Both myStratus 2019 and Spectra 2019 are now available for general release!

Our StudioPlus team’s been working hard over the past several months to deliver this major update. From development to testing, documentation to editing, and feedback to delivery, each staff member has played a key role in producing a product we are proud to release to our clients! Without their hard work, we wouldn’t be able to deliver these industry-changing features every year. So I’m taking the opportunity to publicly acknowledge their contribution and say, “Thanks, team!!”

All Spectra users with a current maintenance plan can upgrade today. All myStratus subscribers will automatically be upgraded during the next two weeks. If you are a myStratus subscriber, we’ll send you an email with the date of your automatic upgrade. Feel free to let us know if the proposed date doesn’t work for your business and we’ll change it.

Get started by reading the Release Notes to discover the great new features as well as some important items that have changed in the software.

Remember, if you have a suggestion for a new feature, please visit our User Voice page here, and cast your vote on other people’s suggestions or add one of your own!

Spectra users – Click here to start your Spectra 2019 download and view upgrading instructions!

myStratus subscribers – Keep an eye on your email for the date of your upgrade!

Over the past several days, I’ve been privileged to describe our latest 2019 features, and today I’m sharing some “Additional Goodies” in the latest release. These features may not warrant their own dedicated blog post but we believe they’re still just as exciting!

Here’s what’s new:

• Best Promotion Calculator – A new calculator option is available on all invoices. When activated, the system will automatically check all listed Promotional items on an invoice and will only apply the one Promotional item that gives the best deal for the client.

• Calendar Performance – Changes have been made behind the scenes to improve Calendar performance for myStratus.

• Cayan Credit Card processing – With TSYS’s recent acquisition of Cayan, Spectra/myStratus have been updated to display the new TSYS branding instead of Cayan.

• Client records – The Invoice tab of Client records will now display a green dot if all your client’s invoices are paid in full.

• Image Detail – A new option is available in the Company Preferences to not print individual images on the Image Detail if they’re only being used in a Composite.

• Search By Options – The Search By feature in the Clients Hub is now able to search via Lead Source.

• Dashboard – Session and Appointment based Data Types in the Dashboard provides the option to Group By “Hour of Day”.

• Invoice Labels – A new Client Labels pop-up menu for Session, Bill-to, and Shipping labels is included in Invoice records.

• Time Slots – User and Resource columns now visible in Time Slot maintenance form.

• Client Import Wizard – A new ability to Update Existing Client Records based on Main Phone Number in Client Import Wizard.

• Client Birthdays – 12 new Filters have been automatically added to create a list of client’s birthdays for each month.

• Price List Items – Replaceable Price List Items grant the ability to require an item be replaced.

• Auto Capitalization – A new setting in the Company Preferences lets you disable the software’s automatic capitalization feature. To bypass the auto capitalization, a hover-over detail has also been added to all client records.

• Today’s Snapshot – LYTD (Last Year-To-Date) data has been added to Today’s Snapshot tile on Home page. LYTD means Last Year-to-date, which allows you to get an immediate comparison how you are doing this Year-to-date versus last year for the same period.

• Notes – All Notes tabs give you the ability to change font style and size.

• Advanced Search – New ability to search by ALL client Phone Numbers at once in the Advanced Search form.

• Global Payments – Additional compliance in Global Payments integration for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) in Europe.

• Time Stamps – Now set Time Stamps to follow a global internet time instead of the computer’s local time at Company Preferences > Miscellaneous tab. Using this feature bypasses the local computer clock, which can be different from computer to computer, and uses a centralized Internet-based clock so all time-stamps are consistent and accurate. Using this feature, also prevents a user from manually changing their computer time to fraudulently stamping in an inaccurate timestamp in the notes.

Many of the new features added in the 2019 Version came directly from our StudioPlus User Voice page. Please, continue to use this page to submit new feature requests that you’d appreciate being added to an upcoming release, or simply cast your vote for someone else’s suggestion. The more votes a suggestion receives, the more likely it will show up in a future release. Help customize both StudioPlus Spectra and myStratus for years to come!!

Click here to visit the StudioPlus User Voice

Click here for the complete list of What’s New in 2019 Volume 1

Click here for the complete Release Notes for 2019 Volume 1

When we announced the 2018 version of Spectra & myStratus last year, one of the features introduced was an integration with Cayan’s (now TSYS’s) Genius Mini device. This powerful little device allows you to take credit card payments from your mobile device. We shared then that we planned to integrate the Mini Device with our myStratus Mobile App in the near future. That time is now!

