We wanted to share with you a roundup of ClearCheckbook during 2011 and a sneak peak into what we have in store for 2012. Getting right to it, 2011 was a great year for ClearCheckbook. We had a total of
44,563 new user signups (which comes to about 122 signups per day). All of our stats were up across the board from 2010. The screenshot below shows 2011 (blue) compared to 2010 (orange) for total visits to the site.
In 2011 we had
2,085,159 visits (
374,202 unique) to the site which racked up an impressive
12,646,329 pageviews. The average person visits 6 pages each time they come to the site and spends an average of 7:30 on the site. As we said above, all of these stats are up from 2010.
During the year we weren't just sitting around twiddling our thumbs either. In 2011 we released two completely new tools, the Bill Tracker and the Debt Snowball tool. We also released 3 new large features to existing tools: Checking for Duplicate Transactions on import, Saved Searches and Saved Custom Reports, and the Premium Groups feature. In addition to the new tools and features, we also completely overhauled several existing functions of the site such as the Import tool, Estimating Future Balances, Reports, Currency Conversions, Bill Tracker and our entire database. On top of all that we still managed over 100 bug fixes and minor updates.
So with all of that covered, what's in store for 2012? The first half of the year is going to focus on digging through our backlog of requests and suggestions and working on introducing any that we feel will benefit the majority of our members. We're also going to completely scrap the existing iPhone app and build something that actually works the way it was supposed to from the start. Along those same lines, the mobile optimized website will be getting a complete overhaul to make it more usable and give it access to some of the newer tools and features.
We'd also like to thank everyone who sends us email with testimonials and praise and those of you who spread the word of the site to your friends and family! You're the reason we do what we do.
So far so good as far as I can tell.
Rob
We were planning on releasing an entire refresh to the site but after a little more planning we realized our time would be better spent releasing gradual updates to the existing version one at a time instead of focusing all our efforts to hit one giant new refresh.
A lot of the new features we had planned for the new version have already been released. Now it's just a matter of cleaning up some of the backend code to make things a little smoother and we've essentially accomplished everything one giant refresh would have done.
Daniel M.
I have to commend you on your product. I've been a subscriber now for just over a year, and reviewing our family spending habits has been an eye opener.
You mention that in 2012 you'll be reviewing users requests. I want to highlight one, an offline app for Android.
The only account we are struggling to track is the cash account. Cash spent needs to be entered immediately or is often forgotten (if no receipts). The current android app obviously only works (well) where there is a decent connection.
It shouldn't need to be connected just to work. It needs to be superfast at entering transactions, and sync them up later when a connection returns. I would love to see that prioritised! There have been several requests in the forum also.
Also, some suggestions:
1. Add a calculator widget to the site. Sometimes it would be handy to have it right there on the site for quick maths (e.g. calculating amounts for split transactions from a single receipt).
2. The Cloud view in reports shows every amount with a USD$ symbol, no matter what currency you are setup to use in your settings. Presume this is a bug.
3. A goal calculator/tracker would be great. Something that gives info on how long it will take to save for something. I am using the Debt Snowball tool for that at the moment, rather than tracking debts, but a specific tool for goals would be great.
4. The budgeting tool is very handy, but I'd love to see it possible to set longer term budgets, instead of just monthly. I'm checking to see if the rollover option will work for me but I would like to be able to set a budget for an entire year (or six months, or whatever) on some category, so I know as the year progresses how much I've spent on that category to date in a nice clear format.
Keep up the great work.
Dermot.
I recommend that you commit to managing the feature suggestion tool as you get through the backlog. If it were being used, you would already know what the majority of your members want. At this time the site is a bit confusing for users who do not understand how to use the tool for a new feature suggestion and how it relates to the discussion forum. Even if they did know how, the feature list is not being actively managed. Hopefully this will change in 2012.
Good luck in 2012 and keep up the good work.
I am using the recurring transactions to remind me of payments and bills that are due and i notice that the Estimate Future Balances uses this info to calculate future balance by incorporating the recurring bills and charges i have.
I would like to see an option to add paydays. Meaning i get paid the same amount every 2 weeks so if i can add it in and then run Estimate Future Balances-it will now give me a MORE accurate estimate.
Just thought i would share this idea. Thanks for such a great product!