Live Designer

[DaveShowey]

Originally posted by levelbest:
Dave -

I don't think the marketing pitch is going to work. The consensus of the group is that it's overpriced for the average business (that being most of the folks here), it's not flexible enough and that fixes and suggestions have been slow to be implement.

From day one, I told melco that a light or LE version of the product but no one has taken that to heart.

It's a little disheartening at times - because melco seems to be in the business of recruiting us small shops but then doesn't seem to be marketing to us.

It would be interesting to see how the demograpics of owners breaks out. What is needed is an easy way for the little guy to get online and sell product. There really isn't anything out there other than standard shopping cart systems. Another 5k plus 4k a year on top of spending $35-40k on a couple of machines and software/supplies just seems like piling on...

You may be the leaders in price and functionality, but it isn't flying with this target market...

That's really good feeback John, I like the idea of a LiveDesigner LE. We are currently in development of some new features that will allow us to reduce the cost even further and I think eventually we will get the price down to where the cost will be negligable. Also being developed are some of the additional flexibilities you discussed.

Do you have any suggestions or ideas as to what the LE version might look like?

[signman]

Right on!

[signman]

My right on is to John's answer....not the reply....anyone reading the majority of 'complaints' with service, etc. will easily see John's point about the 'small shops' buying a machine or two and then getting ignored by Melco from that point...those that go on and on about how great service is, new products they get notice about...all seem to own 6 machines or more!

[Sewfly]

Rod,

I get sales fliers, hear from my rep, etc. I DO NOT own 6 Amayas.....I have 2. I don't have a shop and I am currently working out of an apartment.

Susan

[Sewfly]

Sorry ......meant Signman

Susan

[Rod or Sharon]

Which Rod?

[TinaK]

Sorry Susan but I have to agree with John and Roland as I have only heard from my sales person once since my initial purchase of my machine in 07' and that is because I saw her name on the mymelcoworld site and thought I would say hi...

I am a small business that is not interested in spending $5K initially and another $3k a year for something that can be done for much less then that. I am online and I think have a very successful website but with all websites you need to be able to implement SEO techniques and offer the products that people will want. From everything I hear LD has the product capabilities but the SEO is lacking and it is hard to set up and no flexibility in pricing.

Sorry but I just don't think LD is for my business...

[levelbest]

Guys - I am good with Dave being here - I just want straight talk - no sales pitches. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Rather than hammering him, try to be constructive - but still be honest. I am sure melco doesn't want to hear everything is peaches and cream if it isn't, so use this chance for an opportunity to give feedback to someone who is apparently actually listening!

My thoughts on the LE was to allow people to get their feet wet with the product. Maybe sell 10-20 items and put a cap on it. If the normal version allows 50 fonts to choose from, allow 5 of the most popular. If the full version has 1000 stock designs, maybe the light has 100. Maybe you pay a percentage per sale as the cost for the product instead of paying a monthly/yearly fee (like the cafe press model)? This would allow customers to grow into the product. Fact is the point of entry is just too high as are the recurring costs.

Sure, off the shelf ecommerce systems aren't going to allow for customization to the degree that live designer does but they also can be had for $500-1200 outright with no more fees.

So, if melco hit the market with a Light or Limited Edition version of the product (like what adobe does with Photoshop - Photoshop Elements) and just distills the elements that you need to see the value of the product, then sales in the long run, and those seeing value in the product could certainly expand.

We did hear a lot of issues with Search Engine Optomization (SEO) in Live Designer. Has anything been done to address that?

[Sewfly]

Hey Tina [img]smile.gif[/img] ,

My comments were in regard to "(posted by Signman)...about the 'small shops' buying a machine or two and then getting ignored by Melco from point...those that go on and on bout how great service is new products they get notice about...all seem to own 6 machines or more!"

I think alot has to do with the sales rep you have and not all are good. I know that Haven is fantastic and she does do follow-ups, even if you aren't looking to add additional machines. I had follow-ups before I ever addded the second machine. Additionally, I also got weekly fliers from Nick Reinking from MelcoMart as well as occasional phone calls to see if I needed anything, and now from "melcoeli" usually on Mondays or the latest Tuesday (no phone calls though). When I go to trade-shows, I always go by the Amaya booth to see what is new and to see if there are any reps that I know. I have my badge scanned and pick up the latest literature and MelcoMart catalogs.

I don't have Live Designer. And yes, I do know there are and have been a complaints about the prgram and support. And I KNOW that I can't afford the 5K either.....

I didn't read DaveShowey's comments to be "looking for sales" or to "pitch sales". I interpretted him as trying to say he might be able to help solve some of the problems/complaints. "(Posted by DaveShowey)...It sounds like you need additional training to learn all of the functionalities of the LiveDesigner product. You can see the training schedule on www.mymelcoworld.com or you can contact me personally for a one on one training." I might have mis-read, don't know....

Susan

[DaveShowey]

Originally posted by levelbest:
Guys - I am good with Dave being here - I just want straight talk - no sales pitches. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Rather than hammering him, try to be constructive - but still be honest. I am sure melco doesn't want to hear everything is peaches and cream if it isn't, so use this chance for an opportunity to give feedback to someone who is apparently actually listening!

