10 Benefits of Online Proofing Software

Typically, marketing teams, no matter how big or small, in both agencies and businesses use online proofing software to manage their review and approval processes. In some cases, these marketing teams might also use online proofing software in conjunction with other teams or businesses.

For instance, marketing agencies might use the software with their clients to get their feedback on assets in progress in real-time. In other cases, marketing teams might use the software in collaborating with legal and compliance teams in order to eliminate compliance risks and ensure only approved assets make it to the market.

 

10 Benefits of Using Online Proofing Software

 Now that we’ve recapped what online proofing software is and who uses it, it’s time we consider what benefits you’ll enjoy when you use online proofing in your business.

 

Eliminate Inefficient Tools and Manual Tasks

 Probably one of the major benefits of adopting online proofing software is that you’ll be able to get rid of most other inefficient tools. This means no more emails or excel spreadsheets to manage your feedback and marketing approval workflow. Likewise, you won’t have to trawl through tons of emails to see where projects are in the process. It’s as simple as logging in and seeing the progress of any project.

 This is simply because online proofing tools enable you to save all your feedback and approvals in one central location and allows you to generate work-in-progress reports by clicking a few buttons.

 And if you can’t let go of Microsoft tools like Word, either because of your preferences or business requirements, you don’t have to. Simple Admation now allows you to review text based Word documents, provide feedback and collate feedback in a single location. In this way, you can use Word while still enjoying the benefits of online proofing software.

 

More Efficiency

Obviously, when you stop using inefficient tools, you’ll, by implication, increase efficiency. It goes further than this, however. When you’re able to ditch inefficient tools in favor of online proofing software, you’ll also be able to eliminate many manual tasks by using the automation features it offers.

 One of the major benefits of this is that your team won’t be bogged down by these manual tasks and, as such, will be more efficient and productive. Another benefit of eliminating manual tasks is that you’ll reduce the possibility of errors,

 

Manage Feedback Effectively

 With online proofing software, you’ll be able to collate and manage all stakeholder feedback in one place. This means everyone on the team will always know what feedback was given and what changes were made based on the feedback. In turn, this means your team won’t miss or overlook any feedback and they’ll be able to reduce unnecessary revisions and changes and prevent duplicate work. This, in itself, makes your team more efficient.

 

Eliminate Excessive Artwork Revisions

 As mentioned above, the ability to collate feedback in one place results in fewer unnecessary revisions and changes. Online proofing software also has other features that can reduce excessive revisions. For instance, it enables stakeholders to mark up artwork online and communicate their feedback in typed text. This eliminatesany confusion and the need for clarification, which then speeds up the review and approval process.

 Also, the software allows you to view artwork revisions side-by-side. As a result, designers and stakeholders can quickly and easily see if the right changes have been implemented in the artwork based on the given feedback.

 

Improved Transparency

 When your team uses online proofing software, you’ll have increased transparency across the entire review and approval process. As such, every team member or stakeholder can log in at any time to see where a project is in the process, who needs to do what, and what artwork still needs to be reviewed. Likewise, as mentioned earlier, you can also easily generate work-in-progress reports for your projects.

 Having full transparency over your projects also means that you’ll have full audit reports that show a complete history of all feedback and revisions. This is an invaluable tool when it comes to ensuring compliance.

 

Enhanced Accountability

 While online proofing software does improve accountability by providing increased transparency and a full audit trail as mentioned earlier, it also does so in another way. The software can send automated alerts to stakeholders when their feedback or approvals are due or outstanding. This eliminates the need to follow up manually through emails regarding feedback and approvals, which, in turn, speeds up the entire process.

 

Eliminate Compliance Risks

 Online software improves compliance in several ways. As mentioned above, it increases transparency over the process, so that any stakeholder can see what feedback was given, what changes were made, and if brand guidelines are being followed. All this information can also be included in the full audit trail for every project.

 Another way in which online proofing software increases compliance is through your ability, when using the software, to create custom approval paths and workflows. When creating these workflows, you can involve your legal and compliance team in the process from the outset and require that they give feedback as well. As a result, you’ll have their guidance through every step of the review and approval process and ensure that your team’s artwork is always compliant.

 

Keep to Deadlines

 Considering the above, your team will be more efficient and productive, and they won’t get bogged down with unnecessary and excessive revisions and changes. Through increased transparency, they’ll also know what to do and when to do it, and if they don’t, automated reminders will keep them on track. Ultimately, this ensures that you’ll be able to keep to deadlines consistently.

 

Improved Quality

 With online proofing software, your team will spend less time on administration and more time on being creative and creating stellar campaigns. In addition, because of other benefits like improved efficiency and productivity as well as automation, they’ll eliminate errors and get work done faster.

 From a client’s perspective, this means that your team will consistently deliver higher-quality projects. And higher quality projects mean returning clients.

 

Cost Savings

 Finally, another significant benefit of using online proofing software is that you’ll save money. You’re able to do this in a few ways. For instance, when you reduce the time your team spends on managing the review and approvals for projects, they’ll have more time to spend on billable work. You’ll also reduce the direct costs of these revisions like printing.

 Likewise, when you reduce unnecessary revisions and changes, you’ll spend less money on external stakeholders like freelancers. This is especially important when you consider that more than 86% of marketing leaders planned to increase their investment in freelance hiring.

 Hopefully, this post outlined 10 great benefits you’ll enjoy when using online proofing software. To learn more or to find out how online proofing software can help you, get in touch with Simple Admation to arrange a free demo.