SaaS vendor quits browser to boost sales

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How quitting boosted sales

Thanks for the feedback. I see how the tone may have been misleading to a new reader. Actually there is no video on the Entellium website that shows off the UI - which anyway is more of interest to us geeks than to their target demographic. What I was trying to convey was that the interface is so fluid that you have to see it in motion to really appreciate it.

As to how quitting boosted sales, I see two significant factors:

a) The ability to deliver a digital download makes the buying process identical to buying a conventional software package and therefore there's no additional step during the sales cycle where the vendor has to explain to the customer why the process is different. Although it sounds like a minor point, Entellium has found that it's a big additional stumbling block when selling SaaS to small businesses and that having a download significantly shortens the sales cycle and ups the close rate.

b) You were right in your earlier comment when you conjectured that Rave sells better because the browser-based version was not as good. But a large part of what makes Rave so much better is down to the things it can do because of the smart client. Entellium knew they needed to do a better job with the user experience, but wanted to do things that aren't possible working solely in the browser.

By the way, entellium is not the only CRM vendor to have moved to a smart client UI. RightNow did last year, which I wrote up here:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=466

Posted by: phil wainewright   Posted on: 07/21/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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