Though it may not be as well-known now, Volusion is actually one of the long-standing eCommerce website builders. It was established in 1999 and offers great ways for people to sell online. However, some aspects can be a little confusing.
There are around 30,000 online stores powered by Volusion. You may wonder why we’re mentioning them now, given the other competition that’s out there.
In the last year or so, Volusion update it’s services to what’s known as V2. This brings some new features including new shopper accounts.
In my opinion, Volusion is an ideal solution for those that care about the data of their website as opposed to the design. Switching between the front and back-end editor can get pretty boring, and their features don’t offer much in the way of niche tools.
However, I still believe they are worth considering. Here at UKWebHostReview, we signed up to Volusion and tested their services to give you an honest opinion about them.
Volusion Pricing – Is it Worth it?
First off, Volusion offers a 14-day free trial. This allows you to try out their services without making any kind of financial commitment. Aside from this, Volusion has 3 pricing plans along with a custom plan.
| Features | Personal | Pro | Business |
| Number of products | 100 | 5,000 | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Support | Online | Online + Phone | Priority |
| Secure Checkout | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Online Sales Per Year | £39k | £79k | £397k |
| Transaction Fees | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Staff Accounts | 1 | 5 | 15 |
| Free Responsive Themes | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Powerful Side Editing Tools | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Drag and Drop Tools | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Securely Accept Payments | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Easily Manage Inventory | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Built-in SEO Tools | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Social Media Integration | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ratings and Reviews | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Newsletters | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Import/Export | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Abandoned Cart Reports | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Phone Orders and CRM | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Amazon and eBay Integration | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| API Access | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Deal of the Day | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Dedicated Success Team | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Advanced Report Builder | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| 3rd Party Shipping Calculated Rates | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| 3rd Party Gateways | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Price | £22.17/mo | £60.40/mo | £228.59/mo |
Overall I’d say Volusion are reasonably competitive. There are certain features that their Personal plan doesn’t offer, compared to Shopify’s Basic plan where they do offer these. For example, if you pay £22.17 per month with Shopify, you’ll get the abandoned cart recovery feature which is extremely useful. Alongside their standard pricing plans, Volusion also offers additional extras (at an additional cost).
From graphic design and setting up tracking codes to expert marketing strategy, our team is ready to set you up for success. Quick Wins are fast, affordable and provide the peace of mind that the work was done right.
Volusion – Ease of Use
In my own experience, I found Volusion fairly easy to use. However, if you care about design, you’ll probably want to look at another eCommerce website builder. Navigating Volusion’s front-end is frankly a nightmare. It seems other people also feel this way. If you head over to Volusion’s TrustPilot page, you’ll see what I mean.
Paige Daniels hits the nail on the head with their review. I’m not going to push Volusion to one side just yet. There are some great aspects and features to their services, I’m just struggling to find that these outweigh other competitors in the industry.
Volusion – Tools and Features
Aside from their design flaws, Volusion offers some pretty good eCommerce tools. After all, they are an eCommerce site builder so this is what we should be focusing on. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer:
Inventory: If you want your customers to view an inventory of your products, Volusion can display this in ways no other eCommerce builder has been able to. Video options allow for awesome visuals and can show off some truly stunning content. This would suit businesses selling clothes, as you’ll get a true 360 view of what’s on offer. What’s more, once a product sparks a customer’s interest, you can follow this up with Volusion’s suggested products feature. This is a big difference between Volusion and Shopify, as Shopify only use 3rd party integrations.
*Note: You cannot sell digital products with Volusion. Therefore if your business relies on this kind of sales, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Third-Party Apps: Using Zapier, Volusion allows you to connect to thousands of third-party apps to enhance your online store. Whether you’re looking for email marketing apps, project management, or account management, I pretty much guarantee you’ll find it here.
Mobile App: Volusion’s mobile app is super handy for busy business owners. It offers on-the-go management of your store and products. You can easily check on your inventory and sales, and make changes where necessary if anything goes wrong. One of my favourite mobile features they offer is the ability to snap photos on the go! If you see an image that would suit one of your products, simply take the photo and upload it there and then.
Payment Integration: Volusion’s payment gateway integration is quite extensive. From PayPal and Stripe to Apple Pay and Amazon, there’s a lot on offer to cater for a wide range of customers. Although none of Volusion’s pricing plans charge a transaction fee, the usual credit card charges do apply to each payment.
Volusion – Templates and Design
Volusion offers 11 free themes and 34 premium themes. Compared to other website and eCommerce builders, this is a little on the slim side. Volusion’s premium themes cost £137.6 per piece. In comparison to the likes of Shopify and BigCommerce, they all offer premium themes at around the same cost.
Although Volusion’s themes look a lot better since the V2 update, they’re still no match against SquareSpace. The themes are quite specific, so unless your business is shown, it’s going to be quite hard to customise your chosen theme. It’s not impossible, but it’s not the ideal situation that other builders seem to offer.
One thing Volusion does do better than Shopify in this instance is it lets you change themes anytime you want. You can change your online store’s appearance without the hassle or worry that your content will go missing, or you’ll need to rewrite it. It’s all done automatically for you.
Volusion – Customer Support
Volusion’s customer support isn’t necessarily instant, but it is there and it is decent. To speak to an advisor at Volusion, you can schedule a telephone call or arrange to call them between 7AM – 10PM CST. Not ideal for U.K. customers, but there is the option of emailing them.
All of Volusion’s pricing plans (aside from the Personal plan) include 24/7 support. This support is actually personal support via telephone. So, although you can leave them a message, I recommend contacting them directly or arranging a callback for a more personalised experience.
Their Personal plan lets you contact them via online help, but doesn’t include social media. You won’t be able to contact them via telephone, so it’s worth thinking about this before purchasing your plan with them.
Volusion – Conclusion
I feel like during this review I haven’t been able to outwardly shout about Volusion’s awesomeness. Whilst they do offer some excellent features and tools, I feel a lot of this is outshone by other eCommerce builders who simply do it better (and easier).
If data is the source of your interest, Volusion is a great bet. Their analytics tool is beyond brilliant, however, the likes of Shopify seem to win my heart.
For me, Volusion is a real average player in the market. It shines in some areas like offering video-based products, lots of payment gateways, and suggested products. However, there are lots of features it doesn’t seem to include. For example, if you want to build a blog to work alongside your website or online store, you can’t do this with Volusion. If you want to sell online, you’ll need an SSL certificate and this isn’t included within the price.
By all means, give Volusion a try. They offer a free 14-day trial, so give it a go and see for yourself. You may find that they offer exactly what you need. However, on a personal note, other eCommerce builders offer a lot more and their value for money is better.