How to set up ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote plugin?

This article intends to provide detailed, step-by-step instructions that’ll help you set up ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote plugin. Refer to the product page to know more about other various features of the plugin.

With this plugin, you can easily sell the products in wholesale to retail merchants by letting them place orders as ‘quotes’ instead of adding the products to the cart. You can remove or add both the Add to Cart button and Add to Quote or any custom button text for the products on the shop page as well as product pages. 

You can also include products specifically to make them available to order as quotes and exclude some products as well with this plugin. Also, there are options to customize the Request a Quote form for letting the customers place the order. There are options to set email and SMS notifications to the admin and also trigger email notifications to the customers according to the changes in the quote’s order status.

Overview

Some of the major highlights of the plugin include:

• Add to Quote button: This button is different from the Add to Cart button as the customers can place an order for the bulk amount of products by entering the number of products after choosing them from the shop page or product page.
• Remove Add to Cart: For removing Add to Cart button from the shop page and product pages to display the Add to Quote button. You can also display both buttons at a time.
• Include/ Exclude products: This option lets you include or exclude products individually, based on categories and tags from being available for requesting a quote.
• Include/exclude user roles: Select user roles to enable or disable the ‘Request a Quote’ option for them.
• Custom Templates: This feature will help you to set up a custom template for email, Google Chat/SMS notifications to be triggered to the customers, and admin.

• Custom Request a Quote form: Unlike the usual WooCommerce checkout, you can provide a separate customs form to be filled by the wholesale buyers to place the order.
• Trigger notifications: Options to set up a notification to be triggered to the admin through email, SMS, and Google Chat when a quote is placed.

All these rich features (and many more!) are wrapped up into one solution to serve your WooCommerce wholesale stores or sell products for wholesalers in your online store.

Getting started with ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote plugin

Read an article to know how to complete the checkout process on ELEX. You can also read how to download, install, activate ELEX plugins.

Once the plugin is installed and activated, you can go to the Dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins > ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote Plugin> Settings > General Settings.

OR

WordPress Dashboard side panel > Request a Quote > Settings > General Settings.

Now let’s get down to configuring the plugin.

General Settings

The settings are as shown below.

Quote Button on Shop Page: Turn this button on to display the add to quote button to all the products on the shop page.

Quote Button on Product Page: Turn this button on to display the add to quote button on each individual product page.

Quote Button Configurations

Open Quote Form: You can choose the action to be performed when the customers click on the Add to Quote button.

You can choose any two options from the drop-down list.

In a New Page: When the customer clicks on the Add to Quote button, they will be redirected to a new page with the quote form where they can add the number of products, and fill in the details on the form to place the order.

When the customer clicks on the Add to Quote > Quote List button, it will be displayed as:

They can add the quantity they want to order and enter their details for placing the order.

Open in a Lightbox: If you have chosen this option, the products they have selected and the form to place the order will be displayed on a pop-up window.

Add to Quote Success Alert Message: Enter the message that will be displayed once the product has been successfully added to the quote list.

Quote Button Customization

Quote Button Label: Add the placeholder text to be displayed on the button to place the quote for the products. By default, it is ‘Add to Quote’.

Default Button Color: Choose a color for the Add to Cart button and the buttons under the Quote form.

Filter Products

If you want to include or exclude some products by their name, or the products under specific categories or tags for being available for the quote request option, you can set it up here accordingly. You can also include or exclude user roles for the availability of the ‘Request a Quote’ option from the drop-down list.

If you include products, only those products will be available for requesting the quote. If you exclude products, only those products will be excluded from having the option to request a quote. You can choose the products from the drop-down list.

If you do not choose any products, categories, or tags here for both inclusion and exclusion, all products in your store will be available for requesting the quote. 

Example of inclusion: Here we have enabled the option to include products. And we have chosen a product named “Belt” for including it.

After saving it, you can see that only Belt has the option to request the quote on the shop page.

Example of exclusion: We excluded a product named ‘Cap’.

