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What improvements are you expecting?
pilotdave
Registered Users Posts: 785 Major grins
Instead of ranting about the price increase or offering smugmug suggestions on how they should change their business model, I wonder what smugmug users expect... or don't expect... with the big improvements smugmug has been hinting at.
I can easily look at exactly what the competition is offering for $250/year. Smugmug hasn't let us see the new features list. I know that for such a big price increase and smugmug's hints, there should be a whole lot of new and improved features.
So what do you think? Will we be getting self-fulfillment? The ability to change orders ourselves after they are placed by customers? Anything else straight from the competition's feature list?
Personally I'm expecting a prettier but less user-friendly interface. I expect some small new features that aren't quite complete. And I expect that the improvements are more hype than substance. But maybe I'm just being pessimistic.
My wishlist includes completion of the packages and coupon features. Smugmug said when they were released that they are just a start and improvements will be coming. We need coupons that can be applied to particular products or packages. We need packages that can include digital downloads. We need packages that can only be purchased with an accompanying coupon. We need a new shopping cart system that combines all these features and helps customers get what they need and offer an appropriate package if one is available. Packages shouldn't be a separate buying experience. And the entire package interface needs to be reworked. Ever tried to order a package with images from various galleries? It's hard and time consuming.
I'd like to see substantial improvements to the bulk caption/keyword tool. Autocomplete for keywords would be great. Easier and more powerful filtering for selecting what images we want to apply a keyword or caption to would be great. We should have access to caption templates and the ability to automatically add info to captions... such as date taken, exif info, etc. Finally we need to be able to see larger images within the tool.
I've been asking for a "copy to another gallery" tool for years. Smart galleries and collections have their place, but they don't work for everything.
I could go on and on with the improvements I'd like to see. Let's hear yours! What do you want smugmug to include and what do you expect the new and improved smugmug will really offer?
Dave
I can easily look at exactly what the competition is offering for $250/year. Smugmug hasn't let us see the new features list. I know that for such a big price increase and smugmug's hints, there should be a whole lot of new and improved features.
So what do you think? Will we be getting self-fulfillment? The ability to change orders ourselves after they are placed by customers? Anything else straight from the competition's feature list?
Personally I'm expecting a prettier but less user-friendly interface. I expect some small new features that aren't quite complete. And I expect that the improvements are more hype than substance. But maybe I'm just being pessimistic.
My wishlist includes completion of the packages and coupon features. Smugmug said when they were released that they are just a start and improvements will be coming. We need coupons that can be applied to particular products or packages. We need packages that can include digital downloads. We need packages that can only be purchased with an accompanying coupon. We need a new shopping cart system that combines all these features and helps customers get what they need and offer an appropriate package if one is available. Packages shouldn't be a separate buying experience. And the entire package interface needs to be reworked. Ever tried to order a package with images from various galleries? It's hard and time consuming.
I'd like to see substantial improvements to the bulk caption/keyword tool. Autocomplete for keywords would be great. Easier and more powerful filtering for selecting what images we want to apply a keyword or caption to would be great. We should have access to caption templates and the ability to automatically add info to captions... such as date taken, exif info, etc. Finally we need to be able to see larger images within the tool.
I've been asking for a "copy to another gallery" tool for years. Smart galleries and collections have their place, but they don't work for everything.
I could go on and on with the improvements I'd like to see. Let's hear yours! What do you want smugmug to include and what do you expect the new and improved smugmug will really offer?
Dave
0
Comments
What I want, and what I am checking the competition for is:
* Self fulfillment
* An Australian pro lab
* Packages in whatever currency I want
* Coupons that apply to certain products only
* Downloads in packages
* Less obvious Smugmug branding in the shopping cart
* Accept Paypal for purchases
* A facility to change gallery settings in bulk that doesn't make me cry
* Store PDF files for brochures etc
But the feature I would most like to see is an end to the endless "We'd really really like to tell you what is coming, but we aren't going to" spiel. I need to be able to plan the future for my business, and I need some idea of what is coming to do that.
San Francisco Portrait and Wedding Photographer
If you are in the Bay Area, join us for the monthly SmugMug User Group
Hoping for complete branding so hiding the smugmug entirely, from footer to shopping cart. (not much to ask for a premium product)
ability for clients to download a full gallery, for free, without that 'generate a link for 2 weeks' faff.
ability to have more than one lab per gallery, so the family who came over to the UK for an event get to order prints from a US lab without me having to create two 'identical' galleries (can't use virtual copies as the pricelist stuff is inherited too)
Google+ integration
More gallery levels
proof delay on digital downloads
coupons that work 100% correctly with foreign currency
ability to pay my sub for next year early without having to wait for an automated payment on the day of renewal
consistent notification of downtime (planned and unexpected) to Smugmug customers
fixing the watermarks so I don't need separate ones for portrait and landscape photos
.....
http://feedback.smugmug.com
and of course, all of the features I could not vote on because I ran out of votes.
For example, Jack > Sports > Little League 2012 > AAA Baseball > Red Sox
or Jack > Sports > Travel Soccer 2012 > U11 Boys > Fusion
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.