SHERPA

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Pelin Ozgen and I work as a Manager of Communication and Marketing at Kaleseramik. With the establishment of Çanakkale Seramik Factories Corporation in 1957, Kaleseramik pioneered the ceramic industry in Turkey, and has become an industry giant internationally with its investments.

Through investments in industries such as manufacturing, defense, chemistry, electrical appliances, energy, information technology, transportation, tourism, and food, it has expanded significantly over time. Kale Group, with 17 companies, is one of the most important industrial enterprises of Turkey with over 5,000 employees, ranging from Canakkale to several locations throughout the country to Italy and Russia

It is Europe's third and the world's 12th largest ceramics manufacturer and in the construction chemical sector, it is ranked first in Turkey and the region and 5th in Europe in terms of production and sales volume. Moreover, by being a 100% Turkish company, it is assuming a leading and influential role in the defense and aviation sectors. Kaleseramik provides its products to consumers in over 100 countries via more than 400 sales points.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

Kale.com.tr website was redesigned and redeveloped by the Sherpa team. The website was outdated, difficult to use, and did not reflect the innovative solutions and products Kale.com.tr was creating. It was difficult for users to communicate with our team, navigate the site, or understand Kale's capabilities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our marketing team and digital transformation consultant researched UI/UX design firms to help redesign Kale's website. After speaking with about 6 firms, we narrowed them down to 2. We found Sherpa's portfolio to be the most comprehensive, and they were both more professional and organized overall than the other firms.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Sherpa was extremely thorough and detailed in its plans to redesign the Kale.com.tr website. They provided our team with a day by day calendar with completion dates and phases. The design process was a collaboration between the Kale and Sherpa team. Content for the site was provided by Kale. The research & design process took roughly 5-6 months, and then another 3rd party team began the development process.

What was the team composition?

Kale Digital transformation consultant, E-commerce Manager, Digital Marketing & Communication Manager were responsible for the day to day contact with the Sherpa team. IT and developer teams

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Kale is very happy with the results of the redesign. The new site is clean, simple, and communicates clearly what Kale does. Many users have commented on the incredible improvement of the website.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was a clear and consistent communication. Sherpa utilized a Slack channel to keep our team informed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We are constantly informed and updated on the progress of the project by Sherpa. Research and design teams were creative and understanding of our requests, and provided input and knowledge based on their experience. Kale was impressed with the team of Sherpa.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Although this was not Kale's first time redesigning a website, we still learned a lot during the process. We recommend a walk-through and list of items the firm should provide in the future for firms that are new to redesign.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Socrates Dergi is an Istanbul based new media company with magazine, podcast and video production branches. I am the owner and general manager of the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

Redesigning our website in a completely fresh approach, with inspiration from New York Times and The Athletic.

What were your goals for this project?

A big boost in membership, subscriptions and page visits with a design approach that reflects Socrates bran identity.

SOLUTION

How did you select SHERPA?

After checking all credentials, background, referrals and past work, we eliminated our options down to 3 candidates. Sherpa was one of them. They were convincing enough after our interviews.

Describe the project in detail.

• Paywalled monthly magazine with both e-paper and html based website readership options
• Embedding of podcasts and videos
• Give us segmentation and funneling options for our multi-platform, multi-sports content.
• An able CMS which can handle present and future endeavous (potentially a phone APP and a Smart TV APP)
• SEO optimizable backend. - Shop for company merch

What was the team composition?

We were in touch with both owners, project managers and during the sprints, a dedicated team of 5 and extras focused on that sprint.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still ongoing, yet for the time being they delivered everything promised on time, to our complete satisfaction.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I would say unexpectedly well. If I had to pick one quality of Sherpa that stands out among their other extraordinary capacities, I would choose their dedication to a detailed and liquid workflow.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Aside from their capacity to deliver, their sincerity and honest passion for their work are impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not that I am aware of so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Product Manager of a blockchain market company. Our company 50+ employees and we match buyers and sellers in a platform. We are at the top of the 50th blockchain market in the world. I manage the software teams in the company. I also help the IT manager to achieve our goals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

Our website has millions of transactions and thousands of active users. It is hard to change something in the background or frontend. But we know that we have to change something because our customers were asking us to change & improve existing functions.

