MarketKing comes with an optional product & vendor inquiries module that allows customers to easily communicate with vendors. Customers can either ask questions directly on the product page via a dedicated tab, or on the vendor store page.
This system is also integrated with MarketKing's powerful messaging module, allowing customers and vendors to send messages back and forth directly from the vendor dashboard and the customer's My Account page.
There are several differences in how inquiries work for logged-in and logged-out users, as explained below.
Module Settings
There are 3 main settings available for the module:
- Enable Product Page Inquiries: this adds a "Product Inquiry" tab on the product page.
- Enable Vendor Page Inquiries: this adds a "Contact" tab with a form on the vendor store page.
- Inquiries Use Messaging System: with this disabled, inquiries are only sent by email. If this option is enabled, the plugin uses the messaging module to create conversations that show up in the vendor dashboard and the customer's My Account page.
Messaging System
If the "Inquiries use messaging system" option is enabled, the plugin will create conversations that both users can reply to.
In the vendor dashboard, inquiries appear under the "Messages" tab. Vendors can reply directly from here. However, if the inquiry was sent by a logged-out user, the system will not allow the vendor to reply and will instead direct the vendor to email the user directly.
If the customer who sends the inquiry is logged in, their inquiry will show up in My Account under the "Messages" tab. The conversation can continue here, and the customer can ask additional questions.
Emails
Depending on the vendor's email preference settings, the plugin will also send out emails notifying them of new inquiries:
How It Works for Logged-Out Users
For logged-out users, the plugin will also request the customer's name and email address in order to allow them to submit the form.
The plugin will check that the fields are not empty and will also validate the email format:
Vendors (or the admin, for admin products) receive a message and are advised to email the customer, as the customer does not have an account:
Purchase Information
Emails and the messaging tab will also let vendors know whether a user has purchased a product when making a product inquiry.
Enable Phone Field
A phone field can also be enabled for logged-out users by adding a PHP code snippet to the site:
add_filter('marketking_inquiry_enable_phone', function($val){
return true;
}, 10, 1);
