Monumental

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing at Lucy & Co., a digitally native pet products brand built on the idea that dogs deserve the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Monumental, and what were your goals?

The primary focus of our project with Monumental was to update or replace the O.G. theme selected in 2014, and all old, unused, or outdated code that was getting in the way of progress. Monumental was a true partner in answering questions, working through strategic decisions, and helping to steer us in the right direction. They created a new Online Store 2.0 theme with some customization to bring everything up to date with the general state of ecommerce in 2022.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

After researching and talking with 4 other agencies, we decided on Monumental after receiving a great referral from a colleague.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had an initial kick off meeting, from there the Monumental team began work on our retheme. We reviewed the site multiple times and we were able to provide feedback and talk through questions or ideas that came up. Revisions took place at multiple junctures until we were ready to launch. We did need to do a change order to account for some additional functionality we wanted after the fact, but that was handled smoothly as well.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked closely with two people, Rob the CEO and Birdie the Project Manager; though there were other folks behind the scenes executing as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our site was honestly flipped on it's head in the best way! We went from having dozens pages with poor experiences (for various reasons) to having a 100% usability ranking on mobile and desktop according to Google Search Console.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They use great tools to keep projects on track. The whole process from start to finish felt seamless and streamlined and intentional. They have meeting scheduling tools that made for hassle-free scheduling, timeline planning apps to keep everything on track, and also their tools for the scoping process were great too. We used slack as our primary communication which was great and offered quick and easy access to the team for anything that came up during the project.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What felt unique about Monumental was their overall communication and expectation setting. There was never a time where we felt in the dark about what was going on. In addition, the organization of this project felt smoother than other agency experiences I have had in the past.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Honestly, no. We feel as though we walked away from this project with a great site and great partner to continue working with. Any challenges or questions that came up were resolved quickly and without hesitation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Crated with Love is a date night subscription box company that offers couples a brand new adventure every single month. Here at Crated with Love, I handle all the advertisement, as well as the website as a whole.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Monumental, and what were your goals?

We wanted to build a "subscription builder" where customers would be able to customize their subscription by choosing their first box, add upsells, and choose the length of their subscription. Needless to say, Shopify does not support this out of the box, so we had to bring in Monumental to make this a reality.

SOLUTION

How did you select Monumental and what were the deciding factors?

I was first introduced to Monumental by the ReCharge team themselves. After an intro call with Rob, I felt very comfortable and felt like they knew what they were talking about. The price was also very reasonable.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The Monumental team was responsible for completely building the subscription builder from scratch. We gave them our mockups, they gave us some feedback on opportunities for growth, and they took it from there. The most important deliverables were that the subscription builder worked as intended for the end user, as well as on the backend for our logistics team. This was all built with JavaScript and Liquid.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with Rob (CEO) and Elizabeth (project manager) directly, as well as with Jake (developer) indirectly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

After implementing the new subscription builder, we saw an increase in upsells and AOV due to customers choosing the longer subscriptions instead of the month-to-month.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

For the most part, we let them roll with it. We had frequent check-ins but one of the benefits was that we didn't have to worry too much about it since our project was pretty straight forward.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Rob and his team are very professional and really care about their clients. They don't try to nickel-and-dime you like a lot of agencies try after getting you to sign the contract.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nope! Loved every part of it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager at a sock company. Most of our business is wholesale-focused, but we’ve recently expanded our retail efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Monumental?

We wanted to update our e-commerce platform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we were using a platform called UltraCart. However, it was antiquated and not very user friendly. We decided to switch to Shopify on our own. However, we needed more help customizing our Shopify site. 

Monumental came on and optimized the site based on the habits of our customers. We used a heat mapping tool to track user traffic on the site. Using the map, they provided updates based on where the pain points were. 

What is the team composition?

Shea was our main point of contact, but we’ve also worked with Ryan (backend) and Birdie (project manager). 

How did you come to work with Monumental?

We were working with a different company, but we weren’t satisfied with their service. When looking for a new vendor, a mutual friend recommended Monumental to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $30,000-$40,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our ongoing relationship with them in March 2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The time users are spending on the site increased, as has our conversion rate. Additionally, the number of inquiries our customer service team gets from e-commerce users was cut in half. The website is easier to use, so there’s less troubleshooting. 

How did Monumental perform from a project management standpoint?