It will reflect on the shop page as:

Include Roles: Include specific user roles to make the ‘Request a Quote’ option available exclusively for them.

Exclude Roles: Exclude specific user roles to hide the ‘Request a Quote’ option for them.

Disable Quote Request for Unregistered Users: On enabling this option unregistered users will not be able to request a quote. Guest users can be redirected to the My Account page for registration.

Include/Exclude products based on stock: Select an option to determine how you want to display the add to quote button based on product availability. The available options are – the show Add to Quote button for all products, the Hide Add to Quote button for all out-of-stock products, and Show Add to Quote button only for out-of-stock products.

Third Party API key

In this section, you can enable the REST API for the Quote Request Services. Using REST APIs has a number of benefits, but its ability to make the plugin independent, light, scalable, and able to handle many data types is its major benefit.

Third Party Usage: You can enable this checkbox to enable using REST APIs.

REST API Token: If you have enabled REST API, the REST API request needs to be approved. For the header key “elex-raq-token,” we must create a token value in order to accomplish this. To produce the token, click “Regenerate.” All API requests will consist of this key and token in the header.

Click Save Changes.

Hide Add to Cart & Price

On this tab, you can hide the add to cart and product price on the product and shop pages and add exclusions as needed.

Hide Price: Hide the product’s price from the product page, shop page, and quote list page to avoid customers quoting a price to match the minimum price. As soon as you enable the hide price functionality, the hide add to cart button on the shop page and the product page are automatically enabled.

Hide Add to Cart (Shop Page): Enable this option to hide the ‘Add to Cart’ option for all products from the shop page.

Hide Add to Cart (Product Page): Enable this option to hide the ‘Add to Cart’ option for all products from the product page.

If you do not enable this option, the Add to Cart button will be displayed along with the button to request a quote. Check the screenshot for the shop page:

Screenshot for the product page:

Hide Price: Hide the product’s price from the product page, shop page, and quote list page to avoid customers quoting a price to match the minimum price.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Include Products: Enable this option to hide the add to cart and hide the product prices for selected products, product categories, or tags only. After you enable ‘Hide Add to Cart’ from both the shop page and/or product pages, it will be hidden for all products. This option enables you to include specific products only.

Check the screenshot below for an example of including products under the ‘Clothing’ category.

 

As per these settings, the plugin will only include the products under the ‘Clothing’ category to hide add to the cart and pricing.

Exclude Products: This option is for including the products from being available to add to the cart based on their category, name, and tags from the drop-down list. Do not get confused, after you enable ‘Hide Add to Cart’ from both the shop page and/or product pages, it will be hidden for all products. If you want to exclude specific products and enable the ‘Add to Cart’ option for those products, use this option.

Check the screenshot below for an example of excluding products under the ‘Clothing’ category.

As per these settings, the plugin will exclude the products under the ‘Clothing’ category from hiding add to the cart.

Similarly, you can choose user roles for displaying the ‘Add to Cart’ option for them. You can choose the required user roles from the drop-down list. Check the below screenshot:

Check the video below to understand how to hide the Add to Cart button:

 

To know how to hide the ‘Add to Cart’ button for products based on different conditions, refer to the article – How to Hide the ‘Add to Cart’ Button for Products Based on Different Conditions Through the Request a Quote Plugin?

Once all the Hide Add to Cart & Price settings are configured, click Save Changes.

Notification Settings

It is important to send notifications to the admin when a request for a quote has been placed by the customer. You can set email, SMS and Google Chat notifications to be sent to the administrator. These notifications will contain the details regarding the order and the entered details of the customers as well.

General notification

Notifications Email Address: By default, the notification email address will be the admin’s email ID. But you can add multiple email addresses (separated by a comma) to which the notification will be sent.

Select Order Statuses To Notify Customers: Select the WooCommerce order statuses for which customers will be notified via email. It is important to trigger notifications of the order status to the customers at each step of the processing. You can send the notifications to the customers in 3 scenarios. When you have received their request for a quote, approve the quote or cancel the quote. Check the screenshot:

When you receive an order in your WooCommerce store, a notification will be triggered to the customer as:

You can approve or reject the quote from the order page.

