The New Batchbook: Focusing on Relationships
- Posted January 18th, 2012
- Filed under: BB2
As our regular readers know, we are in the process of rewriting Batchbook. We are finishing up the first set of features to be released in the new BB2 product, so I want to give you all an update on where we stand.
First, I want to share with you a little of the philosophy behind the new Batchbook. As I have mentioned many times here on the blog, Batchbook is designed to help small businesses (like us! and you!) better keep up with the relationships that are most important to us: the ones we have with our existing customers. Seems like an obvious concept, but is actually counter to the traditional CRM model. Rather than focus our own sales efforts around the “funnel” management process of finding and converting unknowns, we focus our efforts around the relationships we have with those folks already familiar with our product and benefit from their efforts to help us spread the word on Batchbook. This has been extremely successful (and a lot of fun) for us, so the rewrite of Batchbook will reflect this customer friendly approach. With this release, we are introducing tools for Batchbook customers to more easily find and stay better connected with those folks already in your network who are eager to help you spread the word on your product or service.
But before we get too detailed on what is coming, a few important things to point out about the transition from the existing Batchbook to the new version:
- We will begin introducing the new Batchbook at the end next month. We will start migrating accounts shortly thereafter, and it may take up to several months for all existing accounts to be migrated.
- The initial release will contain those features used by the greatest number of account holders. We will continue developing the additional features and releasing them in the new Batchbook as they are available.
- We will prioritize the order in which existing accounts are migrated to the new design based on the feature set currently being utilized by that account.
- You will be notified directly and will be able to preview the new Batchbook before you are migrated, though you will not be able to switch back and forth between the old and new systems.
- We will be maintaining and supporting the old Batchbook accounts until all have been migrated.
- If you are using the Batchbook API, you will be given early access to the new API. We will be contacting those accounts in the next few weeks. If you do not hear from us, please write in to support@batchblue.com to let us know you need the access.
Please let me know if you have any questions on the migration process and schedule. We will keep you updated on the rollout of the new Batchbook and the release of features on the new system.
We are very excited by the new direction we are going and what that means for Batchbook and for you. Please let me know what you think and if you have any ideas on ways we can make Batchbook more customer friendly.
can’t wait to see the NEW batchbook
I am unclear as to what extent you will have Outlook integration.
Can you be specific?
I am looking into Batchbook for my commercial real estate office and had a few questions that I am still uncertain of after looking through your site. Particularly, how easy is it to categorize and search our contacts by type… retail users, contractors, office users, ect. I also would like to be notified when your latest version is going to be available. With everything there is a learning curve, and I don’t want the office to get use to one layout, to have it change a month later. Thanks.
Nathan
Great news, the current one looks a bit old fashioned already
How about the mailchimp sync, is this back in the new release?
Email templates please! Email templates! Thanks!
Any chance of some screen shots please
Pretty please with cheese on top ;o)
One other thing. In point 3 you mentioned prioritising the order in which people migrate across.
If we are prepared for our accounts to be reset and started from afresh can we get transferred immediately?
It’s a Feature request for te transition.
Kind regards,
Duncan Johnson
+1 on bi-directional mailchimp
As a long time user of Batchbook (3 1/2 years and counting!) I am super excited to hear that we are nearly ready with BB2. I agree with the comment that the UI feels a bit old so I’m looking forward to seeing the new one.
For me I hope that BB2 become platform agnostic and the core super tags are given centre billing.
The migration can’t happen soon enough – I will swap a pony for a position at the front of the line
Hi Pamela, we’ve been waiting (holding on) for a long time as well and would have preferred to hear that the conversion priority would take into account those who have been patient. If we do a clean onboarding would that allow us an immediate jump?
Thanks,
Derek
Hi all – thanks so much for the encouragement and enthusiasm. We will certainly take requests to bump up in the line for the migration, but I want to make sure you all understand that not all of the existing functionality will be in the first release. We are staging the release in phases – starting with the core contact/communication management features and then continuing to add in more of the sales tools and integrations. This allows us to get the new product out as quickly as possible, as well as help the existing system run smoothly until we have finished development and migration. Of course, ponies also help.
Hi, Pamela – we are looking into BB for our small consulting firm. We all use BlackBerry mobile phones right now. Will that interface be included in the new BB2 release? Also, will there be 2-way sync ability with Outlook in the new version? When can we expect to see the release for new customers? I don’t know if I can hold them off from *%$#@force.(/^ for too much longer…
Thanks!
Would really like to see the Mailchip sync asap
What is the eta for this please. Spounds like its going to be after the main release.
Thanks
Hey John and Victoria – I wish I could give a specific ETA and more information on exactly when each feature will be released but that is still being determined. I can say that we will be rolling out features as quickly as possible, with MailChimp rewrite slated as the first integration. We have no plans right now for Outlook integration, though we do import directly from Outlook. I hope this is helpful!