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SamCart, an online shopping cart software, was created by Scott Moran and Brian Moran in 2013. Although it’s been around for some time, it has become more popular in recent years.
It is being praised by many business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs as the best shopping cart software on the market today.
But, does it really live up to the hype?
In this SamCart review, I am going to share my experience with this software: who it’s good for, it’s pros and cons, and whether or not it’s worth it for your business.
SamCart: Is it worth it?
SamCart demo available. Click Here for a free demo
In my opinion, SamCart is absolutely worth the investment because compared to the majority of other shopping cart platforms, it offers tons of useful features and is optimized to help you increase conversions which ultimately boosts your bottom line.
As a marketer, you know the importance of testing your pages to optimize conversions, and SamCart has done all the work for you to make sure that you maximize the profit you make from each sale.
So for example, if you sell a $47 PDF on your website, and use a standard checkout form, you may not be able to add an upsell. But, with an upsell to the same offer (using SamCart, of course), you may be able to sell an additional $60 product to 30% of your customers.
What does mean for you?
This means more revenue per sale, as well as a higher average order size, which ultimately leads to more money in your pocket.
Sidenote – If you purchase SamCart I would be grateful if you click on this link to buy.
You can read the many testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers to see for yourself.
Who is SamCart Good For?
SamCart is ideal for anyone selling stuff online. SamCart can be used to sell physical or digital products, such as books, courses, seminars, or events. It can also be used to sell services such as consulting on your website.
But, like all other shopping cart software, it’s specifically designed for a certain kind of user, which means that it won’t be ideal for everyone.
So, depending on whether you sell information products, software, memberships, or services, read on to discover the different features and functionality of SamCart so you can determine whether or not it’s the ideal shopping cart for you.
SamCart Pros & Cons
SamCart, like all other software, comes with its own set of pros and cons. I have listed them below so you know exactly what to expect from this shopping cart.
SamCart Pros
- User-Friendly PlatformSamCart allows you to sell physical and digital products online using a simple platform.
- Integrations The software can be integrated with many marketing tools and services via Zapier.
- Flexible Payment models: SamCart offers flexible payment options, including subscriptions and payment plans.
- One-Click Upsells Supported: You can use one-click upsells and downsells to increase your revenue.
- Granular Coupons and Discounts Control: You have granular control over how you use coupons and discounts for your products.
- Affiliate Management: SamCart has an in-built affiliate marketing program management system that rivals other shopping carts. This will make it easy to manage your affiliate program.
- Great Support: SamCart has a vast knowledge base to help you with all types of issues. You can also get support through email, Facebook group, and live chat.
- Reporting and Analytics: The platform has an impressive reporting dashboard that provides you with useful insights from your data..
Want to see a demo of SamCart in action? Click Here for a free demo
SamCart Cons
- Not Great For Services:SamCart doesn’t work well for selling services. You can still make it work by being creative in the name of your offer.
- Limited Design Options: SamCart’s checkout templates design options are not as extensive as other shopping cart software within the same price range.
- You cannot accept cryptocurrency payments using SamCart. It also doesn’t have Apple Pay.
- Few Payment Integrations: Although SamCart has a ton of payment models, it actually integrates with very few payment processors, like PayPal and Stripe.
- High price:SamCart offers a wide range of features but is still expensive for small businesses and individuals. This is especially true when compared with platforms such as ThriveCart which offer their services for a one time payment.
Top SamCart Functionality
SamCart’s functionality is what might convince you to choose it over other shopping cart software. This is where its true strengths lie.
We take a look below at each function of SamCart, to give you a better understanding of what makes SamCart different and how it can benefit your business.
One-Click Upsells
This is one of the main features that differentiate SamCart from the rest. You can maximize your profit from every sale with the platform’s one-click upsells
You’re wasting a lot of money if you don’t use upsells in your sales funnel. The world’s biggest retailer, Amazon, reports that SamCart makes it easy to upsell. According to their website, it will increase customer value up to 68%.
Bump Offers
SamCart also offers you cross-selling order bumps. This strategy, also known as “bundling” is where you bundle the main product or service with complementary products to increase the profits from each sale.
