DappleWorks – Cloud Apps for Small Business

21 thoughts on “DappleWorks – Cloud Apps for Small Business”

1. 1. My initial impression of the site is that it is very well laid out. The homepage has plenty of information without it being overwhelming. I am immediately drawn to click on the buttons on the navigation bar because it pops out from the rest of the page. 

   2.  The descriptions in the features tab are clear and easy to read. Each feature is described well so I can understand exactly what you offer.

   3. At the top of the page you have two options to sign up for an account. This was confusing for me. I clicked on both links just to see what the difference was. Both take you to a registration page, but one gives you package deals. I would suggest just having one link and on the registration page list the package deals they can choose from or an option for a free account. Signing up for the account was simple and fast. You didn’t ask for unnecessary information which I like.  

   4. The basic walkthrough and setup guide is thorough, but overwhelming. There is alot of information on the page, however it is nice to have the topics on the left hand side so you can choose what you want to read instead of having to scroll down the page to find it. Step by step videos would be nice. I think people tend to understand videos better, because they can see you going through the steps.

   5. Yes I think your current modules would be very useful for small businesses. You offer alot of features that would benefit them.

   6. The site is well laid out. Your packages and pricing are to the point. The contact page has a number of ways to contact the company which is good. I really like the slideshow on the homepage. It gives the site a little something extra since there isn’t really any graphics besides icons.

2. 1. Initial Impression – Not bad homepage, but after looking at your Current Release Cycle Graphic, then your selling points are left below the fold, and I am willing to bet unread.

   I strongly recommend that you have a separate “Why Dappleworks?” page or put this on a page labeled “About Us”

   I think your selling points are important and don’t need to compete with the Why Dappleworks section.

   2. Your selling point descriptions are clear, but again, they need to be in the spot where the Why Dappleworks graphic is.

   3. Sign up was easy and straightforward. No free package? That will turn away a lot of people. Do a free package that has ad revenue. You should never throw prices at a person when you should allow free registration so they can learn what you do. Instead you will turn people away with the package prices, since the selling points are not in a high eye traffic area.

   4. Your basic walkthrough section doesn’t seem very basic. It seems like you are throwing the manual at me. I think this should be more of an overview of how it works. I don’t see why anyone would be interested in reading the priveleges of a Claim admin. if they haven’t purchased the service yet. Have this as a manual that can be downloaded as a .pdf to those who request it.

   5. It appears that you are providing IT services online but I don’t think you clearly and effectively convince me that my small business needs your services.

   6. Problems: While I don’t find User interface glitches and errors, I dont think your message is as streamlined as it should be.

   Why Dappleworks and your selling points are competing with each other, when they should be complementing each other.

   Your basic walkthrough is not basic and goes over my head, when you have written it as to an IT professional. It should be in a .pdf  to those who request it.

   When I “sign up” to register I see all the paid packages, but it is not clear that you offer a free account to try. This will turn people away. Yes I realize there are three options (one being the free), but I think you need to state there is a free account on your sign up page.

   The general features page is blah. Not visually appealling. I think if your site was more graphically appealling, and personable, it would do more for you.  It kinda looks like a template right now and I’ve seen hundreds just like your site.

