Absolute Web

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager of this company. We partner with artists around the world to sell their prints in huge sizes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Absolute Web, and what were your goals?

When we launched our website we were running on a basic WordPress template which eventually we outgrew. We came to Absolute Web with a design and wanted them to bring our vision to life. We also needed ongoing maintenance and support for the website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had first hired Absolute Web to first do maintenance on the current website and we were very happy with them. We were using a different Web Development team at the start of our project and actually ended up leaving the other team to work with Absolute Web on our web design project. After having a few meetings and breaking the project into steps we were very happy with the results.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We updated our website from the basic wordpress template to a fully functioning, fast speed, SEO friendly design. The previous template we were using was very bulky and had a lot of code that was not necessary and was really hurting us. Absolute Web broke the project into a few different steps where they tweaked our design slightly, developed the design, did a testing phase, and launched in two different parts.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a project manager as well as our main developer. At times we had another developer that was helping but have had two main contacts that were both very easy to talk with and get ahold of.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are very happy with the website after launch, we had the project completed before the Thanksgiving Holiday and launched a Black Friday sale the next week which really boosted our sales. We are still in the process of populating content on our end and are currently analyzing the new website. We are very happy with the results.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We did a few zoom calls to get to know each other. We also had a Slack channel that made it very easy to chat throughout the day. Overall the team was very easy to get ahold of even outside of regular business hours we were able to get ahold of the team to make updates when we really needed them. This team will really go out of their way for you.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The responsiveness of this team is amazing. They respond very quickly and are very easy to work with. This team is definitely just as passionate about our product as we are.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We are very happy with this team and don't have any complaints. We have worked with many developers in the past and none compare to Absolute Web.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

DBS Beauty Store is a Chilean retailer of beauty products and I'm the E-Commerce Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Absolute Web, and what were your goals?

DBS was looking for the best to continue growing in our online business. Among top global Magento partners, we find Absolute Web to develop our new website on Cloud version.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We asked for references to Adoble and searched online for Magento agencies. After meeting them, we chose this partner based on their expertise developing projects and their understanding of the business.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a meeting to discuss our needs and objectives. From there, we sent them a scope of work proposal that was reviewed and fine-tuned by our Project Manager. Once it was approved, we met the Digital Brand Manager and started designing. They developed modules and functionalities to have all the deliverables on time.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A Project Manager was our main point of contact thoughout the project. Digital Brand Manager worked with us in every page and device version, and Marketing Manager advised us on tools map.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

All site performance indicators show improvement and we had over than 20% increase in orders month-over-month. Customers appreciate a "global brand” look and feel and the site's speed.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Before launching, we had weekly meetings to follow up. After launching, we had daily catch ups and reviews with our Project Manager and weekly status summary mails. We had some delays in deliverables, but they were always willing to speed up. We used mail and Slack.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Absolute Web was focused on meeting our expectations and helping us scale our business. Their willingness to understand our business needs, provide valuable knowlegde and support for quick solutions, made the difference. We had good results with proven best practices for a high level design, improved performance and enhanced customer experience.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

They are high performers as developers, but they are weak on QA. Despite the fact that they are quick to fix bugs, if they emphasize more on this area, they will deliver excellence.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of technology and applications for a management consulting company. However, I’m the interim CTO for an e-commerce company in this project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Absolute Web?

We were rebuilding our e-commerce storefront as well as converting it to a multi-store model in order to fuel international growth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Absolute Web started by sharing what the project would look like based on the project parameters I gave them. After that, they took charge of the development and design work of our e-commerce platform. We have them on retainer now for the post-project deliverables. To be specific, they continue to make additions and expansions on our e-commerce storefront.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with a developer, designer, and project manager.

How did you come to work with Absolute Web?

I narrowed down the list of companies I found on the WordPress premier directory, and I ended up choosing Absolute Web because they already finished projects that were similar to the problem we were solving. On top of that, their pricing was competitive.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2021, and we continue to collaborate. They finished our initial e-commerce site in November 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re extremely happy with the results of the project. In fact, we've been able to do an initial launch with the e-commerce site they've completed. We’re also impressed with the skills of their developer.

How did Absolute Web perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had an extremely aggressive timeline with the initial e-commerce site, but Absolute Web still finished the project on time and on budget. We have project managers on both sides, which allows us to move really fast. We communicate through email, and we have biweekly meetings to review the project's progress and to talk about the next deliverables they should accomplish.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Absolute Web is flexible, and they’re willing to adjust the timeline as needed. On top of that, they always figure out how to make things work. We also appreciate that they know when to say yes and when to push back.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they have no areas to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Before coming into the engagement, I already created a project brief and I knew what I wanted them to prioritize. In connection with that, I’d suggest future clients to come to Absolute Web with a vision of their project and have a willingness to constantly reprioritize in order to achieve their objectives.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Snow Peak USA is the North American branch of a Japanese outdoor brand founded in 1958. We offer an assortment of premium gear and apparel options that are highly durable, modular, and well-designed.

