Stradea Design Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of XpertVR, a VR simulation provider for academic institutions across Canada and North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stradea Design Labs?

We were looking to upgrade our existing website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Stradea Design Labs initially helped us rebuild our website, which we originally launched via Wix. We arranged a scoping phase to discuss our goals and identify strategies based on our branding, customer base, and marketing goals. Their team then referred to those requirements when they built our website via WordPress, incorporating user-friendly features that linked our MailChimp account and Clutch reviews to the website.

After developing our platform and linking it to Google Analytics, Stradea Design Labs prepared a branding kit for our launch and led our SEO, Facebook, and Google Ads campaigns. They also helped us come up with marketing strategies outside our digital marketing pipelines to maximize our reach.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Hugo (Co-Founder) and Leo (UX Designer).

How did you come to work with Stradea Design Labs?

Out of all the teams we considered, Stradea Design Labs was the only one that sat down with us to discuss our goals and design strategies. We saw their potential and sincere desire to give us the amplified digital presence we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $25,000 CAD (approximately $20,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from April–August 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw an almost 1000% increase in impressions and site traffic upon launching Stradea Design Labs’ deliverables. Prior to our go-live, they were also quick to address any potential issues and bugs that could’ve impeded the website’s performance, which rewarded our users with an optimized UX. Overall, their team improved every aspect of our website and evidently enhanced our branding efforts at the same time.

How did Stradea Design Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through email and LinkedIn, and Stradea Design Labs organized all our meeting notes and their deliverables via OneDrive. They were on top of their project management — their team quickly responded to our questions and seamlessly incorporated our feedback into their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Stradea Design Labs put a lot of their time, effort, and expertise into building our core strategies and communicating our overall branding to our clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything — we always looked forward to working with them and hearing their insightful ideas.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make an effort to communicate with their team as often as possible. Stradea Design Labs is a detail- and timeline-oriented team, and you only need to match their proactive energy to get the results you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a founder at Queen’s Bridge Financial Strategies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stradea Design Labs?

We needed help in defining our brand identity and designing and improving our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Stradea Design Labs helped us develop a full branding guidebook. Additionally, they designed all the key elements of our website.

Stradea Design Labs’ background is in behavioral marketing, and they found the appropriate buzz words for us and put together everything that we should be using as a brand. They brought our team together — who all came from different backgrounds — so that we were all on the same page and moving forward. In addition, they made us go through mood boards to identify what our key goals were and what we stand for as a company. 

Over three months, we spent many hours going through a very detailed discovery process. Stradea Design Labs gave us questionnaires each session, and they would come back to us a couple of weeks later and present what they found out. Through this process, they were able to identify target groups that we should be focusing on. They also guided us about the proper language we should be using for our target market.  

Aside from branding, Stradea Design Labs had worked on our website. They implemented SEO improvements and backend modifications so we can measure ad campaigns and results. Also, they added handicap accessibility to our site, which we didn’t even know was a requirement.

Stradea Design Labs had also developed landing pages for us. They improved our colors, logos, and banner themes. Lastly, they created content for our website and went deep into finding the right words that would attract traffic to our platform. 

What is the team composition?

I had worked with two people. Hugo (Digital Consultant) was my main contact — he brought in all the mood boards and implemented our website’s redesign. Meanwhile, Norvin (Advisor) helped us identify our target groups.

How much have you invested with them?

We had spent around $15,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from January–March 2021. We plan to hire Stradea Design Labs for a second project. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We achieved phenomenal results in a very short time. We’ve increased our Google My Business viewers by 44%, and our search engine results page (SERP) rankings moved up by 53%. Also, everyone’s raving about our website. Stradea Design Labs left it very accessible for my tech guy, and they taught him what they were doing, so he can do things by himself. They also gave us a guide that details how to make adjustments to the website. 

As a startup company, we wanted to make sure we had the proper foundation before we went further with our marketing — Stradea Design Labs could bring all that together. They delivered above what they had promised. 

