News for September 2013

Looking back, it’s interesting to see how the Currency Switcher evolved from a “simple” currency conversion tool to a full multi-currency suite, with features such as Geolocation, multiple pricing, gateway management and more. Reaching such great result wasn’t easy: we faced difficult decisions, dealt with “surprises” caused by incompatibilities with 3rd party solutions and encountered bugs depending on edge cases that seemed to disappear as soon as we tried to troubleshoot it. It wasn’t easy, but we did it, also thanks to the invaluable feedback and suggestions given to us by our Customers.

The result of that is the Currency Switcher as we know it today, which is going to hit version 2.0 soon. The Beta phase allowed us to gather valuable feedback to improve the product and make it more flexible and compatible with different configurations and 3rd party components. The planned release date for Currency Switcher 2.0 is 16/09/2013. An announcement will be made on the site to remind you of the event and to explain how to download the latest version.

From the support perspective, we also went a long way. The latest report indicates that we went way beyond our target: 100% of very satisfied customers, an average response time of 31 minutes and an average resolution time of  6 working hours. It’s hard work, but the result, in our opinion, is excellent.

Plans for the future

Having done well so far is good, but we want to continue doing well. To do so, we prepared a plan that we will follow from the release of Currency Switcher 2.0. A summary of the plan can be found below:

  • Focus on optimisation of the Currency Switcher plugin
    When version 2.0 will become the official one, we will focus on optimising it. For a period, we won’t be adding new features, putting our effort in improving compatibility with more systems and 3rd party components, removing issues and increasing the plugin robustness. Of course, we will gladly accept suggestions and recommendations for new features as we did so far. We will resume the implementation of new features at a later stage.
  • Keep support quality
    We will endeavour to keep the level of support we provided so far, whenever possible. Although free support is provided for a limited period of time with every purchase, we will keep our doors open as we did so far. Support requests received outside the free support period will be examined an queued. Charges may still apply, as explained in the Terms and Conditions of sale, but we will do our best to provide free help whenever possible.
  • Price increase for Currency Switcher
    To allow us to keep the quality level our Customers are used to, we will have to increase the price of the Currency Switcher. This will allow us to offset the increased cost of maintenance and support, which are due to its complexity. Such price increase will come into effect with the release of Currency Switcher 2.0, on 16/09/2013.
    The price increase will not affect existing customers, who will still enjoy the remainder of their year of free upgrades at no extra cost.

That’s it for today (it’s quite a bit of news, after all). To make sure you won’t miss our latest news and releases, please subscribe to our site feed. See you again soon!

 

4 replies
  1. chris says:

    Great work Diego, your plugin is a fantastic addition to any woocommerce shop. I look forward to the updates and further refinements.

    Also you should ask your customers to contact Woothemes to get the plugin added to their extensions area.

    Reply
    • diego says:

      Thanks for your feedback, Chris. I’m planning to improve the plugin to make it more flexible and robust with every release.

      Regarding the WooThemes marketplace, even if they asked me to add the plugin to the list, I would not do it. They charge a ridiculous commission on every sale (50%) just to have the product listed (they wouldn’t give support or anything). That would not leave me enough margin to provide the quality of service that my customers expect. To use their marketplace I would have to double the price, which would be unfair.

      I think that relying on word of mouth is the best strategy, overall. If you feel like recommending the product, please feel free to do so. Your support and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated.

      Reply
  2. John says:

    WOW!! and WOW!! again!!!! This thing works beautifully. Actually it works better than most everything else on woocommerce. You aren’t charging enough

    Reply
    • diego says:

      Thanks for purchasing the plugin and for your feedback. I have indeed received several positive comments about the Currency Switcher, and also may useful suggestions. I plan to improve the plugin in the next releases, to make it even more flexible and compatible. If I’m not asking too much, could you please post your comment as a product review as well? It will help visitors to see all the feedback in one place. You can find the reviews section on the product page, you just need to scroll down a bit to find the “Reviews” tab. Thanks again for your custom.

      Reply

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