To change something was easy but it was hard to change the habits of the customer. The problem is to serve better and adapt to the customer in a short time period.

What were your goals for this project?

Analyzing the current situation at first then changing something to improve customer experiences. Increasing valuable traffic into the market section of the website.

SOLUTION

How did you select SHERPA?

Sherpa is selected by our CEO. I don't know why sherpa is selected but I already knew that sherpa is the best one in the Turkish market.

Describe the project in detail.

First, we had several meetings about the current situation. After 4 weeks of technical analyses, they prepare a document about the website. In the second month, they created some technical tasks in our task management application. We fixed a critical data leak in google analytics and sherpa send us mockup design documents.

We worked together and fixed some issues then our team selected the initial design for the selected pages. The third month was about integration. We implemented designs for the live website. The fourth month was analyzing new designs on the live website. And for last month sherpa fixed some issues for the live website.

What was the team composition?

We are assigned a project manager from Paribu and a project manager from sherpa. At the Paribu side, several software developers, designers in IT worked with Sherpa. At the sherpa side, again developers, designers worked with us. (I don't know how many are they but roughly 5-10)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The progress and the math show us the traffic is increased but I can't give numbers about it. But customer feedback is the most important part of it and we had lots of good feedback about the new design.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly meetings and sprints for the tasks. We communicated from a common chat application and used a task application to track progress. There was no problem with communication and feedback.

They finished the tasks almost on time, there were in the meeting on time and we achieved the goals almost no problem. For security reasons, I can't give communication channels and task application names.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was very impressed with their knowledge of Google applications. They used it in every way and my mind is blown by their statistical thinking. In Turkey, we use a term about if something is hard to understand or hard to track. we call it "My brain is melted!" Seriously our brain is melted sometimes!

They asked us, they analyze us and they taught us calmly and kindly. They converted our corrupted statistical google analytics data into a meaningful one. On the UI/UX side, we have very positive feedback about our current customers.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are satisfied with their work every step of the way. We ended up with a beautiful product and perfect communication.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am VP Operations at Webrazzi. Webrazzi, which has been founded in August, 2006, by Arda Kutsal, is a leading media company in Turkey which analyzes all developments on the internet in Turkey and all around the world. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

We worked with Sherpa on the renewal of Webrazzi. Webrazzi, a 16-year website, has evolved over several years. However, our interfaces could not keep up with this change. He worked on redefining the needs of Webrazzi readers and developing appropriate interfaces and redesigning the website from the ground up.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to design a user-friendly and simplified website. Beyond creating more page views from users, our aim was to ensure that users could easily access everything on site.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had met with team for many years but never worked before. We knew they were doing great quality work. They also have a blog with valuable content focused on user experience and similar topics.

Describe the project in detail.

After our agreement for the project, they had different meetings with many different departments in our company. According to the feedback collected, the usage habits, information architecture, and navigation features of our site have been reconsidered.

While redesigning, a completely information-oriented process was managed. The desktop version was created after the mobile priority design was created. At the last stage, the project was finalized with long tests and user comments.

What was the team composition?

More than ten people worked on the project in stages, in pairs and triples.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After the release of the project, it received very positive user comments. After congratulating emails and twitter posts, our users have thoroughly reviewed the site. In a sense, it was a quick ownership of the new design of the site. Numerically, there have been significant increases in our page views and new members.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project was managed in a way that we constantly communicate with the project manager. We can say that we worked with a team with very strong communication skills.  We organized weekly or bi-weekly meetings and used Slack for general communication

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed with their ability to understand the story from our side very quickly. It was also important that they embraced your business as if it were their own business. There is no need to repeat that they are already very knowledgeable in their field.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We plan to bring it to a better level with continuous improvements. That's why we want to work with the same company in future projects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hepsiburada is the leading e-commerce company in Turkey and its region. It is connecting customers, suppliers, and entrepreneurs leading the digital transformation in Turkey and supporting the local economy by developing the retail sector. I am the Senior Manager, responsible for all UX efforts across the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

We worked with SHERPA to redesign projects especially our merchant portal. SHERPA also provides usability tests series for our new grocery app. We continue to work with SHERPA on other areas of our platform.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to improve usability for merchants on our merchant portal. We also use SHERPA to identify ongoing pain points in our existing products on Hepsiburada and Hepsiexpress.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We choose SHERPA based on its exemplary reputation in the UX/UI and research space. It’s also a company that consists of e-commerce lovers and tech-savvies.

