HUEMOR

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior VP of marketing for ExtensisHR, an employer organization. We specialize in supporting small and medium-sized businesses with their HR and health care needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

We were looking to rebrand our organization and accelerating our inbound marketing strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HUEMOR scoped an entire website redesign. We did a full discovery call with them to understand our vision and goals for the website. From there, they developed several mood boards. They created the look and feel, developed wireframes, selected a color scheme, and built out the entire site. This included mapping the infrastructure and creating the user journey.

Once they had the site ready to go, they helped us move from our old system to a WordPress platform. They also designed a new logo. Now they provide ongoing support.

What is the team composition?

We had a project coordinator, a graphic designer, and a content manager. When we were working on the logo, they brought on a designer. Finally, the project was supported by their development team.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

I worked with HUEMOR at a previous organization and was impressed by their services and output. Consequently, I brought them into this new organization.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in July 2020 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve already seen a tremendous ROI — we’ve received about a 10x return.

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

They were phenomenal. They kept us organized and on track to meet our milestones. The biggest delay was on our side. We met on a weekly basis using Google Meet, but we occasionally had phone calls as well.

They are very collaborative. One thing I really like about working with HUEMOR was that they listen to what we are trying to do and provide recommendations. They don’t just jump at anything we told them to do, they think through it and come back with suggestions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They consistently deliver quality work. From how they set up the backend to how they deliver the design, everything they do is spectacular.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything I would have done differently. I was very happy with the experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Share your ideas and vision. Because they’re so collaborative, it’s like they’re an extension of your marketing department.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior marketing manager for an agricultural lender. We provide financial programs and land loans for farmers and ranchers across the U.S.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

We had some issues with lead generation and brand cohesiveness, and our website didn’t fill either of those buckets. The goal was to build a new website that drove qualified leads and elevated the experience of our users on the site via a unified brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project kicked off with a discovery phase where HUEMOR got to know us as a company, our offerings, and our competitors. From there, we kicked off the creative phase. We have a pretty big presence in terms of digital and traditional media, and we wanted the website to reflect those same design elements. Our previous site was designed well but felt dated.

Wireframing and some design work followed. During this phase, it was really important for our team to have a lot of back-and-forth communication. HUEMOR was really good at pivoting. They used WordPress to develop the website. From there, we went into content development, which mostly consisted of our team coming up with those deliverables. HUEMOR took on the responsibility of injecting them into the website and guiding our decision-making. They’ve also played a key role in our user acceptance testing, building up our processes to address requests and changes in a timely manner.  

The final stages included ensuring that all our boxes were checked regarding security. They considered and addressed all our requested technical updates. Post-launch they’ve provided communicative and supportive development to fix bugs.

Additionally, unifying our branding has kicked off a brand audit across our entire company. HUEMOR put together a brand guide with demonstration videos, which helps us communicate critical institutional knowledge to our new hires.

What is the team composition?

Prior to the project starting, we were in contact with Michael (Co-Founder & CEO). Once we transitioned over, our main contact became Emily (Project Manager) who remained on the project up until the development phase. Jeff (Partner & Chief of Memorable Digital Experiences) became our main point of contact after Emily's departure. Jeff was great about facilitating our different requests and moving the project forward.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

We interviewed 24–28 different design companies for this opportunity and did our due diligence in researching site designs and client reviews. We found HUEMOR from a design site, and we really liked their client work.

We conducted a couple of virtual phone conferences with them, learning about their communication style, their approach to different projects, and their mode of operation as a team. Our past agency didn’t provide a lot of transparency, so we really value that in our relationships.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $80,000­–$90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since June 2020, and the project will finish this month, in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site has truly helped bring in higher quality leads, even though we receive fewer leads than before. This allows our sales team to spend more timeline on clients that need our assistance, which is huge.

I come from a technical and SEO background, so I really appreciate the way HUEMOR has developed the infrastructure of the website. Our biggest struggle on the previous site was that it wasn’t user-friendly from the maintenance side; it was very difficult to make changes, let alone global changes across different pages. HUEMOR has built our new site with those considerations in mind, making sure that every custom module can be easily updated by our internal teams.

They did a great job with the custom coding and modules. They also do a great job in implementing our aesthetic preferences into the website, even when they weren’t straightforward tasks.  For example, we wanted video in our footer, and they figured out how to include it without compromising our page’s loading speed.

