Infusionsoft Architecture Overall Grade: C

The overall technical architecture might not be part of a normal review, but it affects a lot of things and I think it may matter to a lot of users!

The good things about the architecture:

• Infusionsoft is written in Java and JSP.  Java is known for being one of the most reliable, enterprise-grade server languages.
• In my experience, Infusionsoft has very good up time.
• Infusionsoft is very good about communicating outages and updates.

The not so good things, and why I graded Infusionsoft as a C:

• The application does not seem to be structured that well. I know this from digging around in the internals and using the API. Some pieces of data are just hard to get to.
• As a result of the gaps in the way the application is structured, it is hard for Infusionsoft to provide access via the API. This limits what you can do with Infusionsoft.
• Some things are just plain wrong. For example, when someone places an order, the Shipping address is stored as address-2 in the Contact record. The information should be stored as part of the order. Let’s say a customer buys a product and sends it as a gift to someone. Then, later on buys another product and sends it to someone else. The first customers information is overwritten and lost forever. Supposedly, Infusionsoft is working on fixing this. But, the fact that it could get into the product shows there are some gaps in their thinking and process.
• Updates end up causing too many things to break. Even with the best designed applications, an update can cause something to break. However, this happens too often with Infusionsoft. They seem to work hard to solve any problems, but the problems can still hurt users.
• I think the lack of good structure is slowing their progress on adding new features and improving the product.

If you are a typical Infusionsoft user, most of this may not affect you that much. I have personally been the CEO of a software company, and we made many of the same mistakes. That’s why I can see the problem clearly! Still, it does limit the capability of Infusionsoft and affects how much you want to rely on their software.

Clarke Bishop Infusionsoft Infusionsoft, Review

Infusionsoft Software API Overall Grade: B-

API means Application Programming Interface. Essentially it’s a “language” that lets two computers talk to each other.

Let’s say you have some custom system that you use to run your business. If your system could talk to Infusionsoft, but systems could work together to help your business run more efficiently.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, here is a list of ways you can use the Infusionsoft API (from Joe Manna of Infusionsoft). If you have questions about what you might do, please leave a comment below.

For now, I’m going to give you my review of the API. Here are the good things about it:

• It lets you solve a lot of problems that otherwise couldn’t be solved.
• It’s reliable. Once coded and setup, it works well.
• It give you a decent set of functions to query the available database tables and retrieve and update information.

But there are also some things that are incomplete or don’t work as well:

• It uses XMLRPC which is an older web services protocol. It works, but can be harder to use.
• There is a lot of data which you would like to get that isn’t accessible via the API.
  • For example, email statistics are available via the reporting interface, but not the API.
  • Infusionsoft is understandably protective of some data — Double Optins for example. If users could double optin via the API, that’s asking for abuse.
  • Still, for the most part, I think users should be able to retrieve their data.
• The API does not always seem to be a priority for Infusionsoft.  Additional functionality is promised, but then never happens. There are clear gaps in functionality that need to be addressed.
• Support for the API has declined lately. I think there has been some turnover and some key API knowledge left the company.

There is a PHP SDK that can help get a PHP programmer started. And, there are several websites that at least offer some documentation.

Overall, the API has a lot of possibility, but spotty implementation. I’m glad it’s there, but it could also be so much better!

Clarke Bishop Infusionsoft API, Infusionsoft, Review