Bright Vessel

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of Molle Bridals, a bridal shop in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bright Vessel?

I needed full-service digital marketing for our bridal shop.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially needed a website. After it was built, we moved on to SEO, PPC, web design, and everything else that was necessary to launch the brand and gain Internet visibility.

The website was developed from scratch using WordPress. I told Judd [Founder, Bright Vessel] what I wanted and showed him designs from other bridal sites that I liked. He came back with different options, which I approved.

He took care of both the website and the content; when I wrote articles, he published them. He also added some creative elements, such as photos, and designed marketing campaigns to increase traffic on sale dates. He trained me so that I could eventually start doing it myself. Since he taught me how to do it, I take care of all the backend stuff. He gave me literature and told me what I needed to do.

After creating some Google Ads for me, they have also monitored engagement and SEO performance to ensure that I reach the top page constantly.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Judd.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March of 2012, and we stopped working together around October of 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Six years into my business, I have a great online presence and have received many compliments on my website. My competitors have copied my website, which is a double-edged sword. Every time a customer comes into my store, I ask how they found us. It is always online through my website.

How did Bright Vessel perform from a project management standpoint?

Judd created a lot of pages and maintained them constantly. We mostly communicated through phone and email. He always took my calls, answered all my questions, and was very focused on my needs. He always got back to me the same day or was available within the hour, and he took the time to reply to my emails with a whole page of information. Anything I wanted was always done quickly. He came onsite as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know what they’re doing. I was always able to interpret their directions into layman’s terms and learn from them. Web development is a very scary area that not everyone is able to understand clearly. Making a website and understanding how its backend operates can be very intimidating, but I learned easily from him because he gave me plenty of time to understand it. Keeping up with SEO and staying on the first page makes sense now.

His dedication to getting things done on time was awesome. In the long run, retained me as a client and made sure everything performed well. He didn’t just collect my money and disappear; he was on board for the long term.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I was happy all the way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Invest with him. He’s definitely worth it. If you try to save money by doing it on your own without understanding it, you can really mess up. Make sure that any company is a legitimate one, and  understand that you get what you pay for. Bright Vessel knows what they’re doing, but they are still affordable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Bespoke Southerly, an e-commerce platform that allows customers to custom-design their own cocktail dresses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bright Vessel?

I hired them to design an ecommerce website and increase my business's social media presence in advance of my business launch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created an initial design for the website and we’re building it in WordPress and using the WooCommerce plugin. They’re handling the e-store configuration, credit card processing, tax settings, and overall site development. Shipping is mostly handled through the factory I work with, but Bright Vessel’s handling some of that configuration as well, and then adding SEO plugins like Yoast and Google Analytics. They’re also going to set up a search function for the site after our product line expands.

One key feature that I need is a visualizer for the custom products that will show the customers exactly how their design looks. None of the pre-made visualizers were sufficient, so Judd Dunagan [Founder, Bright Vessel], is coding a custom plugin for us.

Once the site is up and running, they’ll handle updates, site maintenance, and bug fixes. I may also have them build new pages or upload content as the business grows, but I hope to get in-house staff to handle that eventually.

What is the team dynamic?

I work with Judd, and then 2 other staff members have helped with the site design. They may have additional contractors, but I’m not sure.

How did you come to work with Bright Vessel?

They were featured on WooCommerce’s “verified experts” page. I vetted nearly a dozen designers and developers, and I chose Bright Vessel because they understood my vision for the site and offered reasonable costs. They were almost too reasonable — I hesitated initially because their price was so far below what I’d anticipated, but they've delivered excellent customer service with high quality and attention to detail.

Another reason I ultimately chose them is that they offer marketing services. I needed someone with the technical knowledge to build a clean, simple website with a great UX, but I also wanted someone who'd work with me for at least the first year on SEO, social media campaigns, and other strategies for making connections with potential customers. Many of the other web designers I considered didn’t offer that.

What is the status of this engagement?

I received their first proposal in April 2017, and our relationship is ongoing. The site is still in development because I ran into a delay with the product samples and couldn't get the visual content ready for upload. They’ve been very understanding and professional, and demonstrated great flexibility now that I'm in a position to move forward again.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial proposal was just under $5,000, and the hosting fee is $250/month. That fee includes additional content uploads, plus site and software updates. Once the site is live I plan to contract them for monthly marketing campaigns that have a base price of $750.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Bright Vessel perform from a project management standpoint?

I don't know if it's their workload level or their business culture, but the whole team is incredibly responsive. They usually get back to me within a couple hours. We communicate primarily via email or phone, but also occasionally used Slack and Basecamp.