3. Thank you for taking the time and reviewing us.

4. Thanks for the feedback. It’s great to have an end user point of view and we found it very valuable.

5. ) Visit https://www.dappleworks.com/. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?
   I like the initial cleanness of the interface.  The amount of white on the screen makes the blues in the logo stand out nicely.  I found that while studying the site initially that the banner pages flipped too quickly for me to read all the information they were providing.  I did notice the permanent drop down menu on the top right of the page for sign up, login or free registration.  I think that this homepage does a great job at steering the user toward setting up a free trial of this service.  I would like to read more about it before signing up.  I would love to see an introduction video showing me the features. 
   2) Click on the Features tab and go through the features and functionality description. Are the descriptions clear and easy to understand and visualize what we are offering?
   The features are listed clearly and I understood to click on the desired feature on the left to see it listed out.  I would love to see a link to a picture showing you what each of these completed tasks look like on the application.  Ie.  Timesheet Workflow=show me what a sample timesheet looks like.  Maybe have the words “timesheet workflow” highlighted or underlined to encourage the user to click it for a sample. 
   3) Please sign up for a free account. Do you find that the process was simple or too complicated? I like that no matter what screen I’m on I can click on the top right to sign up.   I was able to complete every field except for the “License package”.  It indicated that it was required, but no drop menu came down or no options were given.  The registration process was simple and the fields were easily accessed. 
   4) Please go through the How To – Basic Walkthrough & Setup Guide section. How useful was the Basic Walkthrough and Setup Guide in setting up your account (especially roles and privileges)? Would step by step videos be a better solution? Upon clicking the walkthrough guide, honestly, it looks ominous.  Could there be anymore directions?  I know that this app can only do it’s job when you have entered all the information it needs to work.  I like it that the menu on the left will take you to the area you are setting up.   That definitely helps the user to find the correct information quickly.  Under “Roles” in the “Adding a new role” section I spotted a blue link to the Setup guide.  I tried to find this guide another way, but I’m not sure how I would have accessed this more visual and helpful guide without seeing the link.  Now I see that it is an option on the dropdown menu under “How to” tab.  I appreciate the visual samples that I see on the setup guide. 
   5) Do you feel that our current modules and others that we are building would be useful for small businesses? I think that it could be very useful for a small business to use in order to stay organized and for communication to be preeminent in a company.  I would love to see a video setup guide for the poor secretary that has to enter all this information and make it work. 
   6) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have
   I would like to see testimonials from other small business owners and managers who have used this application and found it helpful.  I would also like to see more of the actual interface of the application on the site.

6. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?
   The first thing I notice is the slideshow at the the top of the page. And, like many slideshows, I find it frustrating that just when I’m starting to read and absorb what it says, the image dissolves to something else. Would be great if you could slow it down.
    
   The rest of the home page seems a little too long. I’d eliminate the news feed or move it to a dedicated news page. I’d also condense what you have under “Current Release Cycle.” Try a simpler intro:
    
   DappleWorks helps you manage every aspect of workplace data:
   –Resumes
   –Timesheets
   –Claims
   –Leaves of absence
   –Project management
    
   The same applies to all the info you have under “DappleWorks Features.” Half of this stuff is in your slideshow at the top, so you don’t need to repeat it. In fact, if you just add something about true cloud architecture and security to your slideshow, you’ll have everything covered right there, and you can eliminate the “Features” section.
    
   You asked if I’m drawn to click any of the buttons. Well, there aren’t really buttons. There are some small links, which don’t stand out much, under “Current Release Cycle.” My instinct was to click on various “panels” in the slideshow, but that got me nowhere. The only other thing that stands out to click would be the sign-up and registration in the upper right.
    
   Click on the Features tab and go through the features and functionality description. Are the descriptions clear and easy to understand and visualize what we are offering?
   Yes, absolutely. But whenever we’re talking about apps, I always prefer to have some visual accompaniment like a video or screenshot just so I can see if I like the look and feel of it.
    
   Please sign up for a free account. Do you find that the process was simple or too complicated?
   Well, first let me say that I was slightly confused because you have both a sign-up and a registration link. A lot of sites use “sign-up” and “register” interchangeably, so I was thrown when I clicked “Sign-up” and ended up on a pricing page. I would change the text of these links to “Create Account” and “Get App” to better differentiate the two.
    
   When I found my way to the right page, I created my account without trouble. However, I didn’t like that you asked for my physical address just to create a free account. Seems like that should come later, when I’m ready to purchase. Also, I didn’t love that I had to wait for two separate emails from you, one to verify and one to sign into my account with an assigned company code and password. I think you should streamline this process: Let members choose their own passwords at registration, then send ONE email with their assigned company code and verification link. The verification link should also function as an automatic first-time sign-in so busy professionals don’t have to go through multiple steps.
    
