Jivaldi

BACKGROUND

Please provide a description of your company. 

We're an online only manufacturer and distributor of custom apparel. We sell direct-to-consumer. 

What is your role and responsibilities?

I'm one of the owners and I run most of the day-to-day operations. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge/opportunity that you were attempting to address? 

We recently rebranded ourselves so what we really needed was a redesigned website and integrated ecommerce platform. Since we sell direct-to-consumer exclusively online, the site is really our bread and butter. We needed a fully functional website that would allow us to manage our sales and fulfillment cycles from order to shipment. 

Are there any metrics or numbers that can quantify the challenge/ opportunity?

The site isn't scheduled for launch until mid-November, so I really can't share any hard numbers or figures. I can tell you that all of our usability and compatibility testing has shown us nothing but good things. We're extremely confident that the site will go live with zero user-facing bugs or flaws. 

What were your company’s business goals for the project?

Like I said, we needed this new site to facilitate all of our consumer sales and fulfillment cycles. We wanted a functional and aesthetic website that our consumers felt comfortable browsing through. 

SOLUTION

Please provide a description of the project and its scope. 

It was essentially everything. Jivaldi built our entire site around the Shopify platform, which meant custom design and development, integration with our other site and inventory database, user-interface and user experience design, usability and A/B testing, backend training, and ongoing support. 

What was your process for selecting Jivaldi as your solution partner?

We've known Jivaldi for quite some time now outside of the professional arena, completely unrelated to web design and everything. We'd tried a separate solution partner in the beginning, but when things didn't pan out, we decided to approach Jivaldi. 

When was the project completed?

The project is still ongoing, but it's scheduled for launch mid-November.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did the service provider perform?

Jivaldi has met and then exceeded all of our expectations. They've been extremely proactive and accommodating with us. We have a strong relationship with Jivaldi because they've been able to deliver everything that I've asked of them, from the mundane all the way to the frustratingly complex. 

Is there anything you would consider unique or special about Jivaldi as compared to other solution partners you've worked with in the past?

They're extremely thorough and methodical over there. Everything is well organized and all of the little details have been reviewed and then reviewed again. It makes Jivaldi a real pleasure to work with because you know that they're coming to you with a polished solution, and even if it doesn't work as intended, it's always relevant and valuable. 

How would you summarize your experience with Jivaldi and would you recommend them to others?

They've been a pleasure to work with thus far. I consider them more than just business partners at this point. Granted, I don't have a whole lot of experience with solution partners in the IT industry, but I've heard numerous horror stories from friends and associates. I'm happy to say that I've never experienced anything similar with Jivaldi. I would definitely recommend them to others and I actually already have.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

We were entitled the Mary Bono Mack Committee. It was an entity for a congressional vote campaign.

What was your position?

I was the political director for the committee.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were the business challenges that you were attempting to address when you initiated the project with Jivaldi?

We wanted to establish a multifunctional website for the congresswoman, for our committee to be able to present issues to voters. The site would allow us to interact with voters as well as facilitate donations from contributors.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project in terms of its components: did it include design, development, training, support, etc.?

Jivaldi started us from the ground up. We didn’t have a functioning website prior to them coming on board. We presented some ideas and different thoughts that we had and they took it from there, gave us some groundwork and we proceeded. They handled the complete remodeling of our website, which included custom design, backend development, ecommerce integration, blog integration, training, and support.

Could you identify the specific software and/or systems Jivaldi used for your website?

I can’t remember if there was any particular software that they used. There might have been something for the online donations. I can’t remember its name now.

How did you select Jivaldi as your solution partner?

A friend of the committee recommended Jivaldi to us. We initiated some conversations with them and requested some samples and ideas for our website redesign. It was clear that they didn’t have extensive experience working with political platforms, we might have been Jivaldi’s first political project. They did have considerable design and development experience, so we felt confident that they’d be able to deliver what we wanted.

What in-house expertise did you contribute to the project?

We really only provided content and managerial oversight. We guided them along the process, identified what it was we wanted and how we wanted certain items to function and look. We didn’t have an IT team so Jivaldi was responsible for the design and development aspects.

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

We invested between $50,000 to $75,000 on the website in total.

When was this project completed?

The site was launched in January, 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics or metrics that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work by Jivaldi?

I don’t have any explicit figures to share with you, but I can tell you that the site was definitely a success. We were able to accomplish all of the goals we’d set prior to initiating the project. Disseminating information and content became extremely efficient and we were able to generate some impactful donations through the site. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from users and administrators, which testifies to the quality of the interface that Jivaldi designed for us.

When working with Jivaldi, is there anything you would consider unique or special compared to other solution partners you’ve worked with?

The personal connection and personal service that we had from them was unique. The founder, Jim Ivaldi, was very personable and open to us calling him at all hours if we needed something done right away. He and his entire team were extremely accessible to us. Partnering with Jivaldi was an excellent decision in terms of expertise and accountability. 

They also took time to make the website comfortable for the congresswoman and reflect her in a very positive manner. By contrast, if we had partnered with a generic website development company, they probably wouldn’t have been able to capture what we were looking for.

Are there any areas that you feel Jivaldi could improve upon, or things that you might do differently?

There really isn’t anything they could have improved upon. They were there night and day for us. We discovered a couple of glitches immediately after the initial re-launch. Within the matter of minutes, they were reviewing and re-writing pages of code and troubleshooting the issue. That kind of service makes all the difference.