Chop-Chop

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the owner of PULPA, a fashion brand offering simple, minimalistic, good quality clothing for women.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Chop-Chop?

I hired them to develop my newly re-designed e-store. The design was slick and minimalistic and required a number of custom solutions that our WooCommerce package does not offer by default. I wanted to stick to WooCommerce, however, because I was familiar with the WordPress backend.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted a smoothly running WooCommerce theme that would boost my business. It was also important for me to improve my website so that online visitors get a good first impression of my brand.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to me by a friend. They’re based in the same city as me, so I could personally visit their office and discuss particular issues. That’s important to me because I'm not a tech-savvy person.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Once our designs were ready, we held a meeting and discussed site functionalities. They developed a first version of the solution and I reviewed it and reported all issues in Active Collab. They then addressed the issues in a reasonable time frame.

What was the team composition?

There were two developers in total that worked on my site, along with a few managers. At first, they all communicated with me at different times, but after a while, a single project manager was assigned. I think they had an internal process alteration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

I don't have any firm data yet, but the feedback I'm getting from my customers is very positive.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Once they assigned a single project manager, the communication was smooth and clear. At first, we communicated through email, but afterward, they introduced Active Collab, their preferred project management tool. That made management much easier. I was informed regularly about project progress and the obstacles they faced. They also provided previews quite regularly.

They were always quick to answer, and they agreed to meet me in person a few times, which showed me that they cared about the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re willing to adjust and suggest what could be done better. They were really patient in handling my requests, but they also firmly suggested against some of them. I really appreciated it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Sometimes they’re busy and they take a long time to look at an issue, but they always communicate those delays.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work at a UX design consultancy firm that helps startups build their online products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Chop-Chop?

We wanted a showcase page that focuses on the visual aspect of our services. As designers, we have an excellent eye for detail, so we needed a trustworthy development team to take on our POV and vision.

What were your goals for this project?

We need Chop-Chop to build a responsive WordPress site with an intuitive backend. The backend needed to be easy to use, so our team could manage the content. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We’ve known Chop-Chop for years, and knew they would handle our designs properly.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Even though Chop-Chop received a detailed brief from our team, they wanted a thorough analysis of our designs and interactions. Their team asked detailed questions and suggested solutions. After that and receiving a quote, we kicked off the project. Throughout, we received frequent updates and previews of their work.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a customer experience manager and developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Once the website was complete, we had a few comments regarding implementation. Their developer took care of those. The showcase website has given us the opportunity to share our visual expertise with prospective clients in a convenient way.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The customer experience manager handled our project effectively. Communication between the developer and our team was smooth. We spoke through email and were able to check on the progress of the project with access to a secure area.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed that the Chop-Chop team understood our needs as designers. Their team advised ours on choosing the best solutions to fulfill our goals.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, nothing that we’ve noticed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a direct-to-consumer company that sells Italian dress shoes for men. We started fundraising on Kickstarter and launched our site in November 2016. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magently?

Magently came on board this year to support our development needs. They enable us to adjust our site based on A/B testing and implement new changes to optimize it for conversions. The previous team we worked with was moving much too slowly. We needed a partner who could handle a larger workload at a faster pace. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Magently executes on all of our development work in Magento. We are on version 1. Since they took over, they've completed the initial redesign and set up our site on optimized new servers. They’ve handled all the development and changes ever since. 

The team enhanced several different parts of our website. For example, they added a new video feature to the home page banner. They made the most significant changes to the product page, which now has a brand-new image carousel. The auto-play video that streams one of our products is a cool and innovative idea they put together. 

What is the team composition? 

The point person from Magently is my daily contact. I also speak with one of their developers and a frontend designer. I know they have a few other people working on the project besides the three I interact with directly. 

How did you come to work with Magently?

