ShortStack

Vorteile

The customizability really appealed, as I wanted to collect entries for large annual contests that submit photos, videos, or essays.

Nachteile

The interface for creating your campaigns is clunky and not intuitive. It's ok if you already have experience with web design (I use WordPress) or coding, but not easy enough for beginners.

Vorteile

Easy to use, fun and engaging contests that allow you to capture details of your clients as needed. They are fun and interactive giving you fun instant win contesting for your websites.

Nachteile

It can be cumbersome having to manually mange instant win prizing, ensuring it goes smooth. It would be better if the system had a way to "set and forget" the prizing vs. having to always adjust chances of winning. It does lack some automation entities that we are working around (example, entry exports, winner exports)

Vorteile

thought it would be a simple way to get contests up with no coding.

Nachteile

it's not simple. Things don't work, the widgets are slow to load, UX is painful. Anything you might want to do requires an upgrade when it's already $99/month

Vorteile

Ease of setting up campaigns and customization options.

Nachteile

Helpdesk articles seem to be outdated from before changes were made to the platform.

Vorteile

Great templates ready to go. Powerful. Flexible.

Nachteile

Can be a bit tricky to use if you are looking for a lot of customization.

Vorteile

Shortstack is pretty easy to get a contest page up and going. We love the instant win function at events.

Nachteile

Sometimes it is difficult to customize pages.

Vorteile

-fairly easy to use
-easy to scale up
-the variety of ready made templates and the ability to customise them

Nachteile

don't like the fact that you are limited on :
- views
- entries

i understand having a limit on the lower tier plans, but in the full plan, having limitations on the amount o page views and or entries on the account seems rather unprofessional to me.
And this is a model i've seen to almost every software on the market that handles competitions ( i.e wishpond).

They really should think about removing entry limits, at least on their full package, else if a company wants to create a high traffic competition and then replicate it, it will most probably mean it will need a new account..

Vorteile

I love that I am able to use this software in full for free. For a simple contest, we have free use of the platform as well as free support from the company. If we need to add features, it is easy to upgrade without a contract.

Nachteile

The software can take a little getting use to when it comes to design. There are design options within design options which can make it a little confusing. But you can always preview your design to make sure it looks okay.

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Vorteile

The service provided by the application to users

Nachteile

Frankly, there is nothing I hate about this application.

Vorteile

I love how much support you get while using ShortSTack. [sensitive content hidden] is super awesome and was always able to help or show me how to use it. I never felt like I was bothering them.

Nachteile

The interface is a little hard to navigate and so I am glad they have templates. I just feel like the user experience could be easier and not allow so much so less is messed up while running a contest.

Vorteile

Easy to set up, run, track, and export data.

Nachteile

Pricing for what we got out of it. Did not get the responses like we hoped for.

Vorteile

Super easy to manage ourselves, very intuitive design and options. Freedom to start from scratch or use one of their many predesigned templates. Customer service is A+

Nachteile

There's really nothing I dislike about it, often with I assume there may be a limitation just speaking with customer service we are able to find a way to over come any limitations. If I had to say something I would maybe say that our plan wasn't grandfathered with the options and price from when we originally signed up, that said I still think it really offers great value and if we had to step up to the higher plan to get the same features we had it would still be good value.

Vorteile

After creating everything at Shortstack, it was really easy to implement on my side. I implemented a campaign on both Magento and Shopify with absolutely no problem. It worked well the entire time it was live.

Nachteile

Getting started for the first time was a little complicated/confusing. I wasn't sure what to do and had to restart my project a few times after not being sure what I was doing. After I figured it out though, no problem.

Vorteile

The diversity of the campaigns has improved greatly since we used to only have to import with a widget into Facebook. We have had a lot of success in promoting our destination through easy-to-create trip giveaways, including a cool trivia contest we ran, so folks learned something new, had a chance to win a trip, and had some fun doing it.

Nachteile

Sometimes the templates are different (newer) than the tutorial videos, so I can get a little lost at times. Understanding the lingo, and in the editing panels what each Rich Text box applies to can be cumbersome. I am not a great fan that I have to be a Developer in order to customize campaign URLs, so for now I stick with the provided link Short Stack provides, and it works fine.

Vorteile

Easy to start, learn and implement in an hour or less. Intuitive interface with a small learning curve.

Nachteile

The updates are often excessive leaving the user wondering if they should pause the campaign, and update, or leave alone...

Vorteile

Flexibility, ease of setup, high level of customizability.

