Grasp Emarketing Blog

While I was browsing through my twitter, a unique punch line by Impel CRM founder @nmadhyam caught my immediate attention:

“Depth without Complexity”

A Review of Simple Software in Complex SaaS Sea

What a contradiction does the phrase express?  How can something be deep and still not complex? Can there be a simple deep sea, where I can dive deeper & deeper and then quickly come out without loosing the track.

Kishore, as he is popularly known in Indian software industry, said this in context of his software Impel CRM. This raised a curiosity in me to have a look at Impel CRM. So I explored it for a while. [Just before it struck my mind that why I not to add it to the blog – may be it becomes India Inc.’s desi SalesFocrce.com! So I decided to publish this experience as a review on my blog.

While it is always difficult to review software and then give unbiased feedback, for readers’ convenience, I would divide my experience in four categories: simple, deep, complex and strange and then calculate a score based on it – so at the end we get a fruitful result.

This quantification will also help me come to a digital analysis than just saying: good or bad. I will give 1 score for simplicity, 1 score for depth and 0 score for complexity. For strange, I would give no scores [if it is unusual for me doesn’t mean it is unusual for all].

[Disclaimer: I have no business or personal relations with the Impel as on date, except their two key executives are my Linkedin connections and Twitter followers.]

Step 1. To get a free trial of Impel, visit http://www.impelcrm.in/ and click on Free Trial on the Right Hand Side. If you try to search for the word Free Trial in your browser you wouldn’t find it, because the Free Trial button instead of being text is an image. Impel Designer take care! Complex (0)

Step 2. Signing up is simple only 4 mandatory field. I am feeling good as they didn’t ask to fill in my Resume. Simple (1)

Step 3. When clicked at Terms and Conditions, I was shocked to know that I have to download a PDF document to my computer. It is very unlikely experience so I didn’t download the TnC. Complex (0)

Step 4. But I really couldn’t resist browsing through it and downloaded it. It was four pages full of terms and conditions. I think it is absolutely unnecessary for a user who simply wants to take a free trial. Dear Impel, what if you go to a restaurant and they ask you to sign the Terms and Conditions before they serve you first glass of water. Complex (0)

Step 5. As soon as I signed up I got a message (Thank you for setting up your organization in Impel. You will be getting an email with your username and password shortly). Hey why can’t you let me in directly for a free trial? The free trial isn’t free! It cost me time and parting away with my personal contact information. Strange.

Step 6.    Waiting for the link to reach me for my free trial to begin with. Strange

Step 7. The email reached me quickly, but I checked my mail after 9 minutes. What if in these 9 minutes, I would have got engaged somewhere else, and the signup mail would have lost into the plethora of irrelevant mails I get everyday on my Gmail. For a SaaS vendor whose customer engagement model is purely on free trial, this means a lost opportunity. But still I would rate it simple (as compared to those who say that their team will contact me back.) Simple (1)

Step 8.   After sign in, got a popup that asks for “Select hint question and answer
this will help you in password recovery process.” Simple (1)

Step 9.   And it asks 4 questions “What are my Pet name, home town name, mother name and best friend’s name”. But where is ‘write your own question’? Almost 100 people in this world have that 4 piece of information. I need a unique question. Complex (0)

Step 10.  Oops! How deep it looks. 12 Main Menus (Leads to Reports and a lot in between) with each having 6-8 sub menus and may be several other functions. That means 96 + menus. It looks fairly Deep (1)

Step 11.  I assume it has everything that a salesman can need, but the Irony is that I have met many top shot salesmen, and this is TOO MUCH for them with so limited time in hand to fill in the data. Impel – why don’t you think like Twitter! Complex (0)

Step 12.  I started filling a Lead. The first designation that appears in the drop down is Dr. Feeling like I run a pharmaceutical company. Invariably, Mr. or Ms. should be the first in the drop down. Strange

Step 13.   Industry type has only 14 options and one of them is yes. Where do rests of the industry go? Strange

Step 14.  My Impel Dashboard looks promising. I didn’t have any data with me so couldn’t really comment on this. 9 most important reports on one screen. Must be good! Deep (1)

Step 15.   I strongly believe and suggest every Free Trial Version Donator: PLEASE GIVE A TRAIL WITH SAMPLE SENSE MAKING DATA. If in doubt, check Joomla installation. They give and suggest users to install sample data automatically. Free Trial without sample DATA is very Complex (0)

Step 16. There is some Session problem with the software. I have been logged out; however, in the same screen it says, you are logged in elsewhere. Complex (0)

Step 17.  Just realized that a + sign before some thing means you can add data. Pretty Simple. But you have to train yourself. Thus every Trial version should start with a small 1-2 page introduction about using the software and its distinct and most used features. Dear Impel, while it is impossible to create software for no-brainer, but a help/ intro at the beginning is a MUST. Not every body is as smart as me. Simple (1)

Step 18.  Help! I need Help! Impel offers a 17 page 1 MB PDF help file. Why don’t you have it on Web along with an option to copy?  Simple software like Helpmatic (http://www.helpmatic.net/) can help you put your help online; that too context sensitive. But your PDF is also Simple (1) by the way.

Step 19.   Video based Help Demo is available on site, which is a good thing. All that I couldn’t view those due to Cyber roam access at the place I was accessing Internet. So the Help system looks Simple (1).

Step 20.   Overall Experience: With some amount of self training it is easy to learn Impel.

Scores: 8/15 = 54% (That’s a good scores for a SaaS based software in India).

My Personal Experience : Overall Impel CRM functions proved good. This was my first time experience with Impel, if I one use it a couple of times, can self train himself. The total review took around 20-30 minutes to have a look at broad features. It seems to have all important information required for a sales team. However, I would say it is deep but not yet without complexity. May be it’s worth a try! http://www.impelcrm.in/

Note: I neither recommend nor endorse Impel CRM as a software.  Please do not buy based on my personal experience (I am a very tech savvy guy who can learn new software within hours, your sales man may not be that tech savvy!).