Charle Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Uncommon creates flexible workspaces with a difference. Everything we do helps our members live well, work well, do well, through supportive environments designed around them. I was the Digital Marketing Lead with Uncommon.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Charle Agency?

The Uncommon website was slow, outdated and needed a revamp overall. The user journey wasn't clear and we were missing out on a lot of potential customers with how our site looked.

What were your goals for this project?

The website to match our branding and product plus a easy user journey.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was recommended Charle by another brand who used their services.

Describe the project in detail.

My role in the project was to manage it and make sure it was on time and achieving the desired goals. We needed every webpage redesigned and the user journey completely replanned.

What was the team composition?

We dealt with Nic the founder and he has a team who works around the clock to make sure your project is completed in good time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were very happy with the success of the website, it came out better than we believed possible. Our website was on a template system which we thought would be limiting with results but the team at Charle worked around it and improved all aspects of the site for us, plus an easier way to edit the site for us in the future.

The site itself looks so nice and Charle offered suggestions for gaining leads from the home page which we agreed and it has worked, leads from Charle's suggestions are the highest clicked forms on the site.

I was generally impressed with how much passion the team had. I've worked with many agencies who give a fantastic speech at the pitch and never live up to their word, Charle lived up to their pitch plus more, really impressed. I've been recommending Charle ever since using them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were very easy to contact, the founder Nic offers a WhatsApp option if you prefer and you can simply text him and he responded straight away. If there was a query, Nic would always respond with such fantastic detail.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I think the passion behind the founder, he has such high knowledge on websites and as he learnt the Uncommon brand he would suggest ideas which were usually fantastic. He doesn't just receive instructions and apply..He receives the instructions, applies plus smart suggestions to help us as a brand achieve the original goal.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I honestly can't find fault with our experience with Charle, it was a streamline experience. Our project was completed faster than originally planned, the outcome was better than we hoped and the Charle team couldn't have been nicer and more helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the directors of Kandid. We’re a sexual wellness company based in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Charle Agency?

We reached out to Charle Agency to help us with a variety of things including branding, website design, and execution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started from scratch. We went to them with a concept and worked from there. Initially, we worked on branding, so they did the logo, the look and feel, and brand guidelines. They even had fonts, text, and color schemes laid out.

And that expanded to full website design and photography. Then they developed the platform using WordPress with WooCommerce.

After that, we spent a few months working on our marketing strategy with them.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people.

How did you come to work with Charle Agency?

My partner found them on Instagram. Then we went to their website and reached out to them. I liked the idea that they are a startup as well. When I reached out, they had only been active for about six months. They had a small portfolio of clients and I was looking for someone to partner with. I didn’t want a large agency, because I didn’t think they would give me the time and attention our project needed .

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about £25,000–35,000 (approximately $30,000–$45,000 USD)

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked things off in January 2019 and the project has been wrapped up in September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re really happy with the design and the brand itself. It’s really strong and it had received a lot of strong feedback from people within our industry and the press. The site itself has a really intuitive UX, which in our industry, is super important. They delivered the fresh look and feel that I wanted.

How did Charle Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They like to work really closely with their clients, which is excellent because that’s what we were really looking for in an agency. We were always able to get in touch with them if I had any questions or concerns. They always got back to me and had everything sorted out. That level of communication is really important, and I really appreciated that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their personalities and drive to make their clients successful really stood out to me. They have a great eye for design and are really passionate about what they do. That really shows through their work. We will definitely be working with them again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In terms of development and execution timeframes, everything went smoothly until partway through our development. To be fair, it wasn’t entirely their fault. They lost a developer, which ended up delaying the project. We completely understood that these things happen, and they did their best to turn things around as quickly as they could. They just need to make sure that the development timeline is solid going forward.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Xite Energy is a beverage company that offers healthy alternatives to traditional energy drinks. As the digital marketing manager, I’m in charge of our social media and site content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Charle Agency?

Our website beforehand was quite bland and wasn’t very user-friendly. Not to mention, we had a lot of abandoned carts. We hired Charle Agency to make our site more professional so that we could cultivate a better brand presence online. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Charle Agency created a new Shopify site from scratch to support our rebranding efforts. This was a great opportunity for us to go in and choose exactly what we wanted for our site. 

Based on our brief, they suggested using a darker color scheme and adding interactive elements to engage shoppers. The main page also became more product-focused. 

What is the team composition? 

I worked directly with Nick (Founder) who then divvied out the tasks to the rest of his team. At one point, they set up a workshop with three of our team members and three of theirs. That was just to make sure we were all in the loop on what was going on. 

How did you come to work with Charle Agency?

One of my colleagues put out a request to see if anyone could help us build a website, and Nick replied via LinkedIn.

How much have you invested with them?

The site cost less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from November 2019–April 2020. We’re going to continue working with them to introduce more gamified elements to our shopping cart.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site launched in conjunction with our new product release, so we doubled our sales compared to what we would normally see around this time. 

I also received feedback from our existing customers about how happy they were with the site. Compared to before, the checkout experience is a lot easier and requires fewer steps to get to the payment screen. The design is more professional, too.

Internally, one of the main advantages of using Shopify is that we’re able to go in to make certain changes without constantly going back to their team for help. For example, we’re now able to add recipes and blogs. That’s been key in transforming our brand into more of a community rather than just a product.

How did Charle Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was amazing. They set up a WhatsApp group to start, and we used FaceTime so that they could give us all of our login details.

To manage requests, they had specific email accounts that automatically created tickets when we reached out. At one point, we had to reach out to them to reposition a button on mobile that was preventing checkouts, and they resolved it within a few hours. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were extremely helpful throughout the project. The team made sure to add buttons and features that would allow us to fully customize the site at a later date.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think there’s anything that they could’ve done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication is key when you’re working with a company, especially if they’re remote. Be open about what you can or can’t do or any questions you might have. Clients sometimes have farfetched ideas of what’s feasible, which amounts to a bigger expense. You can avoid those cases by being transparent.