How did Stradea Design Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Stradea Design Labs was excellent at project management. They ran everything and gave us what we needed to do, and we just executed. We communicated via emails and Zoom meetings. They finished the project two weeks in advance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their dedication and the quality of their work made Stradea Design Labs stand out. They really want to see their clients succeed. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a conversation with their team and explain what you want to accomplish. They’ll come back to you and give you what they can deliver. Trust them 100%. They made us do things like mood boards, and at first, it seemed odd. However, it just amazed our team when they brought everything together. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Lead at Capital Hill Group. We are one of the largest independent Government Relations and lobbying firm in Canada. DisGovr Canada is our monitoring, research and events sub-brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Stradea Design Labs, and what were your goals?

The previous DisGovr Canada website was completely disaligned from Capital Hill Group's branding, and was hard to navigate and/or did not provide information in a user-friendly way. We needed a complete revamp of that website: redesign, reorganization of the information and navigation.

SOLUTION

How did you select Stradea Design Labs and what were the deciding factors?

Hugo from Stradea had already done some work from Capital Hill Group: branding, collateral design and the website. It was an easy decision to move DisGovr website to Stradea.

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

Initially, Hugo and I discussed the desired look and functionality of the revamped DisGovr website. Understanding our desire to align our 2 websites together, Hugo prepared 2 mock ups for the new website. Once the look was decided for this new website, the new content and suggested navigation was sent to Hugo for discussion. He had some very insightful suggestions to make this content more user friendly.

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

Only Hugo Gatsby: Digital Consultant

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website went live a full week before our deadline, allowing our team to review it and send positive feedback. Since this was done recently, we have not yet started to promote that website, but I am confident that it will generate the desired results.

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

Hugo and I had a weekly status meeting to go over the website evolution, as well as frequent correspondence. He was very responsive and provided us with an excellent "customer service".

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

Hugo and his team designed a website that complied to all of our objectives: easy to use, easy for our employees to update, easy for our clients to navigate and also aligned with our main branding, creating a visual connection between both our websites.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the cofounder and CEO of shipping calculator software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stradea Design?

We hired another firm to do our website and they butchered it. We needed help getting things right.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They revamped our site from the ground up. They’re still working on updates.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Hugo (Co-founder & CEO), a developer, and some interns.

How did you come to work with Stradea Design?

We knew Hugo from our chamber of commerce. We stayed in touch and decided to work with him because he had a background in behavioral science and had a lot of passion for our mission.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2020 and we wrapped up in October 2020. Their work is ongoing with updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our team was really thrilled at all of the progress the site made. One person even commented it was like a “breath of fresh air”. From a customer perspective, our conversion has gone up significantly. We also have more inquiries on our contact form after just 2 weeks. The new site also explains what we do better, so fewer people are confused.

How did Stradea Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Hugo is fantastic. He communicates via email for anything big, but he’s very available by texting, too. We got a full report at the end of the month on project updates and how to move forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Hugo’s passion truly stands out. He genuinely loves what he does and it’s definitely unique. They’re the only vendor that’s ever gone over the behavioral profiling of the users we service. It’s a game-changer. You can have the nicest website in the world but that doesn’t matter if you don’t have the proper language and user flow.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. At points, Hugo might care too much, and I can see negative feedback on a project impacting him personally. But overall, there’s nothing negative I can comment on about his process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to pay as much as possible to the behavioral profiling of the users. It did take us two whole days to do this, but the time really did make the difference.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and project manager of Agave Homes. We’re a custom home design and construction company. We’re a bit unique in the fact that we build high-end spec houses that are $2 million–$3 million. We build and then sell them once they’re complete.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stradea Design Labs?

We wanted to take our company profile to the next level. We’ve had a lot of local success but expanded our business a little bit and want more exposure. We want people to see our marketing and signage, visit our website, and learn more about our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handled all of our branding efforts. Their team established our brand identity, built our website, as well as designed our logo.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with Hugo and his partner. There were also team members behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Stradea Design Labs?

