FobeSoft is restaurant management software with 30+ years of industry experience baked in.
Target Audience: independent restaurant owners and managers
Website URL: https://www.FobeSoft.com/
No. of Feedback Providers Requested: 5
Feedback sought:
Note to Feedback Providers:
Please note that startups are looking for in-depth feedback that gives them thorough, insightful and actionable input. A ‘superficial’ submission that does not add value, is not thorough (i.e. written in a hurry, with poor grammar, punctuation etc.) and does not offer any constructive feedback is not particularly helpful and will therefore be rejected.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
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?
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)?
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?
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I like it. It is neat, clean, and says everything that it needs to in order to attract prospective customers.
You clearly state what your product is. The problem you solve is clear.
There are only thing I am wondering about is what does the logo represent?
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 see if there was a multiple pricing schedule. And did not see anything. Therefore, I am going to assume that a restaurant (owner / manager) can get a free trial. The regular price is $129 a month. If someone chooses to purchase the software immediately, then they receive the budget consultation. However, the cost is the same for each restaurant.
And these are all independent (standalone) restaurants. There is nothing like: have 3 restaurants? Save by buying FobeSoft for $99 for each restaurant.
I suspect these are things that owners are going to be thinking about.
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)?
If I were in the restaurant business and did not have a system in place, yes. If I already had a system in place that appeared to be working, then, I would want more information to convince me to switch. The video does a good job of this and if I already believe I’m getting the most possible from my restaurant, I wouldn’t feel a need to switch.
How could this be addressed? By providing an opportunity for people to ask questions through chat, email, or phone. Maybe regular webinars. Maybe individual consultations. Maybe more visual showings of how the bottom line is improved through the software and by how much: maybe with a more in-depth video that visually shows how the improvements occurred for another customer with the use of FobeSoft over a month or two period.
4) Go to 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 went to https://www.ncr.com/products/restaurant/management-software, since NCR is an established and well-known company. However, that does not mean it has the ability to assist restaurants as well as yours does.
Their approach is completely different. It is logically based, providing information about the specific features. It also appears to be an older-fashioned layout than yours.
As most marketers know, people don’t buy from logic. They buy from emotion and then use logic to prove that their emotional response is correct. Therefore, I believe, that you are likely to reach people more readily than NCR. That they will want to stay on your site past the 6 seconds that most visitors remain on a site.
I’m not certain that people would have the same desire to stick around the NCR site. There are a lot of words packed together. It is certainly more crowded and overwhelming than my eyes appreciate.
What I do like about the NCR site is that it does provide additional information on other pages for those who want it. You might find this helpful, as well.
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
Having a blog is great. But it only works if posts are made 2-3 times a week. Your last past was a month ago.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I like the way the website looks. The presentation is very simple. I love the colour choices. The green colour which has been used is very nice. Little effects have been added to the website, like, the colour of the button changes when we place our cursor on it. A lot of information has been provided on the homepage which helps in understanding what the website offers. The presentation of the information is just great. The placement is perfect. The heading is enough to catch your attention and the part which is in bold, enough to understand the features. We can also learn more if we read the information provided under each head. The little icons in green which have been added to the information make the website look more appealing and at the same time, makes the information part a little more interesting. The video tutorial is of great help in understanding the product in a much better fashion as we can see how useful it is for an ordinary user in real life. The layout of the website is quite good and it has a very professional feel to it. Placing the START FREE TRIAL button by highlighting it in green at the top of the screen is a good idea in my opinion as it will definitely catch the attention of the user even if they happened to stumble upon the website and might influence them to find out more.
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 look for the contact information and the pricing details. I found both. Nothing was confusing.
I wanted to look for the contact details so that I can contact someone if I have trouble with the website. It’s good to know that help is available and can be sought if there is some problem or confusion. The contact option is right on top and the link opens to a page which has a contact form. Although I prefer to have details like email address, support tab, chat option, telephone numbers etc., the contact form will do. I prefer email etc. because in case of contact forms, I never know when I will be hearing back and telephone, chat etc. makes the process a little faster.
Pricing information is available under the IMPROVE MY BOTTOM LINE button. It is quite noticeable.
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)?
Yes, I am encouraged to sign up for the free trial to get a feel of the product. I would do that because the website seems trustworthy to me as a lot of information has been provided and I won’t have to pay anything for a trial. So, it is a win-win. If I like the product during the free trial, there is no reason to not pay and continue with the services and if I don’t like the product, I can stop anytime without making any further investment.
4) Go to 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 looked for Restaurant Management Softwares on Google and found http://www.ncr.com. The website is quite simple looking and dull. It looks quite boring and did not engage me at once. I had to force myself to read and find out more but to no effect. I still find it boring. The only good thing about it is that they have provided two contact numbers for US citizens and Non-US citizens respectively and given it a lot of focus by using the colour green. The Request Information form also has been provided right under the contact numbers. I also liked their logo. Other than that, I did not like anything about it and definitely prefer http://www.FobeSoft.com. http://www.FobeSoft.com kept me interested and also has a lot more information on the website. The free trial option also helps. It was much easier to use and understand http://www.FobeSoft.com. I also found the video to be helpful.
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
I think that the website has provided enough information. It is very easy to understand and use. The free trial option is definitely eye-catching and useful to get a feel of the product and to understand and get acquainted with it. I found the contact numbers and emailI on the free trial page but not on the contact page and I think that the contact numbers and email id should be added to the contact page too because that is where a person looks to find such information. I also think that a feedback/support/chat tab should be added to the website as it will help know what it is that the customers are having trouble with or what their wants are. This will also help with the trust-factor. Overall, I really liked the website and I think that making a few small changes would make the website even more better.