McDonald’s will offer fries and drinks along with your burgers to illustrate this concept. You might also be eligible for a half-off gym membership if you buy sports equipment.
For example, if you sell laptops with SamCart shopping cart software you might offer bump offers for laptop bags and antivirus packages ( Avast could really benefit from this) This is a great way to increase customer value.
SamCart makes this extremely easy to do with just a click of a button. It’s easy to set up and customers will make purchases through the optimized checkout process.
You can check out these pages
At the time of this writing, the checkout platform of Samcart has 18 professionally designed shopping cart templates – all of which are proven to convert.
All the pages are mobile responsive and they have a unique “sandbox” mode that allows you to check that everything is working perfectly before going live. This is unlike other shopping cart software where you have to publish your page, then test it.
A lot of well-known marketers use SamCart which means that you will be able to avoid having to spend countless hours designing and testing checkout pages on your own. You can simply take the word of the experts that came before you and leverage their hard work to start seeing immediate results in your marketing and sales campaigns.
All the checkout page templates on SamCart also come with built-in testimonials, security reassurances, guarantees, and various other trust elements designed to boost conversion rates.
Want to see a demo of SamCart in action? Click Here to get a FREE demo
All you have to do is pick a template to use, and then customize it to match your brand colors and style.
One-page Checkout
This is a unique feature that offers you the ability to add multiple payment options to a single checkout page.
Here’s an example:
SamCart can be used to sell an online course at $447. On other shopping cart pages you may have to use separate checkout pages.
SamCart’s single-page checkout keeps customers on the page while they choose the best payment method for their product.
As an online marketer, I’m sure you know the importance of being able to keep your visitors on-page, otherwise, you risk losing them altogether if they leave for any reason.
Affiliate Center
SamCart makes it easy for you to not only sell your products online but also to enlist a whole army of affiliates who will promote your stuff and increase your revenue.
The platform’s affiliate management function is so powerful that you don’t even need to spend time promoting products or services.
There is no need to pay for ads or any other type of marketing because with affiliates spreading the word on your product or service, it’s an easy way to generate sales since you only have to pay affiliates once they produce a sale for you.
Subscriber Saver
If you sell subscription products online, this is one SamCart feature that you will find extremely appealing.
You know that not everyone pays their bills on time. Some missed payments might be due to credit cards that simply expired, or it might be unscrupulous people who decline charges or cancel their cards to avoid honoring their obligations.
It doesn’t matter what the reason is, it’s bad for the marketer. Often times you won’t be able to get your money, unless you take legal action against the customer.
SamCart protects you from expired credit cards or declined payments. SamCart sends your customers an email whenever a payment is not received.
Customers will receive an email with a link to update their payment information. This will save you time and prevent you from spending valuable time trying to find customers who have not paid their bills.
For those customers who fail to update their payment information after receiving several emails, SamCart automatically cancels their subscription and marks them as “delinquent” so you know exactly who they are and can choose to reach out to them if you want to.
You can keep tabs on what’s going on in Subscription Saver via SamCart’s simple and effective dunning report.
A/B Testing
Split testing is a common practice among marketers. Split testing can be especially helpful if you have a high cart abandonment rate. A small increase can make a big difference in your revenue.
This applies to your blog headlines, opt in pages, email subject lines and sales pages.
But, few marketers ever really bother testing their checkout pages. When you consider just how much money you stand to make by optimizing your pages, it makes no sense that someone would knowingly ignore such an important part of their sales funnel.
Luckily, SamCart makes this part easy, as well. Live A/B testing is possible on your pages. This feature is quite unique in the world of shopping cart pages.
There are tons of different things you can test on SamCart, such as changing the template, trying out a different guarantee/testimonial, etc., removing fields (tests have shown that the fewer fields you have, the better), and much more.
SamCart demo available. Click Here to get a FREE demo
SamCart Integrations
SamCart has many integrations that allow you to connect your shopping cart with the rest of your marketing strategy.
Here are some of the main integrations on the platform:
Payment Providers: One of the first things you’re prompted to do once you log into SamCart is to set up your payment processor. SamCart has only two payment options, but they are constantly adding more integrations to the shopping platform. You should also note that the platform does not accept cryptocurrency payments such as bitcoin or mobile payments such as Apple Pay.
