Actinic Desktop is now called SellerDeck

[Duncan Rounding]

v7LE was a freebie on a .NET CD IIRC and it was the reason I got involved with Actinic in those days.

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

I got my free version of Actinic V7 LE (advertised as Actinic Catlog 25) on the Feb 2006 issue of PC Pro Magazine and still have the disc.
It was also promoted as "Includes 90 days FREE web hosting"

I also have a disc for Actinic V8 LE from the May 2007 issue of .NET magazine, although I never used it as I upgraded to V9 full version instead.

[Duncan Rounding]

I think your memory is obviously better than mine Darren. You're correct it was PC Pro not .NET.

[Natalie]

Funnily enough I have just looked at Online for some of my smaller clients and thought I would check out their 30 day trial. Horrified to see you need to give them a phone number so they will call you back to talk you through things.

This is piss poor:

If I want to evaluate something an email registration is sufficient for just about every other software company - they can then follow it up and send out marketing material to make the sale. This immediately led me to click the close button as it shouts out:

1. I will get a hard sell on the phone for something I have yet to know anything about

2. it is so difficult they have to talk you through it. As it is hosted I can't see any need for this - it is not like having to install it manually on your own server with different environment settings.

Hi Jont,

Thank you for your comments.

In regards to the Actinic Online trial procedure, we request contact information for many reasons, one being so we are able to offer you support and guidance through your trial period. Just as you would provide contact details when setting up a trial hosting account, we need details to create your Actinic Online trial site.

We also offer the option for a free getting started training session which is useful to help you get the most out of your trial. Without a contact no. It would be very difficult to get in touch otherwise.

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

I think your memory is obviously better than mine Darren. You're correct it was PC Pro not .NET.

I still have the discs sat in the drawer so didn't need to rely on memory. I used to have an annual subscription to PC Pro back when I had time to read them.
I think I picked up the .NET magazine with V8 LE on eBay

[Sean Williams]

Without a contact no. It would be very difficult to get in touch otherwise.

Erm... email has been a perfectly good medium of communication with our online customers since 1998

[jont]

Erm... email has been a perfectly good medium of communication with our online customers since 1998

E what? I have heard rumours about it but can't see it taking off when you can just phone someone instead.

[jont]

Hi Jont,

Thank you for your comments.

In regards to the Actinic Online trial procedure, we request contact information for many reasons, one being so we are able to offer you support and guidance through your trial period. Just as you would provide contact details when setting up a trial hosting account, we need details to create your Actinic Online trial site.

We also offer the option for a free getting started training session which is useful to help you get the most out of your trial. Without a contact no. It would be very difficult to get in touch otherwise.

This should be optional though. Support and guidance should be through an FAQ / Knowledge base, a community forum or phone support at the users request.

The only genuine need for a phone number is for the sales department.

[Jan]

It's a good thing that has been badly implemented. I am sure that lots of my customers would love to get a phone call to guide them through setting up a plugin. It needs to be offered as a check box on purchase, or you could send an email out to the customer offering it, you could even have it set on by default just in case people miss it. You can see from this thread that some people find it intrusive and unhelpful and so you should look into how you are handling it and look for improvements. My problem is the opposite, deadly silence on the support ticket I sent in months ago (from Actinic Online, not Sellerdeck).

Cheers,

[Sean Williams]

My problem is the opposite, deadly silence on the support ticket I sent in months ago (from Actinic Online, not Sellerdeck).

I have a lovely selection of those.
Whenever I need reminding why I've spent so many hundreds of hours working it out for myself, I just browse the support email folder

Coincidentally, we had an email (not a phone call ) today telling us about the new improved whizz-bang all-singing etc support system.
Heard it all before shirley, but I'm really hopeful.

[Jan]

Hi Sean,

I think that the new support system is for Sellerdeck, I've had a look it looked like a Zendesk helpdesk. I thought it looked ok.

It should improve support IMHO, you can raise tickets and check on their progress, if it is anytihng like the Kayako helpdesk we use at Mole End it should highlight overdue tickets etc. The key difference between this and the one that was in place previously is improved ticket visibility to the customer, which I think it a very good thing.

Cheers,

[Benjamin Dyer]

Hi Sean,

I think that the new support system is for Sellerdeck, I've had a look it looked like a Zendesk helpdesk. I thought it looked ok.

It should improve support IMHO, you can raise tickets and check on their progress, if it is anytihng like the Kayako helpdesk we use at Mole End it should highlight overdue tickets etc. The key difference between this and the one that was in place previously is improved ticket visibility to the customer, which I think it a very good thing.

Cheers,

Hey, yep, this was us. We've moved ticket systems to use ZenDesk, its a huge undertaking with about a years planning. ZenDesk is a great ticket system, as is Kayako, we spent a lot of time evaluating both. Opted for ZD in the end as it integrates nicely into Logmein (another improvement from first line support) and Jira which is our software tracking tool.

[Sean Williams]

Hey, yep, this was us. We've moved ticket systems to use ZenDesk, its a huge undertaking with about a years planning. ZenDesk is a great ticket system, as is Kayako, we spent a lot of time evaluating both. Opted for ZD in the end as it integrates nicely into Logmein (another improvement from first line support) and Jira which is our software tracking tool.

Hi Ben
thanks for the detail.
My question is really - 'will the quality of the support itself improve?'

My experience the last time I needed it (2 or 3 months ago IIRC) was that it was still lacking.
One issue I had to fix myself as I didn't receive an adequate/competent answer from support.
As for the second issue, well that disappeared into 'Development' and that was the last I heard.

Cheers
Sean

[Benjamin Dyer]

Hi Ben
thanks for the detail.
My question is really - 'will the quality of the support itself improve?'

My experience the last time I needed it (2 or 3 months ago IIRC) was that it was still lacking.
One issue I had to fix myself as I didn't receive an adequate/competent answer from support.
As for the second issue, well that disappeared into 'Development' and that was the last I heard.

Cheers
Sean

Hey Sean,

During our last support survey we hit 80% satisfaction, with nearly 100 people rating support 8 or above out of 10. We are pretty pleased with the support quality at the moment but appreciate there is always room for improvement.

We opted for ZenDesk to speed up the ticket allocation to subject matter experts as well as giving our customers detailed tracking and transparency. Nothing irritates me more than your example of a ticket getting lost, I hope we would have stamped that out. I'd be interested in your thoughts on ZD after a few weeks of use.

[mje]

Having initially rebelled against the re-brand, then warmed to it but stated that having tried the Cloud based Actinic I would never switch because I wanted to continue with the ownership the product not rent it .... been to the conference where Ben acknowledged in his lecture that people did indeed want to remain with the desk top software for numerous reason........why Actinic have I received a letter from you today still trying to sell it to me with extended free trials?

Please stop these un-solicited sales calls / communications!