Product Reviews

[Darren B]

OK i searched around and actually cant find a wishlist thread for this feature.

I would like to request a product review feature be part of actinic, not a third party plugin.

Times have moved on which we are all aware of and product reviews are a standard feature on thousands of sites these days, i know Andy @ codepath has a great additional and v10 will sport the feefo option but i really dont see why i have to pay for somethign that i believe should be part and parcel of the product these days.

So can it be added to the list please

[george]

Have a look though this section Daz, theres loads of good ideas that have not been used by Actinic. Some are standard on websites nowadays. I guess its just a case of Actinic prioritising the inclusion of what they thinks best.

[Mike Hughes]

I only just noticed this and it gets my vote too. A built in version would be so much better as it could include the things a good product review system should :

- Open to everyone, not just customers (probably at least double the number of reviews, potentialy much more).
- Can use the normal 5 star rating system everyone knows and understands.
- Can be styled to fit the design of the website.
- Content would be on site. Not framed (poor for seo).
- Ability to edit/move/delete content
- Include 'In house expert' reviews
- Include a Q+A facility

Mike

[JGLIGHTING]

You can add my million votes !!

[plantsforshade]

Happy to add my vote.

But !! Actinic at the conference rather suggested that they were not going to be doing too many out of the box features in future. But through the new API development in V10, they want these to be developed much more widely as plug-ins, so we may have to get used to paying the extra to get what we want.

Best

Nigel

[Darren B]

Happy to add my vote.

But !! Actinic at the conference rather suggested that they were not going to be doing too many out of the box features in future. But through the new API development in V10, they want these to be developed much more widely as plug-ins, so we may have to get used to paying the extra to get what we want.

Best

Nigel

If this is the case then they will seriously have to look at the pricing. I can honestly say if this is not added along with some other key features at some point, wether confirmed in a later version then i guess it will be the end of the road.

The API is probably going to be two years away IMHO so they cant sit back and wait - time to employ the skills to make the changes required if you ask me.

[brucet]

Customer reviews have been on our wish list for sometime. ATM we have taken a strategic decision that Feefo is the way forward for these, for two reasons

1) For a variety of reasons we are confident that for most small and medium businesses, independent 3rd party reviews will carry more weight than going it alone.
2) We have consciously moved towards working more with partners where appropriate, rather than always trying to reinvent the wheel

'Never say never', but once v10 is available, the choice for the foreseeable future will be between Feefo and the Codepath plugin.

[Darren B]

I see we are still getting the feefo hardsell

for me it is not suitable, it has an outdated rating system that is constantly being refered to the likes of ebay who i add are moving away from because it is not universal enough

i asked for an inbuilt product review system, not a customer review system managed by a third party that i have to pay for.

so i take it this is not being added to the wish list?

[brucet]

so i take it this is not being added to the wish list?

As I said

Customer reviews have been on our wish list for sometime

We don't delete things from the wish list, but we do prioritise, and I'm afraid we won't be developing a review system of our own for the foreseeable future, for the reasons stated. I know that won't satisfy you, but I would rather tell you honestly than keep you dangling on a string, pretending that we might. That doesn't mean we will never do it, but it's over the horizon ATM.

[toolman.co.uk]

As I said

We don't delete things from the wish list, but we do prioritise, and I'm afraid we won't be developing a review system of our own for the foreseeable future, for the reasons stated. I know that won't satisfy you, but I would rather tell you honestly than keep you dangling on a string, pretending that we might. That doesn't mean we will never do it, but it's over the horizon ATM.

So we cant have product reviews as its not "priority" but actinics own site sees it as an priority option to promote their product from 3rd parties. (http://www.actinic.co.uk/product-reviews.html)
After reading this wish list thing, I get the feeling thats all it is, I get an image of the actinic fat cats reading the suggestions of the actinic site owners who make them who they are and laughing over cigars and cognac at their customers suggestions and rather priorities a tree that wont put catagories in alphabetical order without having to work it out manually dragging and dropping.
Not even a top 3 suggestions competition for every new actinic version that they would impliment.. oh sorry, that would be classed as my [meeting half way] wish.. another cognac sir?

[george]

I don't think holding the progressive hand of feefo bothers me one little bit toolman, but what does confuse me sometimes is when people add good ideas on here that help people who use the software on a daily basis to speed up the labourous tasks that are product creating and order processing that are seem to be blatantly ignored by Actinic.


