What improvements are you expecting?

pilotdavepilotdave Registered Users Posts: 785 Major grins
edited September 6, 2012 in SmugMug Pro Sales Support
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

Comments

  • darklightphotographydarklightphotography Registered Users Posts: 45 Big grins
    edited September 5, 2012
    I am basing my expectations on the years it took for foreign currency transaction, so I am expecting nothing, at least this year.

    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.
  • smilenjsmilenj Registered Users Posts: 57 Big grins
    edited September 6, 2012
    I suspect they will add labs which is the best way to grow the business. What I hope is an easy favorite system and user based categories.
    Joey Chandler
    San Francisco Portrait and Wedding Photographer
    If you are in the Bay Area, join us for the monthly SmugMug User Group
  • paulbrockpaulbrock Registered Users Posts: 515 Major grins
    edited September 6, 2012
    Expecting? honestly, very little. the odd tweak here or there.

    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
    .....
  • Pure EnergyPure Energy Registered Users Posts: 180 Major grins
    edited September 6, 2012
    I'm expecting all the features I voted for over here:

    http://feedback.smugmug.com

    and of course, all of the features I could not vote on because I ran out of votes.
  • jmphotocraftjmphotocraft Registered Users Posts: 2,987 Major grins
    edited September 6, 2012
    For one thing I want more levels of categories. I'd like to be able to have categories like this: Me > Sports > League > Division > Team, where Me is my top level, and Team is an individual gallery.

    For example, Jack > Sports > Little League 2012 > AAA Baseball > Red Sox

    or Jack > Sports > Travel Soccer 2012 > U11 Boys > Fusion
    -Jack

    An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
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