SureCart review: the ideal solution for selling digital products on WordPress

Looking for an intuitive solution to market digital products on WordPress? SureCart, the best e-commerce plugin for WordPress, launched in July 2022, has quickly become a popular choice thanks to its advanced features and ease of use. User feedback praises SureCart for its ability to transform WordPress into an efficient e-commerce platform, without compromising speed or adding unnecessary complexity.

SureCart stands out with its hybrid model, blending the benefits of a WordPress plugin with those of a Shopify-like SaaS service, offering enhanced security, quality customer support and great flexibility in customization and management. This article will guide you through why SureCart is the ideal choice for selling digital products on WordPress, its installation, configuration, and its advantages compared to other solutions such as WooCommerce.

Why is SureCart an alternative to WooCommerce for digital products?

What types of products are suitable for SureCart?

SureCart excels at selling digital products, including e-books, WordPress themes, music and other digital content. Thanks to its headless architecture, downloadable files are hosted on SureCart’s servers, lightening the load on your web server.

In addition to digital products, SureCart also sells physical products and services. While its approach to the latter differs from WooCommerce, its ability to handle a variety of product types makes it a flexible solution for online merchants.

Is SureCart better for digital products than WooCommerce?

SureCart offers several advantages over WooCommerce for digital products. Its handling of digital downloads is optimized, with files stored on its servers, which reduces the load on your site and improves performance.

Configuration and management of digital products is simplified with SureCart, with no need for additional extensions for payments or downloads, offering a smoother user experience. Its integrated tax and VAT calculator automates these aspects, avoiding the need for additional plugins and third-party modules. What’s more, to encourage purchases, sellers can offer discount coupons directly in the shopping cart, simplifying the application of discounts and promotions.

What’s more, the integration of payment forms on your WordPress site is facilitated by the use of shortcodes or Gutenberg blocks, simplifying the purchasing process for the customer and reducing friction.

Can I sell physical products with SureCart?

Yes, it is possible to sell physical products with SureCart, although the platform is primarily geared towards digital products. SureCart supports physical products, but without some of WooCommerce’s advanced features, such as inventory management and shipping options.

If your business is focused on selling physical products, WooCommerce may be a better fit, thanks to its dedicated inventory and shipping tools. Nevertheless, SureCart remains a viable option for those wishing to sell both physical and digital products simply and efficiently.

For which types of sellers is SureCart best suited?

SureCart is ideal for freelancers, content creators and bloggers wishing to sell digital products or services online. Its friendly, easy-to-use interface makes it perfect for those less familiar with technology.

Content creators benefit from the easy integration of payment forms into their content, improving the buying experience and increasing conversions. Simplified management of subscriptions and recurring payments is a notable advantage for subscription-based business models.

In conclusion, SureCart is the solution of choice for selling digital products efficiently and securely, without the complexities and costs associated with using multiple plugins.

How to install and configure SureCart on your WordPress site?

How do I download and install SureCart from the WordPress repository?

Encountering a problem when installing a plugin can be frustrating. However, installing SureCart on your WordPress site is a quick and easy process, so follow these steps to avoid any hassle:

• Go to the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard.
• Click on “Add a new plugin” and search for « SureCart » in the WordPress repository.
• Once found, click “Install” and then “Activate” to activate it on your site.

If you’re using the Astra theme, install SureCart directly from the Astra dashboard by going to Astra > Dashboard, find SureCart under the Useful Plugins section and click “Install”. The plugin will be installed and activated automatically.

After installation and activation, two new menu items will appear in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard: “Get Started” and “Settings”.

What are the first settings to configure on SureCart?

Once SureCart has been installed, it’s time to configure it for your online store:

• Create a SureCart store: If you don’t have a SureCart store, start by creating one by clicking on “Get Started”. Choose your brand color, currency, and decide whether you want to start with demo products or from scratch.
• Set up payment processors: Connect your favorite payment processors such as Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, etc. Follow the SureCart configuration wizard.
• Set up email notification: Enter an email address to receive notifications from your store.
• Configure shopping cart: Customize the options and appearance of your shopping cart module to match your brand identity.
• Configure coupons: Create and manage discount coupons that can be applied by shoppers during the checkout process, offering additional incentives to boost sales.
• Finalize setup: Enter your personal and store details, then click on “Complete Setup”.

