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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.
A lot of marketers, business owners, and entrepreneurs are touting it as the best shopping cart software available today.
But does it 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?
Want to see a demo of SamCart in action? 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 do purchase SamCart, I’d be grateful if you supported me by clicking on this link to purchase.
The countless reviews and testimonials from happy customers speak for themselves:
SamCart is Good for Who?
SamCart is ideal for anyone selling stuff online. From physical products to digital products like courses, events, books, and seminars. You can even use it to sell services, such as consulting services 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.
Depending on whether you are selling information products, software, or memberships, you will find out the various features and functionality of SamCart to help you decide if it is the right shopping cart for your needs.
SamCart Pros and Cons
SamCart has its pros and cons, just like any other software. I have listed them below so you know exactly what to expect from this shopping cart.
SamCart Pros
- User-Friendly Platform: SamCart is a user-friendly platform for selling both physical and digital products online.
- Integrations: The software integrates with a ton of marketing tools and services through Zapier.
- Flexible Payment Models: SamCart also has flexible payment models, including payment plans, subscriptions, and trials.
- One-Click Upsells Supported: You can use one-click upsells and downsells to increase your revenue.
- Granular Coupons & Discounts Control: You have complete control over the way you use coupons or discounts on 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. Support can be obtained via 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 to get a FREE demo
SamCart Cons
- Not Great for Services: SamCart isn’t well-suited for selling services. You can still make it work by being creative in the name of your offer.
- Lack of Design Options: Compared to other shopping cart software in the same price category, SamCart’s design and customization options for its checkout templates are limited.
- You cannot accept cryptocurrency payments using SamCart. Apple Pay is not available.
- 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 particularly true when compared to platforms like ThriveCart that 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 the real strength of SamCart lies.
Below, we take a look at each of SamCart’s functions, so you can get a better idea of why SamCart is different from the rest, and how it can be of benefit to your business.
One-Click Upsells
This is what makes SamCart stand out from other platforms. The platform has one-click upsells that help you maximize your profits from each sale you make.
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 over a third of its revenue comes from upselling efforts.
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.
An example of this concept at work is when McDonald’s offers you fries and drinks with your burgers. Or, if you purchase sports equipment, you might also get an offer for half price gym membership or something like that.
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) as a way to increase your customer value.
SamCart makes it easy with just one click. It’s easy to set up and customers will make purchases through the optimized checkout process.
Checkout 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.
The pages are responsive to mobile devices and have a “sandbox” mode which allows you check everything before you go 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. Take the advice of others and use their experience to see immediate results in your sales and marketing campaigns.
SamCart’s checkout templates include testimonials, security reassurances and guarantees. These trust elements are designed to increase conversion rates.
SamCart demo available. Click Here for a free demo
You simply need to choose a template and customize it to your brand’s style and colors.
One-page Checkout
This unique feature allows you to add multiple payment options on one checkout page.
Here’s an example of what that looks like:
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 one-page checkout keeps visitors on the page as they decide on the best way to pay for your 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.
Affiliates are a great way to promote your product or service without having to spend money on advertising or other marketing. You only pay them once you make a sale.
Subscription Saver
This SamCart feature is very appealing if you are selling subscription products online.
As you well know, not everyone pays on time, every time. You might miss payments because your credit card expired or you might have unscrupulous individuals who cancel or decline to pay their bills to avoid paying their obligations.
Regardless of the reason why payments don’t go through, it’s bad news for the marketer because oftentimes you can’t get your money (barring taking 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.
In the email, there will be a link where customers can update their payment information on file straight from their inbox. This will save you time and prevent you from spending valuable time trying to find customers who have not paid their bills.
SamCart will automatically cancel a customer’s subscription if they fail to update their payment information. After receiving multiple emails, SamCart marks them as “delinquent”. This allows you to identify the person and contact them if necessary.
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 is especially useful if your cart abandonment rate is high. Even a small improvement can result in a huge increase 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.
SamCart makes it easy. 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.
Want to see a demo of SamCart in action? Click Here for a free demo
SamCart Integrations
SamCart offers a wide range of integrations that will allow you to connect your shopping cart to the rest of your marketing stack.
Here are some of the main integrations on the platform:
Payment Providers The first thing you will be asked to do when you log in to SamCart is to setup your payment processor. SamCart has only two payment options, but they are constantly adding more integrations to the shopping platform. It’s also important to note that there are no cryptocurrency payments, such as bitcoin, or mobile payments, such as Apple Pay on the platform.
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 a wide range of membership platforms, including Thinkific, Post Affiliate Pro, WishList Member, Digital Access Pass, Optimize Member, and Membermouse.
