Meticulosity

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We make software that car dealerships use to run their day-to-day business.

What is your position?

I’m our Web and graphic designer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were getting ready to do a new website, and we needed something that was responsive and with a sleek design. We wanted a company that would work with me, so that I could do the design in-house, and then they would execute the development for us.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the actual scope of work assigned to them during this engagement?

Meticulosity developed a custom theme on WordPress and coded the backend it for us. I came to them with a design, which they looked over and approved. They didn’t see any huge flaws with my design, which they then developed for us.

Meticulosity trained me and the rest of our team. They are currently hosting the site for us and have been available for any support we’ve needed. Meticulosity did do a little bit of enhancement to the site after we launched it.

How did you come to select Meticulosity as your partner?

I found them doing my own research on Google. We looked at a couple different companies, and I found Meticulosity. I didn’t involve any other vendors in a bid process because everything sounded great with Meticulosity. They were super easy to work with and very responsive, so we moved forward with them.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this engagement?

We’ve spent somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 working with Meticulosity.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People within the company have said that they like the new site. We didn’t have a mobile site before, and now people can view it on their phones and tablets. Shortly after we launched, we found out that Google was going to be changing the way that they grade sites and whether or not they’re mobile is going to be a big factor, so that’s definitely going to help us in the future.

They delivered the site ahead of time. I had given them a deadline, which I then realized was later than we actually needed the project completed. They worked hard to get it to us earlier, so I could load all of our content before we had a major trade show. They’re always extremely responsive, especially if it’s an emergency. Meticulosity has been super responsive and great to work with.

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

Their responsiveness really stands out. They told us that we had a month of support after the launch, but it’s been a few months now, and they are still there to answer my questions and talk about other projects. So, they really have that “partner” feel. Meticulosity is not just a vendor we do business with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We work on behalf of software vendors to deal with copyright infringement within a non-legal way to help convert infringing users or pirates into paying customers.

What is your position?

I’m the senior vice president of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the original business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached Meticulosity?

We had an obsolete website with an old Web designer that we had used to build it. We felt like they weren’t on the ball with keeping it up to date. It always took a long time to getting things fixed, changed, or get new things on the site. They also used old systems, and when we needed changes or updates, it was a whole project to which they could never put an end date, or it would be very expensive. We decided that we needed a newer system to deal with the challenges that we were facing. We wanted a dynamic site with a lot of flexibility but, at the same time, we had to make sure it was user-friendly so that we can make any changes or updates by ourselves.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of work assigned to them in greater detail?

We built a completely new website with them, basically. We had a site that we decided to dump and create a completely new one from scratch. We wanted to use the WordPress platform, which Meticulosity has a lot of experience using. We began with discovery and requirements gathering. We went over how we wanted to site to look and function, and they helped us focus on usability and implementing all of the customizations we wanted. It was a collaborative process, but they took the technical lead.

How did you come to choose Meticulosity as your partner?

I was pregnant at the time, and I met Dave [Ward, president of Meticulosity] in a prenatal class because his wife was pregnant at the same time as me. I had done some research, but I hadn’t been happy with the quality-to-price ratio with other companies. There were some others that I really liked, but they were too expensive. I found the lower cost ones were more centered in Asia, and especially for a copyright infringement firm, I didn’t want copyrighted software being used, and I felt like I couldn’t get guarantees of that. Dave was very approachable, so I sat down with him and explained our challenges. He proposed a number of ideas and offered some initial recommendations, which made me feel very confident in their approach and capabilities. In the end, that’s why I went with them.

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

It was $11,000.

When was the project completed?

The project was completed in March 2014. We have been thinking about using their services for our sister company to do their website, but we aren’t there yet.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We work in a very niche market, so we don’t go on clicks and things like that. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from our existing clients, and we have been attracting a lot of new clients. They find it very easy to get in contact with us via the site now. To us, it’s been successful because it also represents our brand a lot better than our old website.

People love the visual quality of the new site. Our website is primarily black and, in most cases, black backgrounds on websites don’t come out well. In our case, it has come out very well, and that’s due to Meticulosity’s superior design skills. People find it quite attractive and appealing, including myself.

I felt that with Meticulosity, nothing was that big of a challenge. If something went wrong, it was addressed very quickly. I felt like there wasn’t resistance when I needed something changed or came up with a new idea, and I like that.

There was an issue of delayed timing, but that was on our side, too. We came in on budget. There was no problem with that, so I was very pleased with the overall development and launch.

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

I really appreciated the way that they presented multiple designs for the site, but within the same ranges. They didn’t go too crazy from one extreme to another. I think they’re also very responsive. When using vendors, you can often have problems with them being responsive since you’re contracting it out, especially if they think that they have certain clients that are more important than others. I didn’t feel like when doing business with them, which was a key differentiator. It really felt like more of a partnership than a basic vendor relationship.