We found Magently through a referral. A team we spoke to about A/B testing for our site recommended them as a great Magento development firm. We reached out to them to connect and have been working together ever since. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $24,000–$25,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018. They finished the two projects in August and November 2018, respectively.  Our engagement began with two major redesigns, each with two phases. Magently is still providing services for us on an hourly maintenance plan basis. We've kept them on a continuous retainer since they completed the two projects before our fourth quarter.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Magently has absolutely made a measurable impact on our company. First and foremost, they quadrupled how rapid our site speeds are. We were averaging load times of a few seconds per page beforehand. Now, we're down to half a second, which is a dramatic improvement. The other significant result they've had is our improved website conversion rate. We started at about .5% and are up to about .75%, which essentially tripled our sales. 

How did Magently perform from a project management standpoint?

Magently's communication and quality of work have been fantastic. They have an excellent method of explaining concepts. The team is very skilled at project management. 

Slack is our primary form of contact for verbal correspondence. Since I'm also a developer, I watch their revision control through GitHub, as well. Aside from their often-inaccurate hourly estimates, everything has been stellar. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m the most impressed with Magently's ability to identify potential problems and offer actionable solutions. Whenever I propose new ideas like site design concepts or changes, they figure out all the potential pitfalls we might not have noticed. They often address unforeseen issues during the implementation process with at least 3–4 possible solutions and then ask us which direction they should pursue. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

My only minor complaint would be their slight difficulty with giving accurate timeline estimations. Even though we have an ongoing hourly contract, rather than a project-based one, they still provide estimates of how long they think it will take to complete. In practice, they've always at least doubled their estimates for the number of hours they need.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend Magently and think any future clients will have a great time working with them. In our work together, I've found it helpful to provide visual examples whenever we discuss concepts I have or if I need them to implement changes. I take screenshots for before and after to include with my written descriptions for recommended changes. When they can see a clear image of the end result I want, it leaves much less room for error. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the chief product officer (CPO) of a European wine retailer. We sell wines through drop shipping as well as our own stock that we receive in our warehouse.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magently?

When I came onboard, we still had several issues with a website redesign in the queue. After our company experienced a management change, our previous vendor left to start a new company. We needed to find a new team as quickly as possible to help build out our website on Magento.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Magently quickly understood our platform and started off on a productive track. During the brainstorming stage, they helped us envision the necessary features for our product. We gave them our product roadmap and product strategy to use as guidelines. As they enhanced the overall platform, they improved the checkout process and UX/UI to increase conversions. We implemented new pages for our B2B customers and added integrations like an email automation tool.

What is the team composition?

In addition to an assigned project manager, Magently provides 2–3 developers at a time. They collaborate and share knowledge with our internal developers. By plugging developers into different projects, everyone can learn more about Magento 2, rather than relying on one person with all the technical knowledge. Since there’s always a replacement available, teammates can take time off when needed. 

We scale up or down depending on our needs. Since they’re similar to a consulting company, we can ask for more manpower within a short amount of time. Depending on the level of service we want to pay for, they divide up to 60 hours of weekly work between resources. This system works well and makes them a reliable team.

How did you come to work with Magently?

We were looking for consulting companies in Europe that offer Magento services. Finding and assessing options took a long time. Eventually, we found Magently. Seeing their extensive team of developers and professional website gained our trust. They were clearly a legitimate company, not just one or two freelancers. We could tell they had specific rules and policies in place. After I spoke with them, they forwarded references who only had good things to say. We decided to pursue the partnership.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend between €8,000–€12,000 (approximately $9,400–$14,000 USD) per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Magently is easy to work with and highly professional. They always strive to clarify anything that’s unclear. Like us, they work in a scrum environment. They adjust their process to fit their client’s methods, which required little effort in our case. Having an established development workflow means they conduct proper internal code reviews. Based on these factors, there’s a much lower probability that something will go wrong. 

How did Magently perform from a project management standpoint?

Compared to other companies and developers I’ve worked with, Magently manages their developers very well. If the project manager isn’t well-versed in technical matters, they immediately forward the discussion to the developers for clarification. They’re always on time for our daily stand up meetings.

