Can i create 'vouchers' for email marketing with Catalogue V9

[Horsepoo]

Again - im new! so apologies for any numptiness (weve all gotta start somewhere!)

Im having trouble making vouchers for email makreting - i dont think i can do it on my version.

Ive only just bought the catalogue, so dont really fancy forking out a huge amount on buying another version.

If i can create vouchers then please can someone advise how?

If i cant create vouchers, then anyone got any suggestions on how i can right my wrong?

Cheers everyone.....

[leehack]

Upgrading to Business is your only option, unless you run a global discount on all orders, which is all catalog does.

[Horsepoo]

really??????????? ive had cheaper products that do this....

blimey - im really ticked off!!

This is not good

[leehack]

Yes really. Their site details the features of each version and you can also do a free 30 day trial, so probably enough available for you to have found out, although i do understand when you take for granted that certain features will just be standard. Give sales a call, they might do you a deal.

[pinbrook]

I've worked with Actinic since v3 and i must admit i feel other carts are beginning to pull the rug from under actinics feet at the mo.

There is an ever increasing list of features that really should be there that simply are not. I know we've had the discussion about google checkout, but imo stuff like reviews and gift vouchers should be there in catalog.

what with that and the buggy software, actinic have alot of work to do.

[leehack]

I do agree on this, however if they add this feature into catalog, it undermimes the business version, leaving MOTO and also boughts as its only features as i see it.

Ideally, I'd like to see catalog and business merged, give it a more modern name and then have a multi version, which is your multi-user or multi-site versions.

[grantglendinnin]

I do agree on this, however if they add this feature into catalog, it undermimes the business version, leaving MOTO and also boughts as its only features as i see it.

I'd like to see Business having all the Actinic Payments integration (MOTO form and Third Man, etc) and Catalog have all the basic features a shopping cart should have (in 2009, not 1999).

Ideally, I'd like to see catalog and business merged, give it a more modern name and then have a multi version, which is your multi-user or multi-site versions.

How about Starter and Professional? That seems the norm these days.

[Horsepoo]

unfortunately - actinic business is very unaffordable for starter-uppers like me.

[pinbrook]

How about Starter and Professional? That seems the norm these days.

Indeed, i often fail to understand why certain features are excluded from catalog. Actinic needs to do a thorough review of other carts to see what they include for a cart priced at £400.

i agree with OP business is a step to far for a start up

[leehack]

The web has certainly rewritten the rules on what getting a business up and running will cost you, but i don't see £400 either way as something that should be a hurdle. People struggling to get a few thousand pound together would benefit greatly from skipping back 15 years and seeing what B&M shops were costing. Today is just pennies in comparison.

Personally, i like that it costs a bit, it narrows down the amount of crappy sites on the web somewhat and helps to keep things to a quality of some kind. There has to be a price so that only the serious get involved. Too cheap = too much dilution and a www full of more crap than it already is IMO. 65% of the web could be removed today and noone would bat an eyelid, cheap website solutions have a lot to answer for.

[pinbrook]

True, but my point is £400 for actinic is not such a good deal when you can buy other carts better featured for less, actinic pricing is not going to reduce the number of onlines shops

My motivation for giving actinic abit of a kick up the pants is that i tend to use my own online behaviour as an indicator as to what i'd like to see.

Increasingly nowadays i read product reviews when buying larger items such as white goods or office/it equipment - i know there is a plugin for this but it requires extra installation thus something else to consider when changing pc, changing host or upgrading patches.

I bought something from argos the other day and was impressed with their sms updates.

ATM the big boys seem to be getting into stocking all product ranges (think amazon and how it started out as a book shop), look at tesco's dominance.

smaller actinic businesses are going to struggle more and more if this type of feature is not incorporated as standard

[leehack]

This is why i'd like to see the 2 products merge personally. There isn't enough distinction between the two and the features of the better version, should ideally be in the cheaper one anyway. I'd go something like £550 for Business and scrap the catalog version. Express and LE fill in for real small requirements or like you say, other solutions.

[grantglendinnin]

While we're on the subject of 'bang for buck' - it's certainly worthwhile looking at all the other carts - the only feature I have found every other shopping cart to have which Actinic doesn't is Single Product Pages/Multi Product Pages as standard, giving the site owner the option to select whether the page is single or multi product pages.

IMO I would expect the 'real' business experience to offer the compact product layouts (such as an example, 6mm polycarbonate multi wall roofing sheet from Darren), complex product permutations and complex discounts. At the moment, neither version offers this to the same degree as other carts. Add the cost factor into the equation and this (IMO) becomes the reason why I'm seeing more and more sites jumping from the Actinic ship.

[pinbrook]

agreed...

express needs an upgrade path to catalog though - product import
LE needs to be more readily available
client also needs an upgrade path - financial
as for designer....

the number of products does seem to be getting rather complex

[leehack]

True, but my point is £400 for actinic is not such a good deal when you can buy other carts better featured for less, actinic pricing is not going to reduce the number of onlines shops

My motivation for giving actinic abit of a kick up the pants is that i tend to use my own online behaviour as an indicator as to what i'd like to see.

Increasingly nowadays i read product reviews when buying larger items such as white goods or office/it equipment - i know there is a plugin for this but it requires extra installation thus something else to consider when changing pc, changing host or upgrading patches.

I bought something from argos the other day and was impressed with their sms updates.

ATM the big boys seem to be getting into stocking all product ranges (think amazon and how it started out as a book shop), look at tesco's dominance.

smaller actinic businesses are going to struggle more and more if this type of feature is not incorporated as standard

I agree with that pretty much entirely, there's a handful of things nowadays that simply have to be part of the software as standard. I fully understand them not wanting to tread on the toes of the addon companies, after all they are as integral as actinic itself, but it gets to a stage where having to buy an addon to do something bog standard nowadays on any decent site, is not a great situation.

Just as addons companies need protecting, i've literally spent thousands and thoudsands with these companies over the past few years, they also need a kick up the backside from time to time, so that they develop new exciting addons and retire certain ones that now become standard in actinic.