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. SamCart doesn’t have any native integrations to webinar platforms. However, Zapier allows you to easily connect to a variety of webinar platforms including WebinarJam and GoToWebinar.
Fulfillment services: If you are selling physical products with SamCart shopping cart software you only have one option for fulfillment: ShipStation. However, with Zapier, you can link out to a variety of other fulfillment systems to suit your business needs.
SamCart Alternatives
As previously mentioned, there are tons of shopping cart solutions available on the market today.
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 offers many of the same features as SamCart, such as one-click upsells and affiliate management center.
SamCart has a lot more features than ThriveCart. The one place where ThriveCart outshines SamCart is on price.
While SamCart is offered at a monthly price, you can get ThriveCart for a one-time fee of $495.
This is one of the many reasons why a lot of digital marketers prefer this SamCart alternative over all the rest.
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 has features such as a sales funnel page builder, a powerful page editor, and checkout form pop-ups, among others. PayKickstart can be integrated with Braintree and Stripe, PayPal and Authorize.net.
This is the one main difference between PayKickStart and SamCart. All other aspects are the same.
Both platforms are compatible with multiple currencies and languages. They offer deep actionable insights through a robust reporting dashboard, and both shopping cart solutions are easy to set up. Each comes with a smart dashboard and conversion tools.
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.
It is a great alternative to SamCart for those who want a greater selection of templates for their checkout pages. Shift4Shop offers over 50 templates free of charge, which include all the elements and features you need to increase your conversions.
You will get more templates if you select a higher-level plan. Premium templates are responsive to mobile devices, which will ensure excellent viewing experience for your customers on mobile.
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.
Shift4Shop prices range from $19/month in “Startup” shops to $229/month in “Pro” shops.
SamCart vs. Clickfunnels
You can read my in-depth SamCart vs. Clickfunnels comparison here.
Clickfunnels is yet another great shopping cart software you can use to create attractive checkout pages.
It supports a wide range of payment processors including Stripe and PayPal. 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’s an A-Z sales funnel that removes the need for a ton of other marketing tools for anyone who wants to sell services or products online.
I’ve also written this SamCart vs. Shopify Comparison.
Truth be told, Samcart has a lot of competitors because many systems add checkout functionality. Systems like Aweber, Convertkit, Kajabi, and more. As good as these platforms can be for their intending purpose, they aren’t nearly as focused as Samcart is.
Pricing
SamCart has four different plans:
- Launch: $49/month
- Grow $99/month
- Scale – $199/month
- Enterprise: $399/month
Pricing is straightforward, and each plan has the same features as the one before.
For instance, when you get the Grow plan, you get all the features of the Launch, plus a few advanced features, such as customer management, subscription charge reminders, advanced subscription cancellations, and so on.
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. Additional discounts are available if you pay annually.
Product Support
SamCart provides support via email, chat and Facebook groups. 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.
SamCart demo available. Click Here to get 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 boasts a large Facebook community with over 24,000 members. It also has a support team who will gladly answer any questions you may have 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 is an online shopping cart that allows you to sell both digital products, online services, and can even be used to sell physical products. It allows you to create sales pages, marketing funnels, run an affiliate program, ecommerce, and more. Through excellent marketing and widespread adoption from business owners everwhere, Samcart is the leading online shopping cart on the market.
What is Samcart used for?
Samcart can be used in a number of different ways across a number of different industries. If an individual is trying to sell a product or service online, Samcart can help. They have solutions for course creators, authors, coaches/consultants, agencies, side hustlers, amazon and Etsy sellers, Physical product sellers, entrepreneurs, and even 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.
SamCart Can Handle VAT
SamCart makes it easy to manage your online taxes. SamCart automatically calculates the correct tax rates for your customers and charges sales tax accordingly.
SamCart allows 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.
For instance, instead of having any one coupon applied automatically to all your products, you have the option of applying one coupon to specific products, and a different coupon to other products in the same sales funnel.
SamCart:
SamCart offers a powerful A/B testing tool that will help you increase 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 have 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. You can also try the platform for free for 14 days before you decide to purchase any premium plans.
How Does SamCart Pay You?
With regards to affiliate commissions, SamCart doesn’t pay you. Instead, the vendor or your platform manager will pay you. All supported payment methods are accepted, including Stripe and PayPal.
Is SamCart Legit?
SamCart is a great tool for digital marketers looking to sell products or services 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 is a valuable tool that is easy to set up and makes a great addition to any online business.
If you do decide to try SamCart, I’d be greatly appreciative if you use this link to suppo