You can either approve or reject the quote request and click on Update.

If you have approved it, then a notification will be sent to the customer as in the below screenshot: 

In this notification, they will receive a link to pay- ‘Accept & Pay’. After clicking on the link, they can pay you for the quote.

If you have rejected it, a notification will be triggered to the customer as in the below screenshot:

Debug Log: Examine email, SMS, Google chat request, and response logs by enabling the debug mode. This helps you point out and rectify any errors while sending notifications.

The below screenshot is an example of an email notification that the admin or the entered email address receives when a customer places an order:

SMS Notification

For triggering SMS notifications to the admin, you can enable the SMS notification option and add the required details.

For setting up the SMS notification, you need to sign up to Twilio with your phone number and email ID and get details such as Twilio SID, Token, and the Twilio Mobile Number. And you can enter the mobile number to which the notification is to be sent when a customer places a request for a quote.

Check the screenshot:

Google Chat Notification

You can also set up a notification to be triggered to the admin’s Google Chat using Webhook URL. When a customer places a request for a quote, a notification will be triggered to the corresponding person’s Google Chat whose Webhook URL you have configured.

To get the webhook URL, go to the Google Chat widget of the person, who should receive the notification. And click on the arrow button beside the person’s or group’s name and choose Manage Webhooks.

And enter a name and avatar URL (optional). Then click on Save.

After saving, you can view the URL and copy it using the copy button and paste on the Webhook URL field on the settings.

After saving the settings, when a customer places an order for requesting a quote, the admin will receive a notification on Google Chat.

Check an example:

Template Settings

With this option, you can change the notification template for email, Google Chat, and SMS notifications sent to admin and customers. You can change and customize the subject, heading, email body, chat body, and so on according to the requirements. 

Use Predefined Email Templates: You can either use the predefined email templates or create your own custom templates by using the available placeholders. Predefined templates enable you to only edit the email subject and heading whereas you can also edit and customize the email body if you chose to create custom templates. Upon enabling, you can choose from the various templates available.

Check the below screenshot for predefined emails:

Company Logo: Upload a logo that you wish to be added to the email header. The supported file formats are PNG and JPEG.

Terms and Conditions: Enable this feature if you wish to include custom terms and conditions to the sent emails.

For the email templates, you can edit the email subject line and header as required. For the Quote Requested SMS / Google Chat Template: Sent to the Site Administrator, enter the content for the SMS/google chat notification sent to the administrator on receiving a quote request. you can enter text or fill the fields dynamically using placeholders from the provided table. HTML tags are not accepted in this field.

Click Save Changes

This is the default email sent to the customer when the admin receives the order.

The same settings and placeholders apply to manual templates as well. 

It is easy, as you can find a table with titles and placeholders on the page. You can simply type the required fields and add the placeholder to the email body. The corresponding value of placeholders will be added dynamically to the email, SMS, and Google Chat notifications.

Note: Please note, the @payment_link placeholder can be used only on the ‘approved’ email template which will be sent to the customers after the order is approved by the admin. This is because the customer needs to be directed to the payment only after the approval of orders.

When it comes to emails for both admins and customers, you need to use HTML tags and you can choose any tags according to your requirements. Don’t worry if you are not familiar with coding and HTML. The tab provides suggestions for all template fields. You can simply refer to them or use the same ones in the suggestions.

You can customize the 3 different emails to the customers separately such as the quote ‘requested’, ‘approved’, and ‘rejected’ emails.

Click Save Changes after configuring the templates.

Quote List Menu

Here, you can choose to display and customize a designated Quote List Icon.

Show Quote List Icon: By enabling this, you can display a quote list icon on the right side of the website’s pages.

Quote List Color On Hover: Select the color of the quote list icon, when a visitor hovers over it.

Quote List Icon Type: Choose between a floating or fixed quote list icon.