Which payment processors are available? (Stripe, PayPal, Mollie…)

SureCart offers a variety of payment processors:

• Stripe: Supports over 13 payment methods in more than 135 currencies and 45 countries.
• PayPal: A widely used option for online payments.
• Mollie: A popular European payment processor.
• GooglePay and ApplePay: Contactless payment options to enhance the user experience.

These integrations allow you to handle payments securely, without having to store credit card details on your server.

How to connect SureCart to your account via the API?

To link your WordPress site to SureCart via an API key :

• Get the API key: Go to the API section of your SureCart dashboard and copy the API key generated for your store.
• Return to WordPress: In your WordPress dashboard, go to SureCart > Settings > Connection and paste the API key. Click on “Complete Installation” to finalize the connection.

This connection synchronizes your products, store configurations, subscriptions, orders and customers between your WordPress site and SureCart.

How do I create products and payment options with SureCart?

How do I add a product to SureCart?

To add a product to SureCart, follow these simple steps:

• Access your WordPress dashboard and navigate to SureCart > Products.
• Click on “Add New” at the top left of the screen.
• Enter your product name and click “Create”.
• On the product details page, fill in the necessary information such as description, images and price.
• For digital products, add download links. For physical products, configure shipping and tax options if required.
• Integrate other applications, such as LearnDash for online courses, and generate license keys for buyers.
• To improve your SEO, specify your product’s page title and meta-description.
• Configure the publishing parameters and click on “Save Product” to register your product.

These steps simplify the creation and management of your products on SureCart.

What types of payment can you offer your customers?

SureCart enables you to offer a variety of flexible and secure payment options to your customers, including :

• Stripe: Supports over 13 payment methods in more than 135 currencies and 45 countries.
• PayPal: A widely used solution for online payments.
• Mollie: A recognized European payment processor.
• GooglePay and ApplePay: Contactless payment methods for an enhanced user experience.

These integrations ensure secure payment management without requiring credit card details to be stored on SureCart’s servers.

What are the advantages of recurring payments for subscriptions?

Recurring payments, a key SureCart feature, offer a number of advantages:

• Predictable income: They ensure a stable, predictable revenue stream, ideal for subscription-based business models.
• Customer convenience: They eliminate the need for customers to manually renew subscriptions, improving their shopping experience.
• Easy integrations: SureCart facilitates the integration of recurring payments with other tools, such as LearnDash for online courses, simplifying subscription management.

These benefits make subscription management simpler and more efficient.

How do I configure personalized payment options such as “Pay What You Want”?

SureCart offers customized payment options, including the “Pay What You Want” feature:

• In a product’s Pricing section, select “Flexible Pricing”.
• Activate “Pay What You Want”, allowing customers to enter the amount they wish to pay.

This option is ideal for content creators wishing to offer flexibility to their customers, or for crowdfunding campaigns. SureCart also lets you customize the display of prices and payment options to better match your brand.

How to personalize the customer experience with SureCart?

How to create personalized payment forms?

SureCart offers great flexibility in creating customized payment forms, allowing you to tailor the shopping experience to your specific needs. SureCart’s drag-and-drop form editor makes designing your payment forms a breeze. This intuitive tool lets you drag and drop fields, price selectors, donation options, checkboxes and more, making it easy to customize your checkout process. What’s more, SureCart integrates seamlessly with all WordPress page builders, allowing you to incorporate your payment forms directly into your pages and posts with ease.

This customization creates a seamless shopping experience tailored to your brand identity.

Can Gutenberg be used to design a customized payment form?

Yes, with SureCart, you can use Gutenberg to create a custom payment form. Compatibility with Gutenberg allows you to add payment blocks directly to your pages and articles, simplifying the creation of customized payment forms. These blocks are specially designed to integrate seamlessly with your content, making it easy to design custom forms without requiring in-depth technical skills.

What form templates are available to simplify configuration?

SureCart offers a range of ready-to-use form templates to speed up and simplify the set-up process. These templates, which can be customized to suit your needs, cover a variety of payment scenarios, including one-off payments, subscriptions, installment plans and donations. They offer an ideal starting point for quickly customizing your payment forms to reflect your brand.

How does the customer portal help manage subscriptions and customer information?

