Squarespace vs Volusion

2023. Squarespace acquires Google Domains



Squarespace, a website building platform, has acquired Google Domains from Google for $180 million, leading to Google's exit from the domain name registration business. Squarespace will now take over as the domain name registrar for the existing 10.1 million domains registered with Google Domains. This acquisition positions Squarespace as one of the world's largest domain name registrars, trailing only GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Tucows in terms of total registered domains. Google initially launched Google Domains in 2014, but it remained in beta until March 2022. The service was primarily seen by Google as a means to enhance its business email and app product, Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite), as indicated by the sales copy on the Google Domains website.


2020. Squarespace adds support for memberships and paywalled content



Squarespace is introducing a new revenue-generating feature for websites built on its platform: Member Areas, enabling businesses to monetize exclusive content. This opens up possibilities for various scenarios, such as online publications implementing article paywalls, chefs offering paid access to cooking videos and recipes, or fitness instructors generating income from online classes. Squarespace supports different membership levels and facilitates the creation of member-only podcasts and newsletters. Moreover, site creators gain access to CRM data pertaining to each member, with plans to introduce additional segmentation tools in the future.


2018. Squarespace introduced Conversion Metrics



The introduction of new Conversion Metrics in Squarespace provides valuable insights into the performance of buttons and forms, allowing you to assess visitor engagement and interaction on your website. These metrics enable you to understand how visitors engage with your website, whether it's by contacting you, booking services, subscribing to your mailing list, or responding to an event invitation. The Conversion Metrics offer features like Pinpoint engagement, Spot patterns, and Filter by device, providing comprehensive information to identify opportunities for optimizing conversions. Armed with this data, you can confidently make informed changes to forms and buttons, test alternative versions, refine their placement, choose effective wording, and experiment with different styling options. By leveraging these metrics, you can enhance the user experience and maximize the conversion potential of your website.


2017. Squarespace released new analytics app



The newly launched Squarespace Analytics app for iOS and Android allows users to conveniently access essential insights and website analytics from any location and at any time. This app simplifies the process of incorporating analytics into daily workflows by presenting comprehensive business metrics through a user-friendly dashboard that has been specifically designed for smaller screens. Users can effortlessly check key metrics at a glance and further explore more detailed views to gain actionable insights. The app now includes a range of newly added metrics that offer the same comprehensive analytics available on desktop but with the convenience of mobile accessibility. Additionally, the app introduces an enhanced date picker feature, enabling users to access a broader range of historical data and select from new time frames or set custom date ranges.


2017. Squarespace introduced Gift Cards for Online Stores



Squarespace has recently introduced digital gift cards for Squarespace Online Stores, providing merchants with an additional means to boost sales and attract new customers. Selling gift cards offers various advantages beyond revenue generation. It encourages customers to spend more, as they often exceed the card's initial value. Furthermore, gift cards facilitate last-minute shopping, promote brand recognition, and help reduce return rates. Seamlessly integrated into your store, digital gift cards can be purchased and redeemed like any other product. This feature is accessible to all users on the Commerce Advanced plan, regardless of their location or the currency supported by Squarespace Commerce.


2017. Volusion refocuses on SMB



Volusion, a website builder designed for retailers and brands, has introduced a significantly enhanced version of its software platform. This update reflects the company's renewed focus on addressing the needs of small to medium-sized businesses by enabling them to swiftly initiate online sales through their websites. The key features of Volusion 2 include a quick and intuitive store setup, facilitating immediate sales commencement. Additionally, merchants benefit from a secure checkout process, free SSL certificate, and complete-site HTTPS implementation. With the ability to host the checkout on their own secure domain or URL, customers can seamlessly complete their purchases without leaving the merchant's site. Unlike other market players that charge an additional monthly fee for this feature, it comes free with all Volusion plans. Moreover, by implementing full-site HTTPS, merchants gain an SEO advantage from Google, resulting in increased traffic and sales. Recognizing the prevalence of mobile shoppers, Volusion 2 is optimized for mobile conversions, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers on mobile devices. Merchants can conveniently manage their entire store on-the-go, enabling efficient business management from any location.


2017. Squarespace adds checkout on your domain for Online Stores



Online stores hosted on the Squarespace platform now have the capability to provide secure checkout directly on their domains. With the introduction of "Checkout on Your Domain," customers can complete their purchases without being redirected to a third-party website for the checkout process. This ensures that the entire shopping experience remains within one domain, resulting in a consistent visual presentation and instilling a stronger sense of security for customers. "Checkout on Your Domain" is a feature available in the Advanced Commerce plan and is automatically activated for websites with SSL enabled. SSL is a complimentary feature for all Squarespace websites and can be enabled by navigating to Settings > Security & SSL. By securing your site and activating SSL, customers who are ready to make a purchase will be seamlessly directed to a checkout page on your domain, accessible via a URL such as https://yourdomain.com/checkout.


2016. Squarespace integrates with Paypal



Squarespace is introducing PayPal integration for its Online Stores, making it effortless to incorporate PayPal as a payment option, regardless of whether you're a new business or have been operating a store for an extended period. By integrating PayPal, a trusted, secure, and user-friendly payment method, you can expand your sales potential by offering shoppers an additional payment choice and by accessing a broader global customer base. This collaboration simplifies international transactions, providing a seamless integration that allows you to concentrate on crafting a visually appealing brand and expanding your business. Additionally, the partnership grants you access to PayPal solutions that can further enhance your business's success, such as PayPal One TouchTM, PayPal Credit, and comprehensive Purchase and Seller protection services.


2016. Squarespace provides free SSL



SSL is now offered for free on all Squarespace websites. This means that millions of additional domains on the Internet will benefit from SSL encryption, providing our customers with the assurance and trust that secure websites offer to users. By facilitating this easy transition, Squarespace takes care of most of the process, ensuring a seamless experience for customers. To efficiently manage SSL certificates for all our websites, we have partnered with Let's Encrypt, a free and open certificate authority (CA) dedicated to the public's welfare, offering free SSL certificates. Additionally, websites hosted on Squarespace may experience improved search rankings as an added advantage.


2016. Squarespace introduced new analytics for e-commerce



Website creation platform Squarespace has introduced enhanced analytics features for its e-commerce businesses. Originally, Squarespace's Commerce product was primarily aimed at businesses where e-commerce served as a "secondary goal" for their websites, such as restaurants selling gift cards or musicians selling merchandise. However, it turned out that many Squarespace customers relied heavily on online sales. As a result, the company revamped its Commerce offering last year to cater specifically to such businesses. The updates included new Commerce templates, a dedicated mobile app, and the promise of new analytics tailored for Commerce users, which have now been officially launched. The new Squarespace Analytics dashboard provides comprehensive data on various metrics, including revenue, units sold, conversion rate, average order volume, and revenue per visit.