Inclind

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director and general manager of Shell We Bounce, a trampoline park and family entertainment center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

We wanted a more dynamic website with a responsive design for mobile devices. Additionally, Inclind needed to enable our team to edit and update the website’s content after the project’s end.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inclind developed a WordPress website with a slideshow and sticky posts. The team also implemented an email newsletter blast and created a customer contact system. After they completed development, the team emailed us tutorial sheets and showed us how to manage the site via desktop and mobile devices.

What is the team composition?

We worked with at least two people including Phil (Web Developer, Inclind), who was our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Inclind?

Our owner knew one of Inclind’s owners.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$49,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them in 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website expanded our customer base because its navigation made content more accessible. The newsletters attracted new people and businesses more easily.

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

Inclind was professional and kind. The team emailed us daily updates and supplemented those status reports with phone calls for time-sensitive issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a smaller team, Inclind provided personalized service during each interaction. We also received immediate answers to each question.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire Inclind because they make everything so much easier. We were so happy with the results, I was almost in tears.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a liquor store in a beach resort area of Delaware.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

They designed our original website a number of years ago. After a few years, we realized what was important to customers trying to find us and what they were looking for once on our site. So we asked them to update it for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inclind actually helped us with several projects. They designed our logo when we first opened 13 years ago. The biggest project is the design and subsequent overhaul of our WordPress website. They built the site and trained us on how to update it.

They've helped us with integration for our email platform as well. We recently changed our email platform to a new company. They built a popup form on our website to pull email addresses and transfer them over to the new software platform.

What is the team composition?

I work with both Shaun (founder, Inclind) and Jessica (controller, Inclind). I let them know what I need and they assign the work to somebody on their team.

How did you come to work with Inclind?

They’re a local company near me. I knew of other local businesses that used them.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we've probably spent between $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website redesign took place January–March 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest place where their work has helped my business is our events, like tastings and wine dinners. The site is clean and simple. They were able to finish the redesign and launch it before our annual wine sale in March. We’ve had nearly all positive feedback, except for when I mess up and don't link something properly.

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is great. They always follow up if I have an issue. I've been pleased with how easy it is to communicate with them. I start with an email to them, and then they follow up using their in-house tool. I like being able to see the responses back and forth. They’re transparent about who's doing what, as well as what they need from me to keep the project moving. They’re great about making sure that our deadlines will be met.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They change with the times. They're really creative in offering us ideas for our specific industry. They have a good understanding of what people are looking for when they go to our website.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be helpful if they offered additional training on how to use WordPress.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As long as you present an overall idea, they can really hone in and give you the vision that you want. Shawn is so creative in his ideas. He views my business from a different aspect, which is really nice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager for an outpatient diagnostic imaging facility.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

Our website was 10 years old and fairly outdated. It also had some minor security issues.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inclind totally redesigned the WordPress site. We showed them examples of websites that we liked and asked them to make ours look similar. They modernized the website and made it mobile-friendly. They also improved the security and SEO functionality.

What is the team composition?

Their creative director served as our project manager. We also worked with a frontend developer.

How did you come to work with Inclind?

Our partner hospital had previously used Inclind. We called them and found out they’d worked with several other healthcare facilities, which made it an easy decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from July – September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site has only been live for a week and a half, but everything is going smoothly. We haven’t had any bugs. Our old site wasn’t able to process appointment requests because of the security issues. We've already had several requests come through successfully on the new site since its launch.

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was very good. The project manager was in contact with us every couple of days via email. As soon as something was available, she would show it to us to get our input. She kept the project moving forward, and in the right direction.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their willingness and ability to match our design vision really stood out. We really wanted the layout of the new website to look a particular way. We gave them an example of a site we liked, and they were able to make our site look like that.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had to spend a fair amount of time working on the site, much more than we’d anticipated. That’s something we wish they’d made us aware of at the beginning.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you know exactly what you need and have all your assets ready. If we’d had all our pictures organized and available, it could have sped up the process significantly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at a federally chartered credit union.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

We needed to redo our website. The site had to allow users to fill out forms for RSVPs and auctions. We also wanted the new site to incorporate our social media feed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We created an RFP with the owner, and then they began to rebuild our site. They developed the code for the site and implemented new CRM features to make the site more manageable. Their team redesigned the site to give it a better aesthetic appearance.

What is the team composition?

We began the project with the founder and then they gave us a dedicated project manager. We also worked closely with a developer.

How did you come to work with Inclind?

I was familiar with their company, and I chose them after researching their previous work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent in the $50,000-$199,999 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2016 until February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website has made daily management smoother, which was our overall goal. We’ve also received praise about the usability of the site.

