We know that loads of our users are running Googlemail or Google Apps. We do too. It’s been so easy adding more users to the company email system as we’ve grown over the past few months, and of course it’s fully integrated with Brightpearl.
Google have just launched the “priority inbox” feature. We think this is a great idea. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to make business more efficient, so thought you’d like to know about this too. Your Gmail/ Google Apps account should have a new link at the top suggesting that you try the new feature – give it a go!
Whilst you’re looking at how efficient email processing can help your business, take a look at the Rapportive/Brightpearl integration that delivers CRM data right into your Google inbox (Firefox and Chrome browsers only). From a customer’s email, you can see what they owe you, any notes that a colleague may have added to their timeline and more. It’s free and easy, and really, really powerful.
Finally, a world beating CRM integration for Googlemail.
We’ve worked with the guys over at Rapportive to bring you a first in Web 2.0 business integration – full two way data transfer between your Pearl business management system and your Googlemail inbox.
Access contact quotes, notes, sales and financial history all from within your Gmail account.
Add notes to a contact and update their status, all without leaving your inbox.
Your web based accounting solution running tightly with your email. Now that’s hot.
Save time, and make sure you’re up to speed with your colleagues!
Of course, email integration doesn’t stop there. You can set up your Pearl account to send all outgoing email via your Google server, so that emails sent from within Pearl appear in your Gmail conversations. You can add filters to your Gmail account so that all incoming emails (from you AND all your colleagues) are copied into the contact timeline in Pearl, so you can be sure you’re working with the most up to date information. Read how it all works.
We’re pleased to announce that Pearl is available through Google Apps Marketplace. Google Apps Marketplace is designed to showcase software that integrates with the suite of Google Apps tools. We’re probably one of the most advanced cases of true integration (watch out for the cheapos that claim integration by providing just a link to your Google Mail inbox!).
Import contacts from Google Contacts. Really handy when setting up a new Pearl account.
If there are any other Sync features that you’d like, please add them to our Uservoice Forum.
Integrations and API
Whilst we are on the subject of integration with other systems, we have added a new Integrations forum to Uservoice – this is where you can let us know what you want your Pearl account to interface with.
We’ve had a few users request the ability to connect their Pearl ecommerce to an Affiliate system. It’s your vote, use it!
If you run a Wordpress blog or website, then you’ve probably got a “contact us” page to capture new leads. Excellent, that’s a great start. But what happens to those leads that come in from your site? You probably get an email sent to you, which you filter, respond to and then wait for a reply. You’re probably pretty busy, so if they don’t get back to you, then it’s unlikely that it’s going to turn into a deal.
How handy would it be if all your website contact form submissions appeared magically in a contact management system, with all the relevant information already filled out for you? Even better, let’s send the visitor a welcome email, perhaps even instructions for the next step that they should take. When you have time, you visit your system, pick up the leads, and immediately you have all the information you need in front of you. If they’ve contacted you or bought from you before, then it’s easy to see what’s going on, who’s spoken to them and what their relationship is with your company.
It’s really easy to keep your new lead stack under control.
Just install the Pearl plugin for Wordpress, and your contacts will be captured directly into the CRM software. The plugin is a really simple, yet uber-powerful tool, available from Wordpress here. It inserts a Pearl Smartform into your blog or website, which you control from within your Pearl account.
Some of the awesome features are:
Tag incoming contacts
Assign contacts to staff members
Send an automated email reply
Send an SMS to yourself or a team of staff members
Trigger emails to yourself or your team
Add as many fields as you need, including custom fields
Set “required” options
Add as many different forms as you need to your site
Here’s a tip for those of you that capture leads from a website and then need to do something with those leads. Of course if you are running your website on Pearl then you get a load of other benefits too.
Smartforms are used to inject contact information directly into your CRM system from any website. Just configure your form in Pearl, insert a small bit of code into your website, and all contact requests will not only send you (or your team) an email/SMS, but will also store all the contact details in your CRM ready to follow up later.
Smartforms can also be used to trigger an automatic reply, tag incoming contacts, and give them a lead source. Watch the video below to get an overview, then read the documentation to set up your own!
If you’re running Wordpress, then hang on a couple of weeks more and we’ll have our Wordpress plugin ready for you.
We are excited to announce that Mailchimp is now integrated with Pearl so that you can have your website and CRM talking directly with your email lists. We’ve built a system that manages all your subscribers in MailChimp, without having to log in except to view reports.
Here are some of the features you get:
New website signups automatically added to Pearl CRM and MailChimp (even if you don’t have your website with Pearl- using SmartForms). Saves you time and aggro – all the work’s done for you!
Communicate easily and cost effectively with selected groups of customers and contacts by tagging and sorting within Pearl, then simply adding to a MailChimp list.
What does it cost?
Nothing! MailChimp has a free account, and Pearl Express is also free. What a great way to get started.
I’m sure, by now, that you’re aware of just how powerful a system Pearl really is. Having everything in one place wherever you go is, well, handy. But what most people don’t realise yet is that you can wrap it all up sweetly and present it to your own clients and customers ribbon-tied in the form of a website, be it for mere presence or actually as a platform to sell from. It makes total sense: a system that already takes care of your sales, purchases, stock, accounts, customers and comms is sitting pretty for a public face to be dropped on top of it, automating the entire process. And it works, too. (Did we mention that the future version 3 will make your morning tea for you?)
In all seriousness, Pearl is an immensely powerful content management system in itself. Only one side of a multi-faceted application yet completely interconnected with the rest of your business, it’s the logical place to put your site. Scrap that, it’s the only place to put your site. Sure, there are better CMS’s out there with richer WYSIWYG editing and so on (I’ve used, reviewed and developed on them all), but that’s all they do. Try asking your current system to integrate with your retail till, or let your B2B clients reprint invoices, view statements, or add comments to quotes. Besides, this particular face of Pearl isn’t fully grown up yet: we’re working on some pretty exciting advancements (all a bit hush hush at the moment but to keep you guessing: open themes, on-the-fly XHTML/CSS edits and a tasty graphical environment) that will allow even the non-technical user to build stunning W3C valid portals and ecommerce applications. But advancements aside, the system will always indulge the more adventurous amongst us by catering for raw code entry, and as a result the possibilities are nigh on endless.
Over the coming months we’re going to be writing a number of posts, each one focusing on one particular area of designing with Pearl. We’ll kick off with the way in which categories and pages are handled, and how to use the menu widget in your templates to pull through beautifully styled, fully dynamic and entirely customisable navigation. Looking forward, topics and tutorials will cover everything from the more practical – setting up client access areas and working with custom fields; to the more aesthetic – graphically heavy designs, multiple templates, intelligent layouts, and using jQuery to aid user experience. That’s just a taster – If you have any questions about site design with Pearl, a suggestion for a topic or even ideas for improving functionality, we’d love to hear it.
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