I'm writing a software review right now. It's the weekend. I'm a procrastinator. Article is due tomorrow. Enough said?
So I have set up prior phone calls to get info from most of the companies, but I have also expected to get much of my detailed information via their website.
I figured I could either view a video demo or download a trial copy of the software and play around with their features. (We call that self-service. We expect that everywhere these days.)
Surely I could identify some unique and special attributes on my own. Right? Well, maybe. Some of the websites require you to fill out a bunch of info and then wait for someone to call you back to provide you access to the demo.
That is a sale killer.
If I am a prospective buyer who wants to do research, I am probably going to be doing that during times when no one is manning or woman-ing your telephone. Do you think I am going to want to wait around until your people show up to see what your product can do? Give me something that makes me interested enough to wait for normal business hours.
And don't tell me how great it is that your product is sold by the module or runs on SQL. For goodness sakes, we've been doing that with accounting software since 1984. What is exciting, unique or different about your product? And do you have a fun customer or two I can read about on your site?
Don't get me started. Software websites are so bad - and they are old school. Not hip, not interesting, and don't use video.
The last thing you want in a person who's reviewing your software is a crabby procrastinator.
So I have set up prior phone calls to get info from most of the companies, but I have also expected to get much of my detailed information via their website.
I figured I could either view a video demo or download a trial copy of the software and play around with their features. (We call that self-service. We expect that everywhere these days.)
Surely I could identify some unique and special attributes on my own. Right? Well, maybe. Some of the websites require you to fill out a bunch of info and then wait for someone to call you back to provide you access to the demo.
That is a sale killer.
If I am a prospective buyer who wants to do research, I am probably going to be doing that during times when no one is manning or woman-ing your telephone. Do you think I am going to want to wait around until your people show up to see what your product can do? Give me something that makes me interested enough to wait for normal business hours.
And don't tell me how great it is that your product is sold by the module or runs on SQL. For goodness sakes, we've been doing that with accounting software since 1984. What is exciting, unique or different about your product? And do you have a fun customer or two I can read about on your site?
Don't get me started. Software websites are so bad - and they are old school. Not hip, not interesting, and don't use video.
The last thing you want in a person who's reviewing your software is a crabby procrastinator.
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