Blinksale Review
Blinksale is now available and I gave it a spin. The idea behind this application is management of the invoices you send to your clients. Nothing revolutionary–it’s simplified online contact/mail manager/organizer. Yet, what makes it different is its’ simplicity and top-notch interface.
First Impressions
From what I’ve seen, I must say I like the most the overall look and feel which is very fresh, yet professional, both in the main control panel and in offered templates.
Setup is pretty linear and easy, although I’d love better support for certain East European characters, which are sometimes broken inside the account area. In a few test e-mails I sent, all common characters were displayed correctly.
Multi-user environment is quite handy, with its’ two level permissions. The main user has full control over the account and all others can only manage invoices. However, the application could also be provided without that feature, since it is intended mainly for one-man companies and freelancers.
Interface
The main advantage of the Blinksale is its’ interface, nothing too surprising, considering it’s designed and developed by Firewheel Design.
Large buttons are easy to hit. I like the separation of primary and secondary action on forms, but the Cancel could have been avoided altogether. The AJAX is not overused as we often see these days.
Clients’ Benefits
As I said, templates are quite refreshing, but professional, and as such they are perfect for small (web) design companies and freelancers. With paid plans, there’s possibility of creating custom templates, even though, the given range is quite satisfactory. Thankyou message is nice touch–it’s not essential for your business, but can make a huge difference with your (returning) clients.
All of the above could have been easily managed with Outlook or similar software, but what you (or better said your clients) would miss is an online overview (see example) of all their invoices, whether they are open, closed or past due. The link to overview page is provided in invoice e-mail you send to a client.
All in all, it’s a cute online service and for a fair price, too.