niyo Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 This has probably been mentioned a million times before but please lets work on a way to streamline the process of ordering hosting and domains for newbies. Blesta is great for people in the VPS market and up because theres a level of assumed knowledge involved but for shared hosting users who tend to be less technically inclined the process is convoluted. There are a lot of things i like about the blesta user flow and user experience but there are also a lot of areas that need desperate work. My customers tend to order hosting without realising they also need a domain name. The current problem is there's no way to add explanations for stages of the order process i.e. tooltips or field descriptions etc. My original work around was to edit a language file so the placeholder in the domain field in the cpanel module mentioned a long sentence but thats just stupid for placeholder text. The best example of a logical order form for hosting and domains is the Vertical Steps order form on WHMCS. It makes sense and anybody with half a brain can follow it regardless of whether you link directly to the package or not. I know the whole domain movement is set for 4.1 but I really hope you take into account order forms for this to be a truly viable product. So that entails logical order forms designed with ux in mind and the ability to add descriptions or tooltips to fields and or add descriptions to stages of the order process. avonni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blesta Addons Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 we have discussed this subject several times, not just the navigation bar for step but the whole order form for hosting industry is highly required . the actual one is not adequate to the hosting market niyo, domaingood and a.daniello 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDG Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Hi Yes we need a real solution to sell hosting and domains like all the providers out there. We need urgently a new way of how blesta handle this because in the way is design right now is very complicate for clients. Imagine a client want to buy something and they can´t do it because the process is not clear they will leave our website immediately and we will lose that potential client. Right now the way blesta handled the orders system is forcing the client to make one order and then another one to accomplish this process. We know we have add-on options but honestly the order system for selling hosting and domains is not good and as a community we need to push blesta to improved this because is very complicate to provide a good services without this basic tools that other competitor have. Hopefully someone hear us and do something to make this this work in the way it suppose to work. niyo and Blesta Addons 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Well to be honest, do you order hosting then go oh I need a domain? Or do you buy a domain and then buy hosting with it? You can skip the domain part if you don't need a domain, in my opinion and how it works when I worked in hosting and that's logical to me. That's also how Blesta runs. If you don't need a domain skip it, if you want a domain you order it with your hosting. But hey most people here only want the opposite because of their experience with another system. And if you order a domain it is even pre-filed in the domain.com part for cPanel, InterWorx hosting which saves time and if needed it can be changed manually if the hosting is for another domain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niyo Posted February 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Well to be honest, do you order hosting then go oh I need a domain? Or do you buy a domain and then buy hosting with it? You can skip the domain part if you don't need a domain, in my opinion and how it works when I worked in hosting and that's logical to me. That's also how Blesta runs. If you don't need a domain skip it, if you want a domain you order it with your hosting. But hey most people here only want the opposite because of their experience with another system. And if you order a domain it is even pre-filed in the domain.com part for cPanel, InterWorx hosting which saves time and if needed it can be changed manually if the hosting is for another domain. Mate you couldn't be more wrong. nobody in here is saying we want it a particular way because of our experience with another product we're saying we want it a different way because the way it currently works is significantly deficient. If it was because of the other product we'd be using that product and not engaging in conversation to improve blesta. Naja is literally the most loyal blesta user there is and has contributed so much to the community do you really think he's making the same complaint because of his experience with whmcs? Like i said previously this domain/hosting process currently works on an assumed knowledge basis. yes it works fine for me and you because we're technically inclined we understand how hosting works and therefore can see that although this is a bit dumb we have the know how to jump the hurdles in order to complete an order. Look at it this way. Customer lands on hosts website, sees package they like and clicks it. logic says from an admin stand point link to the package, so this is what most admins will do. so now that the customer has clicked on said package they see the config options box that says domain. No context whatsoever! Most of my customers (and by the sounds of it many customers of other blesta users) assume that means they are ordering that domain name with the hosting. You and i know they're not but they genuinely know no better. As i said there is no context or hints. At this stage what should happen is the customer should be confronted with the option - like in whims vertical steps - to use their own domain if they've already got one registered, transfer the domain to us or if they don't have one then order one. This gives context unlike the way it currently is whereby that domain box could literally mean anything. So the alternative is to just link to the domain preconfig section for every package but then you're adding steps to the user experience and increasing the chance of abandonment. Always think UX and minimising steps. as well as this every step in the ordering process needs to clearly communicate what is required to the customer. For servers and other such products/services blesta works just fine as your customer base is savvy enough and there usually isn't this extra step of domains to worry about. eg... https://my.knownhost.com/order/config/index/managed-dedicated-servers/?group_id=7&pricing_id=190 customer configures the package in one step and is good to go. contrast that great experience with that of shared hosting when linking to the package https://my.selfhosted.uk/order/config/index/hosting/?group_id=7&pricing_id=11 