As we prepare to close out 2023, we're looking ahead to 2024 with a sense of excitement for the new customers we will welcome to CleanCloud, and the fresh updates to our POS.
But before we do so, we want to take a moment to look back over the past 12 months and reflect. Life is fast paced, and in the hustle and bustle of daily life it can be easy to miss the detail on the advancements made and the features released. So in case you missed out at any point, we've rounded up our favourite releases of the year. The ones we think were most impactful for our customers, that contributed most to their businesses and which we think you need to check out for 2024.
We'll be looking into several key feature releases that have been carefully crafted based on customer feedback and industry trends. These include our website builder, which offers ease and flexibility in building your very own website; our enhanced review feature, designed to help you grow with the power of customer feedback; and our new and improved release forms. Whether you're a long-time member of the CleanCloud family or considering joining us, this blog is your window into how we're working to make CleanCloud the most user-friendly and efficient POS solution in the laundry and dry cleaning industry.
Website Builder
As we reflect on the highlights of the past year, one of our most significant achievements was the release of our improved website builder tool. This powerful tool is available to all our customers, allowing you to craft a website tailored to your business, ultimately elevating your online presence in today's digital landscape. Our user-friendly drag-and-drop content management system ensures that building a functional and visually appealing website is easy, even for those with limited technical expertise. Moreover, our website builder offers the flexibility to incorporate custom code, enabling you to create web pages that are not just functional, but entirely personalized to your brand.
When it comes to adding images to your website, you can either select images from our gallery or take advantage of our AI image generator. With this feature, you can generate distinctive visuals by providing specific prompts for the images you desire. Say goodbye to the hassle of sourcing expensive photography! If you're thinking about SEO, we're on top of it! Our builder is made to weave in those all-important keywords, descriptions, and meta tags helping you climb up those search engine rankings, making sure your site gets the spotlight it deserves.
Email Template Builder
Available for those on our Grow or Grow+ plans
December marked the exciting launch of our new email template builder where customers can create and customize email templates for a range of campaigns and individual marketing emails. This is a great tool for anyone aiming to streamline their email marketing while maintaining brand consistency and visual appeal. Use content blocks to include your brand's logo, tweak title headings, and adjust the main body text. Add compelling call-to-action buttons and include images either from the gallery or created with the help of AI.
Once these templates are created, you have the option to delete, edit and duplicate if needed! By duplicating a template, you can repurpose it for future emails, saving you the time and effort of starting from the ground up each time. Take a look at our help desk article for a detailed guide on setting up your new email templates.
Report Export Scheduler
Available for those on our Grow or Grow+ plans
Next up, we released our report export scheduler. This tool is designed to streamline your report management process by automating the generation and emailing of reports. You can select the reports you need and set the frequency of export - be it daily, weekly, or monthly. For monthly reports, the system automatically executes them at each month's end. For weekly reports, you have the convenience of specifying the day for export. You can view and manage all your scheduled reports directly within your CleanCloud account allowing you to easily edit, activate, deactivate, or delete your reports as required.
Physical and Digital Release Forms
Creating a Release Form
Number four on our list are release forms! A popular one amongst many of our customers, we made several updates to release forms across the year. Starting back in April, we released a feature which allowed businesses to include an owner’s risk release form at the bottom of receipts and assign these automatically to specific products. When creating a release form you can customize the title and description within the text field. Select the visibility options so you can display the release form on the customer copy, store copy or on the POS screen. You can also set the release form to be automatically included in a customer's first order to make sure they're informed about your basic store policies and terms.
Release Forms for Digital Receipts
Alongside traditional physical release forms, you now have the option to incorporate them into digital receipts. This modern approach allows you to send these receipts via email or SMS. All it takes is a simple toggle of the 'Send Link to Digital Receipt' option in your account settings.
Signing a Digital Release Form
Within your CleanCloud account, you can activate the ‘On Screen Sign’. This feature is designed to streamline your checkout process by prompting the POS system to display the 'Sign Release Form' screen during checkout. It allows customers to conveniently agree to the terms by signing directly on the screen. This can be done using a mouse cursor for traditional setups or a touchscreen for devices like tablets and iPads.
To learn more about our release form feature, check out this help desk article for more information.
Improved Review Feature
Available for those on our Grow or Grow+ plans
Sharing reviews and showcasing a positive experience is the ultimate marketing strategy if you are looking to attract new customers to your laundry or dry cleaning business. So, we updated our reviews feature, making it more engaging and interactive for your customers. After placing an order, your customers now have the opportunity to rate their experience, providing valuable feedback on your service. These review requests can be sent through various channels, including SMS, email, push notifications, and a new pop-up in the customer app. Plus, you have the control to decide the timing of these feedback requests.
We also rolled out a new metrics view offering crucial insights into customer responses, allowing you to refine your business strategies and elevate the level of service you provide.
Order Issue Tracking
We improved our reporting by adding a way to report any issues within an order. We understand that sometimes, issues like a torn seam or a missing item can arise with an order. It's crucial to document these incidents to inform the customer upon completion. CleanCloud now makes this process seamless! Let's walk through how it works: When you're on the cleaning or ready page, simply navigate to the order in question. Click on the pencil icon next to the items. A pop-up will appear, where you can select the "Report Issue" button. Here, you can describe the issue in detail, such as "one t-shirt missing from order." This feature ensures better communication and service quality, keeping both your team and customers informed.
Zip Codes for Geofences
We added a significant update to how you can set up geofences for your pickup and delivery routes. Previously, creating a service area was limited to manually drawing it on a map. But now, we've introduced a more streamlined approach: using zip codes to define your geofence. This is a fantastic tool for optimizing your time when planning new routes. When you create or modify a geofence using zip codes, it will be labeled as “By Zip Code” in your system. This means any customer whose address falls within the specified zip code range will be automatically assigned to this route when they book online.
And there you have it! Our top releases for 2023. As we look forward to 2024, we will continue to innovate and provide solutions that help streamline your operations and improve customer experiences. We are thrilled at the prospect of welcoming new members to our CleanCloud family and are excited to be a part of your laundromat or dry cleaning business journey!
If you're a CleanCloud customer and have an idea for an update or a new feature, we encourage you to share it on our feature request board, we will be happy to take a look!
To find out more about our different subscriptions, head to our pricing page.
Interested in using CleanCloud for your laundry business? Sign up to a 14-day free trial today.