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

There was a little bit of a delay here and there, so I think that’s where there could be some improvement, to cut down a little on the delays in parts of the process. To some extent, the delays were also a result of our poor planning and some internal things. But, that’s really the only area that I could see them improving.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

I think you have to be clear about what you want and be sure about what exactly they can offer. There were certain things that we wanted that weren’t really in their core business, and we weren’t clear about that when we engaged them. They tried to accommodate us, but it wasn’t really possible. We should have been clear with them from the very beginning, so that would be my only recommendation for their future clients.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe your organization?

This is a woman’s athletic accessories company. We have a product that I created and have a website that manages the bulk of our sales. It’s an e-commerce site, and we reach out to athletic-minded women.

What is your position?

I’m the owner and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I was looking for a qualified partner that could revamp our entire online presence. We had an old, cookie-cutter website from the get-go that worked fine, but we wanted to take our business to the next level. In order to do that, we were looking for someone who could provide a clean, professional website, who would be attentive to my needs, and who could understand working with a small business owner. It was important that this developer be able to understand our unique challenges, and design a site that accurately conveyed our valuable products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a couple different platforms that we were considering, and they helped us narrow down that list to what would be best suited for our company and long-term goals. We ended up building our site with Bigcommerce. Meticulosity did the entire design, and they migrated everything from our previous site to the new site. They implemented all of the custom functionalities, too. Once the site was ready, they began helping us with online marketing. We established a legitimate social media presence and began working on content development so we could increase exposure of the new site. They’ve really been fantastic with the whole deployment.

How did you select Meticulosity as your partner?

We found them online through some basic research. I came up with a short list of what I thought would be the best candidates and then interviewed multiple companies. I was looking for someone that could provide a website that looks professional, not cookie-cutter looking. I wanted a custom site that reflected the true value of our products and brand. I wanted something that was unique to us, and someone who would listen to my needs. I spent a long time really investigating each company to figure out what their skill sets were and how they would approach the project. Based on these interviews, it was Meticulosity that I felt most confident in.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this engagement?

It was a couple thousand dollars, but I don’t remember the exact cost.

When was the site launched?

The new website was launched in March of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback we’ve gotten has been that the site is very professional, clean, and easy to maneuver. Usability was a key factor when we built the site, so the feedback we’ve received means quite a bit in terms of successfully designing a user-friendly site. Our leads and sales have also increased fairly dramatically, especially within the first few months of launch.

When working with Meticulosity, is there anything that you would consider special or unique about their approach that distinguishes them from other vendors?

We’re extremely pleased with every aspect of working with them. The project itself and how they managed the workload and prioritized unforeseen issues was great. The site is better than I had originally expected. There were a couple times where products didn’t make it over from the old site, and they were extremely responsive when we contacted them to have it fixed. They spent hours working to fix it. We were really impressed with their level of support.

Website design is like a foreign language to me, and they really kept me involved on that side of it, walked me through what was going on, answered my questions, and provided information that I wasn’t even aware I needed to know. I loved how they provided multiple site previews, and then we worked together to perfect it. They really understood our mindset.

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

No. We were thoroughly pleased with the entire process.

What advice, if any, would you give future clients of theirs?

Any company that works with Meticulosity should be open to a very collaborative process, and be willing to offer them ideas. They aren’t a plug-and-chug type development shop. They come to the table with ideas, sure, but they really excel at using the client’s deep knowledge to enhance the process and design something that fits the client’s vision.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe your organization?

I work for a health and wellness company. We make postpartum products for moms and babies. We have a suite of recovery products for after birth, as well as an entire line of vitamins and supplements designed for mothers, for health and wellness.

What is your position?

I’m the director of e-commerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When I joined in April, we had an out-of-the-box site. From a marketing, finance, and operations standpoint, the back-end did not functional very well. It didn’t integrate with our financial software, and our ordering process was entirely manual. Our processes were just unnecessarily cumbersome. The goals for the project were to redesign and relaunch a website that was more in line with our brand, so we could accurately convey our unique value.

We focus on what we call affordable luxuries, and on a scale 1 to 10 for our price point, I would put us at a 7. For quality, our old website was about a 2. We had these beautiful, premium products that were in Target, Walmart, Amazon, and our website looked like we were a mom-and-pop shop. The two objectives of the website were to replace the back-end with something that worked with our financial software, and to rebrand, relaunch, and redefine us as a company. I also shut down three or four of our older microsites. When I came, we had seven micro-sites, and we wanted to roll those all into one consolidated platform. It was more of a product-by-product strategy when I got here versus a corporate strategy now. 