Maybe just clicking a box to add a vote instead of actually having to post on the thread would help get more votes for what I think are many small but damned helpful improvements.

[toolman.co.uk]

I meant exactly that George, but I went round the houses and painted a colourful picture with my point of view...

Where do you think this 'one click' vote would go though? Onto the actinic programmers, or get lost somewhere in cyberspace?

I could come up with a few ideas just for the beginner who knows nothing about html and variables, Safe Mode Actinic For Beginners, thats what Id call it..
And Windows 7? Was my idea!

[cbarling]

There have been some enormous changes under the hood in Actinic in the last few years - full multi-user processing with proper record locking, v8 design technology and alternative underlying databse for sites that run out of space on Access.

As we all know, that has led to some instability in the system. We've now mostly addressed that, but there is further to go. A year ago, the biggest request, on numerous posts, was for a more stable Actinic and that's the direction that we have followed.

The end result of this has been that features have been slower to be introduced than many of us would have hoped. I think that this is what's given the impression of Actinic not being interested in wish list items. I can assure you that this isn't the case at all.

When it comes to customer reviews, I think Bruce is simply being honest here. We believe that there is huge potential benefit from customer reviews. Feefo has achieved an average return of reviews from orders of 17%, across all of their merchant sites, with a low of 9% and high of 30%. That is stunningly impressive. I haven't heard anybody quote definitive figures for other systems, but those that I have heard muttered are way, way below those numbers.

Of course, independant reviews aren't for everyone. For those that want the reviews on their site, under their complete control, there's a good plug in from Codepath, available for a one off fee. Bruce is being honest in saying in effect that we will direct our development effort to other areas that are being requested, rather than one where there will be two good solutions with v10 already.

I do think that having a central voting system for the wishlist would be good, so we need to look at that.

I hope that all makes sense.

Chris

[leehack]

I think a central voting system and maybe a central bug list are pretty much essential items to get sorted out for a lot of people nowadays. The problem with the wishlist is that nobody has any idea how it is collated, prioritised or what is decided to add or what on earth is on it. If you created it from what we have asked you for, why the secrecy or lack of openness? This is where the 'cherry pick' accusation comes from I suspect as we are left so much in the dark.

Your users want to know what has been requested, how many people want it, the likelihood of it getting included, if so in which version and if not why not.

On a personal note, i'd like to know how the future features are decided upon and what is the criteria. I've seen some things added that for me i think i'd struggle to find a handful of people that wanted it, but that clearly cannot be true. In contrast over the past 5 years, i've been asked at least 30 times how to do bullet points as there is no button on the interface. Clearing up fog like that can only enhance what we as your users think you as a company are doing about our needs and what we ask for/want.

You've baked a nice communication cake over the past 12-18 months, full credit for the areas you've improved, i know it has been hard. We now have a solid base, now it's time to dress that cake, put some decorations on and maybe a few cherries too. Lapsing on the communication trail at this stage would be a disaster, i hope it is still in the forefront of what you are doing.

[toolman.co.uk]

I dont think this thread is about a product review now, I think its become about what the people want, and being listened to, ok, the forum wanted a stable actinic and that was implimented, but to me thats like having balance, would I try to walk anywhere without balance, thats just basic noggin. accepted, you cant have everything what people want, that would take stupid man hours to impliment, but maybe over time, if you listen to the other ideas, you have a massive share of the software market, )dont tell me, actinic has 32.76% share of the software market) but by not listening and implimenting basic 'must haves will see people looking else where IMO (an abbreviation Ive learnt off here)

The 17% increase in sales you mention is impressive but when you sell a £100 worth of stuff a week because your shipping settings are wrong and only allows people in Aberdeen [no offence] to order, then £17 extra a week is not much spectacular.

Bringing Vx out every 6 months, just because actinic has changed their logo on the start up images, to me is like Man Utd bringing a new shirt out, just because their in the Cup against Leyton Orient (no offence again) and they're £600m in debt.
[analogy] Parents buying something new and kids opening presents at christmas, dont want the same Action Man just cos his eyes have gone from blue to green, they want the "G.I. Joe with the kung-fu grip!" (Trading Places -1983)

This is my first version of actinic and I aint got a clue, if you had a bloke who showed you how to use it instead of the 194 page hand book to trawl through to come and show you whats what (Im falling into that trap of having a dream again) then it would be sooooo much easier, I've just spent £Xk on actinc, extra on the tech support (which I dont use cos this forum is 10 times better), so forget the pay extra plug in, what have you got fo me?