I have a great rapport with our project manager, and we have a good communication style that works for both of us. We communicate mostly via email or over the phone.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do a really good job of giving us what we ask for but making sure that they’re not just checking boxes. They think critically about the overall goals of the project and suggest improvements based on that. They’re always open and honest. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve been really happy with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Be honest about your goals and deliverables. They’re invested in their clients and want to help.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a digital marketing director at a health tech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Monumental?

We were moving to a Shopify platform from a custom-built CMS and we needed a vendor to help us develop our new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn't have anyone in-house who had experience with Shopify or Ruby on Rails, so Monumental built everything on the frontend. They used our old website as a guide when they did the design, but they changed and updated a lot of things. They also helped our development team with custom checkout integrations. After the website was completed, we signed up for a service agreement with them.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three or four members of their team.

How did you come to work with Monumental?

They were listed as a preferred partner on a Shopify website. We talked to four different companies, and Monumental's CEO seemed very easy to work with. Also, we liked the examples of their past work, so we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in November 2017, and the website went live in January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The information on the new website is presented much better than it was on our old site, and our interactions with customers have improved. We've seen an increase in overall sales generated by our website, so we're very happy with the results.

How did Monumental perform from a project management standpoint?

Monumental is very accessible and responsive. They're on the west coast, but we didn't have any issues with the time difference. We mostly used email, phone, and Webex to stay in touch. I also visited them two or three times in their office.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very easy to work with and knowledgeable about Shopify. They do high-quality work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. We had a little bit of a delay, but it was our fault because we had to research integrations with our backend. They were very accommodating and patient with us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They'll deliver an excellent product and establish a good working relationship. I definitely recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We design and contract the manufacture of snowboard clothing and equipment. I am a managing partner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Monumental?

We wanted our website built from the ground up, and then for it to be updated in various degrees over the years. Our initial goal was to upgrade to a more e-commerce focused website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Three years ago, we had them do a full new build for us—a custom Shopify-themed website. Since then, they’ve been involved with all the maintenance updates, re-skinning, and any new functionalities.

This year we’re moving forward with them to do a complete ground up rebuild again. The existing platform is kind of dated now. We have some new design and functional challenges for them that are fun, but also challenging. We basically paint the vision and they’re responsible for coming up with realistic ways that they can execute and build those functionalities within the scope of our budget.

There are some functional garment aspects that we really need to communicate effectively, efficiently, and succinctly to our customer base. For those, we developed a set of icons. One of the problems that Monumental solved for us was how to get these icons to appear on the product page. You can roll over the icons to get more information. That was a modification from an existing template, and they solved it for us very well.

Finally, we got into SEO—Monumental are able to create a template that is super easy for us to use and positively affects the SEO. At every stage, they guide us through SEO and put the SEO benefits out on the table so we can choose what the right balance is.

How did you come to work with Monumental?

I didn’t start the relationship, so I’m not sure.

How much have you invested with them?

$20,000–25,000. After our current project, it’ll be around $35,000–40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have better conversion directly, even though visits to our P2P partners went down, so achieved our goals there. I don’t have any super concise metrics or numbers. Qualitatively though, we’ve definitely looked at the metrics that we are trying to improve and have seen improvement in those areas.

How did Monumental perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. Their communication is good. Rob, the founder, has been super responsive. We throw a lot of challenges at them and they come up with solutions for the challenges.

On our new project, I’ve been more directly involved with the backend changes and I’ve been super impressed, especially with their expertise in the current state of e-commerce and web design. They communicate super clearly and work quickly. Everybody is open to ideas and on the same page as far as finding the best solution in the easiest and most effective way. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been really impressed with their communication and attention to detail. I always appreciate understanding their process so that we can make informed decisions together. They’ve been super transparent and have explained to us the options, as well as the obstacles that lie in certain areas. I really appreciate being able to get a window into their process so that we can make informed decisions together. 

They’re also very creative. We want to do creative things with our website, and they come up with equally creative solutions to actually execute our ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can honestly say no. The only improvement would be getting started earlier and initiating the project earlier. They’re doing a great job in an efficient manner and are super fair on their price.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of marketing for Shoe Mill, which is an eight-store family run chain in Portland and Salem, Oregon.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Monumental?