They’ve been very accommodating, even with the delay I've experienced with this project. We had to go on hold for a time, but they still had a splash page prepared within 2 days when I asked for it.  I've worked with vendors in the past who'd just build the site without the missing pieces and try to slot them in after the fact, but Bright Vessel has waited to see that content. They understand how it impacts the ultimate design and functionality of my product, and they're willing to give my site the custom attention it needs from the ground up. At first, I was hesitant to take this approach, but now I see the wisdom in waiting so that there's less revising at the end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by the depth of their technical knowledge. Another thing that's unique, and valuable, is that there's no billing office to run through — the prices are adjusted by the people doing the work. I think that's why Bright Vessel's been so cost-effective.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could do a better job streamlining their client communication. They initially asked if I preferred phone or email, but later added 2 CRMs to the mix. It felt like we lost some efficiency switching back and forth, especially since I wasn’t familiar with all the tools and didn’t know which ones were better for quick versus detailed questions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Liberty Power is a retail energy company servicing all the deregulated markets in the US. I was the chief marketing officer and the general manager of the mass markets team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bright Vessel?

We were looking for a new storefront. The website we had when I first got to the company was fairly old and a lot of the information was outdated. The look and feel was pretty outdated as well, so we were looking for something more current.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with some basic wireframes for the website. We also had a general color palette that we provided and from that point on, they provided all the design and development. It was a .NET architecture. We wanted to make sure the customer could navigate through the site and find the information they were looking for. We also wanted to direct the residential customers to the opportunity to buy online. 

After completing the website, they identified that there was a much bigger opportunity to develop it out as an e-commerce opportunity. All of our sales were done more traditionally through telesales or face-to-face contact. We migrated from that point to more of an e-commerce site.

On an ongoing basis, we were working on developing some of the social media platforms. They were helping us with the strategy for that, specifically in the diversity space. We also started building out more of a focus on targeting the small business segment. We had a couple of more links and tips and tools that we thought would help.

What is the team dynamic?

They worked hand-in-hand with my team.

How did you come to work with Bright Vessel?

Judd [Founder] was a colleague of one of the marketing resources on my team. We had initial discussions around the project. We were actually looking to build out our team in-house but there were things he was able to do that made it faster for us to get started.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent approximately $1 million over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from 2012 to 2014. We kept them on retainer after the initial project was completed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The difference in the website is like night and day. We got more feedback internally than from customers. The customer feedback has come in the form of actual activity. Our business has grown because of the e-commerce. We were able to do 2 to 4% of our total revenue through e-commerce in the first year. Keep in mind we started from zero so this equates to a couple of million dollars of revenue that we got in year one.

How did Bright Vessel perform from a project management standpoint?

They can take on a bit much at times so we had to recalibrate to make sure that the scope wasn’t getting too big. Once we set up a bit of a cadence, they were able to hit all the deadlines we set.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our industry is notoriously slow in moving on some of these things, but they helped us create a roadmap and strategy on how we can develop things that weren’t part of the scope. They provided that at part of their service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, their innovation was more aggressive than we were comfortable with. We had to sit down and walk through it on a phase-by-phase basis.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a Principal at a law firm. We have around 25 attorneys.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bright Vessel?

We had an outdated website, and we were looking to update it and make it more user-friendly and functional. We reached out to Bright Vessel and several other providers and ultimately chose Bright Vessel.

Our website serves as both an informational website as well as to bring new clients to the firm. I keep up to date with other firms' websites to see how they might address an issue in a case, and they may use my website similarly. Clients also, of course, look at the website to determine who to hire.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ultimately, Bright Vessel designed and set up our website, and they have maintained that for a number of years. When we started the engagement, we had some of the copy, but we didn't have any significant design plans. We just wanted to make it easy to read, functional, and serves its purpose.

The website was based on WordPress.

Bright Vessel worked with our marketing manager to make sure blogs were updated or the team's biographies were updated. Part of that effort was put in to make sure our website was optimized for search engines.

Bright Vessel determined where visuals would go, and we provided a lot of photos themselves. We used that content according to Bright Vessel's designs.

Bright Vessel worked with our marketing team to create the copy if there was a new area on the website that didn't previously exist on our old one. Initially, that wasn't an area they were asked to help with.

How did you come to work with Bright Vessel?

I met the owner some time ago. I knew that he was a designer, and I put him in mind to bid on the project. Ultimately, he won.

The committee that was choosing Bright Vessel liked proposal the best as far as price, function, and what they planned to create.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost less than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work began in 2012, and the initial design took between 4–6 months. They then maintained the website for another year afterward.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were provided a variety of analytics by Bright Vessel as the website was unveiled and their time managing it. It appeared that the longer that the new site was out there, the more traffic that was coming through. At the time, doing a variety of searches, we seemed to be moving up to the first page for relevant keywords.

How did Bright Vessel perform from a project management standpoint?

I did not have any issues, and I don't know of any issues that occurred in terms of both communicated and meeting deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

My work was dealt with quickly. If requests were made, they were accomplished by 6:00 a.m. the next morning.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At times, there could have been better communication, but no major problems really stick in my mind. I'm only mentioning their communication because, even in my own practice, communication could improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company manages private schools. I am the VP of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bright Vessel?