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re tough on a lot of the companies we work with and hold them to a pretty high standard; we’re very hands-on as well. HUEMOR has done a great job of accommodating those needs, including adding an extra meeting every week for us.

Using Asana has worked out perfectly for us, as we’re able to easily track tasks. We also use InVision for all the design elements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

HUEMOR’s flexibility in relationship management has been a huge plus for us. We have high standards and don’t settle when it comes to things we’re looking for. They’re good about accommodating these requests.

Just recently, we finished the very last piece of the project. We had the way we wanted the task done set in our minds, but when it came time to execute, our plan wasn’t reasonable or within the scope. HUEMOR came up with an alternative solution that adequately addressed our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were some challenges early in the project that were directly related to project management. This resulted in the perception that HUEMOR had a lackadaisical approach, which created friction between our two teams. After expressing our concerns and establishing expectations for the project, their team was able to come back with a better project plan. While I don't believe it ever fully met our expectations, it did allow us to move the project forward from that point while hitting most of our established deadlines.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a very clear idea of how you want your end project to look and function and set those expectations up front. The discovery phase is very helpful in this regard.

We ran into some hang-ups when it came to certain modules that we only gave them a high-level overview of initially. When we go those pieces, however, they turned out to be more involved than either of our teams expected.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Vice President of Marketing at a manufacturing company with about 500 employees globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HUEMOR?

Our company hired Huemor to redesign our website which was over 8 years old.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a modern-looking website with an easy-to-use back-end to update and maintain content. Our post-launch goals are to increase website traffic and increase conversions.

SOLUTION

How did you select HUEMOR?

We got 3 other bids and down-selected based on the proposals as well as other customer reference interviews.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected Huemor, we had a handful of discovery meetings and a project kickoff. We met weekly to review progress and discuss wireframes and concepts. My team provided most or all of the content necessary and we worked through a 3rd-party copywriter (recommended by us but supported by Huemor) to write some of the higher-level copy for the site. Huemor did the theme/aesthetic design, website development, and populated content from our existing site.

What was the team composition?

The Huemor team consisted of a project manager, multiple designers, and software developers. The CEO of the project joined many of the calls to support us and help manage the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There were some large delays once we got to the development of the site. The magnitude of the site along with the nuances of our products and services were a large reason. However, the Huemor team persevered. They never once asked for a change notice or said "that wasn't in the scope of work".

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project management and communication were great during the design phase. We had regular weekly meetings and regular progress and feedback sessions were scheduled. Once we hit development, the feedback was a little more sporadic related to the schedule and timing of things (again, attributed to the complexity and nuances of our products and Huemor's ability to accurately predict when things would be done). The Huemor team used Asana for project management and we could see the tasks that their team could see.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was most impressed by their perseverance and willingness to do what was necessary to satisfy their client. There was rarely ever a "no, we can't do that", said in our weekly meetings. They are very good designers and understand best practices in UX along with modern design trends, etc. I am very happy with the look and feel of the new site!

Are there any areas for improvement?

This was a huge project for everyone. I would have liked to have seen more effective project and task management during the development (coding). The "schedule" topic was quite often ignored and we had to guess as to where we were at with progress which made it hard for me to manage my internal clients. We are also a very "hands-on" client that wants to be able to do things on our own post-launch. As a result, I would have liked to have been more involved in their development/coding work (ie. seeing and discussing the technical solutions before they were implemented).

We only got to see the back-end (Wordpress) environment about a month prior to launch. In hindsight, I would have pushed harder during development to be involved more here. Finally, I'd like to see their QA process improved. There were members of their team assigned with taking content from our old site and manually populating our new site with technical specifications for our products. We had to do considerable clean-up work on this part prior to launch due to errors, etc. Granted, this work is arduous and time-consuming, but it isn't hard and just requires a fine eye for detail.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of Green 2.0, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. We’re the only organization in the country that examines how organizations and foundations are placing and hiring people of color.

We examine how different organizations within the environmental movement are or are not becoming more diverse. Day in and day out, we’re looking to change the culture of these foundations by creating more diverse boards and ensuring that people of color have a voice.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

We were looking to completely redesign and revamp our website. Going in a completely new direction, we wanted to create a new look and change our logo.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first part of the project was focused on designing our logo. HUEMOR proposed several designs to our team. We provided feedback, and they continued to make iterations until we finalized a logo.

