BeachCandy – Simple Invoicing for a Better Place

5 thoughts on “BeachCandy – Simple Invoicing for a Better Place”

1. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

    I’m not sure if I should use the first word that came to mind but I will since it is my first impression: Cute. As I browsed through the site I thought it was cute, yet it was made clear and easy to follow and understand what the site renders. I’m not sure if cute is the way to go since it may not attract men too much. I don’t think it would be a problem just something to think about. I loved the simplicity of the site. 
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

    I wanted to find the prices for the services rendered by the site and I found them, I really appreciated the titles and options for the services rendered. I am a male and I really liked the idea of saying “I want to Marsmallow.” It feels like one of those things that can become iconic. Nothing was confusing, it was pretty self explanatory. 
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

    I actually was encouraged, I do not own a business but if I did I mean. I was mainly encouraged because the site, the owners seem to be very confident about the services they render as they offer it for free. The Candy plan is, to me, the best selling point of this site, to have that much confidence in your service makes me have confidence in the company. I was sold when I read that. 
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

    I went into the site Sage One and I immediately felt like it was a bit too complicated showing me way too many options that I wasn’t exactly interested in. I looked around their site to compare to yours and I preferred yours but there was two things that did interest me that I did not find on your site and that was the “Live Chat” option which seems like a very adequate tool that could make or break a deal. The second thing I found was the option to track invoices, I’m not sure if that is something that automatically happens on your site after purchasing a plan but this other site made it a clear option.
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

    I loved your site, I thought it was attractive yet professional and something that is sure of itself. I really can’t think of anything else to say but this, which is always a deal breaker to me…customer reviews…bet it positive or negative. If I’m ever on the edge of my decision, the customer reviews of a particular service or product is what decides for me usually. 

2. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
    
   The home page is very simple. It looks homemade. The one purpose of the site appears to invoice clients/customers. The fact that BeachCandy.com donates 20% to social responsible organizations gives the impression that the company is socially responsible, which will attract a like-minded client-base. I also wonder if I am being charged extra to cover this 20% or how the business can afford to donate so much and still be financially sound.
    
   The home page states the features of why someone (why I) should use BeachCandy.com, however, showing the benefits would be much stronger. Such as:
    
   * Are you working late into the night to prepare client invoices? Or How much sleep is preparing client invoices costing you?
   * Are you losing hundreds of dollars a month, because you aren’t tracking non-payments?
    
   More visitors will be attracted to stay on your site if you add some color and a video showing them the value of BeachCandy.com.
    
   Who gave the endorsement? Right now, it looks like it might have come from someone at BeachCandy.com. You may not want to list the person’s name, and there are ways around that. You could say, “Bob J.” or “B. Jones” or “B. J., Atlanta, GA” or “B. Jones, General Contractor,” etc.
    
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
    
   I went to look at the blog and it took me to Offlify, a blog that mentions BeachCandy.com. I had to do a search to find the information. It isn’t BeachCandy.com’s blog. Good blogs for a company are not a sales pitch; they provide information: either content to assist the person in using the product or about the industry in general or general tips, i.e., on invoicing or about the people in the company, etc.
    
   There also is no “About Us” tab, which is the first thing I looked for. Someone mentioned several days ago, that this is the most visited page on his website other than the landing page. People want to know what and who is behind the product. What is the expertise? Why was it created? Who runs the company?
    
   And most importantly, I was looking for information about your product. How does it work? Why is it easier for me? Is it an application I install or is it cloud-based? If it’s cloud based, what kind of security is there?
    
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
    
   I am sorry, but I’m not.
    
   First of all, I invoice via PayPal and keep a copy. I usually get paid upfront or within a few days of providing my service. So this is not something I need.
    
   Most businesses use QuickBooks or something similar, which provides the ability to invoice. Even my Quicken for Home and Business does this. This enables all accounting information to remain in one place. It will track payments, so the business knows whether or not to send another bill.
    
   In other words, you would have to show me why your services are better than what is already available. What have you done to improve upon what’s out there? Do you specialize in any kind of billing, i.e., medical billing?
    
   The names of your pricing plans might be fun for teen entrepreneurs, but they would discourage me.
    
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
    
   I went to InvoiceCloud.com. The site is blue and green, which is very soothing, letting me feel that my problems are about to be solved. It feels more professional. I would trust it more. InvoiceCloud.com tells rather than shows me the benefits of its product, so it is more likely to attract those people who like to read long lists, rather than the average internet user who is used to being shown via photos and video what the benefits are. Even in the wording, the benefits could be described more powerfully. AND it is still far more professionally done than BeachCandy.com.
    