Email Marketing Providers Email marketing is a key integration for most marketers before choosing a shopping cart. SamCart supports many email marketing solutions including iContact and HubSpot, Ontraport. Active Campaign, MailChimp and Drip.
Membership platforms:SamCart supports many membership platforms including Thinkific and Post Affiliate Pro as well as WishList Member, Digital Access Pass and Optimize Member.
Webinar Platforms: If you host webinars as part of your marketing strategy, you can use SamCart’s checking-out software to sell your products and services. Although there currently aren’t any native integrations for webinar platforms on SamCart, the software easily integrates with Zapier which allows you to connect to a wide range of webinar platforms, including GoToWebinar and WebinarJam.
Fulfillment Services: If you sell physical products using SamCart shopping cart software, you only have one option available to you for fulfillment: ShipStation. However, with Zapier, you can link out to a variety of other fulfillment systems to suit your business needs.
SamCart Alternatives
There are many shopping cart options available today, as we have already mentioned.
SamCart is only one platform, but it’s not the only one.
Below are four SamCart alternatives. These options may be better or worse depending on what you need. This post has more alternatives.
SamCart vs. ThriveCart
Note: You can read my full SamCart vs ThriveCart Review here.
ThriveCart is an online shopping cart software designed for e-commerce sites. It has many of the same features that SamCart has, including one-click upsells, affiliate management center, etc.
But, SamCart does have significantly more features than ThriveCart. SamCart’s only advantage over ThriveCart is in price.
SamCart can be purchased at a monthly cost, but you can also get ThriveCart by paying a $495 one-time fee.
This is just one reason why many digital marketers prefer SamCart over the other.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that ThriveCart integrates with most of the major payment processing systems available right now, whereas SamCart only integrates with PayPal and Stripe.
SamCart vs. PayKickStart
PayKickStart is a flexible shopping cart that will help you power your online business in an affordable way.
The software includes features like a page builder for sales funnels, powerful page editors, and pop-ups for checkout forms. PayKickstart can be integrated with Braintree and Stripe, PayPal and Authorize.net.
This is the one main difference between PayKickStart and SamCart. Everything else is pretty much the same.
Both platforms support multiple languages and currencies. They offer deep actionable insights through a robust reporting dashboard, and both shopping cart solutions are easy to set up. They each come with a smart dashboard, conversion tools, affiliate center, and robust apps integration.
When it comes to pricing, PayKickStart offers four different subscription plans: Basic $99/month, Growth $199/month, Scale $299/month, and a custom plan that will be tailored to suit your business.
SamCart’s monthly price is only $49/month. It’s easy to see why marketers prefer SamCart to PayKickStart.
SamCart vs. Shift4Shop, formerly 3D Cart
Shift4Shop is a renowned e-commerce platform that was established over two decades ago. It has many features that allow you to easily create optimized checkout pages for better conversions.
This makes it a good alternative to SamCart, particularly for anyone who wants a wider variety of checkout page templates to choose from. Shift4Shop has over 50 free templates, each of which contains all the features and elements required to boost your conversions.
When you choose a higher-level plan, you will have access to even more templates. The premium templates are mobile responsive, ensuring excellent viewing experiences for your mobile customers.
Shift4Shop allows you to promote products on social media. All plans include $50 in ad credits that will help you reach a larger audience on various social media platforms.
Prices for Shift4Shop range from $19/month for “Startup” stores to $229/month for “Pro” stores.
SamCart vs. Clickfunnels
You can find my SamCart and Clickfunnels comparison here.
Clickfunnels is yet another great shopping cart software you can use to create attractive checkout pages.
It comes with support for a variety of payment processors, including PayPal and Stripe among many others. It supports many email marketing and automation tools such as Ontraport, Infusionsoft, and NMI.
Clickfunnels offers more functionality than other shopping cart software. You can create landing pages and shopping cart pages.
This means, in essence, that it’s a lot more than just a shopping cart. It is an A-Z sales funnel which eliminates the need to use a lot of marketing tools for people who want to sell products or services online.
Also, I wrote this Shopify Comparison.
Samcart isn’t the only one with checkout functionality. Systems like Aweber, Convertkit, Kajabi, and more. These platforms are great for their intended purpose but not as focused as Samcart.