   How useful was the Basic Walkthrough and Setup Guide in setting up your account (especially roles and privileges)? Would step by step videos be a better solution?
   I thought these pages were very straightforward and understandable. The layout with links at the upper left allows users to easily jump to the section they need. I liked that “Setup Guide” included images, although they were so small that they were hard to see. It would’ve been nice if “Basic Walkthrough” had included images as well, just for visual reference.
    
   I don’t think videos are an absolute necessity. I like them for sales/marketing purposes so you can preview what you’re getting, but when it comes to tutorials, I have to learn software that has simple text directions instead of fancy video all the time, and I manage just fine. But I know that some people prefer video guides, so if you want to be REALLY customer-friendly, you might offer that as a second option. That way, people can choose to watch the video or read the instructions, as they prefer.
    
   Do you feel that our current modules and others that we are building would be useful for small businesses?
   Yes, I do. However, I don’t know if your competitors are offering similar apps at better rates. I’ve seen a lot of business management software here on StartUpLift, and a lot of it looks great, and a lot of it is cheap.
    
   Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   I took a quick tour through the pages you didn’t ask about:
    
   The “FAQ” page looks good and reads well.
    
   The “Pricing Page” has a nice layout with the simple chart, though I’m surprised by some of the price jumps. Also, the fact that you call this your “Base Package” suggests that there may be other packages available, but I don’t see any. It would be nice to create different price levels for people who want just a few modules but not all of them.
    
   The “Contact” page makes me nervous because it doesn’t provide a phone number or physical address. If I’m going to pay money, I want a better guarantee of customer service.
    
   Overall, I like what your app does, and I like the look of your site. It’s very straightforward and easy to follow. I’m not sure how your service will compare to your competitors and especially to their pricing, but I do think it looks useful.

    

7. Thanks for the feedback. We’ll work on some of your suggestions.

8. Thank you. Great Feedback For Us 🙂
   We’ll definitely make the free registration simpler to start with. We’ll be adding more modules this year and they will be an add-on the the base package as it is right now.
    

9. 1) Visit https://www.dappleworks.com/. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?
   I really liked the website even before I got a chance to read the context. It has a really professional look to it but the one thing that it lacks is that there is too much white space on the page. Even though the space is filled with loads of info the overwhelming white stands out to me visually more than anything else on the page. I really like your tool bar having all of the most important information listed. I however am not found the color choice because it doesn’t seem to go with anything else on the page even with the blue shading it does when your scroll over it. Nice color for the sign -up tab making it clear where to sign up to your site. I like that the  feature section only gave a tidbit of information about each section allowing the user not to be bogged down leaving the bulk of the information to be sought on its own page. I was drawn to click on the user guide to get more of a feel of your product but I was disappointed to see a long list of content to read. I was really hoping to see something interactive like a video. Even if the information could be broken up rather than scrolling up and down a long page possibly passing the information only to have to scroll again to look for it.
   2) Click on the Features tab and go through the features and functionality description. Are the descriptions clear and easy to understand and visualize what we are offering?
   I like that your feature list all together not having to switch screens to move through each feature. The lists were easy to ready but the look of it seemed mundane after the first two features. The “checks” seem to have such an old school look to them and I wasn’t to found of the bolt graphic. I think that the font needs to be a little larger. I have to say that I could not visualize the feature in my head even though I understood what the content was trying to convey.
   3) Please sign up for a free account. Do you find that the process was simple or too complicated?
   When I got to the page I like that you had the account type with a drop down menu but it was not the same info listed that is above. You have “Dapple#” but under the account type it only said free and standard. From looking at your site I wouldn’t even understand what the standard is. Nonetheless the process was quick and easy to follow.
   4) Please go through the How To – Basic Walkthrough & Setup Guide section. How useful was the Basic Walkthrough and Setup Guide in setting up your account (especially roles and privileges)? Would step by step videos be a better solution?
   It seems that I touched on this topic in an earlier question. This seems not like a guide but a rule book. Yes I would agree that videos would be a great feature and search bar would also be a great addition for easy access.
   5) Do you feel that our current modules and others that we are building would be useful for small businesses?
   Yes, it seems that you have some great modules coming for small business but you have to watch out for price points. I would certainly take a look at your top competitor’s price and adjust yours if necessary. I would also steer clear of bring out no modules that all of the companies are doing but try to reach outside the box. Run a test market and find out what people really want to run with it.
   6) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   Your site needs to be more interactive and make a users feel that they are not stepping into a complicated sight. Make users feel that even with no experience they could easily understand what your site it offering. When it came to your price page I really don’t like the fact that you used “the catch is.” When you start off talking about and showing a low monthly price people immediately want to see that. Why not offer a semi- annual price on the smaller companies packages and keep it annually for the larger companies. I like that you have nice neat lists under each table but maybe your could try just flipping out the information that one needs once a user click on it and just give a general overview on the page. Something needs to be done about the long flow of information on each page, it’s visually daunting. I think you also need to liven up your with colors and take away so much of that white space.