Then they provided new color palettes for us to choose from. Once we solidified our new look, we shared it on our social media platforms.

After that, HUEMOR created a new website from scratch because we only needed to include some of our old reports from the previous website. We collaborated with them on what pages would look like, what graphics we needed, the pictures we had to include, and the message we were trying to convey.  They proposed pages we hadn’t thought about such as a job board, organization spotlights, and our partnership page.

What is the team composition?

I worked with their project manager and a team of 2–3 other people. They also brought on a designer for the logo.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

We conducted a search and he identified three different companies for us to interview. HUEMOR seemed like they would be the best fit because of the work they’ve done in the past. We also interacted well and they were responsive to our questions early on.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2020 and the site launched in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They met every goal and delivered according to our timeline. Even when we had new team members join the project, HUEMOR didn’t mind running through everything with them. If we wanted to improve some aspect of the project, they were happy to go back and offer more suggestions. Overall, they were very helpful.

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager was with us through every phase of the project. He answered questions quickly — even after hours— and was very patient. He picked up the phone when we called, walked us through different ideas, and offered helpful suggestions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There are a lot of companies that can do good work, but HUEMOR’s responsiveness is what sets them apart. Not to mention, they’re always friendly and supportive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There wasn’t anything they needed to improve. They were fantastic partners.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re willing to put more work into the project, they will too. To get the best results, you need to work as hard as them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company’s a custom window and door manufacturer based in New Jersey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

We had a really old site that wasn’t interactive. We wanted a more up-to-date and visible website that would enable us to reach clients such as architects, builders, and homeowners.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HUEMOR created a brand-new responsive website. They built the site from top to bottom using the Spaceship theme from WordPress. HUEMOR also trained us on how to use WordPress.

What is the team composition?

We had regular calls with a project manager and a designer. However, there were more people involved in the project from HUEMOR’s team.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

One of our team members searched for providers and found HUEMOR online. After looking at their work, we decided to interview them along with other companies. We loved what HUEMOR had to offer.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent within a range of $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project around January, and it wrapped up in August 2020. The project was extended because of the lockdown.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From the site’s visuals to how it displays on phones, I'm extremely happy with HUEMOR’s work. I love the website.

This was a fresh start for us. Their team built the website for the future and made it easy for us to change the platform’s content. It blows my mind to know that we can grow the site over the next year without having to spend more money. It’s just there for us. As we recently launched the site, it’s too early to speak about any metrics.

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

In addition to weekly meetings, we communicated via phone and email. They used a tracking system that outlined the website and allowed us to comment on it. We went over any changes during our midweek meetings. The system also kept target dates for each item.

Their service was stellar. HUEMOR was on top of our requests and kept us on task. We wouldn’t have finished the project if they didn’t stay on top of us. Their team couldn’t have done a better job. They were unbelievably engaging.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail and constant feedback most impressed us. They kept up on us but never in a negative way. If needed, their team stretched goals a bit. Being flexible is what made HUEMOR great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t give them any improvement comments. They did a great job.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Partnering with HUEMOR will help you achieve your goals. They’re the total package and brought it all together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work with a company that develops Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) for the legal industry. Our software systems manage everything from billing and timekeeping to general operations and business analytics. I am responsible for the digital marketing outreach of the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

We were preparing to move into a new phase in the company's history which required a rebranding and realignment of strategy. Our team needed a website studio that could help us revamp our web presence to personify our future trajectory rather than relying on our past. We needed our new website to be representative of where we were going, so we needed a creative team that we could trust to handle the task of embracing the future without ignoring our past. We also needed something that would be unique to our company and easier to navigate for our customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HUEMOR built our site completely from scratch. They have a proprietary overlay over WordPress which allows us to make changes and access the site easier and faster without needing to know the coding languages on the back end to make updates.

HUEMOR was able to structure a phased rollout of our site to align with our internal marketing timelines.

What is the team composition?

We have a project manager, and I think there are 5–10 designers and developers.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

I found them through Clutch. I bounced around a few lists online and scheduled a lot of reference calls with other studios, but Clutch was the main source because it had the best reviews.

