can easily integrate a quotation feature into your WooCommerce store.
A quote request or quotation is a feature that allows customers to ask for custom prices for specific products or services before making a purchase. Customers can submit a form with a preferred price for a preferred quantity of a product or service.
The store owner then responds with a customized price or offer, which the customer can accept or negotiate further. This is especially useful for businesses with variable pricing, bulk orders, or customized products.
Let’s consider an eCommerce website that sells custom backpacks for schools. When a client wants to order a large quantity of school bags with their logo, they visit the website and add the desired products to the quote list. Next, they fill out a quote form specifying their preferred price and quantity and then submit it for review. The store owner reviews and accepts the request, sending a quote invoice to the customer. Once the customer pays the invoice, the order is successfully placed.
Refer to the below image for a better understanding:
A WooCommerce quote request is not a common requirement of a B2C business. But that doesn’t mean that no B2C business would need such a feature. In fact, several B2B and B2C organizations selling goods and services, both online and offline, demand it.
We will look into the specific set of businesses that usually count on the WooCommerce quotation request feature here.
1. B2B Businesses Trading Goods of Large Volume
Wholesale businesses and stores often trade on a large number of products is a common benefactor of the WooCommerce quote request feature. One of the biggest benefits of purchasing in bulk is the reduced prices. So if you are a wholesale business, your customers will anticipate a lesser price than the market rate.
But the reduction in price also depends on several factors like supply and demand, customer loyalty, etc. A robust solution, in such a circumstance, is a quote request. This would allow you to quote different prices for the same products under different conditions.
2. Businesses That Sell High-Priced, Custom-Made Products
Several high-priced products, such as cars, furniture, or custom bags, would only be manufactured on demand. Moreover, a customer purchasing such a product may want additional customizations, such as a sunroof or an antique design. This would mean – different estimates for different customers. This can be achieved effortlessly with WooCommerce’s ‘Request a quote.’ Moreover, these features leave room for negotiations.
3. Businesses That Offer Custom Services
If you are a business offering a custom service, such as education or travel, your clients will be charged based on the service that they need. With quotes, you can overcome the shortcomings of offering a single price and generate targeted offers that are more suited to your clients’ needs.
4. Businesses That Need to Hide the Prices
Some businesses might need the ‘catalog mode’ where the price of the items is hidden, and the purchase process is disabled. A shopper can only move forward with the purchase with assistance from the store.
In such situations, the customers ask the store to give them a personalized price estimate for their product/service and if they agree upon the price, the customer can complete the payment and receive the package. If not, they can negotiate the price until they reach an agreement.
The Quote Request option is not available in WooCommerce. So, we’ll be using our WooCommerce Request a Quote plugin to set up quotation requests. Our WooCommerce Quotes plugin lets you hide the “Add to Cart” button and price fields on your website and shows an “Add to Quote” button. We’ll discuss more about the plugin in the later part of this article. Now follow the steps below to set up a fully functional quote system for your WooCommerce store.
Also Read: 15 Best WooCommerce Quote Request Plugins
Step 1: Install WebToffee WooCommerce Request a Quote Plugin
Our Request a Quote plugin is available as a premium option for $69, including one year of updates and technical support. Once you have purchased the plugin, you will receive an email with the link to download the plugin zip file. You can also download the plugin file from the My Account page.
- After downloading the plugin file, go to Plugins > Add New on your WordPress admin console.
- Upload the plugin zip file and install it. You will be able to activate the plugin once it is installed successfully.
Step 2: Configure General Settings of WooCommerce Quotes
- Now, go to Quotes > General from your WordPress sidebar menu.
- Select the Show ‘Add to quote’ button for products option.
- Choose where you want to show the Add to Quote button – on the single product page or shop page.
- Choose the position of the Add to Quote button.
- You also have some additional options, such as hiding the add to cart button, showing the add to quote button for out-of-stock products, etc.
