There are many advantages to using the Volusion platform for your eCommerce business. This is why it’s one of the most recommended platforms that we work with. For beginner eCommerce merchants it’s easy to use, while at the same time it’s great for medium to larger business with the need for specific customizations.
Let’s focus on the total purchasing experience, from the order process to checkout page and shipping options for Volusion. Here’s a rundown of standard offerings, quick customizations and more complicated customizations that we have made.
STANDARD SHIPPING OPTIONS
The list below comes standard on Volusion’s websites and runs the gamut of shipping needs for your line of business.
- Fixed Shipping – Each product is able to have an exact cost. There will be a fixed amount added to the total shipping every time something is added to the shopping cart.
- Free Shipping – This can be offered as a promotion, on specific products, a shipping threshold, limited free shipping and free shipping to certain locations.
- Tiered Shipping – This is useful for determining rates based on order weight and can be connected to a live rate.
- In-store Pickup – Offer customers in-store pick up and limit it to in-state and neighboring states.
- Negotiated Lives Rates – If your business has negotiated a live rate with a shipping carrier, you may pull these rates to offer to your customer.
- Advanced Shipping Rates – Add cost for additional weight on orders, insure your packages and choose delivery confirmation.
QUICK CUSTOMIZATIONS
These are simple customization that you may have not know were possible on Volusion. If you rather leave these customization up to a professional, call us today and we can help you work out your specific needs.
- Enhanced Shopping cart and one page checkout feature: It is possible to activate, deactivate and enhance shopping cart and the one page checkout feature. Some free templates already have this function so be sure to check first.
- Fixing misaligned checkout page sections: Certain customized templates can have formatting issues when it comes to your order section. Luckily this can be fixed.
- Shipping dropdown cuts off text of shipping options. If you are experiencing this problem we can help you solve it.
- Adding the clear cart functionality is a customization we can easily handle.
ADVANCED CUSTOMIZATIONS
With the wide range of businesses selling online, everyday we hear new questions from Volusion users about their specific customization needs.
- Customizing layout on the checkout page: This is a very expansive topic. In the past we have created “sticky buttons” similar to call to action buttons, that remain on every screen. These are designed to assist customers through their total purchase experience.
- Advance shipping customization: Do you need to be able to offer shipping to multiple destination within one order? Perhaps you’re B2B business with clients that have several store thus several shipping destinations. We have solved this problem many times before and would be happy to help make those changes again.
- Customization of the enhanced view: You can reskin on restyle the way your enhanced view looks, so it seamlessly fits in with the look and feel of the rest of your site.
Call us today to explore Volusion’s standard features, quick customizations that you may not have known existed or to discuss any more in depth customization requirements. Our expert development team at 1Digital Agency loves to solve both new and familiar customization needs.
How to decide which tier of customization you actually need
The standard / quick / advanced framing above is useful, but the practical question is which tier solves your problem at the lowest cost and risk. A simple decision path:
- Start with standard. If a built-in shipping method or checkout option does what you need, configure it and move on. Custom code you do not need is future maintenance you will pay for.
- Use a quick customization when the default is 90% right. Misaligned checkout sections, a cut-off shipping dropdown, or a missing "clear cart" control are template-level fixes — low risk, fast, no platform upgrade needed.
- Reserve advanced development for revenue-driving logic. Multi-destination shipping in one order, B2B account behavior, or a re-skinned enhanced view changes how customers buy. Scope it, test it on a staging copy, and measure conversion before and after.
The shipping decisions that quietly drive conversion
Shipping configuration is not just operations — it is one of the largest levers on cart abandonment. A few practical guidelines that apply on Volusion and any platform:
- Show cost early. Surprise shipping at the final step is a top abandonment cause. A shipping-threshold "free over $X" message on the cart often lifts average order value more than a discount code.
- Match the method to the catalog. Fixed per-item works for uniform products; tiered/weight-based with a live carrier rate is better for mixed-weight catalogs; in-store pickup converts well for local audiences if you surface it prominently.
- Test before you commit. Run advanced shipping rules on a staging store, place real test orders across edge cases (heavy item + light item, multi-destination), and confirm the customer-facing display, not just the admin math.
Customizations that pay for themselves first
If budget is limited, the customizations with the clearest ROI are usually: a streamlined one-page checkout, persistent call-to-action / "sticky" buttons that keep the purchase path visible, accurate shipping display, and an enhanced view that matches the brand so the store does not feel like a stock template. Cosmetic-only changes can wait; anything that removes a step between intent and purchase should go first.
Before you commission any custom work: a pre-flight checklist
- Write the problem as a measurable outcome. "Reduce checkout abandonment on multi-item orders," not "make checkout better." Custom work without a target metric cannot be judged a success or failure.
- Confirm the default genuinely can't do it. Re-read the platform documentation or ask support; a surprising amount of "we need custom development" turns out to be an unconfigured setting.
- Insist on a staging copy. Never test checkout or shipping logic on the live store. A staging environment is non-negotiable for anything touching the purchase path.
- Test the edge cases, not the happy path. Mixed-weight carts, multi-destination orders, promotions stacked with shipping thresholds, and tax across regions are where custom logic breaks.
- Plan for upgrades. Customizations layered on a template can break when the platform or theme updates. Document what was changed and where, so the next change is not archaeology.
Frequently asked questions
Will customizing the checkout hurt my SEO? Checkout pages are not where you rank, so changes there are conversion work, not SEO risk — but adding heavy scripts anywhere can slow the whole site, which is both a ranking and a conversion factor. Keep custom code lean and measured.
How do I know if a quick customization will hold up? Quick fixes to template formatting (alignment, a cut-off dropdown, a clear-cart control) are low risk because they do not change business logic. Anything that changes how orders, shipping, or pricing are calculated should be treated as advanced work with staging and testing.
If you are unsure whether your need is a 20-minute setting or a development project, that triage is exactly what we do. See our Volusion services and eCommerce development, or contact us to scope it before you spend.