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

The Inclind team was great at communication; we primarily used the phone and email to speak. They used a project management tool to manage some elements of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness was impressive; they answered any concerns we had.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since we are a unique client, it would have helped them to research our industry and understand the field better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s helpful to have a contingency plan and to have all the steps written out. Also, make sure to have options for QA and site hosting.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior developer on the web team within Erickson Living's I.T. department. Our company manages retirement communities around the country. Primarily, we work on our business's main public-facing website and associated pages like our career platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

Essentially, our company wanted to use Drupal to redo our news site for seniors. My manager didn't have the bandwidth or specific expertise on his team, so he hired Inclind to help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inclind has built high-end, custom products for us. We didn't have access to an API to relay information from recruitment applications to our career website.  The team created a custom module to continually scrape and pull in that data and integrated it into Drupal. As they conducted research, they handled initial conversations with Pantheon, the web host, to ensure the extra software they needed to install on the server would function properly. 

Earlier this year, they handled critical Drupal core security updates. We've had them perform regular sprints for JavaScript coding projects to solve some of our smaller needs. Two years ago, they supported a significant overhaul of our main website. Our team produced most of the content, and they built out a custom theme based on our designs. We contemplated doing a multi-site install, but they advised us on a better tactic. They expanded the functionality so our site could switch between different communities. 

What is the team composition? 

Shaun (Founder, Inclind) has always been accessible to us. We worked with a talented project manager for a long time. These days, work with Bryan (Web Developer, Inclind) who took over her responsibilities. He's our point of contact for day-to-day discussions. We've also have had casual and direct access to developers like Phil (Web Developer, Inclind). 

How did you come to work with Inclind?

Our company's partnership with Inclind slightly predates my time here. I joined the team about five years in the fall of 2013. My boss spoke to a variety of development shops, including ones he met at Drupal Con.

While researching options, he found Inclind and sent them a message through their website. Within an hour on a Sunday afternoon, Shaun (Founder and Director, Inclind) called him back to go over the project. Their attentive service was the best experience he could have possibly expected. After receiving their proposal, he hired them to go forward with the project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $250,000–$1,000,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for five years, since 2013. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had a significant and steady increase in traffic to our main website since we launched the new site two years ago. The redesign was such a big project our small team could never have accomplished it without Inclind. 

More directly, our team hasn't been forced to expand since Inclind has taken on our work. We have a strong relationship and can count on them. Things work so well with them that adding new Drupal developers has never felt like a priority. 

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

We've always been able to get in touch with Inclind. They're very responsive. We tend to discuss questions over Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We feel like we can always count on Inclind and really like all their teammates personally. They've backed up all of their work and have fulfilled all our requests. We’ve never experienced any failures with them. Everything has gone smoothly so far.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything at the moment. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Inclind works very well for us because they offer a more informal dynamic. We've enjoyed spending time with their team since they're only located two hours away. If that'd what another client is looking for, Inclind would be a great fit. Future customers should expect a more personalized, one-on-one type of service than a larger, formal company. Despite their friendliness, they're formal and professional when needed. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m EVP of sales and marketing for an importer, processor, and producer of seafood.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

We wanted to redesign our website and make it easier to use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave them an outline of what we wanted in a new site. We also talked to them about how we use the site internally and who uses the site externally. Our brokers regularly pull information from the site. They used Shopify as the e-commerce platform to increase our online sales.

What is the team composition?

We had a project leader who also did a lot of the design work. Their founder also came down to meet with us several times.

How did you come to work with Inclind?

We saw the work they'd done for another local firm here in Salisbury.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t have the exact number in front of me, but it was in the $50,000–$200,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from March 2017–February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our e-commerce business platform has increased dramatically in the last six months. The new site also does well in getting the relevant information to our brokers.

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project lead was very helpful. There was one bug related to orders coming in and how they were directed, which was quickly resolved. Email was our main form of communication and we also we had conference calls.

The project actually took about 90 days longer than their original estimate. However, part of that was due to us making changes as the project was ongoing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really appreciated their desire to give us what we wanted and meet all of our demands.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project manager, who's no longer with Inclind, was occasionally long-winded in her communications.  

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to let them know exactly what you want.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing coordinator for Blue Water Development, a real estate development company specializing in hotels, attractions, and campgrounds.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

We engaged Inclind to design and develop some of our websites, setting us up in a way that would allow our team to easily make changes on our end and monitor site performance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inclind has designed and developed at least six websites for us thus far on Drupal. In one project for a campground, for example, they created a strategy and provided copywriting services in addition to developing the site. They interviewed staff at the property, researching important information for potential customers, and provided some mockups of the site before we approved of a design direction.

