Zapproved Blog

With the New Year only days away, we wanted to give people an added incentive to get moving on their resolutions to be more organized. Zapproved is a great tool to help streamline your work by managing your approval process, so beginning today we are offering for a limited time a 20 percent discount on Zapproved Premium.

Just head over to our Plans page and choose the option that fits your needs.  Enter the following coupon code “NEWYEAR09” and you will receive a 20 percent discount on Zapproved Premium as our way to welcome 2009!

This special New Year’s offer is available if you sign up before January 18, 2009 to receive an individual subscription for only $9.60 per month through June, or receive an annual subscription for just $96, a savings of up to $24 annually. For those interested in a group plan, the discounted price will be $80 per month through June or an annual subscription for $800, for a total savings of up to $200.

This is a fantastic way to create more organization in your work life for you and your team, so be sure to act soon before the offer ends on January 18th!

Happy New Year!

When we launched our beta site in August, we were lucky enough to catch the eye of DemoGirl, a blogger that creates how-to screencasts for new apps.  She did an amazing job and her 2-minute video helped show prospective users what Zapproved is all about it.

In preparing for our launch, we knew we needed to create a new screencast that would include the updated UI and added features. We reached out to DemoGirl to give us a hand, but due to scheduling conflicts, she simply wasn’t available. (sniff)

After looking around, we decided this was going to be a DIY project. A short burst of research ensued to find some suitable software. The first trial software, well, um, was terrible. It will remain nameless, but looked to be designed for the Commodore 64. After a brief flirtation with a web-based app that is in beta, we decided to go with a proven package of Techsmith’s Camtasia.

To its credit, Camtasia is relatively intuitive and they have an impressive library of how-to screencasts. (Imagine that!) A few fits and starts later, the raw video was recorded and then we laid down the requisite narration. Putting it all together took some time, but it went reasonably well for a newbie.  Check out the results here.

With “A Quick Tour” in the can, it’s time to make a few more which we’ll work on soon. So, if you have any ideas of what screencast you may want to see or have some tips and tricks of your own to share, please send us a message at myidea@zapproved.com.

We welcome your input!

View a “Quick Tour of Zapproved” here.

We’re a startup with a brand new app. It isn’t perfect.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s see what we can do to make Zapproved perfect – or as close as humanly possible. The only we can do that is with the input and support of our users. We need you and your ideas.

Don’t be shy. When you find something that isn’t working how you would like it to or have a suggestion about a new feature that you don’t see, let us know. The easiest way to do it is by emailing us at myidea@zapproved.com.  You can also email me directly at chris (at) zapproved.com if you want to have a longer conversation. 

Feel free to reach out to us through other channels such as commenting on our blog, writing on our Facebook wall or DM’ing us on Twitter.

We are constantly working on new releases as part of our Agile development methodology. If you have a suggestion, it may surprise you how quickly you will see it in the app. Since our beta went live, we have made dozens of changes based on user input.

We believe that our engagement with Zapproved’s user community and ability to respond quickly are critical to our business. You are our partners in building our app, so keep the flow of suggestions coming!

It has been an amazing week at Zapproved. After months of heavy duty development, we officially launched our release bright and early on Monday morning. Our development team gets a huge pat on the back for a flawless transition!

Since the new site went up we have been in constant contact with new users and also received some attention in the blogosphere. One theme is consistent throughout: Simplicity.

At its core, that is the power of Zapproved. It is easy to get started, intuitive to learn and recipients know exactly what to do. As Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable wrote, “You quickly learn that the simplicity is its strength: a very clear cut, black and white decision that prevents the endless back and forth of email. Approved.”

Its simple structure and process, not just its operation, is also powerful. It allows people to adopt it and adapt it easily. “It’s a simple concept, but it’s one that could easily help companies… by streamlining the decision-making process,” said TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid in his post.

That’s really the point: Zapproved is filling a void. Today’s workers are seeking a way to tame their inboxes and get work done. By implementing a straightforward, no-frills way to bring a little process and structure, our users are being more productive.

A new user named Richard Scully, CEO of EcTownUSA, endorsed that idea. He sent us an email yesterday saying “I have signed up for your service and love it. Already I have gotten two responses from my proposals and typically it takes much longer than a couple of days from sending it.”

At first glance, Zapproved is a simple concept – and we intend to keep it that way. That’s not to say we won’t continue adding new features, but they will be done in a clean, elegant way that will not distract from Zapproved’s core function of managing decisions.

To read additional coverage from our launch, check out the following:

• Mashable:  “HOW TO: Kill Endless CCs in Your Office”
• TechCrunch: “Skip the Double-Talk: Zapproved Turns Decisions Into ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ Questions” 
• WebWorkerDaily: “Zapproved Opens Doors to Help with Approvals” 
• GTD Times: “Zapproved: A Time Saver that Companies Will Love”
• VentureBeat: “Zapproved Launches Its Decision-Making Application”
• Profy.com: “Zapproved Out of Beta Offering Any Company to Improve Decision-Making Process”
• A Girl’s Guide to Project Management:  “Snap Decisions”
• TechFlash: “Quick email approval with Zapproved”  
• ITBusinessEdge:  “Email with a Web 2.0 Twist”

We have seen countless examples of decisions being done faster, easier and more accountably since we started Zapproved. However, using Zapproved alone isn’t a panacea for overcoming this difficult problem in business. Getting people to make decisions is still an art.