Nachteile

Some of the design tools (wysiwyg) can be a little twitchy.

Vorteile

Shortstack makes it easy to set up campaigns and lists. There are a lot of templates to choose from. Integrates seamlessly with Facebook. Easy to export lists (entries).

Nachteile

Customer support - they only offer chat support with no number to call. Hard to use when you don't know how to explain what you are looking to do with a campaign.

Vorteile

Generally speaking, the software is easy to use. Setting up a campaign, connecting an optional autoresponder is quick and painless. Exporting the data collected from entrants and selecting custom fields for forms are some of the most liked features across the board here. It is also nice to have the option to publish as a standalone landing page, or on your site - a feature we haven't found much success with on other platforms.

Nachteile

The design features are clunky and difficult to use unless you have a skilled designer who also knows how to code.

Vorteile

I did receive some visits to my FB page, which led to a few visits to my website, but overall for the price, I am not really getting what I need. My industry is actually a gift and engraving business, and retail was the closest option I could find on the list. I will try this again once more for a promotion and go from there. If it works out better, I will update my review.

Nachteile

It seemed a little complicated, and for the price, I would have expected the FB feature to actually be enabled at the level I was paying for, rather than having to upgrade to a higher cost. I might actually use it if that were the case.

Vorteile

We've been using Short Stack for years. We're able to set up contests in minutes. Contest entries are easy to review and track. Plus we love all the customization options.

Nachteile

Wish there was more templates to choose from.

Vorteile

It gets updated every time I use it, so it keeps getting better.

Nachteile

Instagram post-filters is a nightmare, sometimes I just want to select certain posts to display during my campaign and not have them update dynamically on the lP

Vorteile

this is a good product that is easy to use

Nachteile

the monthly service charge requires us to pay for a service every month when it does not get used monthly

Vorteile

I love how easy it is to customize our landing pages and then publish them. I also love the hashtag aggregator

Nachteile

The only issue is that it took my team a little bit to learn all the customization options

Vorteile

There are lots of options for the contest types which makes finding a contest that fits your needs easy enough to do. There are a few ways to execute your contest, too, so pretty flexible.

Nachteile

Some instructions are not quite thorough enough so sometimes when you're trying to edit a template or make an adjustment... you have to dig for instructions or information to figure out what to do. I had to reach out to support a few times to figure things out.

Vorteile

With access to an in-house graphic designer and an average understanding of software/applications, I was able to launch what was ultimately a VERY successful photo contest within hours.

Nachteile

Out of the box and with a below average understanding of software/applications, users can get lost. But, they do offer live chat support that's great!

Vorteile

It's very easy to use, and flexible enough to do whatever we want.

Nachteile

You have to have a more advanced knowledge in order to pull of some things, but for straight forward application it covers a lot.

Vorteile

It's a great interactive tool that engages our audiences. I use it for specific programs and it works well for me.

Nachteile

Some of the functions are not as user friendly as I would like them to be.

Vorteile

hortStack is a versatile marketing platform that specializes in creating and managing interactive campaigns, contests and landing pages for businesses and organizations. Here are some key points about ShortStack: 1.

Nachteile

Versatile, specializing in creating and managing interactive campaigns and contests

Vorteile

I loved how customizable we can make our contest process with ShortStack.

Nachteile

Sometimes the amount of options with design would get overwhelming.

Vorteile

ShortStack is the most customizable platform you'll ever use. From contests to landing pages to interactive quizzes - you name it - it can be built within the platform. There are even features you didn't know you needed - like autoresponder emails and entry hosting - even pop ups!

Nachteile

I have a really hard time trying to come up with a con for ShortStack. The one thing I can think of is if you are on a lower level subscription - you will have their 'ShortStack' branding at the bottom of your campaign. It's not a big deal, but if you are working for a very corporate company - you'll want to pay more so their branding isn't on your campaigns.

Vorteile

ShortStack makes it really easy for a guy like me with no design or coding background to manage social media contests almost 100% by myself. Designing, launching, monitoring and measuring the contests and their results was really easy thanks to the platform's intuitive workflow.

Nachteile

After a few years of using this software, the designer and I started to reach the limits of its abilities. Part of what makes it so valuable is how plug-and-play some otherwise complicated design/programming features. However, that templated framework has its limits, keeping you from realizing fully customized ideas outside that framework.

Vorteile

I like that this software has all the basic functions needed to help create online application forms for giveaways contests, e-mail sign up lists, interactive quizzes, photo contests, or surveys, with the public. I like how it has different themes to help get you started on a new idea for promotions. There's also a lot of functions to explore to customize your page.

