Picsello vs. Volusion

Picsello helps you stay on task. I have struggled with being too nice to clients in regards to when they pay for my services but Picsello fixed that. A payment schedule is included in the proposal process so when you send the email to your client, they'll get their contract, questionnaire, pricing details and a request for payment to secure booking. That's one less item on my to-do list and I can move forward with my workflow.

Volusion is a good company if you're starting out. The problem is that, if you want more complexity out of the program, you're kind of stuck. Also the regular time out errors and slow downs can be very frustrating. Packages that miss overnight deadlines because your system stops working can cost you customers. In today's highly competitive market, that's just something that's hard to put up with. If you have a lower volume of business you might be able to work around these issues.

Incentivized

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• Smart Profit Calculator helps you make money from your business!
• Photo Galleries are already linked to a world class printer so your clients can start ordering right away.
• Control over pricing allows you to set the profit you earn from print and product sales.
• An embed lead form is available so you can get new clients directly from your website started as a lead in Picsello.

• Templates are pre-built for a good end user experience. I've gone through the process of building custom sites as well as tweaking both free and paid templates that Volusion's design team provides.
• Their support team didn't use to be as helpful, but in recent years have answered nearly all questions I've had. Their support section within the database provides detailed walkthrus as well.
• Order processing is easy once you've been trained on the system. We got to a point where nearly the entire process was automated from initial purchase through shipping.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

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• People like flexibility and being able to work with previously established vendors that are different from the print vendor currently available in Picsello. I know additional partnerships are forthcoming and once they do I think this product will only increase in popularity.
• One feature that would be helpful is to be able to block off time in the calendar so potential clients can view your availability.
• I'd like to be able to enter multiple contacts under a single client. If you have a large group and you have their email addresses you could send the gallery to more than one person but from the same job.

• API calls use the previous call as a reference, even if you weren't the one we made the previous call. Can lead to data gaps, so you often have to set a manual date range to look back to make sure you aren't missing any data.
• Not as customizable as most ecommerce platforms
• Not as many integration options as most platforms

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

When you spend so much time with a product like this and not only have you witnessed its growth, but you almost feel like you are next those that make the decisions of building features a certain way, you can't help but want to stay and be a part of their continued growth. It's simply a great product. Can it improve? By all means! But it will only improve because of users and avid resellers like me.

Picsello is a 10 because it has everything I need to successfully run my photography business. I can communicate with my client, get them booked and paid all in one location. I don't need a separate gallery manager, I don't need to remember gallery passwords, I don't have to worry if I remembered to send a contract to a client, I don't have to worry if I don't hear back from a client about their gallery because Picsello will tell me when they logged in to view it. And best of all, I know what I need to charge in order to earn the goal I set for myself and at the end of the day, it's all about earning money doing something you love!

I know what to do to add a new product, promotion or do an analysis of sales.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

The people at Picsello are genuinely interested in seeing you succeed! Are you having trouble deciding what to charge? They have a Mastermind Facebook group, and they have business coaching available. Are you frazzled and just need a little extra help, Customer Success is there to listen and dive into the app with you. Are you new and just need some guidance? Customer Success is there to walk you through the process or send links to demo videos or to sign you up for a one-on-one meeting. These people have been truly nice to me as I've gotten help and learned the product. Customer Service is a big deal to me and this company is going to have my business for a long time.

You have to wait on hold for at least 45 minutes every call—the tech support person never knows the answer right away so they put you on 10 minute holds only to come back and say they're still looking for answers. The chat function could take days to get a response. Our "Dedicated Account Manager" never checks in or answers, nor are they ever in the office when we call. It's like they try to be as unavailable as possible until you forget why you even called in the first place. Insane.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

It is best to use the built-in features and recommended services for the most turn-key experience (ie. Skipjack for payment processing so that it can all be done from the Volusion backend).

Against Pixieset: I like Picsello better for a client experience and managing pricing and galleries. Pixieset is too complicated and cumbersome. Setting up the store is required before you can sell products on Pixieset and that's one large step more than Picsello. Against Honeybook: This is a product that's too generic and doesn't have even half the features of Picsello. It might work for freelance type work but a photographer needs way more than what is offered. It's just not made for photographers so it fails to hit the mark. Shootproof is another I tried but it's just not robust enough. There aren't enough features to help you successfully run your business, but if you'd like to add music to a photo montage, they've got you covered. That's fun to have but it's more important to earn a livable income and Picsello has them all beat with the Smart Profit Calculator!

While k-eCommerce was very glamorous to us because it integrates with our main workflow, it just didn't have some of the marketing features that are so integral to the way we do business online. The set-up costs were also way too high. Volusion is so affordable and feature heavy, it makes it very difficult for any shopping cart provider to compete. You can find others who are competitively priced and have similar features, but they simply aren't as robust (at least for the way we use it)

• By incorporating everything I need in a single email to my client, it saves me time. The contract, questionnaire, pricing details and payment are all sent over in one email and the automation takes over from there as the client signs everything and returns it with payment. So much time saved!
• Having all my clients saved in this platform is a space saver for my Contacts app and so easy for me to contact them on the go since Picsello is mobile-ready. I can use it's full features anywhere!
• The questionnaires are a godsend! I use to have word documents saved all over my laptop from clients but having everything in the Picsello app is way move convenient!
• The photo galleries are given a password and it's automatically entered into the email you send your clients when you share the gallery. I used to have to come up with a password and keep track of it in case a client lost it. Such a pain! This is so much easier and I literally don't even think about this anymore since Picsello does it for me!

• Honestly, when you're in the dashboard, the UX is simply horrendous. I mean, everything that should be 1-2 clicks away is 4-6 clicks away, and each pages takes at least four seconds to load. You just find yourself wasting a lot of time waiting for things to load. This should be more simple.