even I'm like what the hell am i supposed to put in that box. the 2 major problems here: 1. "am i ordering a domain?" well my customers seem to believe they are. and then when they complete the order and realise they actually weren't they usually need to order a totally different domain from what they originally did. 2. "erm i don't get it." customer abandons order there and then. now contrast that to a brilliantly logical shared hosting experience https://www.bluehost.com/shared select the package and the next step is do you have a domain or do you need one. thats all we're asking for. would you therefore consider one of the biggest hosting companies in the world to only do it this way because they saw it in whmcs or is it genuinely the logical and user friendly way to do it? go to any big host and clicking on the package then gives you the option to register a new domain or input your existing domain and its crystal clear what is required of you as a customer. the hosting/domain order form needs to have a logical user flow whether linking to a package group, pricing id or registering a domain. in blesta's defence the current process of ordering a domain followed by hosting isn't too far off the mark although there could be slight refinements, however ordering a hosting package is currently a nightmare from a UX stand point. Blesta Addons and PauloV 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 KH links directly to the package which you can do yourself, and if you change config to main you can see that they aren't using a domain and other order form but general. So that's not even directly relevant in your statement. And if you had Hosting then Domain they still get the same feel but then they are buying a hosting package without a domain and then what are they putting for a domain? N/A.com or N/A to get an error? It's common sense for god sake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDG Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 We need to accept that blesta have big issues in this part, we are not making any negative comment about the system instead of that we are providing personal user experience in order to make it better because if not blesta will stay behind scene as it is right now. We have to be honest and know that users that use blesta are a small group and is because of the lack of basic features other systems provide. We are not comparing blesta with WHMCS, there are a lot of different system out there and also there are a lot of web hosting companies like Godaddy, BlueHost, Siteground, Hostmonster and all of them use the same logical process to order these services; what you are trying to say is that these big companies are doing it wrong and blesta is doing it right. For my personal point of view I don´t see any valid argument for that. I made some test with several friends of mine to go and order a hosting and domain from my system and they get stuck because they don´t understand it, they need to ask my help to complete the process successfully. User like things simple and maybe in your case works straightforward but the real truth is that if the final user can´t get the service in a simple way they will go away from our site. All of us that we are part of the blesta community for sure we love the the system but that doesn't mean is perfect and that is what we are trying to do, make blesta a better system to catch more user and be some day on of the top Billing and support system around internet. PauloV and niyo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 When you're a big hosting company and have a pre-defined set of services you're offering, it's easy to streamline the order process to fit that small subset of services if you're building it yourself. When you build software that has to work with a very wide array of different services, you have to take a more generic approach. Really, the solution in most cases is to create new order forms that have a different, potentially more specific flow for what is offered. I think the most helpful thing to see would be some mockups of how you'd like things to work. If we have something clearly defined, then we have a basis from which to design new order forms. JDG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blesta Addons Posted March 1, 2016 Report Share Posted March 1, 2016 When you're a big hosting company and have a pre-defined set of services you're offering, it's easy to streamline the order process to fit that small subset of services if you're building it yourself. When you build software that has to work with a very wide array of different services, you have to take a more generic approach. Really, the solution in most cases is to create new order forms that have a different, potentially more specific flow for what is offered. I think the most helpful thing to see would be some mockups of how you'd like things to work. If we have something clearly defined, then we have a basis from which to design new order forms. If anyone come and then claim about the same aspect of the product so there are something that should be discussed and asked , why all claim/ request this ??? So the simple response there are things that shouldbe clarified or corrected or changed .Actually we are working in a new order template that is sweeted for hosting market , we have some challange : We didn't want to change the core or the order plugin files. The order plugin has a limited space to play with it , limited to internal function . But we have arrived to 60% of work done . The complexe is coming , and always we will bring the work to the community . Who will pay us for the time spent in this ?! I'm just joking PauloV, niyo and Paul 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted March 1, 2016 Report Share Posted March 1, 2016 If anyone come and then claim about the same aspect of the product so there are something that should be discussed and asked , why all claim/ request this ??? So the simple response there are things that shouldbe clarified or corrected or changed . Actually we are working in a new order template that is sweeted for hosting market , we have some challange : We didn't want to change the core or the order plugin files. The order plugin has a limited space to play with it , limited to internal function . But we have arrived to 60% of work done . The complexe is coming , and always we will bring the work to the community . Who will pay us for the time spent in this ?! I'm just joking Certainly there is room for improvement. Specifics in terms of how the existing process can be tweaked to be improved is most helpful. Details are important. "This other form is better" as others have suggested in the past doesn't really help. I am curious to see what you come up with. PauloV 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niyo Posted March 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2016 Blesta markets itself as "The Billing