Describe the project in detail.

First, we had a meeting with SHERPA and explained our merchant portal platform in detail. They started to design initial mockups and after a few discussion sessions, a prototype was made.

They visited our merchant’s offices for testing the prototype. According to test results, the design was finalized. Now, their design is live on our platform.

What was the team composition?

We worked with most of the team. Project Manager, UX Strategist, UX Researcher, UX Designer, UX Writer, UX Intelligence Engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've succeeded in this project so far, their analysis, design outputs, and acting as an internal team made this happen. We'd got a lot of positive feedbacks from our merchants. They totally are happy with the new look and more usable version of our merchant portal.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project management has been very successful since the beginning. Every detail of the project was well-planned. They've always been one call far. In addition, we've been using Slack for instant messaging and catching up to take action faster.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

SHERPA team members are always helpful and energetic. New projects/ideas make them thrilled, and this keeps them motivated all the time. You just tell your need and they always come up with a proper solution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In the past 2 years we worked, SHERPA had thrived from many aspects. It's a tough and endless journey to assist customers until they reach the summit, so they should keep enhancing their knowledge, market recognition, and invest their own people.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founding GM of our Istanbul based company. Our company is a 7-person startup and is a price comparison site specifically targeting countries which has price sensitivity. We have a technology that takes care of consumer benefits and that does this with a machine-learning application that works at the back.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

The design we had when setting up this company actually allowed neither the user benefit nor the healthy use of our product. Our users had a hard time filtering the products and therefore created a lot of bounce-rate on the site. As it already has an interface that does not correctly express our business model, we have decided to throw away all the experience design we created before. At this point, we decided to work with SHERPA, one of the strongest companies in its field.

What were your goals for this project?

The main purpose of this project was to determine the right experience, to create the right elements for the user intention and to have a new and useful interface with a whole experience focused from the beginning. Also, since we are a price comparison site, increasing the referrals to stores was another important target.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

First, we searched for companies with previous experience in a similar field. After the reference checks, we chose this company that we feel closest to and that we think they understand us very well. In addition, the team's experience in their field and their solution to our each questions were the biggest influenced.

Describe the project in detail.

First of all, we shared all briefs and resources of our old project with them. During the meetings that lasted 3 rounds, we explained what we did well and what we did wrong. Then we detailed our product and the points we want to go. After all this dating process, they prepared a draft project plan. After working in detail on this plan, we started the project. Firstly, they did detailed mockup work. After having the skeleton from these mockups, we tested how the design would actually look with real data. Some minor problems were also explored after some tests. We finished mockups in line with end-user research and industry reports. We realized many points that progressed in iterations and that we did not think and skipped with detailed reports at the end of each sprint, and completed the whole marathon run with almost zero re-work. Here, I can say that the details on the reporting side and the patience feedback they receive from us cause a product to come out exactly as we want.

What was the team composition?

As the project owner, I had all meetings with different hats. A business analyst focusing on the project, 2 backend developers, 1 frontend developer and 2 editors were also in the whole process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The redirections to the stores improved by around 30%. We also achieved a serious improvement in product search and filtering processes. Bounce-rate improved by about 33%. We have achieved 44% improvement in our organic traffic with the SEO studies we conducted with this project. Positive customer reviews are extra.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our team and SHERPA team were constantly on the same screens with the slack and mindmap tool they used. We also had short telephone calls and sprint meetings every week, and a review meeting at the end of each month. I was so surprised about they are time-oriented and stick to their deadlines in such a big project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Even though they did not know this sector as much as I did, they came up to speed in a very short time. their aggressive management on the time management and planning side, the high level of result-oriented collective intelligence were the most pleasing topics for me.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything was satisfactory in general. To criticize this company would be spoiled if we compare it with other agencies/studios.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