Our myStratus Mobile app is now compatible with the Genius Mini device – allowing you to take credit card payments and deposits ALL from your mobile device. Any payment or customer deposit created from the myStratus mobile app will automatically sync back to your myStratus database immediately.

Please Note: The myStratus Mobile App is still in Beta Testing at this time. If you would like early access to this feature, please contact Technical Support.

Click here to learn more about Credit Card Processing with myStratus Mobile.

Gift Certificates can help generate both new clients and good will with existing clients. We’re offering some new enhancements to the Gift Certificate feature this year, including the capability to generate a completely random number to a newly created gift certificate – on top of its past ability to assign a sequential number.

Plus, there’s a new setting to automatically send an email to the client when they initially pay for their Gift Certificate. This email can include all necessary information including the certificate’s number and expiration date. We’ve even built this email for you in myStratus – look for it in your HTML email builder with the title SAMPLE – Gift Certificates.

Click here to learn more about Gift Certificates.

Privacy laws continue to become more complex. We’re therefore updating our terminology for those clients who want to receive marketing content. The software now displays “Allow Marketing” rather than “Do Not Market”.

We’ve also split the checkbox into three parts: “Allow Call Marketing”, “Allow Text Marketing”, and “Allow Email Marketing”.

While it may seem like a small flip in terminology, this is a BIG change in the software. In the 2019 upgrade, we’ve made sure all your pre-existing marketing options will translate to the new verbiage, so your marketing won’t miss a beat!

There’s even a new setting in the Company Preferences – Clients tab where you can define if you want the new “Allow Marketing” checkboxes to automatically be checked whenever a new client record is created. Remember to research what the privacy laws require in your area. Some laws require your client give written consent to receive marketing materials before this box can be checked!

Click here to learn more about Client References.

Our Web Form & Payment Plan capabilities are some of the most dynamic features available in myStratus. We’re bringing these powerhouses together in the 2019 version by introducing Invoice-based Web Forms!

Now, your web forms can pull information directly from an invoice for your clients to view and edit online. As an example, you can create a contract for whenever a client decides to use a payment plan. They’ll be able to view the details of the plan and given an e-signature online stating they agree to your terms.

Bringing this a step further, we’ve added a new setting in the Company Preferences – Invoicing tab where you can choose to have the software automatically create this web form and email or text it to a client when they have a payment plan created on their account.

Just a side note, this feature works very well with the new Online Payments!

Click here to learn more about Web forms
Click here to learn more about Payment Plans

Today’s new feature gives you a snapshot of the physical location of your customer base. This is a new service we’re making available as an add-on to myStratus Users. myStratus Maps are a powerful way to look at the geographic location of your clients from any hub in the software. We’ve partnered with Bing Maps to make this add-on possible.

Here’s the three map versions available:

Heat Map: When you pull up a list of clients, you can view this map to see where a concentration of the clients are located.

Pin by Address: View this map to see the addresses for the selected set of clients on the map.

Pin by Zip Code: View this map to see how many of the selected set of clients belong in each zip code and where they’re located.

During the Preview of myStratus 2019, the myStratus Maps feature is provided free of charge. After GA, an additional fee will be required to use myStratus Maps.

Online booking can be key to expanding your business opportunities. Each year we try to introduce new enhancements to our online booking portal to keep up with the current needs affecting your business. Here are some of the new features we’ve brought to online booking this year:

Online Promotions

The ability to let clients use promotion codes is now here! All you need to do is build your promotions in your Price List and clients can enter the Item Identifier (or Promo Code) online.

Individual Session Type Booking Links

A new link option is available to send your clients past the Session Selection screen on Online Booking and straight to your time slots.

If you’re looking for more control over how your session types display online, you can build your own web page for each Session Type that’s available and use the new Session Type Link in your “Book Now” Button. This feature allows you to build custom pages for every Session Type, include sample images, or include special information regarding the Session Type before they book.

Previous Enhancements

I also want to take this opportunity to remind you of previous features that we’ve built into our online booking portal making it, what we feel, is the most comprehensive, customizable, and integrated solution available for you today.