Nachteile

I dislike how hard it is to navigate on the site; even though there are a lot of great features, it can really overwhelm the page when they are not explained or shown properly. I had previously had to contact customer service many times in order to understand where each function is or how to use them. I also dislike how there's no function to add social media buttons such as to follow or like certain posts from Instagram or Facebook. Most of the time I want to use ShortStack to give exposure to our business instagram and Facebook page so having the functions and features to do so is important.

Vorteile

This was somewhat intuitive to use once you get the hang of it. You are easily able to integrate your social profiles to push out your campaign. We did photo submission contests and it worked great. Created a Giveaway section on our Facebook page and promoted it from there. Great turnout with a little Facebook promotion behind it.

Nachteile

It was kind of pricey for what you are getting. The software to building out your page if very technically involved so my assumption is that is what you are paying for. The overall collection of emails and assets, such as images, is fairly easy. Would probably make up for itself if you are doing a larger giveaway versus some under $100 items like we did. That way you are more likely to convert those into entries, aka emails that you can use.

Vorteile

Ease of use. Fresh looking designs. Customizable to needs (voting/no voting). Widgit editing functionality (move content blocks). Visibility features (to be creating something without showing it, and timing features to swap out what is displaying).

Nachteile

A few rough spots to be improved upon.
Entry form -- Default has First and Last name boxes beside each other, couldn't seem to make any other entry boxes beside each other.
Text formatting – can’t have two lines with different font sizes without a space between lines. Gallery Widget – Doesn’t work in all browsers (looks bad in Chrome?). It stacks the images, instead of laying them side by side. Displaying Entries - more options for the layout of these would be preferable. Particularly what entrant info displays - and in each entries info, ability to add fields if we want to put certain info on each entry when displaying them (info that wasn't in submission form).
Also - love the timing feature, but pretty sure one didn't work the way it should have. I had set to show something on a date and hide something on a date and it only did one of the two things. Couldn't figure out why the other wouldn't have worked.
Email confirmation - only sends once per email address. I wish you could override this (we allowed multiple entries, would prefer they got an email for each one and it could reference one of the submission boxes like "photo caption". E.g., "Thank you, we received your entry "SEM image of microchip".

Vorteile

ShortStack takes you by the hand and shows you how to look like a real social media pro. It has a complete set of features that can put any small entrepreneur in the social media game without too much effort.

Having the ability to view examples and even reproduce them is a very helpful feature that provides easy understanding of the reach and scope of the software.

The edit platform is friendly and does not require any profund IT background. The free plan is already so powerful that anyone starting to use the app will feel fulfilled.

As as social media consultant, I loved to know that Shortstack is now offering marketing automation. This a great feature that will take this app into a highe and promising level.

I truly recommend small and mid size entrepreneurs to give Shortstack a try and enjoy the benefits of this great business support idea.

Vorteile

I have used Shortstack on and off for, I think, about 10 years. It has always been able to do what I needed from it and we have created some very cool quizzes, competitions and particularly advent calendars, which is what I originally sought out Shortstack for.

Nachteile

The user interface is quite proprietary and can be daunting to get your head around. Make use of the instructional videos and do reach out to the chat support which is always very helpful and super quick. Once you understand how it works and fits together, it's very powerful but do allow some time to learn - it's not the most intuitive UI.

Vorteile

Ability to vote for winners and easily collate the results.

Nachteile

Unable to tell what platform the competition entries have come from in order to know how to contact the winners.

Vorteile

Ease of use. Real-time updating. Mobile-friendly production.

Nachteile

The type of contests are cool, but I'd like to see a bracket contest and more multi-layered contest templates.

Vorteile

I chose ShortStack because we needed a platform that would allow multiple types of entries--everything from viewing a Youtube video to following us on social media to uploading images. Of the different software programs that I viewed or tried, ShortStack had the most versatility, was the most user-friendly, and had the best price point.

Nachteile

At first, it was kind of difficult to navigate all the different options and figure out how to create the contests that I wanted to. It took some playing around with, but I think compared to some of the other platforms I looked at, it was still more user-friendly.

Vorteile

After using a lot of different platforms for online contests, my previous company settled on ShortStack and it was a great decision. One of the first things I did with my new company was purchase ShortStack so we can run contests.

Nachteile

I really can't think of a con, you definitely get what you pay for.