My thoughts on the LE was to allow people to get their feet wet with the product. Maybe sell 10-20 items and put a cap on it. If the normal version allows 50 fonts to choose from, allow 5 of the most popular. If the full version has 1000 stock designs, maybe the light has 100. Maybe you pay a percentage per sale as the cost for the product instead of paying a monthly/yearly fee (like the cafe press model)? This would allow customers to grow into the product. Fact is the point of entry is just too high as are the recurring costs.

Sure, off the shelf ecommerce systems aren't going to allow for customization to the degree that live designer does but they also can be had for $500-1200 outright with no more fees.

So, if melco hit the market with a Light or Limited Edition version of the product (like what adobe does with Photoshop - Photoshop Elements) and just distills the elements that you need to see the value of the product, then sales in the long run, and those seeing value in the product could certainly expand.

We did hear a lot of issues with Search Engine Optomization (SEO) in Live Designer. Has anything been done to address that?

We actually have done several things to address SEO. The first being the LiveDesigner Suite eMarketing Manual. This manual is a comprehensive guide written for LiveDesigner Suite customers that gives them a step by step guide on how to market their online business. Everything from SEO, to Google Adwords, to how to advertise on Facebook, local business search, and every other way to market your online business is covered in the guide.

We also have now allowed customers access to the html code. This gives them the ability to inject meta content into any and every page of their LiveDesigner Suite site.

Keep in mind that there is no magic bullet for SEO, real organic search engine results take time. The documentation we provide shows what to do and how to do it in order to maximize your SEO efforts.

Thanks!

[Steve]

Originally posted by DaveShowey:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by levelbest:
Guys - I am good with Dave being here - I just want straight talk - no sales pitches. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Rather than hammering him, try to be constructive - but still be honest. I am sure melco doesn't want to hear everything is peaches and cream if it isn't, so use this chance for an opportunity to give feedback to someone who is apparently actually listening!

My thoughts on the LE was to allow people to get their feet wet with the product. Maybe sell 10-20 items and put a cap on it. If the normal version allows 50 fonts to choose from, allow 5 of the most popular. If the full version has 1000 stock designs, maybe the light has 100. Maybe you pay a percentage per sale as the cost for the product instead of paying a monthly/yearly fee (like the cafe press model)? This would allow customers to grow into the product. Fact is the point of entry is just too high as are the recurring costs.

Sure, off the shelf ecommerce systems aren't going to allow for customization to the degree that live designer does but they also can be had for $500-1200 outright with no more fees.

So, if melco hit the market with a Light or Limited Edition version of the product (like what adobe does with Photoshop - Photoshop Elements) and just distills the elements that you need to see the value of the product, then sales in the long run, and those seeing value in the product could certainly expand.

We did hear a lot of issues with Search Engine Optomization (SEO) in Live Designer. Has anything been done to address that?

We actually have done several things to address SEO. The first being the LiveDesigner Suite eMarketing Manual. This manual is a comprehensive guide written for LiveDesigner Suite customers that gives them a step by step guide on how to market their online business. Everything from SEO, to Google Adwords, to how to advertise on Facebook, local business search, and every other way to market your online business is covered in the guide.

We also have now allowed customers access to the html code. This gives them the ability to inject meta content into any and every page of their LiveDesigner Suite site.

Keep in mind that there is no magic bullet for SEO, real organic search engine results take time. The documentation we provide shows what to do and how to do it in order to maximize your SEO efforts.

Thanks! </font>[/QUOTE]This is the first time I have heard of this. Why don't you notify your customer when changes are made? It really doesn't matter at this point because once my year is up, I'm going to use a different product for my web hosting.

[TinaK]

That is great that you have put together SEO marketing for your clients I know alot of people will be happy once they get the hang of SEO and how it works.

I hope you can get the word out about the SEO manual as there seems to be alot of people unhappy about how they are not getting found in search engines...

A person can have the best site possible for their business but if people can't find you it is not good for business!

[scot]

Thank you Dave, that is what I wanted to know. Thank you for the reply.

[Steve]

Dave,
Sometimes it is the small things that gets the customers upset like when you and your team send out emails and puts 300 email addresses in the TO or CC line. Hasn't Melco heard of BCC?
Also if you send email with a link that requires a password, how about giving us the password so we can join the meeting!

[DaveShowey]

Originally posted by Steve:
Dave,
Sometimes it is the small things that gets the customers upset like when you and your team send out emails and puts 300 email addresses in the TO or CC line. Hasn't Melco heard of BCC?
Also if you send email with a link that requires a password, how about giving us the password so we can join the meeting!

Agreed, totally my fault. I wasn't even thinking when I sent the email out! Sorry about that, BCC from now on, I promise. Also the initial link was not the correct link, for some reason our exchange email server info was incorporated into the beginning of the URL so it was actually trying to send you to the web based version of our exchange server. I did send out the correct link shortly after to everyone (BCC this time) that did not require a password. I hope you were still able to attend the training, but there will be regularly scheduled trainings going forward.

Thanks!