How do I review new web customers?

Summary

This article explains how Platinum Review any customers submitted through you website orders.

More Information

If you have a Template:POnline+ e-commerce website, or use Template:POnline to import orders from your own website or eBay, then you can review new web customers and manage how they are assigned to existing customer records in your Platinum system.

When a customer orders from you on the web for the first time you can review their details.

1. Go to " Sales Order Processing Review Pending Web Customers".
2. Any new web customers will be checked.
3. Any new orders from existing web customers, or new web customers where an exact match has been found to an existing customer in your Platinum system, will be imported automatically.
4. If no new orders are waiting, or all were dealt with automatically, then a message will show informing that there are no new web customers needing review.
5. Otherwise, if one or more new web customers have ordered from you where Platinum thinks, but is not sure, that there is a link to an existing customer in your Platinum system then the " Review Pending Web Customers" screen will show.

Tip:  This screen will also show automatically, when required, while entering the " Add or Edit Sales Orders" or " Process Sales Orders" options. However, if at any time you believe there is a new customer waiting that has not shown up then you can check on-demand by using the " Sales Order Processing Review Pending Web Customers" option.

The Review Pending Web Customers Screen

On the left of the screen is a list of new web customers waiting to be downloaded. For each one, on the right of the screen is a list of existing customers in your Platinum system to which it may correspond.

• Review each customer on the left, selecting on the right which existing customer it matches, if any.
• Select "None of these" to create a new customer, or click [Search] to find an alternative customer not shown in the list.
• You can select which details ("Name", "Address", etc.) you want to import using the tick boxes in the lower left details section, alternatively you can press <Shift+F10> to open " Customer Properties" to amend the details of an existing customer by hand.
• Click [Next] to work your way through the left-hand list then click [Done] when you have finished.

The new web customers and their orders will now be imported.

Controlling Which Customers to Review

Go to " Reports & Settings Maintenance System Administrator System Parameters".

On the [Accounts (1)] page are two parameters that can control which new web customers to review using the above process:

• "Ignore Matches Below" - set this to the minimum percentage score of new web customers that you want to review. Any new web customers that match with a score lower than this will automatically create a new customer record in your Platinum system without review.
• "Automatically Assign Matches Above" - set this to the maximum percentage score of new web customers that you want to review. Any new web customers that match with a score higher than this will automatically be assigned to the highest matching existing customer record in your Platinum system without review.

You can tune these parameters over time as you get a feel for how well the automatic matching routine gets it "right".

The "matching" is the result of a score (a Percentage match) which is based on

• Title
• First name
• Surname (middle names not considered)
• House number
• Street name
• Postcode (if in UK format; other address lines are not considered)
• Phone number(s) (yes these are normalised before comparison)
• Email

PLEASE NOTE:  A detail that is missing is classed as a match

More detail about postcode:   - it is automatically detected if in UK format, if not then the last line of the address is used.

To Always Review New Web Customers

If you always want to review new web customers and never have Platinum deal with them automatically:

1. Go to the two parameters described above.
2. Set "Ignore Matches Below" to '0'%.
3. Set "Automatically Assign Matches Above" to '100'%.

To Never Review New Web Customers

If you never want to review new web customers but let Platinum deal with them automatically:

1. Go to the two parameters described above.
2. Set "Ignore Matches Below" and "Automatically Assign Matches Above" to the same value, as follows:

• To always create new customer records and never assign to existing ones, set both parameters to '100'%.
• To assign to existing customers when they match but always create new customer records otherwise, set both parameters to a suitably high percentage, such as '95'%.

See also

• Getting Started
• Platinum Driven Website Help
• Catalyst FindIt
• How do I Add Items to my Website?
• How do I add news to my website?
• How do I Get my eBay Sales in to Platinum?
• How do I Review New Web Customers?
• How do I Setup my Carriage Charges?
• How do I Edit the Terms on my Website?
• How do I Configure Emails from my Website?
• How do I Set the Price Code to be used on my Website?

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Keywords AND Misspellings

ecommerce, e-commerce, review, online, web, eBay, new, duplicate, existing, customers