We knew Hugo’s partner, and Hugo came to our area to do some presentations. They were a good fit for us because we’re inexperienced in their field. Hugo did an excellent job of explaining what they do and how the site would function.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement ran from August 2019–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our overall traffic has increased. Hugo tracks our analytics for us. We’ve accomplished everything we wanted and more by having a site for people to go to. The general exposure and perception of the company have improved.

It’s clear that their goal is to give us the best product. I was surprised at how much knowledge they knew about our field, despite it being far from their field of expertise. They went above and beyond to understand our needs.

How did Stradea Design Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Hugo was excellent with us and our inexperience. He explained things in layman’s terms, understood what we wanted, and implemented it into our site.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their follow-up and communication have been great. We’ve been happy with their support since we initiated the site.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were a perfect fit for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re great at understanding your business needs and requirements; they put the time and effort in to do that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Capital Hill Group, a lobbying firm. We service clients of a private, public, and not-for-profit nature, and help them make representation before their government.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stradea Design Labs?

We are wide in reach but small in number — we’re a company of fewer than 20 people. Because of that, we don’t have great marketing capacity, so we’d mostly been working through word of mouth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We decided to hire Stradea to help us continue to grow and increase our market share through social media and a general web presence. We had Stradea redesign our website to be accessibility-compliant. With the design, the goal was to bring us into the 21st century a bit.

What is the team composition?

Hugo (Co-Founder & CEO) was our project lead, and he had another three people assigned to the project as well.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was between $10,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2019–September 2020. The process took longer than expected because we put things on a temporary pause during the pandemic.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the short amount of time the website has been up and running, we’ve seen a 400% increase in traffic. Our SEO rating has risen as well — before Stradea, you could search our most basic keywords and we wouldn’t appear anywhere. Now, we’re on the first page of Google, which is fundamentally important to us as an organization.

How did Stradea Design Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We had regular biweekly calls and check-ins with Hugo. He was able to produce very thorough status update reports for us throughout. We had group Zoom calls to go over the project in detail. I couldn’t have asked for more in terms of the interaction between our teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a process that’s really unique. Stradea couples web design and business development with art, which makes their final product exceptional. They also focus on behavioral science, which makes an impact.

There was a lot of personal, direct connection and feedback. The team was flexible and forthcoming, and there was an element of education to the work that was done. It was more than just a web design project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re an officially bilingual nation, so our company services a lot of bilingual candidates. Stradea is building out their capacity to produce development in French at equal quality, but it was definitely the biggest challenge we had with them as an organization.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Participate in the process. If you actively dedicate time to participate in the process, it will be worth every minute you spend.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the deputy clerk of a Canadian municipality.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stradea Design Labs?

We needed to develop a new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Stradea Design built our site from the ground up after completely scrapping our old one. They focused on making it more user-friendly.

How did you come to work with Stradea Design Labs?

We put out an RFP, and Stradea Design was one of about twelve applicants. Most companies proposed a cookie-cutter approach to the website, but we wanted something more customized, which Stradea Design was able to do. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from November 2019–March 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had a lot of positive feedback. Our users are responding really well to the new website. 

How did Stradea Design Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Most of our communication was over email, although we had quite a few phone calls. During the planning stages, we met in person at least once a week, sometimes twice, to outline the project. From there, they managed it really well. They kept us in the loop, sent us reports on progress, and sent images of how things were coming along. We were very impressed with that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really appreciate that they’re a small company, because we’re a small municipality. Stradea Design was really open to designing what we wanted and what was best for us. It was also great to be able to reach out to them and build a relationship with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issue we ran up against was how we talked about the technology in the project. We’re not really a tech-savvy company, so sometimes things would go over our heads. As the project progressed, the communication improved a lot. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t go in with boundaries. We were surprised at the amount they could do — anything that we thought was unreasonable, they found a way. If you want to do something, just ask, because they’re really good.