In general, it’s always challenging to meet deadlines for software engineering projects. The easiest way to predict accurate timelines is by multiplying estimates. If a developer thinks a task will take one day, it is more likely to be done in three. 

Magently takes the initiative to be transparent and communicate any issues that arise. In addition, they try hard to keep to their estimations. If something gets messed up and takes more time than they planned, they will even work extra hours for free.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Magently is very independent and proactive. I can always rely on them. They communicate well and keep to the schedule. Our company had a clear idea of what we needed to do to achieve our goals. I have a feeling that Magently could help a company that doesn’t have that clarity by identifying improvements to make and problems to solve. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything is going really well with Magently. They’re skilled in their field and make the entire process go smoothly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s always a good idea to understand exactly what you want to do and communicate that properly. List all the features and functionalities you have in mind, and even consider preparing mock-ups. This will make the whole development process go much faster, especially if you want to build something new. Including a third-party company in the brainstorming process will generate new ideas, but it also increases the cost. 

Magently is an amazing team to work with when you’re adequately prepared. They execute quickly, ensure that the backlog is always filled, and are consistently professional.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a digital agency that designs and develops websites and other online projects for customers, including handling their marketing. I am the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chop-Chop?

We want to work with good developers who have high standards. We were looking to scale our client projects, make better estimates, and deliver them in a faster manner, so we partnered with Chop-Chop. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our internal staff is in charge of conceptualization and client communication. Chop-Chop has handled full development scopes for us.

We’ve worked on a number of projects with them, including a special effort for an online school. Chop-Chop provided custom frontend and backend development, working with WooCommerce and WordPress. These are the typical platforms we use, and our coding languages include HTML, CSS, and PHP.

We’ve used a lot of developers from Chop-Chop—usually 2–3 per project, depending on the scope. We’ve kept in touch with 3 lead developers—1 for each project.

How did you come to work with Chop-Chop?

We looked at a lot of companies when trying to find the right partner. I found Chop-Chop online and reviewed their services. I needed a partner who could scale according to our needs. I also liked Chop-Chop’s approach to estimates. The other companies we looked at only worked on an hourly basis, which was a problem for me since I didn’t know how they worked or what the quality of their deliverables would be. Their team was personable, and we could talk to them in a direct manner. We had some face-to-face meetings, which we hadn’t been able to do with other companies.

How much have you invested with Chop-Chop?

The cost of their work has been $30,000 or more.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Chop-Chop in June 2015, and the work is ongoing. They are the only partner we’re currently using for development projects. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

Since we’ve started working with Chop-Chop, we’ve been able to take on more projects, work faster, and scale our knowledgebase. They have broad skills in their area. Comparing our numbers, we’ve worked on 4-times as many projects in 2016 compared to 2015.

How did Chop-Chop perform from a project management standpoint? 

We’ve become accustomed to their team, and they’ve changed some internal processes in order to work with our customers better. Chop-Chop has a dedicated communications manager who is familiar with our projects. We have open and direct communication, and it’s easy to work with them and coordinate project management.

We have given Chop-Chop up to 15 tasks at a time on certain projects, and they handled all of them with no problems. If an issue comes up, we discuss it over Skype. Whenever Chop-Chop’s team couldn’t deliver by a certain deadline, they informed me ahead of time.  

What did you find most impressive about Chop-Chop?

I appreciate their way of working. Chop-Chop sees us as a partner and anticipates our customers’ needs. We’re not a number to them. I know their team, from the CEO to the marketing people. It’s been great to have a partner who can change processes in order to make my own work better.

Are there any areas Chop-Chop could improve?

We have identified some improvement points and are in the process of making those changes, so there’s nothing missing. For example, we wanted to have an environment in place where clients could see demos of the work and that Chop-Chop’s developers also could access. We’ve adopted GitHub in order to solve the problem and work faster. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Klik Proces, a search engine optimization and conversion optimization business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magently?