When we looked at their portfolio and connected by phone, our team was impressed that HUEMOR consistently created custom builds based on whoever the client was, and didn’t just rely on pre-existing templates or generic designs. I spoke with Mike early on and was excited by the creative capacity of his team.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project kicked off in late 2019, launching our first phase in February of 2020, and we’ve recently move onto the second larger phase of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The difference between the site now and what we had before is night and day. It’s reflective of the change in our branding and persona. When it comes to SEO, our organic traffic has increased dramatically. It’s well-structured on the backend so it ranks more highly in SERP which helps bring in new leads who otherwise would have never found our site.

We’ve also had a lot of positive feedback from our existing customers. They like that it’s really showing the direction our company is going in, and it shows our commitment to investing in their future.

From a sales standpoint, the people filling out our forms more closely resemble the audience we’re trying to connect with.

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

They use Asana and InVision. As far as communication goes, they’ve been stellar. Aligning everyone is a monumental task, and she on it at all times. There has never been a point where I’ve felt like I was waiting on them. They’re always pushing the project forward. Not only do they stick to timelines, but they’re also capable of doing an amazing amount of work in a short period of time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We selected them over other vendors because every site that they build is very unique to that company. When I was initially researching studios, it looked like some other companies were repurposing the same designs/templates over-and-over. With HUEMOR, each page is unique. They take abstract ideas and create actionable results. It really helped in the initial brainstorming to have their expertise because I could throw out some crazy idea or have a completely irrational opinion and they would either look into it or layout why a different direction would produce a stronger outcome. 

They become genuinely invested in the project and are willing to push back when they feel it is important which was absolutely critical when selecting a studio.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, not yet. I've genuinely enjoyed working with their team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your team's timeline, resources, and priorities. A lot of it is making sure that you can keep up. Our project manager has been outstanding, so I would definitely recommend Emily if she's available. Trust their experience, provide feedback every chance you get to ensure everyone stays on the same page and know your ultimate goals to avoid project scope creep.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of marketing at a healthcare company. We provide employer-sponsored insurance for groups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

When we were founded in 2017, we didn’t have a real website, just a page announcing that we are a company with very little information about us. We wanted to launch a full official website to help people understand who we are, our attitude, and our tone of voice.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HUEMOR developed and designed a new website for us from scratch. Our team provided a lot of written content, but they were responsible for copywriting, design, the site’s layout, and SEO. We were looking for a modern, mobile-friendly site to set ourselves apart. 

What is the team composition?

On a day to day basis, we worked with two members of the Huemor team. Altogether, we worked with four people, including a copywriter, project manager, and UX designer.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

I found HUEMOR on Clutch after looking online. We wanted a highly rated company, so we read through reviews and reached out for a quote. I talked to a handful of companies, but HUEMOR had the best prices compared to other agencies.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested about $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with HUEMOR ran from March–October 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the website is really high. From right off the bat, everything they designed was really unique and modern. HUEMOR could understand what we were looking for and formulate it visually for us. 

They were very committed to making sure there weren’t any bugs. The website feels like that of a much more established entity than it did before. It wraps up our brand and messaging well.

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

HUEMOR is very flexible. They use internal project management tools, but because I prefer email they were willing to work with me on that. That was really nice. Our project manager was really on top of things and did a great job.

What did you find most impressive about them?

HUEMOR is incredibly creative in everything they do. They were able to come up with a solution for every problem we had, including building a separate login for our designated partners. It was a really unique idea that was perfect for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t blame them for this, but they typically launch their websites in the middle of the day. This works well for new businesses, but as an established business that wasn’t the best solution for us. We didn’t push back on it and it ended up being a bit of a problem for us since we were down for a few hours.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company started up many years ago, when I was using SEO as a way to generate leads. My brother and partner had been in that traditional media business, specifically managing two large radio stations. He left to start up a social media agency. SEO and social media were not common fields to combine at the time, so we decided to go for it to create something bigger. I’m a co-founder and managing partner there.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

HUEMOR is good at creating highly convertible websites. While we’re able to create websites ourselves, we wanted a third-party perspective on our brand and company. It was important to us to have an outsider come in to help us recognize the strong points we may not be attuned to in our day-to-day work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They assisted in building our website, creative, and content that exists on the site. While there wasn’t anything too complex with the functionality, they were tasked with understanding our brand and highlighting our major selling points throughout the development. In short, they provided a different perspective on what we offer and incorporated it into the product. We’re currently working on the second version of the site, which will have robust design and animation elements. 

