ShortStack Updates - February 2015

In February we upgraded some of our existing features, such as our Visibility Simulator (now called the Preview Control Panel) and our Share Prompt.

We also added some new features for exporting from a database and made it easy to see what your Campaign will look like on Facebook. Below are more details.

Updates to Visibility Settings

The Preview Control Panel allows you to see your Campaign the way your users will see it. You can use Country, Date/Time, Device, Test Mode and other settings to see how the Campaign will appear to different visitors.

With our latest updates we’ve provided the Preview Control Panel in two views: a collapsed view with five quick action icons and an expanded view.

Let’s start with the expanded view.From this toolbar, you can access all of the preview control panel settings.Below is a description of the capabilities of each section.

‍Builder View: View your Campaign in its default settings of 960 pixels wide. In Builder View, you can edit your Widgets but you cannot interact with them as a user would be able to.

‍Create a Simulation Favorite: If you have a specific audience you’re usually targeting you can save their preferences and where they’d be listed under “Favorites.” In the future, when you select Favorites you can choose from your saved segments.

‍In Time Zone: See how your Campaign will look at different times and in different time zones.Desktop Only: See what your Campaign will look like for Desktop Users.

‍Mobile Only: See what your Campaign will look like for Mobile Users.

‍Test Mode: Use test mode when you are ready to see how your users will interact with your Campaign. In Test Mode you cannot edit widgets.

‍Live Entry Mode: Live Entry Mode allows you to enter data in the Promotion, Voting, Custom Form, or Entry Count Widgets that will be visible when the Campaign is published. An example of when you’d want to use Live Data would be to create a vote-only contest in which visitors vote on the submissions you have entered.

Ability to Export More Data

When you run a Refer-a-Friend promotion you reward entrants for referring their friends who also enter the same promotion.

For a voting-style promotion, bonus points are added to the referring friend’s vote total.

For a giveaway without voting, you can use the points to award bonus entries.

Our latest export update will export these extra points along with the rest of your database. You’ll be able to see the extra point breakdown for each entrant.

Added Facebook Preview Option

If you’re installing your Campaign to Facebook, you probably want to know what it will look like in the social network. We’ve made this a little easier and more realistic with our latest Facebook Preview option.

‍ShortStack’s Share Widget gives visitors up to six different ways to share a Campaign: via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn or Manually.

You can configure the Title, Description, and Image to go along with the shares.

You can also choose to install the Share Widget as icons on your Campaign or as a prompt after users have submitting data into a form. It was requested that we update our Share Prompt to allow businesses to choose which networks the Share Prompt auto-generates for.

With this update when you use the Share Widget as a prompt after someone enters a Campaign the designer can choose to show a specific share status (such as one to Facebook) or you can choose to have all of the share buttons so that your fans can share to multiple networks.

When you add the Share Widget to a Campaign, the Edit box will appear where you can navigate to Platforms and select which platforms you want to allow your users to share to.