Vorteile

Ease of use, If you have some coding experience and can learn quickly this platform can be easy to implement once you get the hang of it. I could also adapt to suit my needs by adding unique code. Any questions I had were quickly and expertly answered by the support team. The framework of the design was easy to work with and design our own backgrounds and elements for also which made the end result presentation much more professional looking.

Nachteile

It can take a while to get the hang of the platform particularly if you are using sporadically. It would also be good to have the platform save all your data inputted without deleting if you don’t have monthly subscription - this would work better for us for seasonal campaigns as we only use 2 or 3 months but have to pay for 12 to make sure our data not deleted. The data tools also could be more refined ie it would be good to know which people clicked on which element within the design I don’t think this is possible atm from what I have seen.

Vorteile

Shortstack offers a great drag and drog type page builder with several contest tools that allow us to run successful contests. The drag and drop type builder allows us to create very custom-branded landing pages that our clients appreciate and users love.

Nachteile

As you start to use the software, you quickly realize that you need to upgrade to one of the larger plans to access the features that make the software attractive for most contests. We have the $199 agency option, which is relatively high considering our CRM costs about half that per month. After 12 months we will evaluate whether the monthly cost for the service is worth it.

Vorteile

It works and does what it needs to do but I'm still not happy.

Nachteile

The support you over is terrible. You need a phone number. You also need to adjust the way you do billing it's terrible how people are automatically upgraded and expected to pay for it. Far to many emails that are useless and feel like spam. I only want emails if they are important to me and directly related to my account.

Vorteile

I planned a series of social media photo contests for my client, Greenwich Botanical Center, to help create engagement during the COVID shut down of their programs and events. We held two photo contests 1) Hydrangea Envy and 2) Dazzling Dahlias and both were well received and increase overall engagement in our social media and web visits. Shortstack was very easy to use without extensive software knowledge in this space other than creating simple websites. It was easy to use and there was ALWAYS customer support at my beck and call. Every time I had a question...someone ws right there to guide me and put me back on track. on the higher priced subscription.The interface with our social media accounts was also a breeze for voting on FB and sharing. I still have the subscription and now want to do regular contests for all of my clients.

Nachteile

My only issues were that someone with an IT background used software to hack the voting and gave themselves over 4000 votes by appearing as unique IP addresses for each vote. My other issue was I found it hard to really. be creative in the initial design of the landing page...but that being said it always looked beautiful for my client and looked professional. I did not ask for more assistance to go to the next design level ann maybe that is also available at a higher subscription rate...I did not look.

Vorteile

The easy to use campaign builder is so flexible, we have yet to run into anything we can't do with it!

Nachteile

I'm not sure I can come up with anything negative to say about ShortStack. I've been a user for a long time now, and haven't looked back.

Vorteile

Easy to put together a promo, lots of templates to choose from, lots of different types of promotions to run

Nachteile

It's not the software - it's the audience that can be problematic. I've run 3 different refer-a-friend promos. One was pretty good, one was so-so, and one went downright terrible. Again, the software worked flawlessly! It was the audiences that really determined how things worked. You need to start out with a large initial email list, or a large reach with an extremely targeted message to get the audience you want to respond.

Vorteile

The ability to be guided from start t finish with tips along the way is a great feature. This allowed me to acquire shortstack and teach myself how to use it, as the software is very user friendly.

Nachteile

Only thing I was having trouble with would be getting the URL set into a landing page with redirection. Maybe a bit more info on how to get it out and rolling once finished building.

Vorteile

I have a client that submits multiple job requests to me almost daily. We needed to create a form so they would be able to fill out all the pertinent info that i need to know in order to do their job requests. After much research, I found this product and it does what I need it to do (mostly)

Nachteile

There is a learning curve, and you cannot reach customer support by phone. But they definitely respond quickly by chat and are very helpful. But you as the user need to figure things out. One thing that I would like to see improved is the option to have the submitter be able to add more than one image at a time.

Vorteile

- Great software.
- Not the easiest to use but it does cover everything giving multiple options to users and designers!
- Excellent customer service!

Nachteile

- Facebook intergration couyld be better. I know that Facebook changes things often but the instructions and integration process is not ammended so fast.

- Not enough premade themes and not updated for too long! It is ok ig you have a designer to make your own theme but the premade ones that are great help are very few!

Vorteile

This has a great visual interface making it super easy to do basic coding and create your own landing pages and giveaway pages and ability to export the list if you upgrade

Nachteile

What I like least about this software is the fact that they do not have a phone support for customer service and I had to email people whenever I have a question, but at least they respond very quickly!