• iFrame capabilities to embed the Online Booking Portal directly into your website.
• 15 customizable properties to make the Online Booking Portal match your website’s color, font, and button styles.
• The ability to let either new or pre-existing clients book their Sessions and Appointments online – plus being able to turn off the feature for new clients to book online if you want greater control.
• The ability to book either Sessions or Appointments online.
• The ability to create scheduling timeslots so you have complete control over when your clients book, the User or Resource the Session or Appointment should be scheduled for, the type of Session or Appointment allowed, and even the Organization or School the Session is linked to.
• The ability to bulk create or copy a group of timeslots at once and also the ability to have timeslots auto created for you every week.
• The ability to require payments or deposits during the booking process.
• The ability to auto trigger a customized text or email confirmation.
• The ability to allow your client to reschedule or cancel sessions if you so choose.
• The ability to give schools/Organizations their own booking preferences with direct links to auto-login clients associated with the Organization.
• Direct and real-time integration with myStratus to auto create all the necessary client, session, appointment, invoice, and payment records.
• Mobile responsive design so the Online Booking Portal works great from any small form device, such as a phone or tablet.

The most requested feature over this past year has by far been an online payment portal where your clients can pay for invoices, payment plans, and even update their credit card info – all from their own device. I’m excited to share that this feature is officially here! You can even hook this feature up to automatic emailing/texting with triggers!

Two new merge fields have been added that will send your clients to their own payment portal.

• The ClientOnlinePayURL merge field will send your clients to the whole portal where they can pay for any of their invoices that have an outstanding balance or update any saved credit cards.
• The InvoiceOnlinePayURL will send your clients straight to a specific invoice where they can pay the outstanding balance.
• The PaymentOnlinePayURL will send your clients straight to a pending payment where they can pay the record’s total. This link goes great with Payment Plans.

We’ve even built these emails for you in myStratus – look for them in your HTML email builder with the title SAMPLE – Online Invoice Portal and SAMPLE – Online Payment Portal.

To send this email to your clients, there’s an additional setting in the Company Preferences where you can define the default email you want sent to clients so they can access the portal.

Because we wanted to make this feature as easy to use as possible, we’ve added new buttons on the Client, Invoice, and Payment Ribbons to email clients their online link.

We’re also excited to start using this feature here at StudioPlus – allowing YOU to view your outstanding invoices and update payment methods whenever necessary. No more needing to contact Customer Service! Keep your eye out for that change coming soon!

Click here to learn more about Online Payments. Note: This feature is only available to clients with a TSYS account in the U.S.

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!!

The number selected with this critical question shows businesses whether the client is a Detractor, Passive, or a Promoter.

Let’s take a moment to define the difference between a Detractor, a Passive, and a Promoter:

Detractor – If a client scores 0-6 on their Net Promoter survey, they’re considered a Detractor to your business. Something was perceived to go wrong along the way and these clients probably don’t plan to work with you in the future. They may even try to prevent others from working with you. For example, they may give you a bad review, not refer others to you, and definitely not give you any repeat business.

Passive – If a client scores a 7 or 8 on their Net Promoter survey, they’re considered a Passive to your business. They appreciate your business but aren’t necessarily going to spread the word of your products/services.

Promoter – If a client scores 9 or 10 on their Net Promoter survey, they’re considered a Promoter of your business. These clients are enthusiastic about your brand and will continue to use your services and promote you to others. These are the clients most likely to give you a positive review online, to refer others to you, and to give you repeat business down the road.

To determine your overall NPS rating, take the total percentage of Detractors and subtract it from the total percentage of Promoters. This difference tells you your overall performance with clients. It also helps you determine which clients are going to stay loyal to your brand, and which clients need extra care and attention. The highest score you can receive is 100 (100% Promoters), and the lowest number is -100 (100% Detractors).

These numbers are key indicators to how your business is performing in terms of your customers’ opinion of your service and products. In the 2019 version of myStratus, we’ve given you the ability to include this survey in your HTML emails, which can be automatically sent to your client via a trigger after they complete a session, after they receive their order, or any other customized triggered event.

Upon receiving the survey, your client can rate how they felt about their last visit. After they pick a number, they’ll be re-directed online where they can enter any additional comments explaining the reason for their rating. We’ve even built this email for you in myStratus – look for it in your HTML email builder with the title SAMPLE – Net Promoter Score.

All this information will then be automatically placed onto your client’s record for you to review. Session and Invoice records will display the NPS rating for that particular visit and the Client record will display the client’s average NPS rating from all records. To view the overall data for your studio, we’ve also added a new Dashboard report type for Clients Net Promoter Data.

And don’t be surprised if you spot an email from us asking you this very important question!

Click here to read more about Net Promoter Scores (NPS)