Pricing
SamCart offers four plans:
- Launch: $49/month
- Grow: $99/month
- Scale: $199/month
- Enterprise: 399/month
The pricing structure is simple, and the features available in each plan build on the ones from the previous plan.
You get the Launch plan and the Grow plan.
The same goes if you opt for the Scale plan. You get all the features available in the Grow plan, as well as additional features like the dunning tool, affiliate center, CRM integrations, and A/B testing.
Every plan includes a 14-day trial and a 30-day guarantee. If you pay yearly, you get additional discounts on the fees outlined above.
Product Support
SamCart offers support in a variety of ways, including email, live chat, and a Facebook group. They also have detailed documentation on the site, as well as an intuitive, user-friendly interface that is designed to remove potential roadblocks and help beginners navigate the platform easily.
Want to see a demo of SamCart in action? Click Here for a free demo
Here is a more detailed look at the support offered by SamCart.
Intuitive Interface: From the time you log on to the platform, you will be guided on the steps to take to help you get set up as quickly as possible.
Help Center: SamCart has a thorough knowledge base with written posts and video tutorials to help you solve any type of potential issues you might come up against.
Live Chat: If you come up against a problem that requires urgent assistance, you can get support via SamCart’s live chat. Although the reply time can vary, for the most part, SamCart support is very responsive to requests for help.
Facebook Group: SamCart has a huge Facebook community of over 24,000 members and includes a support team that will happily answer all your questions on Facebook.
Email Support Although SamCart does not offer direct contact with the support team, they offer email support during normal business hours (9 AM to 5 PM ET on weekdays).
FAQ
What is Samcart?
Samcart allows you to sell digital products and online services. It can also be used to sell physical items. You can create sales pages, marketing channels, run an affiliate programme, and much more with Samcart. Samcart is the most popular online shopping cart due to its excellent marketing and wide adoption by business owners all over the world.
What is Samcart used for?
Samcart can be used across many industries. Samcart is a tool that can be used to help individuals sell products or services online. Samcart offers solutions for authors, coaches/consultants and side hustlers as well as Amazon and Etsy sellers, physical product sellers, entrepreneurs and non-profits.
How do you integrate SamCart with Zapier
Zapier allows you to integrate SamCart. This will allow you to instantly connect to over 3,000 marketing automation apps and tools to automate your work, increase productivity, and improve your bottom line.
Can SamCart Handle VAT?
SamCart makes it easy to manage your online taxes. All you have to do is add your marketplace address and VAT ID wherever applicable, and SamCart will automatically find the right tax rates for each of your customers, and then charge them sales tax accordingly.
Does SamCart Allow Coupon Codes?
SamCart not only allows coupons, but the platform also has one of the most granular control features (compared to other shopping cart software) over the way you use coupons for your products and services.
Instead of one coupon being applied to all your products, you can apply a coupon to a specific product and a differentcoupon for other products within the same sales funnel.
Can You A/B Test Checkout Pages in SamCart?
SamCart has a robust A/B testing feature designed to help you boost your conversions. To find the best version for your customers, you can test all aspects of your checkout page. The platform also has in-depth tutorials for those who are new to split testing and provides a step-by-step process to help you hit the ground testing.
Does SamCart offer a money back guarantee?
SamCart offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide that the software is not for you. To avoid paying an extra month, cancel your subscription at least a few days in advance. The platform also offers a free 14-day trial, which will make it less likely that you will need a refund since you’ll have the chance to get to know the platform in-depth before opting for any of the premium plans.
What does SamCart pay you?
With regards to affiliate commissions, SamCart doesn’t pay you. Rather, you get your payments directly from the vendor or your affiliate manager on the platform. All supported payment methods are accepted, including Stripe and PayPal.
Is SamCart Legit?
SamCart is definitely legit for digital marketers who want to sell services or products (both physical and digital) online.
It’s an affordable shopping cart software that makes it easy to optimize each of your sales through the use of various payment models, discounts, coupons, and bump offers so you can increase your revenue.
SamCart, a useful tool that is simple to set up and a great addition for any online business, is SamCart
If you do decide to try SamCart, I’d be greatly appreciative if you use this link to suppo