Buffalo

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing at JRNI. We’re an enterprise SaaS provider, delivering customer management solutions to clients in the retail and finance industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buffalo?

We initially reached out to Buffalo with two main problems.

First, we needed to update our branding strategies. Our company was 10 years old, and we’d never heavily invested in establishing a brand message. The efforts we did have in place mainly targeted small and mid-sized businesses—our initial target market. In the past two years, we’d shifted focus to enterprise-sized clients. We turned to Buffalo to revamp our branding and communication strategies to better compete with other vendors our market.

Our second problem was our website. It was extremely outdated. The platform was built on an old CMS that didn’t offer a lot of flexibility. On top of that, the interface just didn’t look good. We tasked Buffalo with rebuilding our website, complete with a new, modern design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

To kick off the engagement, we put together a statement of work that outlined the majority of both the branding and development projects. Then, we held a discovery workshop for each initiative. Once we had the details in place, we began working—it was an iterative process in both cases.

Specifically for the rebrand, Buffalo started by pitching some different concepts and messages to myself and the other representative from our company. We initially chose our three favorite options, then narrowed it down to two. After presenting the final ideas to the rest of the company, we made our choice. Buffalo implemented the new concepts, completely overhauling our logo, color palette, text styles, illustrations, and the overall look and feel of our brand. The initiative is nearly complete; we’re currently in the process of finalizing a set of guidelines.

In rebuilding our website, we started the project with a mood-board exercise. We also shared several examples of websites from other vendors in our field to give Buffalo a better understanding of what we were looking for in the final site. Next, we collaborated on wireframes, user journeys, and the overall flow. After those details were approved, Buffalo put together three different designs for several core pages like our homepage, company overview page, and our solution overview page. We ran them by our senior executives, and they agreed on the best one. From there, Buffalo handled one component of the site at a time. We provided the necessary content and Buffalo plugged it into the design, built it, and tested it. We’re now in the final phases of building and testing, and next, we’ll work on video elements. The Buffalo team is ensuring the interactive designs, illustrations, and animations are accessible from both mobile and desktop devices.

In terms of technology, Buffalo uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the frontend, and it's connected it to a Craft CMS. They integrated the platform with Google Analytics, Marketo, and a conversational tool called Drift. The whole site is hosted on AWS.

What is the team composition?

There are roughly six people on our team in total, but we primarily interacted with Beto (Head of Design, Buffalo), Dan (Managing Director, Buffalo), an illustrative designer, and a brand specialist.

How did you come to work with Buffalo?

One of my colleagues had seen a pitch from Buffalo in the past. We considered other vendors, but they were the leading candidate in the race for both the branding and web development projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2018, and the project is ongoing. We plan to launch the website in the next two or three weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new brand and updated website are going to be a gamechanger for our company. We’re looking forward to sharing our efforts with our audience when we launch in the next few weeks. Working with Buffalo has been a unanimously positive experience.

Looking specifically at our branding initiative, we’re satisfied with the results. Buffalo was able to take a pretty complex set of messages and bring them to life through visual elements like our logo, colors, illustrations, and animations. It was a very smooth process.

We’ve always had a decent conversion rate and performed well regarding lead generation, but the new website elevates our identity. We’re very happy with the quality of Buffalo’s design and development work on the pages we’ve completed so far. It’s clear that they’re a very talented team. Their support in bringing our platform to life through engaging visuals and illustrations has been instrumental to the project’s success.

How did Buffalo perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, project management is good. We set some pretty challenging goals for the final deliverables at the start of the project, and Buffalo not only executed but exceeded our expectations. They push the boundaries to ensure they deliver top-quality work and meet deadlines.

We use Basecamp to track the project. Buffalo is proactive in keeping us informed on their status and what tasks still need to be completed. We speak with specific members of their team to share feedback, which helps us avoid any delays in progress. Even though we set tight timelines, Buffalo’s dynamic work ethic and technical skill set help them maintain a quick turnaround.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with many aspects of their service. Every member of the Buffalo team is talented, responsive, and personable. They nailed a lot of their work the first time around, but they’re still adaptive and agile should we request any changes. We’ve developed a good working relationship with their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Any advice for potential customers?

Use an agile methodology to structure the project. They’re very skilled in this regard. Clients should give them the end goal, establish some boundaries, nudge them in the right direction, and then let them go on their own. The results will be phenomenal.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated on August 12, 2019, by the client. The original star ratings were: Overall - 5, Quality - 5, Schedule - 4.5, Cost - 5, NPS - 5. New content is below:

BACKGROUND 

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

JRNI combines a customer engagement platform with applications that put omnichannel conversion at the heart of business. I am the VP of Marketing at JRNI. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE 

What challenge were you trying to address with Buffalo?