SureCart’s customer portal is an effective tool for managing customer subscriptions and information centrally and intuitively. This customizable portal enables customers to manage their personal information, update their payment methods, access secure downloads, and control their subscriptions. The ability to customize the display and actions available to customers, combined with easy subscription management, helps to reduce cancellation rates and increase customer satisfaction.

This centralized management makes theuser experience more pleasant and efficient, for customers and administrators alike.

What management options are available to customers?

SureCart offers various management options enabling customers to manage their information and subscriptions independently. The following options are available:

• Update personal information: Customers can update information such as email address, password and delivery details.
• Credit card management: Customers can add, modify or delete credit cards for future payments.
• Subscription management: Customers can change their subscription plan, pause or reactivate subscriptions, and adjust payment dates.

These options are easily accessible via a clear, intuitive user interface, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing the need for customer support.

What are the advantages of SureCart for optimizing your site’s speed and security?

Why does SureCart reduce the server load on your WordPress site?

SureCart is specially designed to lighten the server load of your WordPress site, improving its performance. Here’s why:

• Headless architecture: SureCart adopts a headless architecture, which means that essential data such as products, customers, orders, and subscriptions are hosted on SureCart’s servers rather than on your WordPress server. This shifts the processing and storage load to SureCart, reducing the strain on your site.
• Lightweight plugin: Unlike some e-commerce plugins, SureCart is designed to be lightweight and not have a negative impact on your site’s speed. This helps your site stay fast and responsive, even under heavy traffic.

How does SureCart ensure scalability during traffic peaks?

SureCart is perfectly equipped to handle sudden increases in traffic without slowing down your site. Here’s how:

• Cloud-based platform: SureCart uses cloud technology similar to that used by major companies such as Shopify and Twitter, guaranteeing high scalability.
• Automatic load management: With data processing on SureCart’s servers, scalability of your web infrastructure is no longer a concern. SureCart automatically adjusts the necessary capacity, allowing you to concentrate fully on your business.

How does SureCart improve transaction security?

SureCart takes rigorous measures to secure your transactions:

• Storage of sensitive data: Critical information such as credit card details are stored on SureCart’s servers, minimizing the risk of data leakage.
• Integration with tax calculation services: SureCart integrates with services like TaxJar for real-time tax and VAT calculations, ensuring compliance with tax regulations.
• Secure payment processors: SureCart uses reliable payment processors such as Stripe and PayPal, enhancing the security of every transaction.

Why doesn’t SureCart store sensitive data on your WordPress site?

SureCart avoids storing sensitive data on your site for several key reasons:

• Reduced security risk: By keeping sensitive data on its servers, SureCart significantly reduces the risk of security breaches on your WordPress site.
• Regulatory compliance: SureCart ensures compliance with strict data protection regulations, such as GDPR, by managing sensitive data centrally and securely.
• Simplified data management: Centralizing the management of sensitive data relieves your site of security and storage responsibilities, allowing you to focus on growing your business.

What integrations are available with SureCart?

How does SureTriggers improve process automation?

SureTriggers, the free and simple WordPress automation tool, is SureCart’s automation engine. It makes it easy to connect and automate processes between your favorite applications and plugins, both inside and outside WordPress. It optimizes process automation in several ways:

– Task automation: With SureTriggers, you can set up automatic actions that are activated following a purchase, such as automatically registering for courses, activating memberships, or sending thank-you emails. This streamlines your workflow and reduces the time spent managing these tasks manually.

– Multiple integrations: SureTriggers links SureCart to a wide range of applications and plugins, including those outside WordPress, via code-free integrations. This means you can automate almost any process, from managing subscriptions to online courses or marketing campaigns, making your business operations more efficient and reducing human error.

Which tools can be integrated with SureCart (Elementor, Facebook, Google Sheets)?

SureCart integrates with a variety of tools and applications to personalize and optimize your workflow. Among the tools compatible with SureCart are :

– Page builders: Compatible with leading WordPress page builders such as Elementor, Gutenberg, Divi Builder, Thrive Architect, among others, SureCart makes it easy to create custom payment forms and sales pages.

– LMS plugins: SureCart connects with online course management plugins such as LearnDash, TutorLMS, and LifterLMS, automating course registration and post-purchase certification management.

– Marketing and management tools: SureCart’s integration with tools such as Zapier, which synchronizes with over 5,000 applications, or solutions like Pabbly and Flowmattic, simplifies the management of your marketing campaigns and subscriptions.