With its headquarters in Istanbul, Eureko Sigorta offers insurance services and products that make a difference for clients as a respected and preferred member of the Turkish insurance industry. I am working as a Software Solutions Architect at Eureko Sigorta and overseeing digital projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

We worked with SHERPA to redesign our website, starting from scratch. The services that they provided us with mainly include UX Research, UX Strategy and UX/UI design.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a better experience for our users while changing our digital strategy during this redesign project. The ultimate goal was to optimize conversion rates and build a smoother self-service quotation flow for our products.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We heard that SHERPA is one of the top-notch teams in their domain and well-equipped for the project of such caliber. Their case studies in the insurance industry also made our selection process easier. After having completed the RFP process with several vendors, we were impressed with SHERPA’s approach and project plan including a detailed task-based work breakdown.

Describe the project in detail.

Given that our goal was to create a better experience, SHERPA started off the project by simply analyzing our digital channels and getting their hands on all the available resources to go over the Discovery phase. In this phase, together with SHERPA, we dug deep to better understand who our users really are and how we should approach them to solve their pain-points.

Following the Discovery phase, SHERPA worked on a UX Strategy Blueprint for the new experience, basically taking all the data into account to draw a new path for Eureko Sigorta. We were quite impressed with their output and they convinced us of their solution of a more direct approach. After agreeing upon the strategy, SHERPA kick-started the Creation phase and focused on information architecture, content, wireframes and user interface design respectively.

What was the team composition?

The team formation was interesting since the members of the project changed depending on the phase of the project. We were always in touch with a UX Producer throughout the project, and there was also a UX Strategist, UX Writer, UX Researcher, and UX Intelligence Engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the website once the design and development stages had been completed. The initial reaction from our users was great. The number of support tickets dropped and our conversion rates saw a significant jump.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was beyond my expectations. We extensively used online collaboration tools in each and every step of the project, from sprint plannings to file sharing. Both teams collaborated on the same project management SaaS to plan and manage sprints successfully.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their investigative approach during the Discovery phase and the level of commitment they shown with regards to understanding our industry was remarkable. They challenged us to rethink our way of interacting with users and looked under every rock to gather insight. As time passes on, we felt that we’re working as a team rather than two parties.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Hard to name one area, to be honest. We’re surely pleased that we collaborated with them on this project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

KolayOto is Turkey's leading online tyre expert providing a wide range of products and services such as tyres, wheels, batteries, oil, accessories and quotations from auto-services, together with its strong partner network. KolayOto currently connects 1.000+ garages and services, 60.000+ products through its Partner Network and is collaborating with global auto supply parts brands to improve user experience, online and offline.

KolayOto commands ~1% of the total auto aftermarket in Turkey, and is the largest e-retailer in automotive vertical, with strong and sustainable growth of ~300% annually for consecutive years. I am CEO and Co-Founder of KolayOto.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

We worked with Sherpa on UX/UI Optimization of KolayOto in 2016, as we were preaparing to start scaling or e-commerce store.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to improve conversion rate considerably in a year

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had been following up Sherpa's work in the market before we got in touch with them. Once we were ready to improve UX/UI, we got in touch. We had a series of meetings where they deeply listened and diligently help figure out the main objectives.

We also had a small project we worked on together, that was for 3 months. During this period we got to know the team better, and they got to know us, our users, suppliers and UX better. As we started 2016 both sides were eager to continue seeing the potential that we could untap together.

Describe the project in detail.

The main goal was to improve conversion of our web store considerably. The work begin by interviewing users and suppliers, mapping out the UX. Sherpa then created an experimentation backlog (which we still use in 2019) of suggestions, and we began weekly meetings to go over the backlog deciding what to build, what to measure, what to deploy and what to dismiss.

This went on for a year and our conversion was improved by %30. Morevover we are still using the methodologies we learnt from Sherpa, by our inhouse product team.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a product manager who was our main point of contact, but we always had at least 2 people from the team inn our weekly meetings. All of the time we worked together there was a etam of specialists taking care of topics related to their area.