Here are three tips to smooth the road for your next proposal:

1. Deal with one item at a time — Nothing sidetracks a discussion more than talking about multiple issues in a single Zapproved proposal. People might agree with one part but not with another, so be careful to make sure you don’t confuse multiple ideas.

2. Use actionable language so others understand what clicking “approve” means — You have to be sure that the reader will know what clicking approval will mean in terms of action. It is too easy to focus on the problem you are describing and not be clear about what exact action you are proposing and what “approve” means. Don’t worry about being very explicit. Saying something like “If you approve this proposal, we will go forward with the product launch on January 3, 2009” will suffice.

3. Send only to approvers whose objection would stop you from moving forward — Giving some thought to who actually needs to approve a decision can be the best way to make things go faster. Liberal use of the Viewers field (similar to a cc) is recommended to keep all the stakeholders in the loop. If you would consider moving forward without an approval from someone – put them on the viewers list. This enables them to comment and influence the decision, but they won’t be able to shut you down.

By giving a little thought before sending a proposal in Zapproved, you will get your decisions completed even sooner and your manager and colleagues will appreciate how you are making their lives easier.

Do you have any additional tips that you’d like to share? Leave a comment below!

With our official launch today, you will see on our site that our caffeine-fueled developers have been hard at work. A great deal of effort has been targeted at making how you use Zapproved simpler and smoother. Our new UI adds more personality to Zapproved and little touches, such as our “hover” feature, make it even more efficient.

They also found the time to work in some exciting new features such as these:

• User Photos – Upload your picture as an avatar that appears next to your comments to improve your online collaboration.
• Mobile Platforms Support – Zapproved emails now look and work better on your favorite mobile devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry.
• Printing of Proposals – Need a hard copy of an approval? Click the print button at the top of each View Proposal screen.
• Forwarding via Email – Send an email of a proposal to another person so you can show them a record of the approval.
• RSS Feeds – Stay on top of your decisions using your favorite RSS reader.
• Contact Groups – If you have regular lists of people that you send proposals to, then build a group to save time.
• Multiple Email Addresses per Account – Consolidate all of your emails into a single account.
• Merge Accounts – If you have created two separate accounts, you can easily fold them into one.

In this release we have added a new Daily Overview email that you will automatically start receiving as part of the new site. A number of users requested this feature to help them stay on task. If you prefer to not receive this reminder, then you can quickly turn it off in your My Settings menu.

Our new Zapproved Premium offering enhances your experience with Zapproved by offering customization and no limits as follows:

• Custom Branding – Upload your corporate logo and recipients of your proposals will see your branding for an improved experience with your clients or team.
• Unlimited Archiving – Zapproved will save your records for as long as you keep your account.
• Bigger Attachments and More Storage – Increase your attachment size by 4x and your storage by 20x.

Even more goodies are coming in 2009 when we will offer a plug-in for MS Outlook, native iPhone app, and a new Team Zapproved for enterprises!

We are proud to announce the official launch of Zapproved today.  It is a big moment for our team after months of hard work.  In addition, we especially have to thank all of our beta users who provided so much feedback on Zapproved.  We could not have done it without you!

Engaging with real people using our app for real business has provided us with new ideas that have added tremendous value. We know there are more great ideas out there, so don’t be shy about sending us an email at myidea@zapproved.com.

Thanks for your support!

All the Best!
Team Zapproved

Based on Australia’s Gold Coast, Ion Life is the world’s foremost supplier of water ionization systems that treat drinking water to make it more healthful.  The growing company is building its business with new products, new distributors and new marketing programs.  This is a big job for every small business, but Ion Life is also trying to keep people on the same page when they aren’t located in one place.

After reading about Zapproved on Digg, Ion Life’s president Ian Blair Hamilton thought he would give Zapproved a shot to help focus the company’s internal processes.  Since starting to use the system several months ago, the simplicity of the app has enabled the team to put it to work right away to manage every decision and improve collaboration.

“We realised that it’s not the decision-making itself that costs a small company so much; it’s getting the participants onto common ground.  Zapproved has massively reduced the time to get to a decision and changed the way our team members relate and feel involved,” Ian said.

After seeing how well it works inside the company, Ion Life is now extending its use with external consultants.  “It’s a marvelous thing. We put all of our decisions there,” Ian added.

We are excited to see that Zapproved is making a difference for small and medium businesses.  One of our goals is to provide an easy path for growing companies like Ion Life to create a process that helps cut through the clutter.

Many thanks to Ian and the folks at Ion Life for sharing their story!