It may seem basic to you, but having a set of clear, written business goals is essential! I talk with a lot of businesses who may think they have goals, but are often vague or change from one day to the next.

Why?

• Without written goals, your thinking will tend to be more muddled. Worse, you’ll probably believe your thinking is clear and not realize how much your unclear thinking is hurting your business.
• Your goals act as a filter to help prioritize your time and effort. If it doesn’t forward a goal, why do it?
• Clear business goals will help you create clear objectives for your website. Do you want a website that generates leads for you, a site that sells products, or something else?
• When you know what you’re looking for, you’re more likely to find it! There are various explanations for why life works this way. All I know is that it works.

So, how do you create good business goals?

Your goals should:

• Be Specific
• Be Measurable
• Have a time frame
• Be stated in the past tense.

This last one needs a little explanation.  Imagine you are in the future, and your goal was already fully realized. Writing your goals this way will make them seem more achievable!

Here’s an example goal:

XYZ company had $546,000 of total revenues in 2010.

This goal is specific, it’s measurable, it states a time frame, and it’s written in the past tense.

So, please, whether you’ve been in business for a long time or are just starting your company, create a set of clear business goals. If you get stuck, leave a comment, and I’ll help you get going! And, when this works for you, please leave a comment to tell everyone how you succeeded.

Clarke Bishop Marketing, Strategy Marketing Tips

Infusionsoft Customer Support Overall Grade: C-

I split out Customer Support from Technical Support both because they are different, and because I have have very different experiences with them! (Here’s my review of Infusionsoft’s Technical Support).

Unlike Technical Support, Customer Support just doesn’t seem to be a priority for Infusionsoft. Here are some of the problems I know about:

• I have heard regular stories of people who can’t get Infusionsoft to stop charging their credit cards. Infusionsoft promises “no risk” or “money back,” but then it is sometimes a hassle for the consumer. I don’t have any reason to think this is an intentional policy.  After all, you can always just dispute the charges with your credit card company. My best guess is that Infusionsoft just isn’t paying enough attention to this issue.
• Customer Support systems are cobbled together and don’t work smoothly. I talked about the Fusebox in my Technical Support review. It is a good tool, but has some annoying quirks. For example, you create a technical support case, and their system sends you a status email. Great so far. But, click on the link in the email, and it denies you access — You aren’t logged in. The only thing is you can’t log in — There’s no login box! You have to log in to your Infusionsoft application, then click Help -> Take me to the Fusebox. Then, you have to go back to the email and click the link. It’s just annoying. It probably doesn’t work this way from inside Infusionsoft, or it would have been fixed.
• This seems to have gotten better lately, but in the past, updates to the software have sometimes caused various things to break. Usually not big things, and they usually get them fixed, but the problems can still waste a lot of time.
• Using a multitude of systems that aren’t well integrated together. Infusionsoft has just added their Ideas section into the Fusebox. This used to be on a separate site. The Fusebox version may end up being better. Still, it seems like there is an ongoing churn of separate systems that creates confusion about where you should go to get information. It doesn’t look like customer support was ever fully thought through.
• I don’t think Infusionsoft focuses enough on the customer’s experience. Throughout the application, there are functions that work one place and not in others. Or work differently in one place or another. Here’s an example. There’s an Email Batch Status report that shows results from a broadcast email. It shows you this nice pie chart. But, it’s not clear that you can click on the slices to get more information. Sometimes that is! Some slices behave differently than others. It’s just confusing and annoying.

Most of these things in isolation by themselves are small and easily managed. But in total, they make Infusionsoft less usable. I think Infusionsoft could easily improve in this area with a moderate bit of effort, and I don’t understand why they haven’t made it a priority.

Clarke Bishop Infusionsoft Infusionsoft, Review

Infusionsoft Technical Support Overall Grade: B+

I almost rated technical support as an A-, but it seems like they have slipped a bit in recent months. Maybe it’s the pressure of rapid growth.

At any rate, most of the time technical support is very good. Infusionsoft is a complicated product, and I’m sure it is challenging to answer all the questions people must ask.

I appreciate that telephone support is available — A lot of companies aren’t even offering live human support any more. It’s available during working hours Monday - Friday, except that Infusionsoft closes early on Fridays.

I have consistently found that the support technicians are patient and have a genuine desire to help. And, I have been regularly surprised by some of the creative ideas and tricks I have learned in my support calls.

For more esoteric questions like specific API questions, it may take longer to get an answer, but even then, I think Infusionsoft does better than a lot of companies.

There is also the Fusebox which is like a souped up forum. It has articles on the product, a way to ask or answer questions, discussions, and ideas for improvement. If you ask a question, you are likely to get a response from an actual Infusionsoft employee, but you may also get information from a user or Infusionsoft consultant like me. The Fusebox could be easier to use, but it is a great way to get help when the support desk is closed.

Clarke Bishop Infusionsoft Infusionsoft, Review

Here’s how you can add custom order fields to the Infusionsoft shopping cart!

1. Go to Setup -> Misc. Settings. Under Application Settings, you’ll see a section called Custom Fields. Make sure you select Order from the drop down before clicking Go.
2. Add the custom field you want. Be sure to select the appropriate field type as this will affect the searches you can do later on.
   

   Custom Field Screen

3. Click View the field database names (for the API). Write down or print out the “Database Name.” You’ll need this later on. For example, the name of my Test field is Test1. These names are case-sensitive, so make sure you capture the name exactly!
4. Now, go to Setup -> Shopping Cart and select Theme Gallery. The edit your current theme. Click the HTML Sections tab, and then click the Edit button for Area 1. Enter the HTML code for your custom field like this:
   <input name=”Order0_Test1″ id=”Order0_Test1″ type=”text” value=”Test Order Data”/>
   Notice that you have to put Order0_ in front of the database name. That’s the word, “Order” followed by a zero and an underscore. You should have this in both your name and id attributes.
   Click Save.
5. Click Back to Theme Gallery and click Live Preview. You should see your store front. Add a product to the cart and click Checkout. You’ll see your custom fields in Area1 above the Billing Information.
   

   Shopping Cart with Custom Fields

6. Now, pay for the order. Here’s a good trick. Under Shopping Cart, Payment Options, select the checkbox for payment by check. Then, when you’re testing, you can just click the pay by check option in your shopping cart. You don’t actually have to pay for the order this way!
7. Finally, go to Orders -> Find Orders …, and lookup your new order.  You’ll see a Custom Fields tab. Click that, and you’ll see your order complete with the custom field data.
   

   Order Screen with Custom Fields

I hope this is helpful. Leave a comment below with any questions or to let me know how this works for you!

Clarke Bishop Infusionsoft Infusionsoft, Shopping Cart