Software Platform for Hosting Providers" so i don't think improving the experience for shared hosting is too much to ask. It's a super product for VPS and dedicated servers. Actually I think its the best billing system period for literally anything other than shared hosting. Anyway this should hopefully sum up the desired user flow but anyone else can chime in to improve it if I've missed anything. The next step would be to figure out how that translates to the UI. The primary problem with current UI is there is no option for admins to add context e.g. with tooltips or field descriptions. this is fine for smart users but shared hosting users aren't always technically inclined. The current problem is if a customer uses paths A or B there is no easy way to get to C if they don't already have a domain. Nor is it clear that they need to get a domain. This is the main cause of confusion that many admins have been hoping to be changed in this forum. Currently landing on a package with pricing gives the configurable options box for domain. one proposal could be to have 3 radio selects below the domain. 1 that allows the customer to use the domain they've already registered and is the equivalent to how just pressing continue currently works, another that allows the customer to transfer a domain (not as important but its a nice extra) and finally one that will search for the domain. Radio selects would allow for more elaborate language but if someone can think of concise ways of getting the point across then buttons may be better. ariq01, domaingood, PauloV and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blesta Addons Posted March 3, 2016 Report Share Posted March 3, 2016 Thanks for the shema image . Your shema has the logical standards, yes we can eliminate/fusion some steps or roads . We are working in a solution that has the basics of this schéma . PauloV 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNdev Posted September 1, 2016 Report Share Posted September 1, 2016 vote you +10 @naja7host if you can develope new order form like whmcs, clientexec etc. i sure each host provider like steps order form whmcs, it easy for user experience. Because sell hosting not only for advanced user, but newbie, basic user, advanced user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocketz Posted September 1, 2016 Report Share Posted September 1, 2016 One thing i'll add : The order form needs to be as simple as possible. The least amount of clicks a customer has to do, and the least information required from them will go a long way to increase sign ups. If anything, anything at all can be pre-filled, it should be done. Like a discount code you want used to entice them. There's obviously an industry-standard way of ordering services. It doesn't mean it can't be changed or made better There needs to be a focus group or poll to see how many Blesta users use which option. If it's only 5% of customers using the "show group" function (for example), then that needs to take a back seat to planning how the order form works. Right now, there's no data to go on. Blesta, and ourselves, are making life harder for everyone by 1) not asking for data, 2) not providing it. Before we try and get the Blesta guys to change things and they commit the resources to this, there should be some good data to go on first. And other options need to be looked at too, can a 3rd party developer do this? Is this something only Blesta can do? Data is king Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domaingood Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 Besta team review supersite by LB platform.I love it. if get like this order system. http://domain.incorder.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abdy Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 On 3/2/2016 at 6:06 PM, niyo said: Blesta markets itself as "The Billing Software Platform for Hosting Providers" so i don't think improving the experience for shared hosting is too much to ask. It's a super product for VPS and dedicated servers. Actually I think its the best billing system period for literally anything other than shared hosting. Anyway this should hopefully sum up the desired user flow but anyone else can chime in to improve it if I've missed anything. The next step would be to figure out how that translates to the UI. The primary problem with current UI is there is no option for admins to add context e.g. with tooltips or field descriptions. this is fine for smart users but shared hosting users aren't always technically inclined. The current problem is if a customer uses paths A or B there is no easy way to get to C if they don't already have a domain. Nor is it clear that they need to get a domain. This is the main cause of confusion that many admins have been hoping to be changed in this forum. Currently landing on a package with pricing gives the configurable options box for domain. one proposal could be to have 3 radio selects below the domain. 1 that allows the customer to use the domain they've already registered and is the equivalent to how just pressing continue currently works, another that allows the customer to transfer a domain (not as important but its a nice extra) and finally one that will search for the domain. Radio selects would allow for more elaborate language but if someone can think of concise ways of getting the point across then buttons may be better. What software are you used to make the flow chart? jobplease 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zulfikar wijaya Posted July 2, 2020 Report Share Posted July 2, 2020 After two months of learning blesta (I have much time in home with my computer because corona virus pandemic), I finally arrived at the point of trouble like this thread. I just realized that the domain purchases obtained from the domain availability checker was actually separate from the other webhosting purchase cart. If I add domain group package with webhosting group package into one order form, the user does not go through the domain availability checker process. I have made a video to help explain my problem. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZxEXt5DP_H8RWBdwigx5ijfXQh6auIlF/view?usp=sharing Did I miss something to integrate domain availability checker with webhosting package? Can anyone direct me to fix it? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franz Posted December 18, 2022 Report Share Posted December 18, 2022 Sadly, this is still the case the order flow currently isn't suited for shared hosting and it's target audience, majority of these customers don't understand how webhosting works they're just looking to get a website. As a result they need to be guided, pick this package > do you have a domain > no > get one here > checkout and in reverse add domain to cart > do you need hosting > yes > pick a package > checkout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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