ADA Compliance Testing for Multiple Websites
- UX/UI Design
- $10,000 to $49,999
- May 2016 - May 2017
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"They were really great and easy to work with."
- Advertising & marketing
- Rockford, Illinois
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Experience Dynamics performed an analysis and provided recommendations to assist a digital agency in updating multiple client websites to comply with ADA compliance standards.
The analysis from the tests protected the websites from further legal action. Experience Dynamics' work educated the design agency; they are optimistic that they can win additional RFPs based on their knowledge of the compliance, which was well worth the time and money.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the Co-Founder and Co-Creative Director at GrahamSpencer, a brand and content marketing and design company.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Experience Dynamics?
We were working with one of our clients who had some compliance and ADA [American Disabilities Act] issues that they needed to address on their website. That is an expertise that we don’t have in-house. We needed a better understanding of where the problems lie and how we can address them for our client's needs.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
Websites that we design are accessed by the public. Sometimes what we use every day as far as tools and design isn’t compliant to people with disabilities. They were able to help us identify what those issues were, and identify those to the client. The client could then make up their mind as to whether we were going to make those changes. We’ve used them twice now for the same type of thing.
It all started when our client came to us and said that they had a pending lawsuit because they were not ADA compliant. There are companies and individuals who seek out sites that may not be compliant, and then threaten them with lawsuits. Basically, it’s a nuisance suit more than anything. It is good to know though because it has allowed me to understand some of the disabilities that I need to keep in mind when designing.
We had a conversation with Frank [CEO, Experience Dynamics] and he asked us a number of questions and then came back with a proposal. We then walked through the proposal and then explained it to our client. We were the middleman on this part. An analysis of the site was done using people with disabilities who experience the site in different ways. That could be everywhere from a handicap where you can’t use a mouse to the way that colors are viewed or type size. We went through and had those sites analyzed and then a report was given back to us where we were shown our strengths and our weaknesses. A report was given to us, and, in turn, we turned it around and gave it back to our client and allowed them to make the decisions as to what they would like to do. The changes would require more programming and/or design changes on our end, but they’d have to approve that first. The design changes were done by our team.
Experience Dynamics was able to identify these things. It’s interesting, in one case we actually did the design for the site. We were able to make some of the changes that they had approved us to. On the other end, a client had an existing site, but wanted to be ADA compliant. Basically, the report functioned as our only duties for them. We didn’t do any of the questions at that time. Experience Dynamics’ contribution in both of these projects was the same sort of accessibility testing. The site we originally worked with them on was a sister company of theirs. That’s the site that we didn’t design, but they still wanted ADA testing done on it. Experience Dynamics was able to go ahead and do that and then we stepped in and presented the report and findings back to the client.
What is the team dynamic?
Our point person was Frank. He would tell us what types of testing that would need to be done and with how many individuals.
How did you come to work with Experience Dynamics?
My business partner, Jay Graham, had been introduced to Frank somewhere down the road. We were talking about this problem when it came up of who we should partner with because we knew we didn’t have the expertise in-house, Jay said, “I think I remember meeting the guy. Let me email him and see if that’s up there in their wheel house.” and it was. We reintroduced ourselves and went from there.
How much have you invested with them?
Approximately $15,000 between the two projects.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in May 2016 until May 2017.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I don’t have any measurable metrics because, in the case of the first site, we did some minor edits, but it’s interesting to be able to take these reports and give them to their attorneys. Their attorneys basically can say, “We’re working on the issue,” which makes the lawsuit go away. In some cases, they don’t want to be too aggressive about being compliant because it’s going to cost them money and they know that this is a nuisance suit. It has affected GrahamSpencer two-fold. It’s given our technology director a new understanding of when we’re looking at bidding sites, knowing that this needs to be part of the equation. We also now have somebody that we know, that we can partner with, trust, and can be a part of the process to try to win RFPs and additional work.
How did Experience Dynamics perform from a project management standpoint?
They were great. They’re easy to work with. We had the initial conversations, traded a few emails, and Frank was very upfront about timing and when they would start. This allowed us to let our client know how long the process would take. He would let us know if they had their testing core ready to go. He kept us in the loop all the way through, even up to the point of letting us know that testing was over. They would update us on the compiling and distilling of information, upcoming reports. Lastly, they would present the report to us online and explain it so that we could ask questions and understand the report thoroughly.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Our technical director had the most contact with them because he was the one that understood the compliance issues the best. They work together very well. It was seamless. It was quite easy and that was nice to not have to worry about anything. We actually had something that was informative, useful, worth the time and the money that went into it, and it could be used as a tool pressing forward. They were really great and easy to work with, which from my standpoint, I really appreciated. It was part of a project that I wouldn’t want to manage because it’s not my expertise, and it was great to let somebody take the reins and run with it.
Are there any areas they could improve?
This last time they were booked out. It was a little over a month before they could start the project. That could have been an issue to the client, but it wasn’t an issue to me. If the client would have said, “I’ve got a problem with that. I need this by a certain date,” that would have been a what-if. I don’t know what we would have done. I can’t say that it’s a complaint, but it certainly would have been tough if there was an issue with being able to complete the project in a more timely manner. I really don’t have any complaints.
RATINGS
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Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS