Any Inksoft users?

[farmboygraphics]

I've had my Inksoft site up and running since the start of the year. All I can say it that the returns are very poor. I'm getting close to just cutting my loses and moving on. We've pushed the site through paid social media, a billboard and print ads. It gets 25 to 30 solid hits a day, but no sales. The pricing I have up on there is stupid cheap. I've asked a few customers to critique it and most have said it's easy enough to use. We just did an order for a local customer who went to the site first and then went to Custom Ink because he felt that site was easier and had more art available. I've let the company know I'm not exactly pleased with my results. I've talked with another local shop owner who uses it and he told me it does well when he spends around 3 grand a month to promote it. He likes the pricing feature, but I already have pricing software here at the shop. Although it's nice to have a web based calculator, but not at a cost of $200 a month.  After 14 years in business it seems I can still find ways to pi$$ money away.

[MrBreeze]

We have all the same issues...We get some tire kickers but are having a difficult time justifying the cost.  We wanted it for the store fronts but have found that these are not worth the time and trouble.  It takes mountains of time to really customize the site and it seems that some of that time could be spent chasing better types of business.  If you want to view my site: goodimpressionsusa.com  Good Luck with your decision.  We are weighting the same thing ourselves.

[Frog]

Ya know, I hate to be a negative Nellie, but in all of my time on a few forums, I have yet to hear a resounding "attaboy!" on this much touted software.
The only really good things I hear come from press releases online and in the mags.

[Shanarchy]

We use it. I like it. We don't get much off of it yet, but we do get some.

Here is what needs to be remembered, this is to be a tool like custom ink uses. Whenever I get someone who sends me custom ink (or the like) art, I tell them awesome, we can do something like that. Now click this link and create you design on OUR software. They design their software to give you a preview that their competitors can not use.

Generally speaking, none of us are going to get the web traffic of custom ink, blue cotton, jakprints, or any of the other giant web companies.

The other thing we must do with it is market it. If no one knows it's there, no one will use it.

I'd say it's definitely the best option I've seen available, but  at that price, it's not for everyone. If you aren't getting anything from it after a year, and don't have any plans of how to market to change that, get rid of it and save the $1200-2400/yr. Everyone's market is different.

[ZooCity]

How is the backend of Inksoft?  The couple times I've looked at the program it seemed lacking there.  If it had robust features not only for pricing but for workflow, tasking, press data sheets, inventory etc. it may be worth the cost just for the shop management aspects.  I think the whole point is not just to be online but to have it integrated to your backend.

Can you upload your own clip art to Inksoft or just the packages they offer?

[farmboygraphics]

Can you upload your own clip art to Inksoft or just the packages they offer?

Yes, you can upload as much as you want, but to be honest for me as a 2 person shop I just don't have the time for that. One of the things that irked me was when they sent out an email 3 days before St. Patrick's day releasing a graphics package for the holiday. I looked for it on my site but didn't find it. Called to ask about it and was told that I had to download it and then upload it to my site...WTH. I agree that it's a tool and you should get out what you put in, but I just haven't found that to be true. In 4 months we've had it the cost has been close to $5,000 between the initial setup, monthly payments and advertising. At this point I'm probably going to finish out this month and work on getting my old site back up.

[Screen Medics]

Hey guys,

We use INKSOFT and have for about 4 months. Look at the stock product names, images and descriptions - The images are small and you can't see the details of the garment. - The product names are clunky (10 oz. Pigment - Dyed Boxy Crew) and it seems like the descriptions are written to intentionally not include the keywords that people are searching for (80% cotton, 20% polyester; Boxy cut; Double-needle stitching throughout; Drop shoulders; Rib knit cuffs; Open-bottom with side vents;). No where does the product name or description say "sweatshirt" or "pull over" . I feel that this is one of the reasons we are not receiving traffic or converging sales - the keywords just are not there. We intend on rewriting the names and descriptions to be SEO optimized and also find nice pictures. If 95% of google searches don't go past the first page than how do we have a chance at business? I feel that out of the box marketing must be performed for us to have a shot at sales. I have shared my displeasure with the sites load times on other message boards and have received private messages from inksoft support agents addressing my frustration and promised continued improvements on the speed of the design tool. I am sure the slow speed also turns off customers. I have asked INKSOFT if they had instructional videos on utilizing the design tool that are non branded for us to put on our homepage. I feel that a video overview of the design tool will help customers understand the "Layers" " Select All" "Duplicate" and "Zoom" features. The video also will let the customers know that all of the text on the designs can be edited to their needs. I feel that the customers that make it to our sites and get all the way into the design tool and look at the awesome inksoft designs don't even know that the words are editable. I am confident that the above matters I have addressed are some of the reasons we are not having enough sales to satisfy us. We need to find out as much as we can about why we are not having traffic and fix those problems. If we don't have time or can't get around to that we must quit and move on.

All of this being said I would like share with you a thread on another forum from a upset inksoft customer. He explains in detail how he addressed the product name and description and image issues and how he is unable to find a SEO firm that will even except the job of optimizing the inksoft pages. They say "it cant be done in a effictve manor" http://www.t-shirtforums.com/ecommerce-site-design/t500961.html

I look forward to your feedback