Fiat Insight

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

I work for a nonprofit organization. We’re an anti-pornography and anti-sexual exploitation organization focusing on education, advocacy, and litigation. 

What is your position?

I’m the executive director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you began the relationship with Fiat Insight?

We were trying to create a more powerful and comprehensive Web presence. At the same time, we were facing a lot of security threats, just based on opposition we get to our work. We were looking for a partner to help us not only maintain our sites better, for security reasons, but also to grow and cultivate a stronger online brand, which we didn’t have beforehand.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of this project in greater detail?

They’ve done so much for us. I’m not sure if I can capture everything. They’ve built a number of sites for us from scratch. They’ve helped a little bit with content development, and programming, of course. They’ve done training for our staff and myself on how to better harness digital strategies, not only using our website, but how to connect it with building our email list and social media and fundraising. They have suggested doing some online advertising although we haven’t really done that with them yet. They helped more with overall digital strategy, not just the website development.

What was the rationale behind the selection of WordPress as your content management system?

Mostly, it was the easiest to use for our staff. They’re not the most technically savvy, so we needed something that would be very easy for them to get used to and learn. The platform also has a ton of different modules and widgets that allow for custom functionalities on the site. We loved the idea of making changes so quickly, without the hassles of moving through IT [information technology]. In the end, it also ended up being the most cost effective for us, too.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

The first big project we did was about $5,000. But, now, we pay them a monthly retainer fee, which includes some programming time, maintenance, and security help.

How long have you maintained a relationship with Fiat Insight?

We began working with them in the winter of 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that you’ve received that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

We had a really old, outdated website before. Everything seems to have grown more than 1,000 percent. Our unique traffic, page views, email subscribers, and whatnot have all improved dramatically. It wasn’t all from the website. A lot of it was coming from our social media channels, which they helped us build out. They helped us also understand the importance of linking. For example, our email list was less than 4,000 before we approached them. Now, it’s well past 140,000. That’s the growth in only two years. We’ve grown exponentially, and we seem to be continuing the trend this year.

When working with Fiat Insight, is there anything you’d consider unique about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors?

I feel like they really care about what we’re doing. They follow our lead. We feel like they’re invested in the issues that we care about, which are important for any nonprofit. In the office, we only think about what is happening right now, our immediate priorities. They’re always trying to help us see what we should be working towards in the future, especially with our Web presence. They’ve been great at helping us think more long term about our growth strategy and how and where we want to expand. They aren’t just doing a job for us. They’re helping us grow and reach more people because they care about what we’re trying to do.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

I work for an industrial manufacturing company. We produce engineered chemical and other liquid processing equipment.

What is your position?

I’m the president and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Fiat Insight?

Yes, I’m going to break it down into some manageable parts. This isn’t necessarily in order of importance, but these are all of the things that we went to them for. The first was brand experience and design. We needed something unique and memorable, and we needed it consistent across all of our Web properties.

The second was we needed a functioning website, one that would allow intuitive navigation and access to relevant information. In accordance with our branding work, we also wanted the site to be visually appealing. They worked closely with us on the design and layout, and they dealt with all of the UI/UX [user information/user experience] testing.

Lastly, we collaborated with them on our overall digital marketing strategy. They helped us determine the best approach to content development, how to reach our target audience, how to track improvements, leads, and closures. They’ve offered us a full range of services, both technical and strategic. 

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail?

They took us from having a website with almost nonexistent traffic to having an intuitive, beautifully designed website that’s as much function as it is form. We’re an extremely small operation. They were presented with a site that no one could find, or really, no one wanted to find, and if they did find through happenstance, they wanted to leave it immediately. They reserved the entire situation. They were able to move the website from a dysfunctional Web host to something that was working much better. They even lowered the cost of the Web hosting. They delivered a site that has much more to offer to our users than anything we’ve had before. It’s a much better representation of our company.

How did you identify and select Fiat Insight as your solution partner for this endeavor?

An independent consultant referred fiat Insight to us. They came very highly recommended. I contacted them and submitted our statement of work and, within a few days, we were sitting with their team reviewing their proposal. It was clear to us that they knew what they were doing. They came to us with a set of very valuable recommendations and approaches for our site. We felt confident that they’d be able to deliver the website we wanted.

Had you selected WordPress as your preferred content management system before approaching Fiat Insight?

No, we had not. They were a part of that decision-making process. We reviewed our goals and requirements and it was at first decided to use an open-source solution. We then considered what would be the most viable based on functionality, performance, access to support, and user friendliness. WordPress was the best possible way to go, according to Fiat Insight, and they’re experts at it, too. It was definitely the right decision.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this project in monetary terms?

The project remains ongoing, but I think the initial phase was around $15,000.

When was this site launched?

I believe we launched the site at the very beginning of 2013. If not, it was definitely by the end of 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback you’ve received that would demonstrate the effectiveness of their work?

Our unique monthly traffic has more than tripled, which is fantastic. The time spent on each page, the average site time per visitor, more than quadrupled. We weren’t selling any literature through our old site. We now have a catalog several pages deep of literature-based transactions. We’re on page 25 or 27 at this point; it’s been incredible. They’ve also built a blog for us that we maintain, which has been responsible for driving a huge amount of our new and recurring traffic. Overall, we’ve been very pleased with the results.  

When working with Fiat Insight, is there anything you’d consider unique about their approach or their development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors?

They’re the only ones that could take what I said in terms of language and then replicate it on the screen with minimal iterations. What distinguish them from others is that they would come up with a prototype that’s probably 80 percent to target. Within one or two iterations, it would be complete. We went through three separate Web developers, some that were very expensive, sometimes more than two and a half times the cost, and they still couldn’t do what Fiat Insight was able to achieve. That’s extremely impressive in my mind.

In retrospect, are there areas you think that they could improve upon as a service provider?

The only issue I had with our project had nothing to do with Fiat Insight. I had issues with the project management software that we were using, called Podio. I found it very confusing and difficult to use easily, which resulted in some slight miscommunication between their team and us. Outside of that, I can’t really pinpoint anything I’d change.