We were building a web shop in Magento for a client of ours. The client was using us for web development and SEO, and he decided he wanted a web shop as well. We hired Chop-Chop for the development of the website and hired Magently to do the development work for the web shop. We didn’t have the skills in-house to work with Magento.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hire Magently when there’s a need for great technical expertise around a number of subjects. For that project, we hired them for a web shop. We also asked them to make a piece of software that partly automates our work, which means we can produce content faster and easier on a large scale. We saw a need in our market to scale certain things through SEO. We figured we could do that if we got some technical support to get some software. We started thinking about the basic concept of how it could and should work and made a brief that we sent to Magently to see if they could help us. They gave us some feedback and developed the software that we’re still using today.

We made a WordPress MailPress site for a large automotive company, who has a lot of local retail stores that provide different services. About 10% of their stores didn’t have a website and 50% of them had one from 10 years ago. This project is one website that we can copy as much as we want for different clients who need a cheap website. The maintenance is all centralized. The site makes it easy to schedule appointments, find contact data and reviews, and see what services they offer. We have worked with Magently on four projects in total.

How did you come to work with Magently?

We found them through their parent company, Chop-Chop. We were one of Chop-Chop’s first customers when they started. Since then, they’ve been growing and at some point, they decided to spin off Magently to take care of very technical-related work like web shops.

How much have you invested with Magently?

We have spent between $10,000 and $50,000 in total with Magently.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them five or six years ago, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

An example would be if we have a web shop that has a slow loading speed, we’ve been able to decrease that from 10 seconds to one second, which helped the conversions. The web shop has since been rebuilt again so that’s no longer online. The website system for the automotive company is working fine. I might be able to give you more statistics when the software they made for us to help us with content will be online and tested. We’re just now launching the first website with it.

How did Magently perform from a project management standpoint?

We have three account managers that we communicate with. We are always facing a language barrier. Both of our teams speak English well, but we still notice issues periodically. They give us options and when we send them something, we brief them on what our end goal is and the solution we have. They are able to think with us in a good way, so that is very nice. Our office is filled with non-technical people, so we give Magently ideas and they help us to know if those ideas are realistic. It’s easy to brainstorm with them to come up with solutions to problems.

What did you find most impressive about Magently?

We haven’t worked with a lot of other developers because we use Magently or Chop-Chop for all of our development work. They are very responsive to emergencies even on weekends and off hours. Their expertise and price comparison is very good. They charge between $37 and $40 an hour. If you want to hire a Magento expert here in the Netherlands, that person would charge €100 an hour to do the same thing.

Are there any areas Magently could improve?

Ever since we started working with them, they have always delivered later than the deadline they give us. We have never had strict deadlines, but the response time to an email we send them usually takes three days. When they deliver a project, we always test it and there’s always something that’s not complete.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization is called Better Collected. We're located in Copenhagen, Denmark, and we do online gaming including sports betting and online casinos. We're an affiliate, so we create websites that enhance the players’ experience when playing online. Then we collaborate with various betting companies. We try to give the users the best possible experience when betting online.

I am the head of the pilot plant. We do pilot projects and test out new ideas. If our small prototypes work, we then try and scale them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chop-Chop?

Chop-Chop helped us update our concept site called dailyaccas.com.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had this concept site called dailyaccas.com that we had run for some time, and we started to see some good traffic on the site, but it was old school. We needed something new and nice. Luckily we have some nice designers in-house. One of them designed a nice new layout for the site on PhotoShop, but we needed Chop-Chop to convert that into HTML and Javascript.

How did you come to work with Chop-Chop?

My colleague used Chop-Chop for a few previous projects. He was extremely satisfied with their performance, so that's why he recommended to use them for this specific project.  I believe it was Thursday that I got the recommendation from my colleague and I immediately went to the Chop-Chop website. There was this nice form that I could fill out with all the details about the website, how it should be set up, what kind of fonts to use, and what kind of frameworks are included. I could see the price for the project, how it would increase if I added certain features and decreased if I decided to make it more simple. In the end, I submitted the project. About an hour later, I got an email back from one of the guys at Chop-Chop saying that everything looked straightforward and they would have the project ready by the following Tuesday. As promised, on Tuesday I got an email from Chop-Chop to see the web page, how it looked fully developed and a link to download all the files. It was a perfect experience. Nothing needed to be done.