   Read more: https://startuplift.com/dappleworks-cloud-apps-for-small-business/#ixzz1pyIHPMBK
    

10. Thanks for the great feedback!

11. 1) Visit https://www.dappleworks.com/. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?

    First impression: simple but professional! Looks always makes a first impression upon visiting a site and it fits what the site is all about. It’s clean and organized. Another thing that caught my eye was the Doppleworks logo on the top left corner is nice! It’s of good graphic quality (other sites I’ve reviewed had pixelated logos.) I think it works for the site perfectly. The homepage of Dappleworks is direct and straight to the point. Which is very very important. As soon as you see the homepage you immediately know what purpose of the site is. I do like how lists some features on the homepage. I do think that it’s a good thing that way the users who stumble on the page can see them right away and it’ll spark their interest, which would lead them to exploring the site.
    I am drawn to click on one of the options on the menu, esp features and FAQs because I’m was curious to know more about the program. The menu is very neat and doesn’t leave out anything important. It;s very easy to navigate. Huge plus! User wouldn’t have to wander around the page looking for certain information.
    2) Click on the Features tab and go through the features and functionality description. Are the descriptions clear and easy to understand and visualize what we are offering?
    Yes they are indeed! I love how the faqs are on the left side. And when you click them all the info you need is shown on the right. The descriptions are very thorough and straight to the point. It is clear and easy to understand, that you wouldn’t have to second guess it. It’s organized as well. Well done!
    3) Please sign up for a free account. Do you find that the process was simple or too complicated?
    It was easy as 1-2-3!
    4) Please go through the How To – Basic Walkthrough & Setup Guide section. How useful was the Basic Walkthrough and Setup Guide in setting up your account (especially roles and privileges)? Would step by step videos be a better solution?
    Although the how to guide was very clear and understandable, step by step videos would be a great idea! That way we have a clearer understanding of everything and we can make sure everything we did was correct. It wouldn’t complicate things and it would save us a lot of time from figuring things out on our own. I think that the videos should have voice overs along with the instructions shown on the video that way it’s easier to understand.
    5) Do you feel that our current modules and others that we are building would be useful for small businesses?
    Yes, definitely! I just started a small business on my own (still independent) but because of Dappleworks, it gives me an idea of how I’d want my small business to grow. I’m looking forward to hiring another person or 2 to help me out since it’s just the beginning for me. With Dappleworks I can keep track of everything and it would be a huge help for me. It’ll keep me on track and organized. I also think it’ll show me how this business venture of mine will grow. I’d really like to see progress. The modules that are already there seem reasonable. I think maybe more modules and price packages should be added. I’m not sure what other online programs have to offer, but I think the more options the better.
    6) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

    It would be nice to feature some businesses who use the program ( and who wouldn’t mind) be featured on Dappleworks.com so others can see how their businesses have grown with Dappleworks. And the step by step videos is a must for the how-to guide.