As the Digital Commerce Manager, I oversee our digital DTC suite including the snowpeak.com experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Absolute Web, and what were your goals?

We currently do not have any internal development resources, but have many optimizations projects planned to continue building a meaningful digital experience for our consumers. Absolute Web has been brought on board to help support both front and backend development to bring some of these experiences to life.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched for development teams that offered long and short-term support services that were also well experience with the Shopify+ platform. After speaking with several options, I was referred to Absolute Web by another Shopify+-based Ecommerce company.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We initially held a kick-off meeting to align on overall company goals and guidelines. From there, biweekly meetings are held to maintain communication standards and talk through projects. Primarily we operate within specific project briefs and communicate digitally.

Projects include small edits to existing features (ie. changing the functionality of a button) to larger edits like building out unique landing page experiences that may incorporate custom transaction elements. Technological requirements include json, liquid, etc.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have worked directly with a Project Manager and Developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

All projects have positively influenced our overall customer experience. Our larger page design projects, for example, resulted in 30-50% YoY increase in engagement based on a mix of sessions and conversions.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The Absolute Web team is highly efficient and adapts to the communication style that is most effective for the client. For us, that has primarily been via email or working within the brief documentation.

They are incredibly communicative, typically responding within an hour for any questions. They have never missed a deadline that was presented, rather typically delivering in advance, allowing for additional QA opportunities.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have been incredibly supportive and responsive with all requests. I specifically appreciate their ability to operate as a partner with all projects - providing feedback and recommendations to help build out the best solution possible rather than strictly taking direction.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No complaints - we haven't had any issues with the quality of the work, responsiveness, or efficiency.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-founder of eCommerce company selling medical apparel and accessories

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Absolute Web?

After 10 years of being hosted on one platform, we wanted to migrate our store to another platform. We realized that the site was also due for an overhaul as we saw an accumulation of issues that slowed it down and affected its SEO performance

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We reviewed the portfolios of a number of companies and narrowed it down to 4 prospects. Absolute Web was not the cheapest but we realized from interviewing the others that we needed a team with sufficient depth to handle the unexpected. Our site had over 50K item codes and a lot of garbage accumulated over 10 years that needed to be cleaned up and prepped for migration.

For the site makeover, we wanted a clean look that set us apart from our competition. Absolute Web's portfolio showed it had experience with apparel and an eye for aesthetics.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Absolute Web provided a questionnaire that inquired about our preferences in terms of design elements, colors, and typography. The questionnaire also probed our understanding of our customers and our competitors. It was thorough enough to make the partners really think about where we were as an online business and where we wanted to go with this enhanced site.

The site redesign was easy and quick. Sample layouts were provided and once we approved them, we knew that it was just the beginning of a long journey. Data migration proved to be a major challenge but Slava and his team proved their worth and ultimately brought everything over using Excelify. The new site went live after six months of development and it was truly satisfying to watch the orders rolling in with hardly a hiccup.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Aside from Slava overseeing this project like it was his own baby, credit goes to Max (coding) and the unseen elves responsible for UX/UI design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

It's been less than a week since we went live but the metrics already show our site performance is as good if not better than our competitors. The old site could never deliver such numbers. Google Lighthouse rates us at 99/100 for SEO confirming that we have clean coding on the back end to now move forward with a SEO strategy.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Slava is a great team leader. Updates were frequent and he often provided video tutorials as needed so we could complete our share of the tasks. He also made sure to alert us if he was away and who to contact in his absence.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The new site confirms that we made the right choice by picking Absolute Web. We didn't know what challenges we would face when we decided to do a migration and makeover simultaneously but our confidence in Absolute Web, Slava and his team never wavered.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

As I admire our new site, I can only say it was worth the wait.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an e-commerce architect at OOBE Apparel Design Group. We’re a custom apparel manufacturing company for multiple industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Absolute Web?

We contacted Absolute Web to address issues with custom Magento development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve had multiple projects with Absolute Web. Most of them have involved migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2, and then some of them have been custom backend development for new initiatives.

Initially, we contacted them about some small custom development work that we needed done on migration sites, which I was taking care of in-house. They were able to provide us with great direction on how to move forward with some of the migration work we had. They also provided us with a great deal of actual development.