Show Button Label Next to Icon: To show or hide the widget label next to the icon, toggle this setting on or off. (Only applicable to fixed quote list icon)

Button Label: Enter the custom label text that you would like to display as a button label. (Only applicable to fixed quote list icon)

Show List Pop Up on Hover: Enabling this feature will display a list of products in the quote list by hovering over the quote list icon.

Check out the screenshot:

When all the Quote List Menu settings are configured, click Save Changes.

Customize Quote List & Form

The Customize Quote List & Form settings can be configured by navigating to the WordPress Dashboard sidebar > Request a Quote > Customize Quote List & Form.

Quote List Page

Select “Quote List” Page: You can choose the page on which quote requests from customers will be displayed on your WooCommerce store. For better clarity for the customers, you can leave it as the default page ‘Quotes List’ as the list of quote requests will be displayed on this separate page. You can also display the list on other WooCommerce pages by choosing from the drop-down list.

One important point you should remember is that, if you choose any page other than the default one, you should add the shortcode “ [elex_quote_request_list] “ on that selected page.

Quote List Page Title: You can enter a custom page title here. By default, it is the ‘Quotes List’.

“Quote List” Page Layout: The two available options for the quote list layout are – the product list on the left & the form on the right and the Product list on the top & form on the bottom. Choose the layout that best suits your needs.

Choose What to Show If List is Empty: In case no products are added to the quote list, choose what you wish to show on the quote list page. The available options are

• Illustration – The default illustration for an empty list.
• Empty Text – Custom empty text can be added. The default empty text is “Your Quote List is Empty”.
• Go to Shop Page button – Add a link to the shop page to make it easier for customers to browse through your products.
• Quote a Request Form – You can choose to enable or disable the request a quote form when the quote list is empty.

Contents to Show in Product Table: Choose the product details you want to display on the quote list table. The available options are – product image, product price, quantity, each product subtotal, product SKU, and taxes.

Show “Powered by ELEX Request a Quote”: Enable if you wish to display the “Powered by ELEX Request a Quote” on the quote list page.

Click Save Changes.

Additional Options

• Show “Update List” Button – Enable to display the Update List button on the quote list page.

• Show “Clear List” Button – Enable to display the Clear List button on the quote list page.

• “Add more Items” Button – Enable to display the Add more Items button on the quote list page.

• “Add more Items” Button Label – Enter the custom label text for the add more items button. The default text is “Add More Items”.
• “Add More Items” Button Redirect Page – Select the page where you want to redirect the customers upon clicking the Add More Items button.

Click Save Changes.

Quote Form

You can add the fields to be present in the form for the customers to fill up for requesting a quote. By default, there will be first name, last name, email, phone, and message. You can set each field to be ‘required’ by enabling it. If you do not enable it, it will be displayed as ‘optional’. And also there is an option to remove the fields.

Show Request a Quote Form: Enable to display the Request a Quote form on the quote list page. Turn this off, if you want to use any third-party form to get the quote requests.

Form Header Title: Add a custom form header. The default form header is “Quote Request Form”.

Form Submit Actions

“Send Request” Button Redirectional URL: Enter the URL of the page where you wish to redirect the users once they have submitted their quote request.

“Send Request” Success Message: Enter the custom text that you wish to display after the successful submission of the quote request.

Form Field Settings

The request a quote form fields can be created and managed here.

Label Name: Enter the label name for the form field.

Field Type: Enter the field type.

Placeholder: Enter the placeholder text that is displayed on the field before the customer enters their details.

Connected To: Enter the placeholder tags associated with the form field.

Required: Enable if you wish to make the field mandatory. One point to remember is, always make important fields such as email, phone number, etc as required.

Actions: Edit or delete the created form fields as required. Dragging the rearrange button allows you to change the order of the fields.

After saving it, the form will be displayed as the below screenshot:

To explore more details about the plugin, check out ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote Plugin.

You can also check out other WooCommerce and WordPress plugins in ELEX.