They've created custom features, including a “book now” block on a homepage of a site that allows visitors to instantly choose, book, and pay for accommodations. We're able to monitor user activity through Hotjar, and they continue to maintain and make modifications to any of the websites as needed.

What is the team composition?

More recently, we've mostly been working with Shaun (Founder and Director, Inclind) and a developer.

How did you come to work with Inclind?

Our chief marketing officer had a relationship with them prior to hiring them, which happened before I joined the company.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $60,000 or more, or about $10,000 for each website project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since May 2016, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Inclind has successfully built a number of user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing websites for our company. They've also made it easy for our team to be able to make minor changes and updates as needed, which was previously a huge pain point for us.

Their idea to create a “book now” block on the homepage of one of our sites has proven very effective; users are booking accommodations more quickly without having to spend too much time on the site. Our click-through rate on that feature has been phenomenal.

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been very patient with us and seem to have our best interests at heart. They provide feedback and push back when it's needed to ensure we're making the best decisions for our sites. They've opened our eyes to ways to make our platforms user-friendly on any type of device.

They're very detail-oriented in their approach and never miss a beat. Whenever I've needed something turned around quickly, they've been able to deliver, even over the weekend. We meet a couple times each week over the phone to go over ongoing maintenance or any outstanding work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Inclind creates top-notch UI/UX designs and is very innovative in their approach to each project. Their sites are streamlined, clean, functional, and surprisingly fast to load. My previous experience with web developers doesn't compare.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you sit down for an initial meeting with their team, be open with them and don't hesitate to ask any questions. Whether it's a service they can provide or not, they're great at acting as a consultant for solutions you might not expect them to be able to entertain.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an athletic race review website called Race Advisors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inclind?

I’m not a technical person, so I needed to hire someone to build our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before we even started, they spent some time explaining the different components of web development to me. Once I had the vocabulary to describe the different features and components I wanted, they broke the development into phases and started working.

I needed the review-sharing experience to be user-friendly, and the site also needed to be capable of searching for specific races that users wanted to write about. They built the site with Drupal and used custom algorithms that aggregate information from around the web to create competition listings for running, swimming, cycling, and so on. There are also integrations with Google Publisher and a service called OpenSolar.

In addition to the web development, they helped me set up my social media accounts, as well as MailChimp for newsletter distribution.

What is the team composition?

Their owner worked with me initially, then added two more people to the team once we got started.

How did you come to work with Inclind?

I got a referral from an acquaintance who’s done freelance work for them as a web designer. It turned out that they were a local company, so I met with the owner multiple times to discuss the project before settling down to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total was around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project lasted from January–April 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did a great job with the site. The only issue I run into is that data that’s being populated from another site will sometimes fail, but that’s not Inclind’s fault. Even so, they still respond and make an effort to fix it. Whenever there were other issues, they’d repair things very quickly or else warn me that a more complex problem would require extra time and some additional financial investment.

How did Inclind perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was always streamlined, whether we communicated via email or on Slack. If I contacted one member of the team, the others were looped in and always aware of what was happening. They’d ensure that the most appropriate member of their team responded to any issues that came up. Additionally, they laid out a well-organized schedule so I knew what was happening at any given point in the project and how long it was supposed to take to build each component. They were also transparent with the hourly fees and total cost, which was helpful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service was unbelievable. They were extremely willing to answer my questions, meeting with me once or twice a month for six months to discuss my project before I’d even signed a contract to hire them. They did a great job of explaining from both a technical and non-technical standpoint.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as open and detailed as possible about what you want. That will better prepare Inclind to fully understand what you’re asking them to do and assign the appropriate staff to help you accomplish your goals.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

I work for a trade association that represents the entire travel industry. We do advocacy on the part of the industry to promote travel to and within the United States, so we have a number of advocacy positions to promote and assist the industry. In many ways we do things that our members might not be able to do on their own. Our organization also produces a number of events ranging from some educational-based events to events dealing with international inbound leisure travel. Tour operators and other international buyers of travel products attend IPW to will get together with domestic suppliers. Beyond that, we also conduct research to support our advocacy efforts.

What is your position?

I’m the vice president here. I’m responsible for all of the technology in the organization, which is broken down into supporting traditional network, desktop, servers, and infrastructure, as well as web operations, which is responsible for the websites and digital assets that we maintain in-house.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge you were attempting to address when you first approached Inclind?

We had already selected Drupal as our platform, and had worked with some other vendors that simply weren’t meeting our needs. As a result, we were looking for a Drupal development firm to help us with our Drupal-based websites, but we wanted to make sure that they were well qualified. Inclind already had a reputation in the industry, so we decided to reach out to them along with a few other firms.