Overall, our business with Absolute Web is a little different because we launch our own websites and use them for development on units. They develop specific sections of the website, and when they’re completed, we launch at our leisure. They’ve helped us migrate probably 3–4 sites over the course of a year, so we’ve had launch dates all through last year and into this year. We recently launched a very large site that they’d worked on since November 2020.

Basically, we started off small and as we saw how good and professional they were, we tasked them with more and more development work. When the workload becomes more than what’s possible for us to handle internally, we outsource to Absolute Web. There’s no actual static project, we go to them with a feature that we need, and within a few weeks they'll complete it.

What is the team composition?

They have a team, and we have a direct contact named Kyle (Senior Project Manager). He has been extremely professional and very punctual; it’s been a pleasure to work with him. We’re also in contact with our developer, Konstantin (Senior Magento Architect), who has been extremely responsive to our needs. There are other developers working in the team, but Kyle and Konstantin are the main people we deal with.

How did you come to work with Absolute Web?

We researched online. We were looking for a Magento partner on the East Coast so the time zones would match. We also wanted developers inside the US so we wouldn’t have to deal with offshoring and communication issues.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2020. The project we asked them to work on is now completed, but we’ll continue to use them for ongoing service and maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Absolute Web has been able to help us in multiple situations. For example, we had a very large website, and it had a customization feature that was developed by a previous firm. It allowed multiple orders to be placed at once, so somebody could queue up to 20–30 orders and place all of them. The website ordering process began to slow down until the checkout would take 30 seconds.

We contacted Absolute Web about troubleshooting it, and within three days, they already had a solution. They put it in place and the checkout process went back down to just a few seconds. With some of the developers we've used in the past, we didn’t use the best practices and didn't develop things with performance in mind. Absolute Web has helped us get back on track so our websites are faster and more responsive so everything about the ordering process goes smoother. In summary, they’ve been able to help us with performance.

How did Absolute Web perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed very well. They’re very clear with what they’re developing, and we’re very clear with them about our functional requirements. If anything falls through the cracks, whether it’s a miscommunication on our part or their part, they’re happy to step up and solve it very quickly. They don’t ever forget anything or leave anything out there. They’re on top of everything.

Also, they’ve been extremely communicative. We use emails regularly and do video calls for scoping larger projects. They have a specific Slack channel for our day-to-day communication. We message back and forth with them during the business day since our hours coincide very well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re able to understand our needs and translate them into functions in a timely manner. There aren’t many questions from our or their end on what we’re trying to do. With people we've used in the past, there was a lot of confusion about requests, and that confusion was rooted in the project manager not being technical enough or a language barrier with the developers. However, Absolute Web’s team is very technically-minded, and they’re able to get back to us with quotes for the project we need on the same day.

Also, if we need to, we can speak directly to a developer on staff. In a lot of previous development firms, we spoke with the project manager but we didn’t have any communication with the developers, and sometimes we need to speak to a developer because we’re a little bit more technical than other firms of our size.

Overall, they’re very competent Magento developers, and their customer-facing team is very competent as well. That makes communication much easier, and it makes the development process much quicker for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if they could be cheaper, but their prices are reasonable and in line with the market. In reality, from a professional standpoint, they’re the best company that we’ve worked with so far, so it’s difficult for me to say that they need to improve anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think it’s the case with almost anyone, but the more specific you can be, the better. It’s very difficult to finish a project if nobody fully understands what they’re trying to accomplish in the end.

Having a very clear idea of your end goal is extremely important for developers to help you reach your goal, especially with Absolute Web. They’re very helpful at creating the things you need, but with us they’ve gotten the work done very quickly because we’ve been very specific. We usually go with a very specific function in mind and have it all laid out, so we don’t require a lot of communication or meetings.

Therefore, I think that if you want to work with them and get the most out of your money, it would be a great idea to know what you functionally want in a very specific manner before you contact them. You don’t want to go back and forth forever, just trying to figure out what to do. It’s better to be very prepared on your end.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a distributor of test measurement and safety gear. I’m the VP of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Absolute Web?

We had an older site that was running Magento 1, which is no longer being supported. We needed a vendor to help us migrate to Magento 2.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They migrated our website from Magento 1 to Magento 2. Once we decided to work with Absolute Web, they gave us a scope of work and a time frame. From there, we went back and forth about details for six months.

They sent us several wireframes and mockups, which we approved. We had access to a demo site where we could check the progress of the build as we went along.  

What is the team composition?

Kyle (Senior Project Manager) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Absolute Web?