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager and worked with about three other teammates.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

We had an existing relationship with them, and I’m always impressed with the creativity they bring to projects. Their ability to turn around websites in a relatively speedy manner also appealed to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on the first website from in September–October 2019. Our teams are still collaborating on the second website project, though.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw an instant uptick in leads after the redesign of the website. The conversion rates from that have been pretty good.   

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

The communicative flow was good through Slack. We were always confident that they could deliver solid work in a timely fashion through our communications systems. They met deadlines and got back to us about our questions within hours. Slack allowed us to communicate pretty quickly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their step-by-step process really appealed to me. Starting with identifying brand goals and objectives and then applying that initial conversation to everything else was helpful

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. We’ve really enjoyed our experience with them. When we could’ve switched to another service provider, we decided against it because of the quality of their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

At the beginning of the relationship, you need to be able to define your goals, objectives, and target audience. That’ll help you get an understanding of what type of identity you want your brand to have.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of a packaging manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

We outgrew our WordPress website. The platform was slow and had an outdated theme that was almost ready to break. We wanted a partner to develop a new look and feel to improve our UX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before we started the project, we described our business to HUEMOR in detail, including what we do, how we do it, and our customer profile. The business is split into two units: an e-commerce component to sell stock inventory products that would ship quickly and with no minimum order quantity, and a custom packaging manufacturing component. The site's UX needed to guide the customer from the time they enter the site to them determining whether they're an e-commerce shopper or needed a more complex product, which would connect them with an account representative through a web form submission, starting the customization process. We provided exact functionality and specifications we needed to develop for the website and HUEMOR confirmed everything was achievable. Based on that information, HUEMOR recommended transitioning to a Shopify website, which was also a familiar platform to them. The team provided logical feedback for going with Shopify and we have agreed to switch. Our team created new content (imagery and content) from scratch because the existing content didn’t fit the new website design.

What is the team composition?

At the RFP and spec stage we dealt with the owner. After that, we were assigned a project manager who drove the development process. During the calls, there were multiple people present, but process was led by the project manager. 

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

Before I hired HUEMOR, I researched developers and web agencies. I turned to Clutch, searching to create a comprehensive list of companies. The reviews were helpful. I submitted RFPs and proposals to 3–4 different companies. Out of those, HUEMOR wasn’t the least expensive but also wasn’t the most expensive. Their website presence and portfolio seemed to fit our needs. During the RFP stage they provided examples of websites they've developed for other clients with similar functionality to what we were asking. They seemed to be good developers. In conversations, their team talked about our specific needs and their ability to meet them. We came to an agreement on a price, signed a proposal, and started rolling.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $34,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We executed the agreement in October 2018 with a goal to launch a completed website 12-14 later. The site was launched October 2019. It's full of bugs, UX issues, and limited functionality.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were hired to do certain tasks that were not achieved well, with some tasks not achieved at all. In its current state, the website is buggy, inconsistent across desktop and mobile, and is missing some of the pertinent components that were discussed during the RFP process and initial development stages. There are inconsistencies in line breaks, spacing, text/image alignment. The subscription component we planned to launch, has not even been developed yet. We were forced to compromised on certain functionality, like volume pricing discounts.

During development, their team did not reuse identical elements across pages, like the header image section, and certain text/image blocks, which could’ve standardized the platform and allowed us to make future changes in-house. A lot of pages had different content in the backend, meaning we had take additional time to redo some of the image content multiple times. Some of the user experience has not been optimized for quality. The site has become harder to use and manage internally than our old WordPress site.

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

While we were given a timeline of between 12–14 weeks and weeks 15 and 16 for QA, the website was delivered after a year, and not in a perfect condition. We have not received any documentation about making changes to various component in the future. No training has to our staff has been provided. After the initial mockups were created, we took 1-2 months generating content, so development was on hold.

When the content was provided to HUEMOR, it took them several weeks to even respond with updated timelines. Communication suffered and continues to suffer, sometimes days or weeks with no response to our emails. It felt like they switched to other projects and stopped treating us as a priority. After getting the owner involved again, their team worked towards completing the project rather than making a good product.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m sure they have the ability to get things done well. Their portfolio shows examples of well executed websites that they supposedly developed for other clients. Unfortunately, very little of that was reflected in the quality of work they’ve provided me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve the quality of work and their communication. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s hard to say. Maybe you have to find them at the right time. It also seems like Shopify may not be suitable for a dynamic website. It appears to be a static platform where everything has to be hard coded.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on February 3, 2020.