On a quarterly basis we also met with partners to see how the project is moving and to evaluate strategic issues. We felt confident collaborating with all of the team regardless of their level or area of expertise.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We improved our conversion rate by %30. This was in alignment with our initial goals. We also continued to use many methodologies and approaches we learnt from Sherpa. I could say that in addition to improving our business metrics we also gained new assets.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Sherpa Team has a very effective collaboration experience within their team and with their clients. As a startup company we are still in touch with them about what tools they are using for collaboration and I observe that it changes according to their needs and evolves over time.

This was similar during our collaboration as well. We had an backlog and an effective way of making sure the backlog turns into results, with an effective reporting system.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The way I met Sherpa is through tracking the team behind succesful UX. It is a company that is able to deliver results that stand out, that are noticable.

Additionally they are taking their name to their heart, they have not only guided us but also joined our journey in this project and they were always very open in sharing what they know. Sherpa is one of the companies that I learned the most from throughout my career.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In the 7 years we have been running our startup Sherpa Team has been the one that has thrived to learn the most about our business, our users, suppliers, process. They learn, measure and build quite rapidly. I can not think of an area of improvement that they would not become aware of themselves and then improve it in a short time:)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Decathlon Turkey is the biggest sports retailer in Turkey, founded in France in 1946 and has been operating since 2009 as retailer. I'm responsbile for all omni-business including omnichannel and ecommerce

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

We are in partnership with Sherpa for the improvement user experience and journey of Turkish sports users. Sherpa is helping us to give better online journey thru our website, making life easy for the users.

What were your goals for this project?

We set several target in each axe but basically the outcome of this partnership will be inrease in CR% and AOV

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After meeting with several suppliers we compared three major inputs. Previous Customers feedback Team of the supplier Price / Quality after meeting with the team which is the most important one we were convinced to work with Sherpa

Describe the project in detail.

First we started with kick-off meeting where all members of both parts met and we explained our short and mid term expectations. Where we want to get more assistance. Afterwards Sherpa made a full audit of decathlon.com.tr pointing High, Medium and Low impacting points and then we met again to built the road map together. When to start, what are the main actions etc.

What was the team composition?

Big team :) UX Producer, UX Designer, UX Writer, UX Researcher, UX Strategist and UX Intelligence Engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first A/B test we've made with them results of ~10% conversion uplift. We've changed our home page from zero, designed by Sherpa.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We are using Slack for daily operations and connections and we are meeting thru visio every other week which makes us save a lot of time. We have not missed any task till today.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team. The team is energetic, committed, and as excited as we are. We never felt as a customer we always felt as partners.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Lead time Only thing I can put as input coming from business side with a huge time pressure. I totally support the time needed for each task tat we can not speed up without loosing the quality.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the Marketing & Sales Director of Radore, one of the biggest data centers in İstanbul, Turkey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SHERPA?

We hadn’t focused on building a marketing communication strategy before, didn't have any proper digital asset management/web design, and had no understanding of customer approach. I was looking for a company that could analyze our digital communication problem and give us a permanent solution—not another "fancy" web design. 

What were your goals for this project?

The first goal was to set the basics of the communication strategy. Second was to build our digital assets accordingly to this strategy. Third was to create a web site that understood and covered the needs of existing and potential customers. Fourth was it had to be modular package so we could build the missing parts or make revisions easily. Fifth was to be fully mobile responsive.  And Sixth one was to increase conversion rate and the time spent on the web site.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Sherpa was the only design studio that had a professional and strategic approach for the design process. Problem-solution relativity and well managed project management. Design was not just creativity and Photoshop for them. They were getting noticed so fast in the sector, so we got together and went on.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Building a digital communication strategy and rebuilding the digital assets (web site, blog) accordingly.

What was the team composition?

Founder (Strategy), project manager/head, designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We achieved every goal with 80%–90% accuracy.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They're pretty good at planning and processing the project, although design projects often don’t go as well as planned because of revisions and critics. They managed the timeline very well. They have a very analytical way of thinking and use effective tools.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The way they approach a problem. They don't do a thing before they fully understand the client and their needs. They don't try to "sell" their design either. Whether you like it or not they put their best solution on the table, which is made for you and their behind 100%.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They're a little high priced for the Turkish market, but not for the European or American market.