Believe it or not, when I first started working at Infusionsoft back in 2007, I was completely scared to log into the software and do anything. I had heard horror stories of people accidentally sending out an email to the entire database that was only supposed to go to a select group of people, or someone accidentally deleting records, or starting a campaign for the wrong group of people.
So, without any training, I was scared and cautious to try and do anything in Infusionsoft.
How could I go from that state to where I’m at now, considered to be one of the world’s top Infusionsoft experts?
Sure, I have a knack for technology, I’ll admit that. But that’s not how I got comfortable with it.
Plus, I’ve seen people who are plenty skilled with technology and software in general really struggle with Infusionsoft.
On the other hand, I ‘ve seen people who can barely turn on a computer excel with Infusionsoft.
I finally got there by digging in and learning it. I got my own account and started playing with it. I used it to market an investment property I was selling at the time. And as I did that, I had an epiphany. All of a sudden I “got it”. It clicked. It all made sense and I became a “believer”.
So, why has Infusionsoft developed a reputation as hard to use? Why do some people even call it Confusionsoft?
I believe the answer has far less to do with the software than you might think. Sure, the software has some flaws, and I’ll discuss those in a moment.
But, what makes Infusionsoft difficult for people to understand in the beginning has more to do with the new concepts that it introduces into your thinking than it has to do with the software.
Think about it, when you first log into Infusionsoft you have to learn some new concepts that are sophisticated for any business. Think like:
- Database marketing through targeted list segmentation
- The concept of tagging people for who they are, what they do, and what you do with those tags
- Automated communications – most of us can’t think past tomorrow, let alone plan out a 27 step marketing sequence with branches and triggers based on what people do, or don’t do
- The Campaign Builder alone is a whole new way of thinking about your business in terms of goals and sequences. Did you ever say “goals and sequences” before Infusionsoft when referring to things your prospects and customers do and how you respond?
And those are just to name a few.
Now, put software aside for a moment . Just getting your head around those concepts is a big feat. If you’ve been using Infusionsoft for a while, you may think I’m being dramatic. Sure, these things seems trivial and mundane to us now. But these concepts are advanced marketing automation and CRM concepts that require an advanced level of strategic thinking and planning that most business owners just aren’t used to.
Part of the problem is that these concepts are not being taught well. This is one of the things we’re focusing on at Box Out Marketing.
So, cut the software a bit of slack and realize that first there is a strategic level of thinking required to understand what’s going on before even addressing software.
Second, the software is a combination of CRM, Marketing Automation, eCommerce, Affiliate Tracking, Email Marketing, Workflow Automation, Reporting, and more.
Did you ever think how long it would take to learn 6 or 7 different softwares that together cover all the things Infusionsoft does? It would be significant. Truthfully, I think it would take more time to master 6 or 7 different software solutions than to master Infusionsoft, and the result still wouldn’t be as good as what you get with Infusionsoft.
My third, and last, point is to address what’s really wrong with the software. But first let’s get straight on the words we use.
Confusion: I’ve already established that the majority of the confusion comes from the concepts, not the software. It’s not fair to call it Confusionsoft.
Hard To Use: This is also an unfair statement. For those who have learned it, Infusionsoft is easy to use. In fact, I’ve learned and used other softwares that do similar things and NONE is as easy to use as Infusionsoft.
Hard To Learn: Here’s where Infusionsoft has some room for improvement. Infusionsoft is not easy to learn. Partly due to the fact that it is not being taught very well. And partly due to the fact that while the software has changed and new features have been added, legacy features and settings are still hanging around. There are multiple “settings” areas for the same parts of the software. There is also a lot of inconsistency in the interface in how features and user interactions work. This makes it hard to learn and frustrating for the new user.
Bugs: Yep, Infusionsoft, like all software, has occasional bugs. Some are things that Infusionsoft may not consider as bugs. But we all know that, when we spend time building and formatting an email and then, after deleting an extra line, all the formatting immediately disappears, we get frustrated.
Lack of Visibility: Things like campaign reporting are painfully lacking in Infusionsoft. We don’t have the visibility we’d like into our business. A true reporting and business intelligence solution is sorely needed with Infusionsoft.
Even with these shortcomings, Infusionsoft remains an astoundingly powerful software solution that truly changes lives when implemented correctly.
At Box Out Marketing we have tools and solutions for many of these shortcomings and we are continually releasing more and more training for the Infusionsoft community to help with these things.
