The divs "Customers" and "Goals" have the same text. I think the price is too low. Also, a screencast would be nice.
Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#22Small thing—but not sure I'd buy a product from a company called "Dangerous Apps" It's been a while since I've used Goldmine, ACT, or any of the more SMB focused CRM apps but it's definitely not clear why I'd choose CRM Fly vs those products. i'd emphasize simplicity and ease of use—there are a lot of folks out there who benefit from sales tracking tools who simply don't need everything out there. Would, however, sug…
BTW, another approach is eventually tackle a vertical... perhaps you'll end-up being the #1 CRM app for small practice attorneys, dentists, accountants, etc... you can potentially carve out a niche there, give yourself more focus on whom you want to build for and what their problems are, and find venues for better addressing those markets. I know several folks who started out thinking "broad", received limited but he…
Definitely hear you on this last point. I am currently planning work with a buddy who is the expert in a niche area. We will spin off and work in this area to tailor it for his (and hopefully others) needs.
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#23I know nothing about CRM tools, but I have some superficial feedback about your landing page.
In "Take control of your leads, customers, products, projects, tasks using a modern interface [...]", you probably want an "and" before "tasks".
Underneath your "Customers" screenshot, it looks like you pasted in the same description as for the "Goals" screenshot.
Typographically, your double spacing between sentences makes the left edge of the text look horrible, both in the opening blurb at the top and in some of the screenshot descriptions. The text does not line up vertically on the left-hand side.
Finally, this is less objective but "DangerousApps" seems like it might not be the best name for your enterprise software company. That name might fly for a funky indy game company, but to most businesses, the word "dangerous" is just about the last thing they want to be associated with their software.
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#24First of all, props for making a desktop app.
Don't mind what others say about the UI, I know how hard is it do something that doesn't look like butt on Windows. Yours has a good balance of customization, the native look and feel and a reference to the Office. I wouldn't worry about the UI, it's solid. Everyone picks on it, because it's the easiest thing to critique.
There are few things that I don't like, in the order they stuck out."Fly! CRM! Fly!" in the page title - this is buddy-buddy and cute, but you aren't selling a social app or a game. You have to get your first impression right, or you won't get a download. To that end, you must have an About section with at least some details on where you are and the contact information. Similarly, there must be the Support section, ideally with some sort of public Forums sections, because not everyone is comfortable emailing the support.
Secondly, you must absolutely have a free/trial version. As low as your current price point is, Windows users are not used to paying for trials. I'm sure you know that.
Third, the name in combination with the logo - again, too playful. And this leads to the most important part - this playful, less serious feel combined with $5 price point says "here's a toy program I made for the lulz." It's a complete miss in terms of branding.
Overall, the program doesn't come across as a professional product. It looks like one, it is certainly aimed at a professional crowd, but it doesn't have all expected supporting attributes that would confirm it is one. The good news is that all this is very easy to fix compared to what you already accomplished.
Once again - good stuff, just needs a bit of a positioning polish.
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#25It looks nice, but it also looks like Office 2003. Have you looked into matching the 2007/2012 UI? Also, I think $5 is way too low. The people who need CRM would probably doubt the product's quality at such a low price point. Better to have 1 customer at $50 (or better yet $99 or more) than ten at $5.
Good point. I will look to see if I can raise the price. Just have to make sure the value is there.
If you don't believe your product is worth more than $5 then it'll be hard to convince others of it.
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#26It looks nice, but it also looks like Office 2003. Have you looked into matching the 2007/2012 UI? Also, I think $5 is way too low. The people who need CRM would probably doubt the product's quality at such a low price point. Better to have 1 customer at $50 (or better yet $99 or more) than ten at $5.
Good point. I will look to see if I can raise the price. Just have to make sure the value is there.
What I'm saying is pick another equally arbitrary price point and then see if you can sell copies. I think $5 will be an active deterrent to sales.
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#27I used to work for a company that customized Microsoft CRM. Im not sure I understand this, do your client's have to buy a Microsoft license to use this? You're using their API right? It looks just like out of the box Microsoft CRM, are you sure your not going to get sued trying to sell this? Sorry if im being negative maybe with some more explanation on the site it would make more sense to me and your customers who a…
This was done in a very short amount of time using DevExpress' XAF. Also, this CRM looks like every other CRM. That is also true. But that is the nature of CRM tools. They all look the same.
No they dont, this looks exactly like MS CRM 4.0 not like Salesforce.com or CRM using Google's apps or even the latest version of MS CRM. Also MS CRM has all the same features as this.
Is this hosted or clients have to host it themselves? Do you have support or tell people what they need to get this running? Im guessing a server, windows server license, a MSSQL license and Outlook licenses at the least right? Or does each person have to have his own copy of the data? And the pay with paypal link even feels wonky.
Im sorry to have to say this but this feels like a scam and if it isn't then I think you really need to focus on the design of your website and customer education.
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#28First of all, props for making a desktop app. Don't mind what others say about the UI, I know how hard is it do something that doesn't look like butt on Windows. Yours has a good balance of customization, the native look and feel and a reference to the Office. I wouldn't worry about the UI, it's solid. Everyone picks on it, because it's the easiest thing to critique. There are few things that I don't like, in the ord…
Love the comments. Thanks tons for the feedback. Just curious... What is your thought on the fly icon? Keep it or dump it?
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#29My suggestions:
1) Mention that it is Windows only and supports Windows 8
2) Take the screenshots with the DevExpress Metropolis skin if your app doesn't look too bad with it. It looks like a "modern" windows 8 app
3) Big free 15 day trial button
4) Basic version for $20; Advanced version for $99 (e.g. Report designer only in Advanced version)
Re: Show HN: I built this CRM Tool for Windows. Thoughts?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good point. I will look to see if I can raise the price. Just have to make sure the value is there.
What I'm saying is pick another equally arbitrary price point and then see if you can sell copies. I think $5 will be an active deterrent to sales.
Awesome. I will make the change tonight and will offer a trial version.