The reasons our company chose 3dcart were primarily for the back-end integration and front-end user friendliness. We don’t have a full-time IT [information technology] person, and before I joined the company no one knew how to code. As a result, we knew that we needed external support.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement?

They completed the whole project. They worked with our package and brand designer. They did the colors, look and feel, style palette, and then they did all the wireframing, the navigation, and usability testing. They also helped out with a lot of custom graphical elements. Meticulosity does offer design services, but we opted to have them work with our designer, rather than do it independently. The majority of their work was custom development on the back-end. 

How did you select Meticulosity as your partner?

We used to have a consultant that did search and a little bit of IT, and he recommended 3dcart to us. I researched a bunch of different 3dcart companies and that’s how I came up with Meticulosity.

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

[It was approximately] $10,000.

When was this project completed?

It was about a four-month project, so it was very quick. We were very impressed that they could do a whole new front end and back-end within three to four months. The site launched October 2, 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Going responsive versus just having mobile commerce turned on has been great for us. So, the fact that you can see all of our content on mobile, and the majority of our audience, as new moms, is mobile. So, that has been great to have a responsive design. It’s probably been the single most beneficial improvement to our user experience. It was difficult to browse our products and find information from a mobile device, which in turn resulted in fewer leads and sales conversions. We no longer have that problem, and we’ve seen huge growth in our mobile users.

When working with Meticulosity, is there anything that you would consider unique or special about their approach that distinguishes them from other vendors?

I would say their collaborative nature is their biggest key differentiator. For example, we started in one direction, and they were very good about offering feedback and using their expertise with other companies to make strategic recommendations. They helped us avoid pitfalls that we would never have seen coming, using knowledge from their previous experiences. They’re also very responsive. If I asked them a question, they would respond back right away. I can’t think of a more reliable vendor or a better vendor relationship.

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

I don’t think so. There is an issue specific to 3dcart that is happening with all of their 3dcart clients. I was encouraged that, when I brought it to their attention, they were very helpful in identifying and working with 3dcart. The level of support you get from Meticulosity is sometimes better than that of e-commerce vendors.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

Trophies2Go is an online retailer of awards. We also have a brick-and-mortar store. We have two different locations in the Seattle area: one is a production facility and the other is a retail storefront and corporate office. We sell awards to companies and youth sports teams, so half of our business is community sports related, and the other half is corporate. Primarily, our sales come from online, but somewhere around 25 percent of our business is attributable to our local area.

What is your position?

I’m the president and chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached Meticulosity?

The main issue with our pervious platform, called CORESense, was that we’ve had it more than 10 years. We had created an extremely customized system that was very difficult to change without significant IT [information technology] investment. The whole site was created using custom code. We needed something more up to date visually, but also more effective in the back office, for us to scale with and expand in the future. We ended up going with the Magento platform because it’s open source. We were with CORESense for so long that it seemed like there weren’t a lot of options in terms of support. With Magneto there is a huge developer community, and I don’t have to be stuck with one particular company through the long haul.

SOLUTION

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

Because they had also done work with CORESense in the past, they knew where we were coming from, which helped in the discovery phase and allowed us to concentrate on how we could move forward. The process was very collaborative between us and them. They were the ones responsible for the whole build and deployment. We managed their resources directly, but they came up with the wireframes and theming work, and then they custom coded the back-end.

How did you select Meticulosity as your partner?

I’ve worked with them on graphics during the last few years, with updates for our old site. It was just a natural conversation we had that developed into what it would look like if we changed platforms and moved on. From there, it became more of a spec document, and the thought process developed from there.

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

We spent between $75,000 and $100,000.

When was this project finished?

The site launched October 1, [2014]. The engagement lasted nine months, but that was mainly due to some of the back-end work that needed to be done by us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our e-commerce conversion rate went up dramatically, I would say more than 50 percent. It was terrible in the past, but it’s improved that much. The bounce rate decreased by 10 percent. There are more pages per visit, and customers were on our site longer, on average, by more than a minute. All four of those in combination, I think, speak volumes about what we’ve done. Not to mention the fact that they were a blast to work with. We didn’t have any unresolved issues with our deployment.

When working with Meticulosity, is there anything that you would consider special about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors?

I remain extremely satisfied with them. There were issues, but their resolve to get issues fixed as rapidly as possible was great. Often there was challenging work, or things weren’t going as planned, which costs time, but it’s more like it’s unforeseen items that were out of scope. Even though we got to the final goal correctly, there were things outside of scope that I injected and the price remained constant. They didn’t ask for more money, and I think that speaks volume for their integrity.

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

Probably asking more questions in the beginning. I wish we would have done more planning for the unknown, versus thinking we had everything from the beginning. We didn’t give ourselves the mental runway to have time overages. We probably could have avoided those dilemmas if we had spent a little more time on scenario planning.