We’re sorry to hear you feel taken advantage of.

We position ourselves with clients as partners. Like any good partnership, clear communication is essential on both sides. We admit that at times there were lapses in communication on our end, but we believe it’s only fair to acknowledge that communication could have been better on yours as well.

When issues arose, you did receive ownership attention to help guide the process, and we made key personnel changes to your project team to help rectify the situation.

We did our best to match functionality from your previous site while adding features outlined by your scope of work. Ultimately, WordPress and Shopify are two different platforms, and the best way of accomplishing things in one doesn't always align with the other. Our team explained these key differences in calls and received verbal confirmations to proceed with the proposed solutions. Upon reflection, written outlines of the intended functionality may have been more beneficial.
 
We extended your post-launch support 4x our standard duration at no additional cost to address the styling issues you notated and did our best to provide you with a swift response.

We decided to end our relationship when requests outside of the original scope of work started to come in. As we explained privately, it was evident that you didn’t enjoy working with your project team and we didn’t think it was in the best interest of any of the parties involved to extend our working arrangement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a text messaging platform that helps businesses enhance their customer experience. We target brick-to-click companies such as hotels, restaurants, and other service providers. I’m the director of growth marketing, overseeing all demand generation-oriented projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HUEMOR?

Our product and engineering team had originally built our site. But because it wasn’t on a common CMS, it was too time-consuming for our non-technical staff to make changes. We hired HUEMOR to redesign the site on WordPress so that our marketing team could be more agile in our decision-making process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

HUEMOR created a WordPress site with a simple user interface on the admin side so that we could operate more modularly. With the new iteration, we could mix and match sections of the site, make quick edits, and add images without having to rely on our engineering team. From there, they helped us add several new pages to support our messaging and positioning efforts.

What is the team composition? 

I mainly worked with Jeff (Partner & Chief of Memorable Digital Experiences, HUEMOR) and Jordan (Senior Full-Stack Developer, HUEMOR). Jeff was equally proficient with both the technical and communicative aspects, so nothing was lost in translation.

How did you come to work with HUEMOR?

I joined the project after we contracted HUEMOR, but I believe we vetted a few vendors and decided to go with them based on their approach, price, and sense of confidence during our calls.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $30,000–$35,000 on the main development.

What is the status of this engagement?

The development work lasted from October 2018–May 2019, but we’ve signed an ongoing annual support agreement with them to monitor our site’s upkeep.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Right off the bat, we noticed that we were receiving far more analytics than we were with our previous site. This could be because WordPress is more compatible with HubSpot, which we use as our CRM. We’re now able to see button clicks, page views, and other traffic-related data. And our ability to make more informed decisions about our customer experience and then act on them has vastly improved because we can quickly modify modules on the site. 

How did HUEMOR perform from a project management standpoint?

I was very happy with our engagement. From day one, they delivered their internal project timeline through Asana, which took into account deadlines for different milestones and conditions that we set out for them. We built our own timeline based on that to keep track of what we had to deliver and any decisions that we had to make.

Even though we ultimately failed to stick to that schedule, HUEMOR was always willing to adjust the roadmap within the broader project scope while making sure that we stayed on task. As a brand new executive team that hadn’t done a project like this before, it was invaluable to have a partner that could be flexible and get us back on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their biggest strength is their knowledge of the WordPress infrastructure that they’ve built for themselves. Their process is so precise that they can be on a screenshare with us and make adjustments to the dev site live. We never had to wait for a quick turnaround.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing that I would want them to do differently. In fact, I appreciated how transparent they were about the extent of their services and their ability to keep a less-than-organized client like us on track. Jeff was respectful of his team’s time and was willing to articulate that to help us understand our agreement. This kept us aligned and helped us be more cognizant of the web development process.

As for areas of growth, I would love it if brought their methodical approach into other services. I’d definitely look at hiring them if they offered SEO, PPC, or social in a similar way to how they’ve set up their dev workflow.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When coming into a website redesign, have your layout, content, and image plans down. The reason why our project took as long as it did was that we were building our content and positioning ourselves in parallel with the site design. We’d ask them to build the site one way and then have to change it because our survey and research indicated otherwise. Our messaging was consistently shifting. It’s important to get all of that settled before approaching HUEMOR. Otherwise, you’ll be trying to fix a plane while it’s still in flight.