This feature of self-registration allows any site visitor to onboard independently. Besides removing the need to engage a sales representative before exploring the products available, companies can leverage the Commerce portal as a new channel for inbound leads.

For the admin managing the site and CRM, it is a smooth automated process that starts with business email validation – system checks can be set up to prevent registration of personal email addresses, and in turn, maintain and even increase data quality within the CRM. The system check also includes a built-in logic to associate email domains to the right Accounts, thus avoiding the creation of duplicate contacts and accounts.

Setup through Commerce portal Administration

A Commerce Business Administrator (See "Commerce User Management" for additional information) can enable and maintain this Self-Registration feature in 'Commerce Administration' > 'Operation Settings' > 'Self-Registration'. 

Self-registration is a flexible feature that may be turned on or off, according to preference of the sales team:

Different companies require different information from their users to be captured through the self-registration process. Tailoring and customising their self-registration forms to only include relevant fields supports smoother management of new contacts and accounts.

A Commerce Business Administrator (See "Commerce User Management" for more information) is able to customise the Self-Registration form under 3 sections: Contact, Account, and Address so all relevant information needed will be captured. (See "Commerce Administration: Screen Configuration" for more information)

Email domains can be added to blacklist, to enforce system checks and prevent registration using personal email addresses. 

While registrants may be associated with existing accounts, cases of new accounts created through this self-registration process can be assigned to a default sales area. Options offered are as per available in DSP. 

This helps enhance the eCommerce experience for a new self-registered user, as they would not be presented a blank site while awaiting support from a sales rep. Rather, they would be able to start browsing the product catalogue with accurate ERP pricing and order processes in place. 

A new self-registered user is even able to order and checkout items because the address entered during self-registration is captured under account information, and are by default set to YES for 'Bill-To' and 'Ship-To',  ensuring that it will appear on the order checkout page. 

Self-registration Process

1. Click on the 'Sign Up' link on Commerce login page.
2. Insert e-mail address > check box for reCAPTCHA > click 'Verify'
3. An email notification will be sent to complete the registration process. Click 'Back to Sign in'. 

Additional security on the registration page using reCAPTCHA validation requires setup. (See "Self-Registration: reCAPTCHA validation" for more information)

Self-registration Scenario: New Account, New Contact, New User

The registrant passes the system email validation check and receives an email with a unique link to the Commerce portal that expires in 24 hours.

Clicking on the link, the email is verified to exist, and the registrant is brought to the registration page to fill in contact/account information.

Besides the email address, all other fields are open for the registrant to fill in. As the system check did not match the email domain to any existing Account, there is no Company Name filled or addresses suggested.

Completing the form and clicking 'Register' will create a new Account, Contact under the account, and Commerce User for the contact. The registration process is completed, and an email with log-in details to the portal will be received.

Self-registration Scenario: Existing Account, New Contact, New User

The registrant passes the system email validation check and receives an email with a unique link to the Commerce portal that expires in 24 hours.

Clicking on the link, the email is verified to exist, and the registrant is brought to the registration page to fill in contact/account information.

As the email domain of the email registered matches the account domain of an existing account, the Company Name has been filled in. It is a read-only field to prevent edits, helping to avoid duplicates and tie all contacts to their relevant accounts. The addresses of the company available in the database are provided as dropdown options, making the registration process easier as well, since one can easily select an option to fill in the fields and complete the registration.

Completing the form and clicking 'Register' will create a Contact under the existing account, and Commerce User for the contact. The registration process is completed, and an email with log-in details to the portal will be received.

Self-registration Scenario: Existing Account, Existing Contact, New User

The registrant passes the system email validation check and receives an email with a unique link to the Commerce portal that expires in 24 hours.

Clicking on the link, the email is verified to exist. As Contact and Account information exist, a Commerce User is immediately created, and the portal page refers the registrant to their inbox where a new email with log-in details to the portal will be received. 

Self-registration Scenario: Existing Account, Existing Contact, Existing User

The email validation check for self-registration process shows that a user already exists and does not require a new registration. The registrant will be redirected to the sign-in page, where an option to reset forgotten password is available. 

Within Digital Sales Platform Administrator view

Note: Should an account or contact be created through the self-registration process, this information may be captured using the Account and Contact Source fields. Sales reps and managers following up on prospects and leads can better keep track of and engage these new parties. This field is managed under 'Administration' > 'Master Data Management' > 'Account Source', and shows under 'Account' > (select account to be viewed) > 'Details' and 'Account' > (select contact to be viewed) > 'Contact Information' respectively.

Administrator view: New Accounts

New accounts created through the self-registration process are captured and listed with all other accounts in the system. 

During account creation, the 'Account Domain' is automatically filled in with the first contact’s email domain. Future self-registrants with the same email domain will be matched and grouped under this account, preventing duplicate accounts being created. The 'Account Source' field records that this account was created through the Self-Registration process, and is automatically marked 'YES' as a Prospect for associated order and inquiry permissions in the Commerce portal.

'Sales Data' section of the account information reflects the Default Sales Area indicated under the Commerce portal Administration, that has been assigned to accounts created through self-registration. This helps enhance the ecommerce experience for a new self-registered user, as they would not be presented a blank site while awaiting support from a sales rep. 

The address entered during the registration process is captured, and by default set to YES for 'Bill-To' and 'Ship-To'. 

Administrator view: New Contacts

New contacts created through the self-registration process are captured and listed with all other contacts in the system. If a new contact is created for an existing account, it is captured and added within the account’s list of contacts.

Contact information entered during the registration process are all captured and reflected within 'Contact Details'. The 'Contact Source' field captures that this contact was created through the Self-Registration process.

Contacts added to existing accounts would be assigned to the Main Sales Area indicated for the account. For new accounts, that would be the default sales area defined when enabling self-registration.

Administrator view: Commerce User

All commerce users automatically created through the various scenarios of the self-registration process will be given the default role of 'Commerce End User', and permissions to 'Order & Checkout' and 'Submit Inquiry'.