We needed to update our branding and web strategy. Our company was 10 years old, and we’d never heavily invested in establishing a brand. We turned to Buffalo to revamp our branding to better compete with other vendors our market. We also tasked Buffalo with rebuilding our website, complete with a new, modern design. 

SOLUTION 

What was the scope of their involvement? 

To kick off the engagement, we put together a statement of work that outlined the majority of both the branding and development projects. Then, we held a discovery workshop for each initiative. Once we had the details in place, we began working—it was an iterative process in both cases. 

Specifically for the rebrand, Buffalo started by pitching some different concepts and messages to myself and the other representative from our company. We initially chose our three favorite options, then narrowed it down to two. After presenting the final ideas to the rest of the company, we made our choice. Buffalo implemented the new concepts, completely overhauling our logo, color palette, text styles, illustrations, and the overall look and feel of our brand.  

In rebuilding our website, we started the project with a mood-board exercise. We also shared several examples of websites from other vendors in our field to give Buffalo a better understanding of what we were looking for in the final site. Next, we collaborated on wireframes, user journeys, and the overall flow.  

After those details were approved, Buffalo put together three different designs for several core pages like our homepage, company overview page, and our solution overview page. We ran them by our senior executives, and they agreed on the best one. From there, Buffalo handled one component of the site at a time. We provided the necessary content and Buffalo plugged it into the design, built it, and tested it.  

What is the team dynamic? 

There are roughly six people on our team in total, but we primarily interacted with Beto (Head of Design, Buffalo), Dan (Managing Director, Buffalo), an illustrative designer, and a brand specialist. 

How did you come to work with Buffalo? 

Buffalo pitched for the project alongside other vendors. They lead the candidates in the race for both the branding and web development projects. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

The branding and website are live and in use. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK 

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve? 

We’re satisfied with the end result. We had some challenges towards the end of the project, and an original piece of work that was agreed did not get delivered.  

How did Buffalo address the challenges that arose? 

We set some pretty challenging goals for the final deliverables at the start of the project, and Buffalo delivered.  Buffalo was proactive in keeping us informed on their status and what tasks still need to be completed. We spoke with specific members of their team to share feedback.  

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business. 

The new brand and updated website have performed well since launch. Looking specifically at our branding initiative, we’re satisfied with the results. Buffalo was able to take a pretty complex set of messages and bring them to life through visual elements like our logo, colors, illustrations, and animations.

How was project management handled?

Overall, project management was ok and used Basecamp to track the project. Buffalo was proactive in keeping us informed on their status and what tasks still need to be completed.  We set some pretty challenging goals for the final deliverables at the start of the project, and Buffalo executed in the end.  

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

We’re very happy with the quality of Buffalo’s design. This is definitely a core strength of the agency.

In what specific areas can they improve?

The end result of the actual web page versus the design, the layout (including spacing), the usability of the page, the responsiveness, and the quality of the code are areas we’d improve if we were to do the project again. 

Buffalo’s attention to usability is another area for improvement. Usability was sacrificed for design throughout the site.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

Have a clearly defined statement of work with specific milestones for success. The Buffalo team are fantastic designers, so provide a clear brief, establish some boundaries, and let them do what they are good at.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the commercial director at Open Air Theatre, a charity that produces theatre at an outdoor venue in the heart of Regent’s Park in London.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buffalo?

I took over a poorly designed website that we had difficulty working with internally. Our vendor provided insufficient support, and we needed to increase the volumes of online traffic and ticket sales. We hired them to develop a new site and provide ongoing support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We originally had a commercial site built to promote us as an organization and the productions that we do each year, which change each summer. Our site didn’t have a fully integrated ticketing system. They created a proposal and wireframes for a new site and explained it clearly, including development, best practices, and SEO. We changed our box office provider about four years ago, and Buffalo integrated our booking process fully into our website. We still invest in the website to ensure it continues to represent our growing business and incorporates new advances in ticketing.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Dan (Managing Director, Buffalo) and Jasper (Technical Director, Buffalo) when the site was first built. They still work with us, along with Alex (Designer & Developer, Buffalo) who provides more day to day support.

How did you come to work with Buffalo?

We had three or four companies pitch for the work. I found them by researching other companies’ websites. I found one that they had worked on which I really liked. We liked that it wasn’t overdesigned. It was very simple. They then came in to meet with us to understand our business and what our requirements were.

How much have you invested with them?

We initially invested 20,000 pounds (about $25,700) along with 5,000-8,000 (about $6,400—$10,300) pounds annually on updates.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2010 and they currently provide maintenance and ongoing development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t had to do any major changes to our website. It still looks fresh, contemporary, and still represents us and our brand even though that brand has developed quite considerably. Everything new that we’ve adopted onto the website feels like it was part of the original design, and we haven’t had to worry about changing that design.

Our online sales have increased. We survey our audience each season (140,000–160,000 people), and, while we used to receive a lot of negative comments about the website and ticket booking journey, feedback is now always positive.