How much have you invested with Chop-Chop?

We spent about $240.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was completed in three weeks from the initial point of contact.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I’m fully satisfied with this specific project which is why I decided to take over some of the more advanced dynamic stuff that we needed for the site. Their task was just to set up the simple static website which I think for both parties made the whole thing easier.

How did Chop-Chop perform from a project management standpoint?

Perfect. There were no real issues, nothing we had to tackle. I would say that the communication was super friendly and super fast.

What did you find most impressive about Chop-Chop?

I haven't tried many similar companies, but from my experience, I can say that they were very fast and delivered a high-quality product exactly as promised.

Are there any areas Chop-Chop could improve?

On this specific project, no.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide data protection to businesses. I am the Chief Revenue Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chop-Chop?

We were making a new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had some previous experience because we employ quite a few programmers and web developers on our own. We were trying to develop our website on our own, but it was very time-consuming and not very effective. One of our project managers for the new website found Chop-Chop and convinced us it might be a good idea to outsource the project. We all agreed to smooth things out and give Chop-Chop the responsibility of making the whole project from end to end. We have our designers, so we already had the copy and pictures of what we were trying to achieve and a description of what should be the outcome of the project. We sent all of it to Chop-Chop, and they gave an estimate of time and money. We agreed, and they just did the project.

How much have you invested with Chop-Chop?

It was close to $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Chop-Chop at the beginning of February/March 2016. The website has been running for six or seven months now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The main thing I have noted is that before, when we were trying to develop the website on our own, there were constant crashes and it was a never-ending project. Since we outsourced it to Chop-Chop, the website has been working for more than six months. My only feedback statistic is that it wasn’t working before when we tried to do it on our own, and now it is working.

How did Chop-Chop perform from a project management standpoint?

There was just one person from our side who did most of the project management. We would make remarks and notes about the website, and she would relay that information to Chop-Chop. The changes would be implemented on either the same day or the next day.

What did you find most impressive about Chop-Chop?

What I know and have gathered from my friends involved in this project is that the estimate was very fair, it was just right. Chop-Chop determined the amount of money and time the project would take, and they did it within the budget and time.

Are there any areas Chop-Chop could improve?

I'm not sure they could have done anything differently because they were doing everything we asked them to do. All the changes implemented later on were our decision. The changes were not caused by any mistakes on their side.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the social media manager of Santa Monica Studio, a subsidiary of Sony PlayStation. We are a game developer. I look after all the social media and content strategy, including our websites and social media channels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chop-Chop?

I was trying to design a website and was having difficulty doing it on my own. Chop-Chop seemed like a really good solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Everything they’ve done to date involved taking a Photoshop file that I had created and turning it into a website. Our first project was for a game called The Order: 1886. We were doing a contest on our website and we needed to build a unique contest page. I designed the page in Photoshop, but I didn’t have the coding skills to turn it into a full website page. That’s where Chop-Chop came in. I tried them out, sent them our Photoshop file, and they nailed it. They produced an exact replica of the Photoshop file and turned it into a web page. It looked as good as anything anybody else could’ve done. A year after that, we worked on promotion for a game called Journey. Recently, they helped design a 1-page website for our video series, Santa Monica Studio Creatives.  

How did you come to work with Chop-Chop?

I’d come across Chop-Chop’s website in a Google search. They were also mentioned in other recommendation sites and I was really impressed with their work. Their pricing was rock bottom cost-effective.

How much have you invested with Chop-Chop?

Each project cost around $500.

What is the status of this engagement?

I first worked with Chop-Chop a couple of years ago, in November 2014. Since then, I’ve gone back to them a couple of times for similar projects, in October 2015 and March 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Anecdotally, I can tell you that throughout the 3 projects we’ve done with them, the website quality has been applauded by our fans and our team. We appreciate having a high-quality web page experience, particularly when we’re trying to recruit employees for our company. Having a company like Chop-Chop to help us execute that vision was tremendous. As far as statistics go, I don’t think the Google analytics or the visits really matter. Their job was to do the creative; our job is to get the traffic there.

