Inbound & Digital Marketing Blog

Greased Skid Marketing is now part of Inbound Team --The Atlanta, Georgia Inbound Marketing Agency specializing in helping businesses grow with online marketing.

I came across some complaints about Infusionsoft on Jon Gales blog today. This reminded me that I've been meaning to write a review on Infusionsoft. So, here's a review of Infusionsoft mixed with some comments on Jon's experience!

I am an Infusionsoft user and a Certified Infusionsoft consultant (CMAC). I'm not an employee of Infusionsoft, but I would like to see them succeed. I think some of Jon's comments are right on, and some of them go way too far. Now, here are some specifics:

• Jon said: "Their API is one of the most difficult I’ve ever integrated with" Yea, it could be easier. I'd rather they used SOAP instead of the older XMLRPC. And, I wish the API really allowed full access to everything in Infusionsoft -- There's some data you just can't get to. Still, for the things you can do with the API, I've not found it hard to work with. He complained about having to make 4 calls do do something. What I do is just wrap up the 4 calls into a single function -- After that, it's only one call!

• API requests then aren’t processed in real time. I've run into this problem, too! I think Infusionsoft should be able to do customer-related things like email and transactions immediately. That's what my customer expect.

• The technical staff had no idea of really huge gaps in functionality. and later on, They say whatever they need to get you off the phone.  I really disagree with Jon on this one. I've found the support people really bend over backwards to help you. I've never felt like they were trying to get me off the phone. Yea, some are more knowledgeable than others, but they will go get help when appropriate.

• There’s only one guy here who deals with the API That's right, Justin is the API Guy. He's the one who deals with the heavy duty technical questions on the API. I have found Justin to be consistently responsive and helpful. In my experience, there aren't a lot of companies who make someone this capable so easily available. Justin even posted his direct contact information in one of the responses.

• Infusionsoft found this post ... and has been busy getting in touch with me. I see this as a positive thing.  How many companies wouldn't bother to search the web for users who are having trouble? Infusionsoft has been growing very quickly and they definitely have problems. I've certainly been frustrated by them! If there was a good alternative, I would tell you. If it's out there, I haven't found it yet.

OK, enough about the post on John Gales blog. What's good and bad about Infusionsoft? I may expand on this later, but here's a quick list:

The Good

• Integration. Having CRM, eMail, and Shopping Cart all integrated together is great! It really save a bunch of time over trying to use separate systems.

• Automation. With a little creativity, you really can use this tool to automate a lot of your business.

• The Power of the System. I am continually amazed at the things you can do with Infusionsoft. It really is powerful. Of course, it does take some effort to learn it and use it well.

• Support. As mentioned above, I have found support to be very helpful. It can take a little effort to find the right person, but even outside of the official support team, Infusionsoft employees will try to help.

The Bad

• Shopping Cart is too limited. The shipping options are too limited and tt doesn't support Fedex/UPS shipping.  Also, the storefront is pretty limited. As long as your needs are basic, though, it is fine.

• Reports are a real weakness, and you can't get data via the API. This is probably my biggest complaint. I believe in testing and leveraging data. It's there, but I can't get it in a usable form. I think this is a priority that is being addressed in an upcoming release.

• The user interface could be a lot better. Some of this is due to the power of the system, but sometimes, functions just seem to be in the wrong place.

• Documentation is behind. The documentation seems to lag behind the capabilities of the system, and this makes it harder to get things done.

Those are my top good and bad items. If you want to see more, leave a comment and I'll address your questions.