Software4Nonprofits Blog

I just read the very interesting book “Free”, by Chris Anderson, and I’m giving some thought to creating a limited-feature free version of the program. (The full version would still be available to small organizations, using the same 4 criteria I use now for free licenses.) I’m not at all decided that I want to do this, but I thought I would run it by you for your comments and advice.

The rationale behind doing this is that it brings more users in, some of whom may become paid users if and when they decide they want the full version. They would also have to pay for support (other than free help getting it set up initially), probably at the $30 annual fee level.

Here are the features that after my first review, I think I might remove from a free version:

• All handling of Gifts in Kind, including removing the optional Description field from the Donation fields.
• The Email Address field, the three renamable Other Info fields and the Comments field from the Donor Details area.
• Limited User features.
• All mail merge (Letters menu) features, which thus includes removing the ability to create your own receipt formats.
• Custom Reports
• The All Donors and Filtered Donors options on the Receipt menu (so, all receipts must be done one donor at a time). (I’m least sure about removing this one!)
• From the Database menu, all Importing options, Reassign Envelope Numbers, Switch Databases, and SQL Select.
• From the Help menu, Request or Install License Key. (That’s just a side effect, because a free version wouldn’t need license keys!)

I’m very open to discussion on any of the above points, as I may not have picked the right ones. (Have I missed anything that you think free version users should not get?)

The free version has to be good enough for a reasonable number of churches and charities with limited needs to use, but it has to omit enough that at least (say) half of all users will either want to start with the full version, or will eventually choose to upgrade to it.

What are your thoughts? Thank you.

I have just made some changes to the web site (especially the home page), following the directions of a very helpful eBook I purchased on marketing for small software businesses. If you have a few minutes to review the changes and send me any comments you have about them, I’d really appreciate it.

The changes include

• the addition of BUY NOW and DOWNLOAD NOW buttons to the home page and various other places (what marketers call the “ask”)
• changing the main messaging on the home page to more clearly describe what DONATION is and why you might want to consider it (what marketers call the “hook”)
• adding a short additional boxed testimonial to the main text area of the home page (further increases credibility)
• adding a 30-day money back guarantee after the initial Full License payment (decreases the impression of risk in the purchase)

I’m also still wondering about the “tagline”, shown at the top right of each page: “Simple. Powerful. All you need.” I wonder whether the “all you need” part isn’t a bit untruthful and exaggerated. After all, almost everyone who buys DONATION will also buy a bookkeeping program like Quicken, QuickBooks, Simply Accounting etc. And then there’s all of the rest of their software. Obviously, what I’m trying to say is it’s all you need for what it’s good at – tracking donors and donations and receipting. But even then, for some organizations, it’s not all they need.

Do you think I should drop that tagline, or better yet, replace it with something else? I still like the “Simple. Powerful.” part, but that alone is too short. Any bright ideas, whether using that part or not?

Any other thoughts on the web site, whether related to parts I’ve mentioned or not? If possible, please comment by adding a Reply to this blog posting, so we can all comment on each others’ comments!

Many thanks.

Wow, creating these demo videos is fun!

I have added two more videos, at http://www.software4nonprofits.com/demos.htm. One is on Editing Mail Merge Letters and Receipts (17 minutes), and one on Using Mail Merge Receipts (3 minutes).

What else would be helpful to have training videos on? Perhaps features for churches, like One Date Donation Entry and the Limited User Password? Can you think of anything else that’s a bit confusing at first, that could use a video?

Thanks.

Some of you are probably aware that there are a couple of fairly high-quality demos on the program’s web site, at:

www.software4nonprofits.com/demos.htm

I am experimenting with creating my own demos, with some demo-making software called Camtasia. I have created a first one on doing basic mail merging in DONATION (without editing the letters yet – that’s for another demo). It’s on that same demos page, under the heading Training Videos, named “Basic Mail Merge”.

This new video uses me as the narrator (not a professional voice actor as in the original two demos), has slightly lower video quality, some um’s and ah’s, etc.

I’d like your opinion on whether this demo is (a) helpful, and (b) professional enough to not reflect badly on the program and the web site.

If you do like it, please also let me know what other areas in the program could benefit from a training video. I would already definitely intend to do one about editing the mail merge letters and receipts.

If convenient, please leave any reactions as Comments on this blog entry. Thanks.