Today, I just took a hard look at Oprius. http://www.oprius.com/
I found out about this CRM from a multi-level marketer who recommended it. I got really, really excited at what I found when I saw the $14.99 per month price tag (in the budget), signed up for the free 30 day trial, and logged in because the user interface is very eye-catching and immediately looked easy to use and navigate. My excitement took a nose dive, though, when I realized that it is a one-user system. I was hoping that I was wrong in my assessment, so much so that I called the contact number right then to inquire whether there was a hidden user management section I was just overlooking.
Sadly, no, I was not mistaken. I was told that their market is for single sales reps and multi-level marketing companies.
Too bad because they came the closest to meeting the needs of one of my clients, but this one exclusion of multi-users rules it out as a viable option. Sorry, Oprius, but typing in a person's name in front of every communication logged in the system is just not a viable option for a small business with more than one person. Frankly, I'm shocked that they didn't anticipate that their one man shop clients might one day grow up to be a two man shop client and POW...they are done with Oprius. On to looking for the next CRM system to meet the need.
So if you anticipate staying the one-man show for the long haul, then by all means consider Oprius. They have a lot going for them. But if you anticipate getting a wild hare and actually growing your business so that you need some additional help like hiring an assistant, taking on a partner, letting your spouse jump in and help sometimes...then I'd suggest looking at other options.
Maybe Oprius will figure out soon that they missed a huge opportunity here and add in multi-user functionality...at which time I would re-look at it. But by then I will have dug my heels (and my clients too) into another solution, because we can't wait to move our business forward with a CRM tool. And the conversion cost to switch at that point will probably just be too high.
So to cap off this review, here is a list of my Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down features of Oprius.
Angie's Thumbs UP Features
1. Fantastic usability. Very easy to figure out what to do. Didn't need to consult the Help to figure out what to do on anything. Looks like even a novice computer user could figure this one out. I also liked the color controls that give a visual distinction even though too much of a good thing can be overwhelming.
2. Love the phone scripts. This is a feature I haven't seen yet on any of the other CRM solutions I've looked at. One of my clients is going to be having an admin employee participate in some of the sales process and she needs a sales script to follow. This would have been SOOO perfect for filling that need and would have earned me big bonus points!!
3. The price is right. At $14.99/mo with no limitations on number of contacts or data storage, who can argue with that price for all the features you do get.
4. The sync with Outlook was one of my favorite features. I've been an Outlook user for almost my entire adult life, so it is going to be like pulling teeth to get me away from using it. So I like the sync capability with Outlook where changes I make in either Outlook or Oprius get synced up with both.
5. Connectivity through an API with Freshbooks was a big, big plus for me. I bill by the hour and use Freshbooks for time tracking, expense report tracking and creating and sending invoices. Anytime I can see more of my data all in one place, the happier I am. And it looks like a similar connectivity to SendOutCards is coming which would have earned me bonus points with the other client!
6. The Lead Page development wizard was nice. This let me easily create a web page for collecting leads and it puts new leads up on my dashboard for approval (an optional setting.) I had it up and running in about 10 minutes flat. Nice for the small guy.
Angie's Thumbs DOWN Features
1. Single user. Single user. Single user. AGGGHHHH!!! (I know, sorry, just still can't get over this one.)
2. A very close second, though, is the strict rules they put on email campaigns sent from within Oprius. Every single email address in a distribution list has to have given you permission to send them a bulk email. We all know what spam is, and it is not an email from someone who sent me their email address on my lead generator site, or a current client of mine, or someone that has in any way a relationship with me and my company. I don't care what the "formal" rule is which they will gladly educate about. Nobody today follows them. And if they did, a lot of business wouldn't happen because people didn't get emails about things that they really might be interested in. I like the opt out option a lot better and this is becoming a standard. So why is Oprius forcing this restriction...get with the program, Oprius. And honestly, if #1 didn't knock Oprius out of the running, this one probably would have too for both my clients who intend to market to their contacts via email campaigns.
3. No dropbox to capture emails sent from outside Oprius in the history of the contact. Other CRM's use a dropbox email address that when bcc'd on an email sent from your email client would copy that email into your client contact. To get an email tied to a contact in Oprius, you have to have sent the email from within Oprius.
4. And last on my list is that the custom fields don't have enough flexibility in configuring the type of response desired. For instance, I want to add a new date field, I can't format the field as a date and require that only a date be entered. I want to add a new field that only accepts Yes/No answers. Nope, can't do that. It is a custom text field with just a big fat white box for any number of variations of answers that mean the same thing to be entered. Think "Y" or "Yes" or "yes" or "Yes, but..." all as answers to a simple Yes/No question. Think reporting nightmare.
So that's it folks. Oprius is definitely out of the running for my two clients. And even though I'm a one man shop myself, I think I'm going to steer clear too because I don't want to be a one-man shop for long.
Hi Angie,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the review! I'm sorry that things didn't work out, but right now Oprius' focus is on developing the best system possible for independent sales professionals, specifically those in multi-level marketing. You're right about there being a huge opportunity out there! We've seen tons of systems that are overly complex, and don't provide some basic tools that small businesses need, and we know that something like Oprius could help them out. At the same time, we also know that it's very easy for a company to try and do too much if they try and be everything to everybody. When that happens, it's easy to want to just continue adding features to suit all of your users, and then you're left with an overly complex system that does too much. This isn't to say that Oprius won't be evolving, and that we will always be limited to the current features, but for now it is our goal to stay focused and build for our market.
Thank you so much for all of the kind words in the review, and I've logged all of your "thumbs downs" as feature requests for future enhancements. One thing I wanted to mention is that it is possible to have a "dropbox" within Oprius, but since we have a fully integrated email module (unlike some other CRMs that only have drop boxes) we just dont call it that. If you send an email from outside the system and want it logged with your contacts, just BCC your Opriusmail email address (your-username@opriusmail.com). Also, you can setup any email client to connect to your Opriusmail account via IMAP so that everything gets logged that way as well.
I understand what you're saying about wanting a multi-user system where you don't need to do extra entry to assign tasks/calls/appointments/etc to your users. One other option (that I have seen work for some small teams) is to create multiple groups within the system - one for each of your people accessing it. So you would have a group called John, one called Mary, etc. Then, whenever an activity is for a certain person, just put it in their group and it will show up on the activity list in their colour. Of course, they can all log in at the same time, and they would only pay for the one account at $14.99/mo.
I hope that sheds a little more light on the situation, Angie, and thanks so much for the review! I hope that your search for a CRM that works for you goes well. If there's anyway that we can help, feel free to get in touch with me.
Good luck, and thanks again!
Cheers,
Shaun Foster
Oprius - Support Manager
(e) shaun -at- oprius.com
(t) 877-767-7487