– Social networks and spreadsheets: Although direct integrations with Facebook or Google Sheets are not mentioned, the use of Zapier or other automation plugins enables SureCart to connect seamlessly to these services for full synchronization of your data.

What are the benefits of third-party integrations for your online business?

Third-party integrations with SureCart bring significant benefits to your online business:

– Improved productivity: By automating repetitive tasks and connecting your favorite tools, you increase your productivity. Automated workflows, thanks to tools like Zapier or SureTriggers, minimize the need for manual intervention.

– Seamless integration: Integrations with LMS plugins, page builders and business management tools deliver a seamless user experience, improving customer satisfaction and reducing potential errors.

– Scalability: Third-party integrations facilitate the scaling of your online store, enabling the management of high traffic and data volumes without affecting site performance.

– Flexibility and customizability: A wide range of available integrations lets you tailor your workflow and shopping experience to your needs, adapting quickly to changes in your business model and responding effectively to your customers’ requirements.

These advantages make SureCart a complete and flexible solution for your e-commerce needs.

SureCart vs. WooCommerce – Which solution is right for you?

What type of products is SureCart best suited for?

SureCart excels at selling digital products such as e-books, WordPress themes, music and other digital content. It provides dedicated features for managing digital downloads, including secure file storage, reducing the load on your website and improving performance. SureCart makes it easy to set up flexible payment methods, including subscriptions and installments, without the need for additional extensions, simplifying the sale and management of digital products.

What benefits does SureCart offer digital product vendors?

SureCart offers a number of advantages for sellers of digital products, including :

• Flexible payment options: With SureCart, you can offer subscriptions, staggered payments and adjustable prices, enhancing the customer experience and increasing conversions.
• Secure download management: Files are stored securely on SureCart’s servers, providing enhanced protection against data leakage and security breaches.
• Process automation: SureCart integrates tools such as SureTriggers to automate registrations, notifications and post-purchase follow-up, simplifying sales and customer service management.

These advantages make SureCart an ideal solution for marketing digital products.

Can SureCart and WooCommerce be used together?

Yes, it’s possible to use SureCart and WooCommerce alongside each other, although it’s not always necessary. Each platform has its own specificities and can serve different purposes:

• Complementary use: SureCart is ideal for selling digital products or services, while WooCommerce is suited to physical products, allowing you to benefit from the advantages of each solution without redundant effort.
• Specific integration: For those who already have a WooCommerce store and wish to add functionality for digital products, SureCart can be integrated specifically for these needs without replacing WooCommerce, provided careful planning is undertaken to avoid conflicts.

What limitations does SureCart have in relation to WooCommerce?

Compared to WooCommerce, SureCart has certain limitations, including:

• Limited flexibility for physical products: SureCart is not as well equipped to handle physical products, with more basic functionality for inventory and shipping.
• Fewer payment gateway options: SureCart offers a more limited choice of payment gateways than WooCommerce, which can be a drawback for some sellers.
• SaaS model: Operating as a SaaS integrated with WordPress, SureCart may not be for everyone, especially those who prefer total control over their infrastructure.

These limitations are worth considering when choosing between SureCart and WooCommerce.

Why is WooCommerce preferable for physical products?

WooCommerce stands out as the platform of choice for selling physical products, for several important reasons:

• Advanced inventory management: WooCommerce excels at inventory management, offering features such as stock tracking, low stock alerts, and automatic replenishment options.
• Detailed shipping options: The platform enables precise configuration of shipping options, including calculation of shipping costs, definition of delivery zones, and integration with third-party shipping services.
• Flexibility and customization: WooCommerce offers extensive flexibility and customization options for product layouts, categories, and customer areas, enabling the creation of a customized, optimal shopping experience for physical products.

These advantages position WooCommerce as the ideal solution for sellers focused on physical products.

Frequently asked questions about SureCart

Is SureCart a free solution?

SureCart offers a free version, called « Launch Plan », which enables you to launch an online store with no monthly fees, but with certain restrictions. This offer includes 1 GB of storage for digital downloads and applies a transaction fee of 1.9% on sales. For those seeking more resources and features, SureCart also offers paid plans, such as « Grow » and « Scale », which eliminate transaction fees.