We reached out to the company that’s hosted our site for many years and they gave us a list of their premium providers. We browsed through the list and found Absolute. Absolute completed a site similar to ours and we really liked how it turned out. We checked their referrals and all of their clients had positive feedback to share.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $60,000 for the initial build. We’ve since spent an additional $10,000 in add-ons.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2020, and we launched in January 2021. We’ve since done several updates to our initial site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our site appears to have a higher percentage of people going all the way through to an order. It’s really difficult to say for sure. Our revenue has stayed where it needed to be.

They did a good job of maintaining the theme of our old website while still making it look modern and user-friendly. The backend migration was challenging but the overall concept they delivered was great. We’re very happy with the end result.

We had a few glitches when we first launched but they worked through all those very quickly for us. It felt like they definitely had our back in those situations.

How did Absolute Web perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. The team was very communicative and got any problems figured out. We used email to keep in touch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Absolute Web did what they said they would do within the timeframe they said they were going to do it. We’re very happy that there weren’t any problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to let them know exactly what you want. We were pretty loose with our expectations of the final result. Communicate with them if you want something specific.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Since 1990 Cubix has been the IT distributor of choice of the leading resellers in Latin America and for the Miami Exporters.I'm the founder and general manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Absolute Web?

Redesign our webpage

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to completely redesign our webpage , our image. We wanted to launch a new program "sell your way:"

SOLUTION

How did you select Absolute Web?

We looked online for an agency who can met our expectation. We were looking for a highly professional agency with the knowledge of the latin america market. From the first iteration with Absolute, it was clear, that they were the obvious choice.

Describe the project in detail.

During the first 2-3 weeks we had the discovery phase. We had a series of meeting with them, then we began to receive designs for the front page, we spent about 2 weeks just with the front page, then all the other pages were much easier.

During the last week of the project we were talking with them more than 10 times a day, sometimes , until very late at night.

What was the team composition?

We were a assigned a project manager, Andres, he was our contact during the whole process. It was very easy and straightforward process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We're just about to launch our marketing campaign, but so far, the feedback that we have received from customer and vendors have been excellent

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective, actually that was the most impressive aspect of the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Working with Andres, the project manager, was amazing. He answered all our mails during the same day, even late during the night.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We're really happy with Absolute.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Diamond Beauty Company. We offer an advanced at-home teeth whitening kit and will expand to offer other beauty-related products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Absolute Web?

We hired them for web development and marketing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Absolute built a themed website. They initially provided a couple of options and then I chose one of them. Their team then built the website from scratch, and we went back and forth throughout the development. They photographed our products and managed the photography process, hiring models and finding locations. Their team also set up basic email workflows through Klaviyo and installed pixels, so Google and Facebook.

What is the team composition?

I directly interfaced with three people from Absolute but I know there were quite a few more teammates behind the scenes. I communicated with a project manager, a content manager, and a marketing analyst. There was also a developer behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Absolute Web?

I searched online and interviewed five other companies but chose Absolute based on their honesty. Their team was upfront about costs, potential hidden costs, and any issues. Hannah (Creative Brand Manager) made me feel comfortable compared to the other vendors, and Absolute had a team that was capable of website development and marketing.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $15,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project with them in October 2020, and it was handed to me in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They hit their initial timeline but thought they would finish sooner. As they didn’t complete it early, they added a free page to the website because it was needed. Absolute also hit the budget and never added fees.

How did Absolute Web perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicated through email. If we needed to speak more in-depth, we set up a meeting and talked it out. They were always available for phone calls. Their project manager was top notch. We had excellent communication and any issues I had, they found solutions and presented them to me to decide what I wanted to do. They also made helpful recommendations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I felt that Absolute was on my team. We had a great team dynamic, so I didn’t feel that Absolute tried to nickel and dime me. Their team was realistic about costs and answered all of my marketing questions with conservative recommendations for ad spend. They saw my vision and solved my issues.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any ways Absolute could’ve improved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be more direct with communication. If you have a vision, thoroughly explain it. For example, I expected their copywriter to know my thoughts based on bullet points. I would rewrite the content and send it back to them because as with anything, it's up for interpretation. Be more hands-on with copywriting.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the EVP of Ideal Nutrition. We’re a fast-growing manufacturing and food distribution company. I help run the growth expansion of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Absolute Web?

Our owner had created a very small website on Weebly. It did pretty well for a couple of orders coming in a week, and then as we continued to grow, we had a system that had 4–5 different platforms that did not communicate with each other. 

When people would navigate to our website and place an order, the actual order was placed on a form, and that would tell us the order, but the payment processing was coming through PayPal and Square. 

We had to manually check every single order to make sure that the payment matched the corresponding customer name, and that the customer actually placed an order for 10 meals, for example, and paid for 10 meals. 

