September 2017 Release Notes
Software Update September 2017
With this recent release, you can step up your game at your next event by quickly and easily checking in attendees on your mobile device. Also included, is the ability to generate extra ad revenue with three additional locations to target with banner ad sales. See below for details on all of these items and more.
Quick Attendee Check-in using QR CodeQuickly and easily get your event attendees checked in with the new QR Code check-in feature.* You now have the ability to include a QR code in the registrant’s automatic event confirmation email. Then at your event, using the Staff App, you can scan the users QR code right from their smart phone or a printed version of their email.
Here’s how it works:
- When setting up the event registration preferences, check the box in the settings that says “Include Attendee QR code for easy check-in” See where this setting is located>>. This will place a unique QR code at the bottom of the automatic registration confirmation email.
- Using the Staff App, scan incoming attendees’ QR codes.
- Once scanned, the attendee will immediately be marked as attended in the system.
Additional details:
- When registering, if the event allows users to register multiple attendees, it will ask the original registrant if they would like us to also send the additional attendees a confirmation email – which would include their unique QR code. See a screenshot>>
- If an attendee does not have the QR Code with them, begin typing their name or company in the Staff App search box and they can be checked in just as easily.
- This check-in functionality is available through the free version of the Staff App. The premium version is not required. Find your download link here>>
- EXTRA TIP: If a member has an outstanding balance when they are scanned, a payment can easily be accepted at that time if using Integrated Payment Processing with the Mobile Card Reader>>.
Banner Ads Now Available in Additional Locations
- Trip Builder landing page
- Forms
- Blogs
Gain more opportunity to sell advertisements with the ability to place banner ads in these newly added locations. See all locations>>.
Don't currently have access to the Marketing Package? Learn More>>
Note: Some customers may have seen ads already running on Forms or Blogs pages. This would happen automatically if ads were set to run on any other location simply to provide additional, available exposure for your paid advertisers. Now that a specific location for these pages have been added to your options, add a new banner entry on the members' Marketing tab and select the context of Forms or Blogs to have it continue to display there.
Additional Noteworthy Items:
Events- Send a mass email to the contact(s) you desire on your sponsor registrations. You now have the option to send an email to either the Primary Contact and/or the Attendees (All or First Only). How? From the Events->Sponsors tab, select the checkbox in front of the sponsors you'd like to contact and click Send an email. See screenshot>>
- Easily create tent cards, envelopes, labels and name tags from your event guest list.
- Select Advanced Reporting from the Reports menu on the Guest List - See step 1>>.
- Run the report and choose the Mail Merge option - See step 2>>.
- After selecting the desired template, choose Perform Merge and you'll have the output you've been looking for - See step 3>>.
- Available to those who are using the updated Event Registration. Click here to see how to enable this updated version>>
Member Information Survey
Asking your member for contact info updates or changes? Minor formatting changes were made to the Member Information Survey form to make it more understandable.
- Consistent, two column look for contact info - Their current info on the left, space to fill-in their updates on the right.
- Social Site URL(s) now included by default in contact info that is requested to be updated. See more>>
- Password field has been removed since this was an encrypted value anyway.
- Unnecessary line spacing in the Representatives section has been removed for easier viewing and more compact printouts.
Reports
New! Directory Category and Attribute Assignments report is now available to run and view your members, their directory category assignments, and their associated attributes assigned.
Social Media Posting
With an update made by Facebook that no longer allowed the pre-pended Custom Text through to the automatic social media postings, OG tags were updated to create a more acceptable post by default, not depending on the custom verbiage. (Hot fixed on 8/11/2017)
Member Information Center
Now you can provide even more detailed information to your Basic Package Members to encourage them to upgrade to an enhanced listing. The Member Information Center (MIC) has been updated to allow more than 500 characters in the Upgrade and Promote Your Business sections. This applies to those who have this messaging enabled on the Messages tab under Setup->Member Login Area Options and Settings.
- New! Useful Google Analytics (GA) statistics available to you within your SmartCMS management menus - no need to login to GA to see the stats you use most!
- Reports Available: View three of the most common Google Analytic reports: Number of Sessions, Session Duration and Bounce Rate from within the SCMS Site Settings menu.
- To set this up, log in to your SmartCMS (SCMS) site and select "Enable Google Analytics Reports" in your Site Settings menu. Select your GA Account and choose to 'Allow" the requested permission. Next time you log in to SCMS, you'll have immediate access to your GA reports without being asked for your GA credentials.
- Ever wonder how a page from your site will look when posted or shared on social media? Our new preview feature helps you understand how content will render on popular social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. Access this feature via the sharing icon in the menu to preview and updated meta/OG tags quickly and easily.
Billing
- Fee Items list when assigning a fee under Membership Dues & Fees on the Members->Account tab now will display "(voluntary)" after any voluntary fees and show it in a contrasting blue color.
- The
Tax Summary report was updated as follows: - Credits and Write-offs will display on their creation date.
- Write-offs are that display are limited to those that are applied against a Tax account.
- To ensure that the Total for Taxable Sales is not overstated, when two or more tax items are included in a single tax set, the total on the Taxable Sales column will be reduced by the Taxable Sales items that were represented multiple times in the report. This new line item is titled "Repeated Taxable Sales Amounts".
API
The API call (associations(ccid)/events(id)/details) for recurrning events has been updated to include gallery images of the parent event.
= Light Bulb Feature Request. Your user experience is a key factor in all of our decisions. To make a suggestion or to vote on other customer ideas, click the light bulb icon in the upper right-hand corner of your software. Thanks for voting!Providing new features and more benefits is something that GrowthZone is committed to. Software release features are often generated from your feature requests. Those requests may be combined or adapted to fit with other requests or in response to industry related changes. We listen, evaluate, and implement based on greatest impact, most-requested, ability to integrate, and time-saving implication. In evaluating the benefit of one software release over another, realize that sometimes the updates have required much programming time but are not always visible in tangible terms. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you and your members