Getting started with SureCart therefore requires no upfront investment, making this platform ideal for novices or small businesses looking to get started in online sales.

How does SureCart handle VAT and taxes?

SureCart simplifies VAT and tax management with an integrated automatic system, making tax compliance easier for sellers. The platform supports the automatic calculation and collection of European VAT and sales tax, in compliance with current tax legislation. This function is available in all plans, including the free version, helping sellers to comply with tax laws without manual management.

This approach minimizes the risk of errors and potential penalties for tax non-compliance, offering greater security and peace of mind.

Can I offer free trials or paid subscriptions?

With SureCart, it’s possible to offer free or paid trial periods for subscriptions, enabling customers to discover your products and services before subscribing. This feature encourages the acquisition of new customers by giving them the opportunity to test your offer in complete confidence.

Customers enjoy full access to content or services during the trial, and SureCart automatically manages the transition to regular billing at the end of the trial period, unless the customer decides to unsubscribe.

Is SureCart compatible with all WordPress themes?

SureCart has been developed to be compatible with the majority of WordPress themes, allowing you to use it with your current theme without the need for major changes. The platform works particularly well with popular page builders such as Elementor, Gutenberg, Divi Builder, and Thrive Architect, making it easy to integrate payment forms and sales pages into your site.

This compatibility ensures that your site’s aesthetics and user experience are preserved, while taking advantage of SureCart’s extensive functionality.

What are SureCart’s main advantages for content creators?

Quick and easy features for selling online

SureCart stands out for its fast, intuitive functionality. Combined with SureMembers, the membership plugin for WordPress, you can easily increase your earnings. With its simple three-step configuration, SureCart allows you to quickly set up products, custom payment forms and integrate them into your WordPress site. This ease of use, with no need for advanced technical skills, combined with a clear, modern user interface, makes the platform accessible to all, allowing designers to concentrate fully on their creation.

Thanks to these features, managing an online store becomes child’s play for content creators.

Flexible, secure payment options

SureCart also excels in providing flexible and secure payment options, essential for offering customers a smooth and secure shopping experience. Content creators can offer a variety of payment plans, such as one-off payments, subscriptions, installments and donations, promoting better conversion. The integration of reliable payment processors such as Stripe and PayPal ensures transaction security and compliance, with sensitive data optimally secured on SureCart’s servers.

This combination of adaptability and security in payment options reinforces the confidence of content creators.

Integration and customization for digital products

SureCart is ideally designed for digital content creators, offering integrations and customizations that cater specifically to their needs. Integration with online course management plugins such as LearnDash, TutorLMS, and LifterLMS facilitates automatic course registration and post-purchase certification management, perfect for educational content creators. The ability to customize payment forms for each product enables targeted information gathering and enhances the purchasing experience. What’s more, managing digital downloads directly on SureCart’s servers lightens the load on your website and optimizes performance.

These features make SureCart a must-have solution for creators of digital content, whether e-books, music or any other type of digital content.

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Conclusion

SureCart presents itself as an innovative, high-performance solution for selling digital and physical products via WordPress. When considering your site’s infrastructure, the question of WordPress.com versus WordPress.org: select the best option for your business may arise. WordPress.org offers maximum flexibility and total control, while WordPress.com simplifies certain management tasks, but with limitations. For each scenario, SureCart aligns its compatibility and assets to work perfectly with both platforms. Ideally designed for content creators and online merchants, SureCart encapsulates the positive aspects of both worlds.

• Ease of use: SureCart is easy to install and configure, thanks to a modern, intuitive user interface that makes online sales a breeze.
• Flexibility and customization: SureCart offers the possibility of creating customized payment forms and integrating various payment options, including subscriptions and instalments.
• Performance and security: Employing headless technology, SureCart reduces the load on your server and increases transaction security by keeping sensitive data on its own secure servers.
• Integrations: SureCart easily connects to payment systems such as Stripe and PayPal, as well as to LMS plug-ins, offering great flexibility in sales and subscription management.
• Benefits for digital products: SureCart is particularly well suited to digital products, offering dedicated functionality for efficient management of downloads and subscriptions.

In conclusion, SureCart represents an outstanding alternative to WooCommerce, promising a smoother, faster and more secure user experience. If your goal is to effectively market digital or physical products on your WordPress site, considering SureCart could be a wise decision, given its multiple benefits.