Ultimately, it didn’t work and, as we got bigger, we were running into failures because people make mistakes. We hired Absolute Web to help us to scale. We wanted to be able to have orders come in and go out, and we wanted to improve all of the communication with the customer as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We decided on the platform and Shopify seemed to be the most comprehensive for us because we have subscriptions and one-time orders. We sat down with Absolute Web and hashed out all of our needs and all of our wants and came up with a strategic plan and a timeline. 

What is the team composition?

We dealt with three people, including a project manager and coders. We spoke to the owner of the company a few times when we initially started to discuss the project, but our project manager was the main person we dealt with.

How did you come to work with Absolute Web?

We started trying to find someone who could create an e-commerce website for us that would automate some of the processes that we were manually doing. I hired two different companies that were local to us over the course of two and a half years, but that didn’t work out.

I came across Absolute Web on a site that listed top digital companies in South Florida. When I clicked on it, it showed some of their most recent projects including one that we really liked. We reached out to them and ran through the scope of what we needed. 

What really set them apart from everyone else we interviewed was the fact that they had already created an e-commerce platform similar to what we needed. Although they weren’t the cheapest, they told us that they were able to do it, had done something like this in the past, and would adhere to the strict timeline.

How much have you invested in them?

For our first phase, we invested just under $75,000. Along the way there were some things that they said were not included in the original agreement, so we made some additional payments which was probably another $15,000. 

We are also paying a monthly fee for regular services. It is 30 hours a month, which we can use at our will whether to revamp a particular page or adding another feature.

What is the status of this engagement?

We met with them in August 2020. They told us it would take roughly 16 weeks, but there were some hiccups that pushed it back a little bit. They wound up accomplishing everything that we needed by December 2020.

That was the first phase. We are continuing a partnership with them, and we pay them a monthly fee to have them continue to work on our site and continue with setting out the next couple of phases of things that we want. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They were very qualified, and they handled themselves very professionally. They delivered on just about everything that they said they would. For the few things that were just not doable, they were able to give us a workaround that felt comfortable.

We have seen an uptick in sales, but it is difficult to equate it to the website and not just the normal course of doing business for us with the time of year when everyone starts eating well. 

The ordering process is significantly easier for customers and we have had a lot of positive feedback. People calling the 1-800 number might still be confused about some things but the resolution for what they need is a lot quicker and smoother. 

Our trajectory has not changed because of the website. However, we know that we will retain new customers because of the ease and functionality of the site. We used to need 6–7 people every day of the week to do the work, but that’s now down to two people. 

Even on Fridays, which are our deadline days, I only need one person at night. The website works better and smoother, and we’re able to put some people into other roles to help expand our company. We’re able to allocate time and people to do other things.

How did Absolute Web perform from a project management standpoint?

Absolute Web did their own testing, and they had very good lines of communication with us, not necessarily only phone calls. Overall, I was very satisfied. We spent a lot of money, but because of the level of comfort and the track record we were able to see for what they had been doing for other people, it made it worthwhile. 

The team did a very good job of explaining to us what they were going to be able to do. They were always very accessible and on Friday nights, when we needed them to work past their normal business hours, they gave us one of their coders who was accessible until 1 a.m. 

That way if something catastrophic happened, we weren’t making a million calls waiting for someone to call us back. We had someone ready and waiting to assist us. They did a very thorough job. We would do a conference call once a week, which was very important to me. 

We would also do video screen shares where they would see the things that I was encountering. Absolute Web was very successful in tackling our project and doing it in a very timely manner. They communicated what they thought they could do and couldn’t do.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Not only were they able to build the website and test the functionality, but they were also a liaison between us and some of the other absent features that we needed. They assisted us in figuring out what was going to be the best payment processor. 

They helped us choose Shopify and Stripe. I still had to negotiate with them and figure out who was going to be the best price, but we weren’t left to figure that out on our own. They gave us advice and their perspective. They helped us make decisions instead of simply telling us our choices.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing jumps to mind right away. Absolute Web did an effective job. Of course, we would’ve liked to have had a more affordable option, but they gave us a really fair balance of fast delivery and good quality.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a vision and stand by it very strongly. Make sure that as the client, you have the right words and ways to express and convey what your message needs to be, not only to the customer but to the company that is building your platform for you.

There are some things that we thought were really good ideas, and Absolute Web was able to explain to us that it wasn’t the norm for what we do and that many other companies that do what we do, do it a different way. They showed us why or how that was, and we were able to change that. 

The team allowed us to do what we thought was best. They gave us a cautionary tale from time to time, but I think it’s really important to stand by your own morals and stand by what you think is important for your business model.