The thing about software is that it’s never done - we have to keep listening to what our customers like and don’t like, what they would like to see, what they would love to see, and what they really desperately need, yesterday! And we have to sift through all of this, and respond accordingly. Which doesn’t mean that everyone gets everything they want, all the time - even though that’s what we’d really like to be able to provide.
But in the last 18 months we have hired 3 new programmers to augment the amazing team we already had in place, and so we set ourselves some big goals for improving the software. Some of these won’t be very visible and won’t really affect the way you use the software - these are mostly optimizations that increase the security and speed of the code. That work is ongoing, and we don’t make a big deal out of it when we push that code to your auction sites.
But each fall, we try to have some new stuff that can improve your auctions, stuff we want to talk about! And this fall is no exception. During September and October, we are going to be rolling out:
- A new design for the public-facing pages on your auction site. This new design works better on phones and tablets, and has larger spaces for you to place graphics to brand your event. The affected pages are: the homepage, the online-registration pages, the item- and cash-donation pages, and the catalog.
This new design will roll out to all NEW SITES built after it is released; and will be automatically rolled out to all event sites for events scheduled to happen after November 1, 2017. If you have created a site for an event that is scheduled to happen prior to November 1, 2017, our support team will contact you to ask if you want the upgraded code or not. The new design will be available to all customers regardless of their annual plan level.
- A revamped and greatly expanded set of tools for designing and selling sponsorships. You’ll be able to assemble a sponsorship package in the software that contains tickets, items, and promotional opportunities on the home page, catalog, and/or guest receipt. Then you will be able to sell those sponsorship packages alongside your event tickets in the online-registration system. This feature will only be available to Plus and Premium subscribers.
- The ability to offer recurring cash donations as part of your Paddle Raise, and/or on the Donate Now page. Example: your Paddle Raise (aka Fund-A-Need, Special Appeal, or Direct Ask) may start out asking for $5,000 pledges, then moves on to $2,500, $1,000, $500, $250, and $100. And there’s always a question as to how low you should go after that - $50? $25? $10??
Why not replace those low levels with: $10/month, for the next 12 months? When this feature rolls out, you’ll be able to set this type of pledge up in the software, sell it as part of your Paddle Raise (and/or on your Donate Now page), and we’ll take care of the billing. You’ll be able to manage all of these from your account page on https://my.schoolauction.net(or https://my.tofinoauctions.com). This feature will only be available to Plus and Premium subscribers.
