MIS Systems for a very small print shop?

[acacia print]

Hi, We are a small printery that has just myself and two part timers. I am hoping to get a MIS system that will help me keep regular contact with our customer base as I am struggling to keep a good track of all our customers and this results in a few dropping off our books simply as we are not contacting them as regularly as is considered good practice.

Does Microsoft have a good cheep system or have I mentioned a dirty "M" word by asking that? There are a lot of good programs out there but the most used local one here cost $8,000 for the basic package which for us is prohibitive.

Any ideas out there???

 

[Morning Flight]

You're right, $8,000 is at least ten times what you should expect to spend for a basic MIS. But is an MIS really what you're looking for? Sounds to me like a reasonably priced ESP (E-mail Service Provider) would be more appropriate for staying in touch with your customers. Check into Mail Chimp and Campaign Monitor. We use Campaign Monitor from down under for publishing our own monthly newsletter, but I can recommend them both.

One caveat: Publishing an e-newsletter is work. Don't go down that road if you're thinking of publishing "whenever." Set a schedule and stick to it. Even if it's only four times a year. And don't expect results until you've made a series of mailings.

Hal
Morning FlyBy: Printfire Newsletter, July 2010

 

[JimDummer]

We have an online ordering system that has that very feature - a once a month newsletter that goes out to all of your prospects automatically - and that feaure is only $20 per month. The content is designed to do one thing and one thing only - get them to contact you to buy more printing. It reminds them of why they need printing - how effective it can be in helping THEIR business. Feel free to give me a call at 630-689-4115 and I can show you all the details on that feature and how the rest of our online ordering system - MyOrderDesk - works. By the way - Hal was correct - it is VERY important to be consistent with a newsletter - and thats the beauty of ours - it just goes out automatically with no effort on your part. Hope this is helpful.

 

[Keith]

If you are specifically looking for an MIS system that does all the customer contact, you'd be hard-pressed to find something affordable. BUT, you can manually gather that information from any system. Just look up Customer X's order history and you can see what he orders and when. And then, this is what every business should have, you can plug that information into a master database of your customers. And when you see that customer orders Product X every November, you can send him an email or postcard reminding him it's time to place that order.

If I wasn't using websitesforprinters.com, I would be using MyOrderDesk. My subscription includes an email newsletter so that's one less thing to have to worry about. I also use a subscription based direct mail newsletter.

Since I can tell Hal was holding back, I'll put a plug in for his MIS system- Morning Flight. It may not have some of the bells and whistles (whatever they are) of the mega systems but it's a hell of a lot less costly and gets the job done nicely.

 

[acacia print]

Keith, Thanks for speaking up for Hal. Hal/Keith I have had a quick flick in amongst the madness here at Morning Flight (and some of the other suggested programs) and Morning Flight looks quite useable and helpful, but... we are in New Zealand and we are in metrics here. Does Morning Flight cater for us Down Under folk?

(I will look into it further as time permits) Currently doing a number of "Paper" quotes now and it is not that much fun and time consuming...

 

[Morning Flight]

Morning Flight looks quite useable and helpful, but ... we are in New Zealand and we are in metrics here. Does Morning Flight cater for us Down Under folk?

You bet, acacia print. We currently have 55 users in New Zealand, 248 in Australia. I would say "Down Under" is well represented.

Let me know if I can be of help.

Hal
Printing Estimating Software for the Global Market

 

[Morning Flight]

Since I can tell Hal was holding back, I'll put a plug in for his MIS system - Morning Flight.

Thank you, Keith. For what they're trying to accomplish, I felt acacia print would be best served by an ESP. There is simply no way for any MIS provider to compete with the depth of service provided by the likes of Mail Chimp (free for up to 1,000 subscribers - 6,000 emails per month) or Campaign Monitor ($5.00 per campaign, 1 penny per subscriber, no monthly fee).

Of course, one solution doesn't exclude the other. As you illustrated, they go hand in hand.

Hal