I’d like to thank you for providing me this opportunity to help you. Good luck with the website! Thanks.
The layout of the home page is really easy to read and very informative. One thing that stood out to me as not being very professional was the statement ” FobeSoft is a Proactive Software Tool Designed by a Restaurant Guy. This statement makes me feel like the restaurant “guy” could be anybody, including a dishwasher and not someone with a lot of experience.
The video is nice! Its great to see feedback from customers who are actually using the product and can give some insight how FobeSoft is working for them. Information was very easy to read and the page is simple and easy to navigate. I knew what FobeSoft was within seconds.
Signing up for FobeSoft is simple enough and the cost is shown up front so that you don’t have to fill out a form only to find out how much it is going to cost. I like that! It makes me feel as if you are being honest and not trying to “trick” me into a subscription to the service or free trial. I like the fact that you offer a Budget Consultation from an expert with a subscription to the service. I also like the fact that it is a web based application and can be accessed on any device. Way to stay connected to technology.
The comparison company that I found on the web was Compeat Services. They have a very professional webpage design. It is also more confusing. Upon comparison of both sites, I like the FobeSoft site better. Compeat Services seemed a lot more complicated and they offered a couple of different products. There was no clear pricing information that I could find easily and you have to take their university courses to learn how to use their product. It seems that in a profession where time is limited, a simple tool that does the same thing would be more beneficial. I like the FobeSoft site better and would purchase FobeSoft as opposed to Compeat for that reason.
I like the FobeSoft site and the “good” feeling it gives me when visiting the webpage. The blog is a plus for sure. Who doesn’t want tips and ways to make your business stand out and stay on top? I am really impressed with FobeSoft site because even though it is very simple in the layout, it contains all of the information needed to make an informed decision without making me feel like a number. Extremely easy to navigate and answers all of my questions very quickly. The list of other clients on the About page gives me confidence that I would be purchasing a product that is being utilized by some of the top companies in the business.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I think it is a well laid out home page. At first I had no idea what FobeSoft was but the bullet points on the right side, as well as the video, helped me to get a better grasp. I also think the big improve my bottom line button is a good attention grabber for prospective buyers. I really like how easy everything is to read on the home page and how it seems to follow a stream of consciousness. By that I mean it answers questions I had in the order I had them. When I scrolled down I learned more like I was looking to do.
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 what exactly the FobeSoft software would do. I found the most information I could on that in the About section at the top of the page. I know it will help to improve the bottom line, but I wanted to know how. The About page answers that somewhat with the That’s why FobeSoft: section, but I think there could still be more information for a software that is such a large investment.
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 encouraged to sign up for a free trial. I think that not knowing what all I would get for $129 I would want to try out the software to be completely positive that the software will do everything I would want and expect it to do. I appreciate that there is a free trial so small business owners can take advantage of it and make sure it fits their needs before diving right in.
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 Google and searched for Restaurant Management Software. I clicked on whentomanage.com. When to manage seems to offer more different types of software that customers can click and choose from for lower price points. However, they do not have a free trial. They do talk a lot about their apps which I like and think that FobeSoft did not do as good of a job at doing so. I think I would prefer when to manage, though, because it seems to have a more established customer base as they show some of their existing users are big restaurant chains and their prices are lower.
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
Overall, I think FobeSoft has a lot going for it. It seems to offer a lot and I think the free trial will definitely be an incentive for small business owners. It is a very well laid out site and I had very few problems navigating it.
1) Look around the home page- what is your initial impression of what you see?
It looks like a very invitting page easy to understand and very usefull!
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 website is very easy to understand, and not at all confusing!
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)?
Yes i am it look very inviting, and it makes you want to join especially with the free trial “button”.
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 prefer this one it looks much better and makes you want to use it!
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
I do not have any additional feedbacks to give the site is very usefull and incredibly good.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I like it. My initial impression of the home page is that it is very professionally made. The layout, design and the colours mix well together. I love how informative it is and how good it is to look at yet being so simple.
The first thing I do when i open the home page is watch the video. The video starts with a horrible background noise but it is good to watch. A few changes that could be made are the background noise and the fact that it can be shortened. I loved how the volume of the video changes on the video itself. I have seen many a videos on many a websites but nothing like that. That feature is attractive and absolutely brilliant so kudos on that.
One other thing which was surprising was that there were no links with the social media nor any testimonials. This is something which is very important in this day and age and would love it if you could incorporate it.
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 was looking to find how to contact them which I found on the top of the page a ‘Contact Us’ link. It was not difficult to find, in fact it was really easy. On opening the page I could see the different links for the various social media but to my surprise it was empty. There was also an option to message your thoughts, ideas etc however, there was a no support tab either. I find instant online help to be really helpful.
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)?
Albeit, I like the website and would love to incorporate the method the lack of activity on the social media and also the lack of testimonials hold me back from investing money on this site. However, the video did peak my interest so I would like to start a free trial for now and hope that the website can gain my trust.
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 found another company known as Optimum Control. After viewing such a website I am viewing your website in a whole new light. This website ( https://tracrite.net/ ) by the looks of it only gives you the feeling of a well established and experienced company. They have their own app, customer testimonials and are active on the social media. They simply seem more reliable and the website in all for the lack of words seems happening. They also have this Tip of the Week thing which in my opinion is an excellent idea. They also have a list of companies who are currently using their services.
In all, unfortunately I would have to say that I would prefer this company over yours but I do believe that you can reach great heights with time and a few changes.
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
I would like you to create an app for your customers. Post their reviews, get active on the social media and if possible open an Online Support Center to help the customers instantly if they have a query.
Thank You.