Our customers love our website. They never feel like they’re leaving our environment to book a ticket, which they used to. They instead feel like everything is within our world, within the open-air theatre’s control. Their booking journey is made particularly simple by Buffalo’s integrations.

How did Buffalo perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through Basecamp, and it was all very simple. They’re very helpful. If they don’t have a solution straight away, they will go away, research, and respond with options. They come to see our productions each year and we visit them as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There is a very personal connection with what they’re doing for us. They’re a small team and they’re fully engaged with our organization. We’ve never been brushed aside for new businesses they’re taking on. They speak a language that non-technical people could understand and engage with. They’ve really gotten to the heart of our business to understand our organization and our customers. I still deal with the same people I did from the beginning. We have a very open relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re completely satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Realistic timeframes are important to put in place. Allow them to commit completely to the project and provide input.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of product at Redeem. Our travel technology company operates in the tourism activity space within the travel industry. 
 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Buffalo?

 We’ve worked together professionally on and off since 2003. Most recently, I hired Buffalo for web design and branding right off the bat when I co-founded Redeem. This is the third company I've hired them to support, so I know their team well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our engagement has been quite in-depth. Buffalo has worked on several of our products including the backend reporting portal our customers use. When they designed our website, they took full ownership of the wireframes and InDesign files to hand off to our in-house development team to break down and code. 

Most clients hire web designers with a specific idea in mind. I’ve always used the opposite approach with Buffalo. Once I describe the customer types and message to convey, they draw on their expertise to pitch an actionable solution.

We're a fairly complex business, so they found visual ways to explain technical concepts that are challenging to understand. The team’s in-house consultant helped us with copywriting. I’d attribute more than half the copy on our site to Buffalo. They also designed all the content like representative graphics on our site. 

For the rebranding, they designed a full brand package including a logo and other collateral. They filmed intro and explainer videos and designed print assets like business cards and stationery. We use this brand identity throughout almost all of our online and print materials. 

What is the team composition? 

Our main point of contact at Buffalo was the CEO. Two designers focused exclusively on the logo design. They allocated 3–4 resources to focus on our website. 

How did you come to work with Buffalo?

I was encouraged to reach out to Buffalo at The Future of Web Design conference in London in the early 2000s. At the time, they had a partner agency in the US, where I'm based. I ran a background check on both teams. 

Every past client I talked to said they were awesome or showed me great examples of their work. Based on our needs for this project, they were the right fit. Our first collaboration was fantastic, and I've been loyal to them ever since. 

How much have you invested with them?

For the numerous projects we’ve worked on together, our investment has totaled around $60,000–$70,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

At this point, we’ve partnered for several projects over about 15 years. We've been working on our most recent project since 2012, and our engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we're not a consumer internet company, it's hard to gauge metrics based on site visits. Rather than web traffic, we assess how clearly Buffalo’s website and marketing materials explain our complex business. 

Making sure people who visit us online or look at our ads understand our company is our primary goal.  Our original business concept from 2011 wasn’t very clear. Buffalo created materials that ease the understanding. Everything they create helps us show users what we do in a simple, visual format.

Buffalo’s work has seen full satisfaction both internally and with our closest advisers. The new design has gotten great feedback. All of our key stakeholders and our entire in-house team have expressed that it’s a marked improvement over the previous version. Many enthusiastically confirmed it conveys the exact type of information we need to. Our customers now have a better understanding of the message we want to send.

How did Buffalo perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has gone brilliantly. Buffalo excels at challenging our organization to be even better. Rather than sending a bunch of data our way to deal with, they take a collaborative approach to our working relationship. 

During kickoff calls, Buffalo’s project manager and several designers walk us through upcoming tasks and ask us questions interactively. From there, we transition over to email and Basecamp since we live in the U.S. and they’re in the U.K. Assembling all our internal documentation and specifications to discuss before our video conferences has worked well. 

Buffalo is timely, communicative, and easy to work with. Rare 1–2-day delays are just the normal course of business. If they can’t fulfill any promise, they tell us right away. I have no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great people to work with, which is one of my key criteria. From an overall professional level, I appreciate their willingness to step back and listen to us before they even start thinking about the actual implementation. Past partners were highly opinionated and only cared about impressing us visually. 

Buffalo always defers to the client first, and they’re skilled at identifying the business goal. They took the time to understand what we needed to convey to our customers and advise us on our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always areas for improvement, but I only have one thing to point out. Maintaining the flow takes extra work, especially when a team is working on three projects simultaneously. Keeping the thread of conversation going is a general effort that's important to focus on, which applies to any creative agency. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My best advice is to understand your exact objectives before hiring an agency. With a different team before Buffalo, we focused on creating nice-looking designs before we really knew what to convey, which was not a valuable use of money. That design agency probably found it very frustrating as well. Knowing our exact business goals first made for a smooth experience working with Buffalo.