    But everything looks great! Dappleworks definitely has an A+ in organization. Plus everything is very informative that I don’t think a lot of people would have a hard time learning how to use the program. Seems like no details are being left out. Since I just started my own little business venture, I got a bit excited when I signed up for free. I got an overview on what things I need to add and what things I’ll be needing while I continue with this business. I do believe that Dappleworks is perfect for small businesses. I think that once Dappleworks spreads, that it’ll be a huge success! Keep it up!

12. Thanks for your feedback and registering for the our free account. We’re definitely in the process of developing more modules and features for small businesses.

13. Your site is very professional looking, and loads fairly quickly. I know as a small business owner, I have to wear a lot of hats.  My time is limited, I never have enough of it. I think what you are offering is valuable, however, I’m looking for more.  Many small businesses I have dealt with and there are thousands of them, only have 1 to 10 employees.  Even up to 20 or 30 and you have a tremendous amount of small business covered.  But they can deal with time sheets in an accounting program, or office suite. It also assumes they are well aware of labor laws, and state specific rules they should, but may not be aware of such as overtime, breaks, vacations – etc.   They still have to take the time sheets and create paychecks calculate taxes, file taxes, unemployment, and find the money to do it all. Learning a bunch of different utilities is just not practical. A small amount of time for something easy to learn and understand, but helps in areas they DON”T KNOW about.   Most small businesses are good at what their product is – tennis, candy, t-shirts etc,   not the nuts and bolts of business management.

14. The homepage is very neat and clean looking. There is a lot of information right on the homepage!! And it is all displayed very neatly. The slide show is great. It moves slowly enough that the information can register. So you can read it and understand it before it changes. The sign up for free button really stands out. It is an eye catcher. But I like to look before I leap. So clicking on the navigation bar is where I would head. Unfortunately there are words under the navigation buttons that I can not read. They blend in with the dark navigation bar. Once you hover over it there is a drop down menu, but you can not read the smaller word(s) under the button names. I’m glad you did not junk up the home page with a lot of links though. The navigation bar across the top is perfect.
    I’ve clicked through every feature and page offered. The product offered is described and explained very well. The site is easy to navigate and the questions that I would have, being a small business owner myself, were answered very easily. And if there is some that where not answered your contact information is conveniently located and easy to find.
    WOW, sign up was very simple. The process only takes a minute and walks you right through!!
    I had to go back to the main website to find the How To information. Since the account is free you may get some that will sign up on “impulse”. One of those OH, this sounds good. Now they are going to be in the application itself and not have a clue as to what to do next. You may want to put a little link on the left or something so the How To’s can be found easier. That way it’s right there and very convenient. By the time you go through the whole website, like I did, by the time you get signed up you have forgot all of the How To’s. It’s just too much to remember. The How To information itself is very simple to follow and well organized. It’s laid out to take it one step at a time so it is very easy to follow. I think step by step video might be overkill. Or maybe you could offer them incase people got confused or overwhelmed. But if you take it one step/link at a time it’s not confusing at all.
    I am a small business owner and YES I can see where the service you offer would be very useful!! It seems to be a great all in one solution for a small business.

    I saw items on the Roadmap that are nice options to add too. I really think this will be a wonderful help to small businesses. A terrific time saver!! You prices are reasonable for small businesses. You put good customer service on top of that and I think you have a winner!!

15. Thanks for the feedback. We’re actually developing more features such as invoicing, accounting, payroll to complement what we have now, so hopefully you will come back and check us out in the future.

16. Thank you for your feedback. We’re definitely going to make the how to information more visible both from the website and the apps.

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