   InvoiceCloud.com does have an About Us page, that includes “The Problem,” “The Solution” invoice cloud provides, “The Mission Statement,” the executives bios with photos.
    
   InvoiceCloud.com lists some of their partners, which lends credibility in the same way or even more than endorsements do.
    
   Neither InvoiceCloud.com nor BeachCandy.com show me how their products work. So I have no idea why I should use either of them over what is already available to me.
    
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
    
   Why did you select the name BeachCandy.com? What does it have to do with invoicing? Being that you are a new company, it is not a name that I would take seriously.
    
   You may have the most extraordinary invoicing system on the market today, but I can’t tell it from your website. Make me want to know more by showing me how it will make my life easier and better. Show me how it will save me time, money, and energy. Show me how it will make me money by making it easier for me to collect the revenues that have been earned. 

3. 1: Look around the home page-what is your initial impression of what you see?
   I love the way the colors blend together in a soft tone. It makes you want to stay on the page longer then you would if it was bland looking.
   
   2: Think of something you want to find on the website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
   I found some information but the information given was limited in my opinion. I didn’t quite understand the imprint section. And I didn’t understand why if your attempting to get others to use your site, then the blog section should not have had different companies to use.
   3: Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
   I have to say that I would not use the site because the information was so limited. I came away thinking nice color blend but how long did they actually work on the site. I feel like it was put together quickly.
   4: Go to a search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which one do you prefer? Why?
   I found a company called Wave that offers the same service but it’s free to send invoices to as many customers with no limits. They have real cloud accounting that was not mentioned on your site. they offered enough information for me to feel comfortable using the site. I do appreciate the fact that you donate 20% of revenue to social projects.
   5: Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   I would simply say to add more information to the site so people will come away feeling confident that they chose the right company. Like I mention Wave uses real cloud accounting, if you do it was not mentioned and should be.

4. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?   Its very simple the first thing that catches my eye is to look at the plans and fees before i even looked at what this site is offering. My initial impression is just that its simple there are no extra words, pictures or “filler” to distract the reader.
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing? The first thing i always want to know is how much something costs i hate looking over a lot of material to try to find a basic price. The plans and pricing were very easy to find.
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)? No, for me personally i do not have a need to create an invoice and also there is no place to sign up or register. I personally like this I hate having to create new accounts for sites i may only need to use a few times per year.
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why? The first site that appears to be similar that I came across was Invoice Generator. I liked it better because the template was the first thing on the page to view it was very user friendly and free.
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have. If i were in the market to find an invoice company i would like to see examples of the invoices you provide to see if they have a polished look. I would also like to see the pricing of each plan not just how many invoices that are allowed under each plan.

5. 1. My first impression is that the home page is extremely simple–a little too simple and colorless for my liking. Nevertheless, it is clear very quickly that BeachCandy enables users to create and organize invoices for their clientele. However, I’m wondering why the site is named BeachCandy when it has nothing to do with beaches or candy.
    
   2. I was intrigued by the statement “only a browser and no additional software needed.” So I decided to look for more information about how I would access and use BeachCandy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any such explanation. On most sites, there’s a page called “How It Works” or something similar and maybe a video and/or screenshots to help visitors get a feel for what the application can do. I was disappointed not to see anything like that here.
    
   3. Not yet because I have no information about how BeachCandy works, so I have no way to evaluate if it will meet my needs.
    
   4. I searched on “online invoicing,” and the first few sites that popped up only offered invoicing as part of more extensive software suites. The first site that was geared toward invoicing alone was Zoho Invoicing. Even though I found their home page to be too long, you may notice that it has a very nice introductory slideshow followed by some top features, each of which links to a more detailed informational page. If you continue scrolling down the home page, you’ll see that it also includes testimonials and some important selling points. Again, I think all this is a bit much for the home page (i would keep the slideshow and the selling points, move the features to their own page, and shorten the testimonials), but it’s a good example of how most web sites effectively sell a SaaS. Right now, I like their web site better simply because it gives me so much more information.
    
   5. My advice is to pick a site like Zoho Invoicing that ranks well in Google, look at how they’ve set up their site, and model yours after it. If you want to convert visitors into buyers, it’s important that they be able to see and experience what you offer. This means showing them some combination of the following: 1) an intro video, 2) a slideshow, 3) screenshots, 4) a demo, 5) informational pages. I also recommend that you rethink the name BeachCandy since it doesn’t seem at all related to invoicing. Naming your pricing plans things like “Marshmallow,” “Bubble Gum,” and “Lollipop” is cute, but it doesn’t seem geared to your professional target market. In any case, I’d love to be able to look at this site again once there are some more informational pages that better explain how the software works and what it can do for me. Good luck!

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