There are a lot of approval websites out there, offering a bevy of features that can help you improve your approval rates. When hunting for the right system for you, consider your current workflow – are you sending proofs to internal or external reviewers, how many reviewers do you have, what sorts of files do you send, etc. This will give you the framework to match all your potential review software candidates against. 

Today, we’ll be taking a look at Ashore and ConceptShare. ConceptShare is a software company located in Canada, founded in 2007. It functions as an approval software with project management capabilities. We’ve sorted the features from both Ashore and ConceptShare into overarching categories you can use to judge the best fit for you. 

Automation

Automation features are most useful when it comes to decreasing your turnaround rate and saving time. Rather than having to move your proof through a workflow or send reminders on your own, many approval systems offer automation of these tasks. 

Conceptshare

• Automatic reminders with the deadline
• Automatic new version notifications

Ashore

• Workflows where proofs are automatically sent to the next reviewer upon approval
• Automatic reminders sent out daily, weekly or every other day, as decided

File Types

When it comes to investing in an approval software, you want one that supports a variety of file types. Your business may start out only reviewing images, but as you grow and expand so might the types of files you create and send out.

Conceptshare

• Images (PDF, IMG, JPEG, etc.)
• Documents
• Videos
• Web pages

Ashore

• Images (PDF, IMG, JPEG, etc.)
• Documents
• Videos
• HTML 

Collaboration

If reviewing was a one-person activity, there wouldn’t be approval software. The collaboration capabilities of an approval software such as Conceptshare and Ashore are therefore integral to the functionality. The tools and commenting methods should work for how your approval process goes. 

Conceptshare

• Contextualized feedback
• Prioritize and flag comments
• Reply to comments in-screen
• View previous versions side by side with new versions

Ashore

• Markup proofs with boxes, arrows or just comment directly on the image or video
• Reply to comments and automatically notify your reviewers of replies
• View previous versions
• Allow approvers to download files whenever you’d like
• Add a checklist to your proofs that your approvers e-sign off on before approval

Organization

One of the main reasons to switch to an approval software is the organization. The ability to see all of your projects and files in isolation, not scattered through your email inbox, gives you better insight into the status of all the outstanding work. 

Conceptshare

• Timestamped history of comments, requests for revisions, etc. 
• Dashboard of projects and files that need review

Ashore

• Proof timeline with approvals, new versions, emails sent, etc.
• Proof archive with all proofs sent
• Tags for personalized organization of the proof archive

Usability

All of the above categories add up to overall usability of the software. There is no point to an approval system that isn’t easy for both creatives and reviewers to use. There are also some features that lend themselves solely to better functionality within the software.

Conceptshare

• Reviewers with accounts have a review dashboard
• Guest reviewers can be invited and do not need accounts

Ashore

• Reviewers don’t need an account to review
• Add sub-users to your account and view all the projects your team has going

The Verdict

In the end, it’s important to get the features that you want. Either ConceptShare or Ashore might have that perfect feature you can’t live without – checklists, feedback prioritization, whatever you need. However, it is also important to consider cost when searching for the approval software you’re going to invest in. 

ConceptShare offers both a Core and an Enterprise plan, with Enterprise having more features and more storage per user. Pricing for these plans differ based on the number of reviewer users and coordinator users you’d like on your account – you can request a quote to get a better idea. 

Ashore offers a Forever Free plan, a Personal plan, a Starter plan, and a Busine/Business+ plan. These plans mainly differ on the amount of files per month and the amount of users on the account.

Check out Ashore today for no cost and see if we’re the right fit for you.