SOLUTION

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

Most of the work was front-end development. They’ve also done custom development within Drupal, including modules and systems integrations. They continue to provide maintenance, support and ad hoc customizations to many of our sites.  

How did you select Inclind as your partner for this project?

A close business associate referred them to us. They came highly recommended.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this particular engagement?

We’ve probably spent around $80,000 in the last year.

How long have you maintained a relationship with Inclind?

It started around 2009-2010, so it’s been about three or four years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

Their work is the byproduct of other things that actually drive our metrics from a customer experience perspective. I guess the simplest way to articulate that is, I think they do a great job, and provide solid value for what they’re asked to do by us. Inclind usually do not own the entire project, so there is often a balancing act to ensure requirements are clearly defined and shared within our organization, among other vendors and within the team. They do a good job of providing value, and have become a very reliable vendor. They’ve provided us with good, honest feedback on a number of things that they’ve been involved with.

When working with Inclind, is there anything you’d consider unique about their strategic approach and/or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

I think they’re very well versed in Drupal. They’ve been working with Drupal for a number of years, and they’re extremely familiar with the trends for Drupal and what’s going on in the community at large. I think that’s one of the unique value propositions with them.

At the end of the day, they do a good job of trying to satisfy what we need. They function as a partner, not just as a vendor. I think that’s really the key part in terms of how we’ve tried to develop the relationship between our two firms.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think Inclind could improve as a service provider?

I think in general there could be a scaling issue. They’re great at working for a firm of our size, given the number of projects we have. At times when we have a lot of projects in play, their ability to bring additional resources to bear can be a challenge, but they’ve worked with us on that and done some things there. With being a smaller firm and having a number of clients, it can become very challenging to balance those competing demands. Overall, I think they’ve done a decent job of upping their game in terms of tracking requests, requirements, their ticketing system, their documentation system, etc.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

We manage and support retirement communities across the United States. We have 18 communities across 10 different states right now.

What is your position?

I’m the director of web development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges that you were attempting to address when you first approached Inclind?

We were looking to migrate our existing website to Drupal. We had a static site, and we had quite a bit of content that needed to be organized and migrated into new templates. I would say our biggest challenge was coordinating how we were going to accomplish those tasks in a reasonable timeframe, and ensure that we maintained a consistent look and feel to the website.

SOLUTION

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

They sort of helped us with all aspects of it the technical development. They were primarily handling content migration, and custom Drupal development, but they also had to do some theming. We wanted the site to look exactly the way it looked before it was based in Drupal, so they had quite a bit of work to do related to theming. They also performed module selection and customization.

How did you select Inclind as your solution partner?

I found them through online research while looking for some local vendors with Drupal expertise. I came across them and a few other providers and reached out with our project description. The proposal they gave us was very compelling and the pricing was reasonable. The work they’d already completed gave me confidence that they could deliver our new site without issue.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this particular engagement?

They’ve actually completed two separate projects with us. The most recent one was the ericksonliving.com website, but prior to that they had built our Erickson Tribune site. Between the two site deployments, we were in probably investing somewhere between $100,000 to $125,000.

When was the most recent project completed?

The most recent project was completed in September of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

One of the biggest measures of success has been the reduction of support requests. We migrated the site, and switched everything, and no one even noticed that anything had changed, which was exactly what we were hoping for. If you were simply looking at the front-end of the site, you wouldn’t really notice any changes. For us on the back-end, it was significantly different, and improved. We have a greater ability to update and manage the site content in a way we simply didn’t have beforehand, with a much broader number of people. We’re looking at a couple of the forms that we’ve deployed, and they will save folks on the Web team about three weeks a year in work. That’s now time that they can redirect toward other priorities.

I’d say the performance of the site has also markedly improved. I don’t know that I could put a number on it yet because we’re still tweaking the caching, and playing around with the structure of the site. In fact, it may take another couple of months before we have a clear sense of how the improvements will pan out.

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

They’re extremely thorough and thoughtful. They know Drupal really well. They’re very good at listening to what you’re trying to accomplish, and then finding the best solution within Drupal. I think that’s rather unique because what a lot of groups will do is try to push you in a direction that they’re most comfortable with, either because they’re limited in their development skills, or their knowledge. Inclind doesn’t operate that way. They sit down with you and make a concerted effort to understand your business and how that business is most effectively conveyed through the website. They’re meticulous in their approach.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think Inclind could improve as a service provider?

No. I think they’re an exceptional group. I don’t know that I’d say it’s an area to improve on, but because they’re really good at what they do, they’re also very busy. While they were scheduled to work on our tasks, they were always available and very responsive. My only concern is that they are getting busier, and I think scaling their resources to meet the increased demand is going to be a big challenge. However, I don’t think that’s negatively impacted our current work.