Our website sells our shoes and our products. And one of the common requests of people over our chat function is a request for product availability at specific stores. Footwear is a product that people want to try it on. We thought it'd be a good idea for our website to display which stores our products are in stock. We asked Monumental to sync our inventory control system with our website display.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Monumental was responsible for creating an application for our Shopify based website Shoemill.com. They were able to interpret the data from our unique inventory control system and convert it to being able to be displayed on Shoemill.com. If somebody makes a change to size or widths for any product the display of availability would change accordingly. We carry 7,000 unique products which can come in up to 50 variations of sizes and widths. Quite a lot of data needed to be considered through the application and the API.

The data comes through the FTP [File Transfer Protocol] of our inventory control system and then into a server that allows connectivity with our public display website. They used a secure connection and the requests are processed through an API. Monumental did a great job of interpreting all of the data points in a way that could functionally be displayed website.

What is the team dynamic?

I worked with Rob, the owner of Monumental, and we first discussed the scope and timeline, and budget of the project. There was also a master developer who worked on the project, I assume remotely. Rob used some of his in house staff for to develop the front end display

How did you come to work with them?

We used our search engine optimization expert from Seattle who has some history working with developers. He did some research on Shopify experts in Portland and found Monumental. We thought it'd be nice to work with someone local so I would be able actually to go to their office and speak with them directly.

How much have you invested with Monumental?

By the time it was all said and done we had we had spent $15,000. We had some server issues that extended the project, and increased the cost, but Rob kept me up to date on that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began in the middle of 2016 and finished as of this month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We feel like it was the right thing to do from a customer service perspective to invite customers within our market area to go into one of our locations because I know that our staff does a better job than the web site. Recently there have been anecdotes from our employees that a mentioned that they came in because they saw a specific product was available at my store. I can’t say specifically, but feel like it is already working.

How did Monumental perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management and communication have been great. Rob had a baby in the middle of the project and I couldn't really tell. I told him to not worry about me right now but there was no disruption to our flow at all which I thought was impressive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Monumental does a good job of making sure there are no surprises. For example, there were no sudden invoices. They also do a great job of providing an outline scope of work and providing product updates throughout the process. Rob understood the needs of a family business and our specific project well enough to make meaningful suggestions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I tried to edit the scope of the project along the way because I was trying to save money or thought that I could do things that I shouldn't have even tried to do. He was accommodating, however, we ended up using the original scope of work that he suggested, which was the right way to do it. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the brand manager Sudara and we are a benefit corporation based in Bend, Oregon. We work with our NGO partners in India on creating living-wage jobs and skills training for women in India who are at a high risk for or survivors of human trafficking.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Monumental?

We needed a complete website refresh based on feedback we were hearing from customers and our digital agency. For the original website, we had bought a theme from Shopify and then worked in house as well as with contractors to modify it to fit our needs. However, we were finding that customer would leave the site because it was taking too long for the page to load. Monumental helped us understand was that there was just too much code embedded on the site from all of our customization. It was we determined that we needed a complete overhaul of our website on the Shopify platform. We wanted to increase sales, increase conversions and decrease the lead time on the page. It was really helpful to work with Monumental to redevelop an entire new theme that would better fit who we are and our customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope of the project was to develop a new theme for our website on the Shopify platform. We were not changing a lot of the content on our site. The changes were focused on the way that our content was presented and the general navigation of the website. We also needed it to be more mobile friendly so both for iPhone and for tablet. We also wanted to make sure that we had more control over our ability to change things in-house and we wanted it to appeal to a younger customer.

How did you come to work with Monumental?

We were based in Bend, Oregon and Monumental is based in Portland. We wanted to work with a Shopify expert because in the past developers who were unfamiliar with it were adding unnecessary code. We went to the Shopify site and they have a list of people to search through based on skills, expertise, and location. We looked into three different companies and ultimately decided on monumental because they were just so easy to work with. They were coming with their own solutions to our speed problems and were really eager to get started.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent around $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working March of this year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are getting ready to launch the new website in a couple of weeks, so I don't have any results right now.

How did Monumental perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been fantastic. They've been very flexible through some of our internal delays. Rob has continued to keep us updated on the status and the project and the communication have been great. Our calls have been with Rob and he has also brought on the developers to give their own feedback and insight into our project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It's been really nice working with a small team. I've worked with a large consulting company in the past and generally when something is presented to you, you're given the A-players but the people who actually implement the project are different. With Monumental it has not been that way at all, we had consistency throughout the project. I also really appreciate their helpfulness and their suggestions on how to make our site better. I also enjoyed the ease of working with them. We are not tech savvy and we don't have an internal IT person so they explain things in very layman's terms.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing that I can think of right now. They've just been fantastic to work with.