Step 3: Set up Price Preferences for Quotes
- Enable the Hide prices checkbox to remove price fields from the product page.
- Choose whether to accept preferred prices from customers.
- Select how to accept the price preferences.
- Choose whether to calculate the shipping fee with the quoted price.
Step 4: Configure Advanced Quote Settings
- Choose the user role to show the quote functionality.
- Enter the URL endpoint for the Quotes section.
- Choose a title for the Quotes page.
- Enable Mini quote support to display a mini quote list on product pages.
- Click on Update settings to save the changes.
Did You Know?
You can specifically include or exclude products from the quote lists. Go to the Inclusion list and add products to show the “Request a Quote” function. Similarly, you can exclude products from showing the “Request a Quote” function.
Step 5: Set up Quote Request Email
- Go to the Quote settings page and choose Email.
- Choose the quote statuses to send emails to the admin.
- Enter the admin emails.
- Choose the emails to send to customers.
- Click on Update settings.
Step 6: Customize WooCommerce Quote Requests
Go to the Customize tab.
- From here, you can customize the appearance of the quote request button, texts, etc.
- Choose a label text for the ‘Add to Quote’ button.
- Select whether to show the ‘Add to Quote’ option as a button or link.
- Click on Save changes.
When you receive a new quote request, you will be notified of this via email. To respond to the request, go to WooCommerce > Orders and click on the corresponding request.
You will be able to see the items in the quote request, the current price, the subtotal, and more. To change the current price of an item, click on the pencil icon corresponding to it. You will be able to change the value of the field named Total. Change it to your expected price and click on Save.
You may change the quote expiry duration from the globally set value from the Quote details if required. Once that is done, you can add any additional messages to customers and click on Send quote.
Any additional details regarding the quote such as the ‘Related quotes’ will also be displayed on the same window.
When the customer receives the quote request, they will be notified of this via email. They can also review the quote from My accounts > Quotes and click on the required quote. This will open up the quote page.
When clicked on Accept and pay, they will be directly taken to the Checkout page. When declined, customers will have another chance to request a quote again.
Introducing a WooCommerce quote system into your business allows you to find potential customers who strongly want to work with you. It is one of the key pillars document to establishing deals with valuable clients or closing deals without any hassle. It will set your transactional business process smoother. You can also track the client acquisition path clearly from the point of raising the inquiry till the order is placed.
You must enclose the client’s requirements, such as what they are looking for. For instance,
1. Show the company and client information.
2. Make a unique quote number with an expiry date.
3. Outline the product or service in detail.
4. Deliver transparent pricing and taxes.
5. Include terms and conditions for a quotation.
6. Authorized person signature – it’s optional.
Yes, using WebToffee’s WooCommerce quote plugin you can create an expiry limit for a specific quote. This plugin will help you create time-limit quotes instantly in the WooCommerce store. It creates a sense of urgency and encourages customers to complete their payments quickly.
Install the WooCommerce advanced quote plugin to access the template – edit the quote with a simple drag-and-drop option. You can complete the pricing quote using three simple steps.
Step 1: Create a custom quote button for the online store’s products.
Step 2: Personalize the default quote form page for buyers to escalate inquiries.
Step 3: Set up the follow-up email drive to auto-generate quotes for clients.
One of the best ways to follow up with clients after submitting quotes is to create an auto-trigger email campaign. In that way, it will be much easier to communicate with the clients and so provide timely notifications.
You can install WebToffee’s WooCommerce Request a Quote Plugin to activate the automated follow-up email for your clients.
If you are a business owner or a store admin looking for an easy and efficient way to implement the Quote Request feature in your WooCommerce store, the WooCommerce Quote Request plugin is the right tool for you.
The plugin gives you full control over the quotation request feature and lets you manage it effectively. Your customers can request quotes with preferred price, and you can get notified of all actions, and more.
We hope this article meets your requirements. If you have any questions, doubts, or queries, please feel free to post them in the comments.
