Switch to User
Arden Reece
From a course support standpoint, I sometimes need to see what my client is seeing and I can't. I'm used to utilizing a feature in my former online course platform that would allow me as the admin to switch to the user's view and then switch back when I was done viewing the course as them. Please, please bring this feature in. I noticed it was a topic in the FB group and this is sorely needed.
Log In
Richard Scharfenberg
I'm chiming in on this topic late, and a lot of good suggestions have been made. It's about seeing things from the customer's perspective. When they say that they can't access something, find something, or do something specific, it is nice to be able to 'View As' and not so much 'Impersonate.' This feature will keep us connected to the end users, understanding their needs better.
The "View As" would allow a person with Administrator rights to view a specific user as being logged in but only with viewing rights. As Calvin Correli mentioned, it can quickly become murky or tricky if you can "Impersonate" and perform actions.
However, having "Viewing" capabilities would be great. It would help us understand what some customers are experiencing.
Calvin Correli
Noted the interest in this.
I'd love your help with specifics on what you're looking to see.
What I'm hearing is:
* Visiting a membership site as a site member and seeing what they'd see
* Not being able to post/comment as them, obviously
* Page views, watching videos, etc., wouldn't count as that member either …probably wouldn't count at all, either.
* Can't add to their cart, complete purchase, or any of those things either, I assume
What else comes to mind?
It gets pretty tricky very quickly with all the deep interaction we have.
Not unsolvable, but it does add a lot of complexity and special cases everywhere in the code .."if not really this member but only viewing as this member, don't show this, don't allow that, do this instsead, etc."
And all over the place. Not just in one or two places.
Tue Olesen
Calvin Correli I see the point you are making about it getting complex. But great that you open the discussion anyway!
Here are three other things that come to my mind:
* View and adjust notification settings
* View and edit their profile page settings
* View how they see their billing and purchase pages
Admin access to "impersonate" a customer opens a lot of powerful access, and this is the better alternative to getting their username/password and logging in as them to assist / support them.
One way could be to have this done on a per-request-basis, so that people get a special link that they need to click, and that then gives a specific Simplero Admin full access (including making changes) for a time-limited window. It could be recorded in the activity log that the admin access permission was granted. Then it is up to the Simplero admin to step carefully.
This way, handing over admin access would happen with the customer's full consent and agreement, so we see it as a support tool and not something that allows an admin to peek into every customer's account at any time, without the user's consent or knowing.
Once a customer grants permission, then unlimited access is given. Could that make it less complex?
Calvin Correli
Tue Olesen The problem with a number of these things are that logins are global in Simplero, not isolated to your account, so there's no way we can let you edit their profile or access anything that crosses accounts.
What gives you a need to manage their notifications or profile for them?
You do have a "view purchase as" link that shows you exactly that.
Tue Olesen
Calvin Correli I get it - we'd want to limit the admin access to the current Simplero account. Otherwise we're opening op a whole set of new concerns.
When i asked about managing their notifications or profile, it is to help them audit their profile and notification settings and possibly make changes that they may be confused about (but i can make for/with them super quick).
It could be relevant while they are on the phone or in an 1-1 online meeting, with a support question.
Ryan Henderson
Calvin Correli Thanks for opening this discussion further.
The three main aspects of this that I'd like to see include:
1) I would like to be able to see the lists that a customer is signed up for, and how those lists are shown to them.
2) How a membership site appears for individual customers . (I use sections on pages that are only visible for customers with X tag, for example, and would like to see what they can/can not see).
3) Courses - would like to see if a customer can see drip-fed/scheduled lessons,
Caress Fitch
Calvin Correli seconding Ryan Henderson’s approach. These are the specific things that would help me better support my clients.
Marie-Louise Kragelund
Calvin Correli , I would just like to see what courses, modules and lessons a given customer has access to.
Not everyone has access to everything in my courses, e.g.
* sometimes customers get a bonus ( = access to more), but other customers don't.
* Sometimes a customer stops for a while and comes back (it's a subscription), and I cannot check what old/new material they have access to.
It can get a bit messy, and it would be nice to be able to see which courses, modules and lessons each customer has access to.
Calvin Correli
Ryan HendersonSuper helpful.
#1 you can already see on the Contact page, no? Not sure what you mean by "how those lists are shown to them" but there's a "see as" link on the Contact. Is that what you mean?
#2 and #3 are either hard, unclear, or impossible today, but your need is clear to make and makes perfect sense.
Ryan Sullivan
Calvin Correli Here is an example form the other main software we use and has a login capability as the user. I am only a couple of days into my account here and your support team has already logged in and added products, examples content inot my site. We are basically admins of our "software" we pay you to use, so we should be able to do anything for user in my opinion. Just think if you guys couldn't go in and edit our purchase data or do other things you wouldn't be able to provide support. That is how this would get I think as I am spoiled by this other software that allows me to run "my software" as the admin.
Calvin Correli
Ryan Sullivan The difference is a Simplero user is global. The same login can be a client of yours, a client of five other Simplero businesses, plus have their own Simplero business.
That means we have to be super careful what we do here.
Ryan Sullivan
Calvin Correli I get it but the data is all there, I have my clients on my backend for my products and don't see their purchases from others or have control of those other purchases right so seemingly no difference in parsing out on the front end same as you would on the backend, I login as my client and only see what is in my account for them not the rest. I see what they see for the course on the front end but not the fact that they have courses from others, I am only concerned about mine.
Calvin Correli
Ryan Sullivan I understand.
What I'm saying is, the way Simplero logins work is every user sees what that user is supposed to see.
What you're asking for is that one user (you) can see what another user sees (your client) but not EVERYTHING that user sees, only PARTS of what that user sees.
When our support team gets access, they don't see your account as you. They see it as them. So they won't see your private saved views, or private contact notes, or recent items, or other things that are tied to your login.
They're allowed to see what's inside your account. And only for a limited time period, in response to a support ticket.
I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying it's not simple, and it's dangerous, so needs to be considered carefully.
Calvin Correli
Calvin Correli
Tue Olesen
I also think this is would be valuable - it has been raised as a feature request earlier, so if we can collect votes on that i think it will be a big help for the team: https://simplero.canny.io/feature-requests/p/switch-to-user
Maybe the team can even merge these feature requests in Canny?
Rebecca Ballard
This would be great as a final check to be sure the customer sees a course as you think it will be seen.
Veslemøy Solberg
My vote as well. :-)
Malene Dollerup
my vote for this
Arden Reece
Hi Ronnie! I've raised this too ...please vote over here so we can share our voice together. https://simplero.canny.io/feature-requests/p/switch-to-user
Sarah Eskildsen-Mortensen
You are able to see how it looks from the client perspective.
You click on the "view site in new tab" button - and the membership site shows up and you can click into the courses and modules and see what they see...
Arden Reece
Sarah Eskildsen-Mortensen: Actually, I'm only able to see the site from an overall admin standpoint, not as the member. Some members have lessons and courses dripped so they are not going to see what I see. So being able to login as them to see their view is very very helpful. :)
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