ShortStack Reviews

Shortstack is Great

Comments: We use the platform at various tradeshows and events. It captures information of attendees and offers a clean interface.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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

Great Resource, Intermediate Ease, Kind of Pricey

Comments: When I had questions they would refer me to the help section on the website which was outdated. Overall, it's a great tool if you have the money. They have multiple tiers to unlock different functionalities which was disappointing. Charge one price and give me all the things.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

A good basic software to create promotion

Comments: Despite having a difficult time navigating the page and not having some key needed features, ShortStack is a great platform for users to be creative and interact with the community.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

Shortstack review

Comments: Getting custom-branded landing pages and contests up is very easy. The email tool built into each contest provides us a way to layout an entire contest campaign while logged into the platform, which is a major benefit to us.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

Alternatives Considered: Lumen5

The most easy-to-use and powerful social media app for building audience... period!

Comments: Shortstack is easy to use, powerful, up to date, fast, creative... a great product for startups.

Pros:

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.

A great solution for those running contests

Comments: We are in a very niche market and we rarely run contests outside of social media giveaways, but I needed a good option for allowing our customers to enter using multiple platforms (i.e. Facebook, Youtube, submitting images, etc.). I looked at quite a few options and even tried out some other ones but ShortStack was by far the easiest to use AND offered the most versatility for the price. Because we do these types of contests so rarely, I actually did end up cancelling my account so that we weren't paying for a service that we didn't use, but for the time period that we needed it, ShortStack was great.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

If you are running a contest, get this ASAP!!

Comments: I give my overall a 9 out of 10. They are a good company to work with.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

The software works great, your target audience may not

Comments: So far, it's been great. Customer service was excellent both before and after I made my purchase. Software works wonderfully. I would recommend their service with the proviso that you need to target a responsive audience.

Pros:

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

Cons:

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.

Landline Pages Made Easy

Comments: I’ve had had really good experience with short stack so far, and I don’t know anything about computers or programming or making pages… It is a little overwhelming at first, but after playing around with it for a bit it gets super easy and you can save your templates

Pros:

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

Cons:

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!

Quick set-up and top-notch customer service!

Comments: Customer service was top-notch, especially during a time when many companies had to scale back personnel due to the pandemic. I received quick responses to my questions and a personalized walk-through of the software tailored to our time-sensitive needs.

Pros:

The software was easy to work with and allowed for the high level of branded customization that we needed.

Cons:

Our needs were specific to one campaign which has ended. I wish I could revert to the free trial without losing all of the data related to our campaign. We may choose to upgrade again in the future, but do not need ongoing paid access.

Powerful but not for the faint of heart

Comments: After 10 years, I still keep coming back to it. I suppose that's a good review? We've used others as well but for some types of campaigns, such as advent calendars and quizzes, Shortstack is head and shoulders above the rest.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

Helpful software for competition management

Comments: Our web agency find it easy to integrate into the website. Gallery option works well to allow people to see other entries. Easy way to gather enties together in one place. We had issues embedding Shortstack into Facebook and now direct people to a link within the post copy. Load time was an issue when we added too many videos for one competition. Hard to identify what platform winners came from to contact them.

Pros:

Ability to vote for winners and easily collate the results.

Cons:

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

Great little tool for your toolbox

Comments: Great experience. My first hour of training when I signed up went fast and was full of info but I got it. Then I did have to reach out for help through chat and finally figured it out. They were very professional and helpful.

Pros:

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)

Cons:

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.

Full featured, some learning curve

Comments: We love the reporting and the seemingly infinite design capabilities for landing pages.

Pros:

There are so many customization options for campaign set-up/implementation and design. It's a bit overwhelming to learn the landing page design tools at first, but with some play and trial/error, it's a great platform.

Cons:

No major issues for us. We've run 3 campaigns on the platform so far, and with experience, it becomes easier and faster to set up and launch. Only (slight) negative is a little more learning curve than some of the "not so full-featured platforms" out there.

Effective but hard to learn

Comments: We've used it for a photo submission contest and several form-based contests and have recommended it to several others for easy contest management. It's always proved effective and easy to use.

Pros:

Absolutely love the output of data (so easy to read and interpret) and the functionality possible with the contests. It offers so much more than just a form, and I love that it gives me ideas that I would never have thought of myself.

Cons:

It is tough to navigate until you get the hang of it. There are a lot of opportunities for customization and design, but it's hard to figure out how to do the customization at first.

Superior Network Review

Comments: We have been able to provide additional services with ShortStack, providing our customers a more rewarding and enticing experience.

Pros:

ShortStack provides an easy-to-use interface that allows many different functions that help us communicate with our customers. Everything we have needed ShortStack to do has been met with satisfaction.

Cons:

The design tool layout/screen is a little confusing and not as easy to use. Perhaps it could be made to be a little more simple and more clear.

Love this product!

Comments: I loved it so far! There is a learning curve but overall its pretty good.

Pros:

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

Cons:

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

Fantastic Contesting Software!

Comments: After our team built-out/finalized the initial campaign that was launched in hours, we received 3,000+ entries from this photo contest. We continued to use Shortstack throughout 2020 -- including a custom campaign (the Shortstack team was great to work with) -- and realized fantastic results each time. I can't to see what's on the horizon as we further develop and engage our online communities!

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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!

Nice looking but difficult to navigate and customize

Pros:

The appearance was great and professional looking.

Cons:

Confusing interface, time consuming to customize even the smallest changes, lack of flexibility for displaying photos--a randomized list would be helpful: we received over 300 photos and it wasn't fair for those in the middle or the back end as theirs weren't often seen.

ShortStack Review

Pros:

Very easy to use with multiple platforms including social, website, etc.

Cons:

Would love to see more robust reporting options for surveys. Once the reports are exported it still requires a lot of manual work to assemble the data.

Fantastic customer service and support!

Comments: We're solving the problem of limited amount of followers on Facebook AND the "rules" Facebook implements for giveaways.

Pros:

The majority of my job is graphic design so when starting with this software, I felt a little nervous. Luckily the online support team is VERY responsive when I need help. Plus all of the videos they have online are a great help when you don't want to constantly ask for help.

Cons:

I can't say anything negative at this time.

Easy way to boost performance

Comments: We use ShortStack to engage with our customers

Pros:

It was easy to build engaging experiences for our customers

Cons:

Little tough to implement some of the more advanced features, but still a great tool.

Limited pause is scam

Comments: Free version doesn't allow enough views, so you basically have to upgrade to paid, then they get you with only a 90 pause and charge you with no refunds.

Pros:

It is convenient and was manageable to set up a contest with their templates, user friendly.

Cons:

The limited pause of 90 days when it use to be you could pause and unpause as needed to avoid fees is such a scam, o and no refunds once miss charged, how convenient for them.

Great product

Comments: We run website competitions on a monthly basis and it works great for that

Pros:

Its easy to use and can be changed and tweaked easily to suit my needs. Best of all its easy to undertsand.

Cons:

There are some ideas we had that it didnt quite do what we wanted it to do, so we changed our plans

Loved using Short Stack for a promotion

Pros:

The software was mostly easy to use, although it took a few tries at first. Support was always super helpful and quick to answer the questions I had. I was super happy with the way the page looked at the end, although I had to have our designer and web manager help a few times to figure out a few bugs. Overall the page we made was successful and helped us easily collect the info we were hoping for.

Cons:

It was not that easy to use if you don't have an idea of basic coding. I'm a marketer and had to get some outside help a few times to have spacing and color on the page the way I wanted. I could fumble through some of it, but had a ton of questions. I wish that it was a bit easier to use.