How did Chop-Chop perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re flawless. The fact is, I live in California; they’re in Poland. They’re half a world away, 10 hours ahead of us, but they were still good at communicating. It was like being on a next-day type service. They didn’t respond when it was their night time, but they were really diligent with their communication. Chop-Chop was not charging a lot. However, their team still provided high-quality service and communication. That’s why it’s tough to complain about anything.

What did you find most impressive about Chop-Chop?

The biggest thing that distinguishes them is their cost. There’s really no one else who can take a Photoshop file and convert it into a high-quality HTML, mobile-compliant, and responsive website. It would look exactly as you envisioned. You get that level of quality and professional service for the cost that they’re offering. I think that their price is unbeatable.

Are there any areas Chop-Chop could improve?

If I’m being constructive, when they would give us the work back, there was a 10% or 15% room for error. There were definitely a few back and forth exchanges that needed to happen to get something exactly the way we wanted it. But that’s being super nitpicky. I can’t expect it to be 100% on a first delivery, especially in this kind of creative partnership. But if I had to nitpick, that would be it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Stun Design & Interactive does small to medium-sized marketing-style websites. We also do other things that aren’t related to websites such as print work, but that’s our main demographic. I’m an Interactive Director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Chop-Chop?

We do a lot of frontend work here, so we’ve tried to hire people to do backend WordPress-type stuff. We were unsuccessful with finding somebody with the quality of work that we needed, so that’s why we contacted Chop-Chop, to do some backend work with WordPress.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

While working with Chop-Chop, we would go through all the design work and provide them with a final design file. Once we’d give them something to look at, we would open up a dialogue with them about what we can use to make our site the best that it can be with the technology that’s out there. We would lean on Chop-Chop to say, “Hey, do we need some JavaScript here? Do we need to integrate this into WordPress and use a plugin?” They were very good at recommending and walking us through that process.

How did you come to work with Chop-Chop?

I found them through an ad on a design showcase site. We’d looked through several different companies and I contacted a few. Chop-Chop was quick to answer, and their price was reasonable.

How much have you invested with Chop-Chop?

We’ve done some smaller things that would be worth a couple of hundred dollars, but we’ve also done some pretty complicated stuff. I think the highest would be around $1,700 to $2,000. The average cost estimate would be $1,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve done several projects with Chop-Chop. We started our last project with them in late July, and we finished it in mid to late August. The project took about a month once we got our designs to them because there was a lot of going back and forth to tighten things up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

All of our clients have been completely satisfied with the work that has been provided. We’ve worked with Chop-Chop probably over a year, and within that year, we haven’t seen any problems with their work.

How did Chop-Chop perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at project management. When we first started working with Chop-Chop, there were more people that were involved with the project. I’d get an answer from a different person every time, but it wasn’t a problem for me. It’s never been a problem communicating; it would just be more than one person getting back to me. Now within the last six months, they’ve assigned three people to our account, and we only hear from those three people. They know our projects a little bit more intimately than before. They are very good at communicating even though we’re in a way different time zone. They’re in Europe and we’re in the southern United States, but I haven’t had any problems getting in touch with them or getting anything done.

What did you find most impressive about Chop-Chop?

Their communication skills are top-notch. They know how to ask the right questions. They’re very thorough, and they won’t let things slip by. That’s one thing that’s been very beneficial to us because we want to focus on the design and do the best design that we can possibly do. When we show them our designs, they are able to say, “Hey, look, this isn’t going to work responsively or we can make it work, but it’s going to cause a slower loading time.” They catch all the details as far as the development end goes.

Are there any areas Chop-Chop could improve?

It would be nitpicky, but Chop-Chop gives you a range for a completion date. I’ve never really had any problem with that, but I would like for them to be more specific about when the project will be completed.