Higher Logic Thrive Reviews

It is relatively user friendly for staff and customers. The interface for some features is pleasant and easy to understand. It embodies everything needed to run a modern business with online presence.

It's still growing so rapidly that there are still growing pains and issues that are less than ideal. However, I'm glad we're here and looking forward to continuing to grow with a company like HL.

We've been using Higher Logic's online community software for a few years now and have been very happy with our results so far. Our members took to the forum pretty quickly and we now have a fairly active community. We've also created additional forums for our monthly journal and have allowed members to create specialty groups as well. This increased engagement with our members has definitely helped out with our member retention.

There's a bit of a learning curve when you first start using the software, especially when setting up the automation. Their support is pretty good though so don't be afraid to reach out when you get confused.

On the plus side of things, the software is fairly intuitive and only takes a little time to figure out the basics of. It really isn't too difficult to get started with it or show someone how to use it. We mainly use Informz from Higher Logic, and use to send our retail oriented emails. It's easy to set up test groups, and do some basic targeted emails.

The software is extremely unreliable, half of the time you get server errors or the whole platform is down. There is also very little customization built into the platform. There is no way to modify your CSS or integrate other features into creating emails such as branded fonts and visually interactive elements. As someone who builds the emails I want to be able to have my emails be on brand with other marketing and promotional materials, this is hard to achieve without sacrificing legibility and flexibility on this platform.

This software is so easy to use. It is feature rich and offers multiple modules that suit our association needs. So far, the customer service has been extremely good. Our website partner vetted other online communities for us and felt Higher Logic is the best solution for our membership. As I said, they are feature rich and the reporting is excellent.

The implantation time is longer than I expected. However, I understand the need to take time to get it implemented to suit our needs and so we don't have to redo the install again.

Higher Logic provided the perfect platform for our research team to stay connected. Working on a project of ancient manuscripts that involves scholars from around the world who rarely are in the same place at the same time, Higher Logic connected our membership base to one another in a way that kept our research moving forward and our relationships with one another strong throughout our project. This was especially true with the peer-to-peer support tools that allowed us to make our research deadlines as we utilized technology to keep our team productive and accountable.

Utilizing any platform that ties together a research community requires a slight learning curve and Higher Logic was no different. However, the software was very user-friendly and intuitive to our research community.

Our group has been using the Higher Logic Community Platform for almost two years. We continue to get new members and look for new ways to engage them. Higher Logic makes it easy to offer a solution regardless of the size of your organization. It has been a wonderful success and a great solution for our need.

The learning curve with some of the automated features. It is robust so at times the process seemed overwhelming.

This software is a one stop shop for bringing our customers together to collaborate and learn.

There is a learning curve, but it is learnable.

Automation rules and reporting are my favorite features of HL

Customer support has been decreasing over the last 1.5 years, response times longer and longer, hope of resolution of issues or product malfunctions is decreasing

I enjoy the ability for non-developers to be able to easily use the site and set up pages without having to be able to code.

Implementation is difficult if you do not have the standard customer scenario. There are not many commercial customers, but hopefully this is an area that will grow.

The education and discussions through the HUG is very helpful in managing new and on-going aspects of the platform. It is helpful to know what other clients are going through and to have HL be receptive to new product enhancements, potential bugs, or new features.

Since HL has brought on more companies into the mix, support has not been what it used to be. Slowly, service s coming back around and the new support center is helping out. I am looking forward to things improving.

I have worked with three organization that used the Online Community platform and the major benefit in recent years is how HL supports the organization from start to finish and continues support ongoingly. My first organization did not have that level of support during launch, but HL recognized organizations needed that support and they responded to that need. Now I feel between the HL staff and HUG, you can really conquer any problem you encounter as an admin.

More recently we're experienced some problems with regard to the volunteer opportunities module and sending opportunities. I know changes are coming down the pike that may improve this activity.

I love the various options and add-ons available with the platform which enhance the product and overall feel. The site is very user friendly to the end user (not admin support staff).

I love the various options and add-ons available with the platform. However, I found implementation to be a little frustrating and the support team did not fully explain the ins and outs of Higher Logic. I would have appreciated a more comprehensive training and overview of the system. I felt blind for the majority of our implementation/launching process.

This software is excellent for accomplishing goals of engaging community members. I appreciate the ability to automate activities and engagements. I also love the report functionality. The New Admin Experience has really enhanced my ability to support our community. It's MUCH easier to find what I need.

I did find that there was quite a learning curve for the community site and the admin side.

We just launched our platform and a couple of things we love: 1. The integration aspect and process was awesome and very easy. The APIs worked great. 2. The ability to customize was extremely helpful and useful. We have control of what it is and we don't have to rely on them to do everything.

Some of the backend functions you have to learn where they are as they may not be where you host them or what you would call them. However, once you learn, it's easy.

They are constantly finding ways to make things easier for me as a community manager!

Waiting long periods of time for bugs to get resolved.

The platform is easily adapted to be configured for different clients and fields of work. Although there are best practices for initial structure, there are options for customization.

At times I have run into issues since we are a long term user of the platform, thus some of our setup is not good for utilizing other new features and enhancements that have been developed for the platform. It would be helpful if there was a bit more information to assist legacy clients so we do not get left behind.

Ease of use, team members, sales process and implementation timeframe

There is a lot of information and I'd love to see more interaction with my HL team.

I love how my members have been able to easily use their new online community! It was fairly simple to set up, and our interactions with the staff have been helpful when we can't figure out how to use something.

The reporting isn't always great, but if there is something you really need to report on, tech support can usually help out.

Creates member value by facilitating networking among members

admin experience

The online communities are a great place to bring value to my organization. They provide invaluable marketing data for us and allow our members a unique place to gather

Some of the functionality is not intuitive. It is difficult for some of my staff and members to learn how to use at times.

Training and customer service is the best part of the Higher Logic Platform.

I do feel like the price is high for small nonprofits.

Higher Logic is an excellent partner in your success. They listen to their customers and they continually evolve the product to meet customer needs. Since it's a hosted platform, you benefit from all of the investments that they make in the platform and the technology.

More of a caveat than a "con," it is important to know that Higher Logic is a dynamic company and they are making improvements to their product on a regular basis. If you are looking for a static product that isn't going to change, they may not be the right fit.

The ability to connect our members from around the country and the world with an easy to use tool has been incredibly valuable. Our previous tool was clunky and lay dormant for over two years. The fact that our members can access our community with a single sign-on option (the same UN and PW they use for our .org) makes it a seamless experience.

There is a learning curve. Our leadership wanted an accelerated implementation, so we were putting a lot of pressure on the HL team! I would suggest taking your time with implementation and truly immersing yourself in HUG - other users have been our best resource.

There are so many more tools for communities than I've seen in previous software, and the company is still growing so there is a lot of chances to give ideas and influence the new additions to features.

The back end design is very clunky, though they are going to be updating it and I can't wait to give it a try. There is also a limited number of security customizations in some influential parts of communities, such as moderating a big group of individuals at once, or restricting people to not be able to post, but be able to respond to posts. I hope these will come in the future.

There is no better way to add value to a professional membership than allowing members to connect, network, share best practices, and collaborate. That's what Higher Logic does so very well.

Would love further integration capabilities