We brought them in for a few things, including a large initial project to redesign the bulk of our schools' websites. Our goal was to redesign several schools' brands and improve SEO and conversion optimization, all to generate more leads.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over the course of the initial year, we worked with Bright Vessel on around 13 websites, all based on a similar framework.

Bright Vessel also provided paid search services. After this initial project, they moved to a retainer, serving as our agency for all our digital advertising, design work, and web development (including adding e-commerce to some of our websites).

Overall, we’ve worked on 16 websites with Bright Vessel, including one massive project requiring us to roll out promotional items every summer for the bulk of our schools. There is also ongoing work which occurs every month. Bright Vessel is managing our paid search campaigns, and are very good at it. They are significantly better than much larger agencies I’ve used in the past.

They’ve been responsible for both design and development. In quite a few of the cases, there was an existing site, and we started by talking about what changes we were going to make to it, providing an overview of the content we wanted, and working with Bright Vessel to develop a new information architecture.

Some sites required a lot more work—being built from the ground up—like our corporate site, which oversees our various different brands, as well as the brand which is the company. We have worked with Bright Vessel on a unique feature which allows users to scroll through our timeline, and see which schools were added when.

Many of these sites were older and needed to be optimized, using a modern framework and search optimization. Much of this was done as part of the web development done by Bright Vessel.

They sourced images and worked on copy for us in a couple of cases. Bright Vessel has also redesigned several of our logos. Many of the sites were dates, with old design languages. Some were over 20 years old, and needed to be modified, and made appropriate for the web in 2016, which is when many of the projects took place.

There is also ongoing work which occurs every month. Bright Vessel is managing our paid search campaigns, and are very good at it. They are significantly better than much larger agencies I’ve used in the past. Bright Vessel is involved in our Facebook display campaigns as well. They’ve provided a management process for developing SEO content.

How did you come to work with Bright Vessel?

I knew the principal from a previous job. We had an aggressive schedule, and I knew that they were good at developing quality websites quickly. I also knew that they were talented in terms of paid search, which was going to be a critical part of our success. While I may have looked at a couple of other options, as per due diligence, I knew that Bright Vessel was the partner I needed. I had to get going right away, and I could count on them to deliver results.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost will be well over $100,000 for 2017 alone, in terms of their retainer.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Bright Vessel in October 2015. The collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any hard numbers available, but there were several schools which were behind in terms of new leads, and we worked with Bright Vessel to get those schools back on their targets.

For the schools that have had new websites for a full year, we’ve increased lead generation by about 40%.

How did Bright Vessel perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a few project management systems, including JIRA. In terms of getting things done, the team is good at receiving smaller tasks through a ticketing system. They take care of those items without having to discuss too much. For larger projects, we have discussions and use a project management platform in order to ensure that everything gets done as it should. I have an internal team which also works directly with Bright Vessel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a strong will to win. I have high confidence that, when they say they’ll do something, they will. If I need to get a campaign performing or to design a website quickly, I never worry about Bright Vessel not delivering. They’re highly engaged and motivated to get the work done, and they do it properly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not from my perspective. I’m happy with Bright Vessel.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Crocodile Tears is an eye-drop that was developed by a physician for dry eyes. I am the CFO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bright Vessel?

We needed to get Crocodile Tears out there. First, we needed to be on the internet, then we were trying to get into some stores, and we went to conventions. Our aim was to get the word out there about our product, and it's good for people. We needed help getting it marketed.

This was an entirely new endeavor. We didn't have any marketing efforts ongoing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bright Vessel provided our packaging and developed a character called Crocky. They helped us create a cartoon video about Crocky which went online. They also attended several trade shows with me. Overall, their work is a mix of creative work as well as marketing strategy.

In terms of design, they not only provided our packaging but also our website. The website is informational and has our video, but it also allows the user to purchase Crocodile Tears online.

Bright Vessel developed the entire concept of Crocky as well as the video itself. We shortened it just a little bit, but the video and the concept were quite unique.

Their marketing efforts have included building the website and providing search engine optimization. At trade shows, the actually go to the event before I do to set up the Crocodile Tears booth. Then, they spend the day at the events and talk to people about my brand. They also produced the pamphlets that we give out that describe the product.

How did you come to work with Bright Vessel?

They were referred to us. We reached out to another IT company who was unable to work with us, so they introduced us to Bright Vessel. After talking with Bright Vessel, we didn't consider any other companies.

How much have you invested with them?

Ballpark, I have spent a little over $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with Bright Vessel in 2014. They now monitor the website. If it's if it goes down or if the e-commerce portion isn't working, I call them and they take care of everything for me.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I know that it works. Their efforts have greatly impacted our sales. We would be nowhere without them.

Everybody loves Crocky and the packaging.

How did Bright Vessel perform from a project management standpoint?

They're great. They're always on the spot. I had a little problem yesterday with my website, and they answered me within five minutes and my problem right away. I primarily communicate with them through email or phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their personality, their friendliness and their professionalism. Their friendliness is very apparent at trade shows. They're great at interacting with people there and explaining my product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.