Preferences Wizard

A big change we’ve added is a completely redesigned Preferences Wizard. This is the wizard that prompts a brand-new Spectra or myStratus user when they launch our software for the very first time. Its purpose is to house all the important settings a new user needs to get the software up and running. We’ve updated this wizard to show new features, remove old ones, and have an overall more explanatory design.

While this feature is designed for brand-new users, anyone can view it at Maintenance > Preferences > Preferences Wizard.

Trigger Enhancement

A new option is available in triggers to automatically send both an email and SMS message – allowing you to send two communications using one trigger.

SMS Enhancement

When sending an SMS to a phone number not already in your system, we’ve added a setting to automatically have the software create a new client record to keep all communications with this number together.

Coming Soon

We have big plans for 2020! One of the “new features” in this first release of 2020 actually can’t be seen quite yet. We’ve added the necessary back-end infrastructure to support our upcoming, brand-new InspiredByYou.com Website!!! Keep an eye out for more updates throughout the year.

Multilingual Online Booking

For our international users, we’ve added more language options in the online booking portal. These include Dutch, Danish, Italian, Swedish, and Norwegian translations on top of our English, German, French, and Spanish translations.

To set this up yourself, this setting is controlled by the Locale option found on the General tab of the Company Preferences. Or, utilize a custom URL that directs clients to the translated portal.

Since we do not have anyone on staff who is fluent in the new online languages, if you see an incorrect translation, please let us know! We will be happy to correct the wording. Email any corrections to Support@StudioPlusSoftware.com.

Online Booking Locations

As an additional feature for photographers who utilize in-home photography, we’ve added the ability to online booking for you to list the client’s home address as the location of their photoshoot. No more confusion for where they need to be!

This can be set for individual session types in the Session Type maintenance > Online Booking tab.

Online Booking Fonts

Another great feature is the ability to add your own custom, web-safe font to display online. In your Customization options for online booking, you may free-type the name of the font and the system will automatically connect with it. As far as color options go, the system has already allowed you to free type a color’s RGB code. This new addition grants you full control of the customization of your online booking portal.

Click here to learn more about Online Booking.

Both Spectra and myStratus users can now Save your report settings to come back and view later. For example, let’s say you always run the same Time Sheet report every week for Payroll. Now, this report has a new option to save the report settings, so the software will remember what you need to see when you access the saved report next time. An important point to remember with this feature is to keep the dates generic. If you always view a report based on today’s information, make sure your dates are set to show for Today instead of Today’s Date 05/26/2020.

With this new saved report feature, myStratus users can go even further and Subscribe to your saved reports, which will automatically send the report to your email inbox on the date/time you define. Using my previous example of the Time Sheet report—since you saved the report exactly in the format you need it, you can also select to Subscribe to the report. Once this is set up, myStratus will automatically send you a copy of the time sheet report once a week when you need to look at it.

Plus, if your report criteria, or the frequency you need a report, changes over time, you can always edit them at the new Maintenance > Reports menu.

Click here to learn more about Report Subscriptions

“Ever received a 1-10 scoring scale like this from a business you’ve recently patronaged? “How likely are you to recommend our service to a friend or colleague?”

The number you select during this survey is called a Net Promoter Score (NPS). Net Promoter scores are the latest “Hot Topic” in the business world. Experts today have deemed this as the single-most important question you can ask clients to gauge your business’ success. The feedback provided after selecting a rating provides the gateway for you to see what your business does well and where you could use improvement, and because NPS is a leading indicator of your future growth, you’ll quickly find it to be one of the most valuable tools in myStratus!!”

Collecting feedback and data on how your business is doing is absolutely crucial to growing your business, but that data doesn’t provide much insight if you experience low response rates. Therefore, we’ve expanded this critical feature to bring you Net Promoter Score SMS Triggers!

Now, you’ve got a new ability in the Trigger maintenance menu to automatically send a client an NPS SMS text message based on the criteria you set up. This isn’t any ordinary text message – when a client responds to your text asking, “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to refer us to a friend or colleague?”, their response and subsequent feedback will automatically be recorded on the matching session record > Online tab. You can then review this information, along with all the reports and additional triggers created back in 2019.

SMS text messaging is an important key to modern day business practices, and we love bringing you new ways to better utilize this amazing tool.

Click here to learn more about Net Promoter Scores.

As of 1/1/2020, PhotoOne will no longer be a supported software of StudioPlus. This means any recurring Maintenance Plan or DataSafe you currently have will cease to run, and you will not be able to obtain any support – including emergency and system down support. If PhotoOne becomes unavailable (e.g. Fm2 File Corrupt, Halt Disk Error, or trying to move the data), our staff will not be able to provide any assistance.

We’re notifying all PhotoOne clients now to ensure you have enough time to switch to a new software if you choose.

What does this mean for you?

We don’t have a magic switch that will turn off your use of PhotoOne. If you have not changed your software by 1/1/2020, your database will still be accessible and continue to operate. However, all Maintenance Plans, DataSafe, and Technical Support from StudioPlus will cease to be available after this date. Our staff will no longer be able to provide any PhotoOne support – paid or unpaid.

If you would like to switch to one of our other products (myStratus or Spectra) after the 1/1/2020 date, please be advised that the ability to convert your current database will no longer be available as well.

How can you prepare for the end?

Over the course of the next few months, consider how you want your business to move forward.

If you’d like to stay with StudioPlus, we offer two great business management solutions called myStratus and Spectra. Click here to learn more about each software. To help make the switch as easy as possible, we’d like to offer you a free conversion* to either solution, so all your client information will carry over to the new system. Both myStratus and Spectra are similar to PhotoOne, so the transition should be a comfortable one.

If you have questions about which solution will be the best move for your business or want to discuss how your database will be converted, contact us at Support@StudioPlusSoftware.com.

Unfortunately, all software programs eventually reach the end of their life expectancy. Operating systems require updates, security gets tighter and tighter, and other general updates occur. That means more and more parts of the PhotoOne software will stop working as time progresses. Even worse, you may come in one day after a Windows Update and PhotoOne doesn’t work at all!

Take some time prior to 1/1/2020 to consider your best business management option moving forward. And please feel free to reach out to our Support and Sales teams while you make this decision. We value you as a longstanding customer and want you to know we’re here to help!

We’ve been proud to support the product for the last 10 years and we sincerely hope each of you will stay as StudioPlus customers so we may continue to serve you!

*Free Conversion Terms: Conversion must take place before 1/1/2020. Free Conversion applies to Standard and Professional versions of myStratus & Spectra only. myStratus Express and Spectra Express do not count for this promotion. If you wish to convert to the Express version, the cost to convert is $245.

If your device is set up for auto updates, the app should update on its own. If you do not have auto updates set up, visit your app store and check your Updates panel to update the app.

Click here to read how to set up the Credit Card Processing Feature.

Note: This new feature is only available to TSYS users in the U.S. Click here to get a free, no obligation quote from TSYS.