Temper And Forge

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Designer / Marketing Lead of Caveney Architectural Collaborative

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an architectural design firm located in Lowell, MA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Temper And Forge to accomplish?

• Website Development

SOLUTION

How did you find Temper And Forge?

Online Search

Why did you select Temper And Forge over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We worked with Temper & Forge on updating our website. We had a rough outline of what we wanted our website to look like and Temper & Forge delivered on the vision we saw. Our site is broken up into different sectors with a lot of content located within. 

We laid out a few pages in detail with T&F and they delivered the site to us. We wanted a website that was structured and clean while also displaying all of the work we do at CAC. This concept was transferred through the rest of the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• We had regular meetings every few weeks to go over deliverables and goals for the site. T&F was very transparent about the process that the website design took. They shared with us live documents and sources for us to view and leave comments on. T&F were very responsive with our requests and patient with the time it took for us to gather all of the material we needed to complete this project.

What was your primary form of communication with Temper And Forge?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

T&F delivered our work on time. The timelines that were set out at the start of each phase / deliverable was clear and followed. There were meetings and email correspondence for every decision that was made. They were very quick to respond and we were happy with how they dealt with our needs.

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

One thing that impressed us about T&F was there ability to listen and deliver on what we wanted. They truly listened to our wants and delivered. They let us design alongside them. Nothing was too hard to complete.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Temper And Forge could have done differently?

One area that T&F can improve on is their ability to manage client gathering material time. We spent a lot of time on our end gathering materials which pushed timelines back a bit. Also if they had the ability / closer relationships with copywriters our project would have gone smoother. These are minor improvements in the grand scheme of what our project entailed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of Earth+Kin, an outdoor gear manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We needed to build an e-commerce site for our brand launch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge provided our company with e-commerce development services. Before working with them, we were engaged with a company that provided us with web design services. We then hired Temper And Forge to build the Figma-based workflow and create a fully-operational website.

The team developed the platform through WordPress and implemented various e-commerce plugins such as Sendinblue, ShipStation, and WooCommcerce.

What is the team composition?

We were mainly in contact with the president and lead developer.

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

Temper And Forge was recommended to us by a marketing agency we contacted.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $21,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project from September 2022–January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The functionality of the website far exceeded our expectations. Sales have increased exponentially, and we’re happy with the significantly improved conversion rate.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

The budget for this project was clear and transparent, and we didn’t experience any unexpected fluctuations — additional functionalities realized after launch was handled as a warranty claim, so we maintained the original budget.

Temper And Forge was one of the most professional companies I’ve ever worked with, as they were highly responsive to our feedback, concerns, and changes we needed to make.

We typically interfaced through Monday.com, email, phone, and video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their consistent communication and how they were able to address our feedback simultaneously.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The team could’ve provided a more in-depth review of the project before jumping into the development phase.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To get the most out of your engagement with Temper And Forge, I recommend fully understanding the platform you want to build and being concise with the results you want to achieve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Co-Founder of Earth+Kin, a family outdoor gear company. We manufacture hard goods and sell them directly to consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We needed a custom e-commerce website for our brand launch. For this project, we needed help with the entire process, from design to fulfillment and launch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge developed an e-commerce website for us. Given that we needed to build it from scratch, they initially recommended a different creative studio to help us with the assets required, including concept design, photography, video production, and Figma website design.

Once we had the Figma files for the website design concept, we officially started our engagement with Temper And Forge, as they took those files to develop an operational e-commerce website. As for the technology stack, they used WordPress to build the site and created some plug-in integrations with WooCommerce, Brevo (formerly called Sendinblue), and ShipStation for the e-commerce operations portion of the site.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 3–4 teammates from Temper And Forge on a daily basis, including Nate (Founder & Owner), a lead developer, and a support developer.

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

We found them through word of mouth. When we were looking for a partner, we contacted a marketing agency that recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $21,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2022, and the project ended in January 2023 when we launched the website. Although the main project was completed, we plan to work with Temper And Forge on our SEO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website delivered by Temper And Forge exceeded our expectations. We already had a website up and running before launching this new website. After launching it, our sales increased exponentially, so we were very happy with the conversion rates of our new site.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

We were very happy with how quickly Temper And Forge worked. Although the delivery date didn’t exactly match the estimated timeline, the only delays were on our end, not theirs.

Moreover, the budget provided was clear and transparent, without unexpected cost fluctuations. There even was a piece of functionality we didn’t realize we needed until after launching the site, and Temper And Forge handled it as a warranty claim and absorbed that cost. Overall, we were very happy with how they handled the project to stick to the original budget by taking on the additional costs caused by edits outside the project’s scope.

From a communication standpoint, Temper And Forge was one of the most professional groups I’d worked with. There was never a moment where we felt uncommunicated, as they always replied within minutes. We felt like we had a personal developer assigned to our project at all times.

As for communication tools, we communicated via email, video calls, and phone calls. Towards the end of the engagement, we started using monday.com for continuous maintenance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge had the design concepts to build the website. Still, throughout the project, our designers asked for edits and changes, which were addressed in real time. Before working with them, I had never experienced unlimited communication with a service provider, so I was very happy in that regard.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive criticism for Temper And Forge. If anything, I would have liked to do a more thorough review of the design concepts we handed them off initially to clarify that every necessary feature had been fully designed.

They did a great job developing the website pixel by pixel based on the Figma design concept. However, some functionality was missing from that original concept, and no one realized it until after the launch. By doing a thorough review initially, we would have troubleshooted that issue sooner rather than later. Still, it wasn’t a problem, since Temper And Forge quickly jumped in, implemented the changes needed, and absorbed the cost.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand the platform that they use for building the website you need to be clear on what the end result will be. I could have done more research on my side about WordPress.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a program manager at a research and education company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We wanted to create a new e-learning service for humanitarian practitioners in the field, so we needed to redesign the look and feel of our online course material and website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Temper And Forge to help us create a new, clean, and sleek-looking WordPress website accessible for low bandwidth conditions worldwide. They’ve designed the wireframes and shown us different types of website designs for us to choose from.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, a lead designer and developer, and a software engineer.

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

We found them while looking for boutique website developers. We had other options, but we decided to go with Temper And Forge because we liked their products and their team’s approach.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

So far, we’ve spent about $25,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website they’ve created is intuitive, which is great for us because we can update it ourselves. In addition, the platform is very mobile- and user-friendly, and that’s something we’re looking for because we’re an educational platform that needs to be accessible in low internet connectivity areas.

Overall, everything they’ve done meets our expectations regarding look, feel, mobile accessibility, speed, and the ability to switch languages — those are features we asked them to create since the beginning.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m satisfied with project management. They’ve kept everything on schedule and use monday.com, where we can check the website’s progress. We also like that they have a dedicated project manager who sits on all of our biweekly calls to have constant contact with us and review everything. In addition, we use Slack — it’s very easy to reach out to them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a lot of background information on education. Moreover, they’re able to create a product with accessibility for people who aren’t tech-savvy or have internet access.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — I’m satisfied with them because they’re a great team to work with, including on an interpersonal level.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of business planning and marketing at Foodberry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We were rebranding to a new name and wanted a website to reflect our new brand, and what we stand for, so we reached out to Temper And Forge.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge built our website using WordPress. They didn’t code from scratch; they worked within the parameters and tools on WordPress and utilized their own previous code that they plugged into our site as needed.  

We asked the team to ensure the website reflected our most recent investor pitch deck so that, if investors looked at our site, it matched what they saw in the pitch deck. Temper And Forge included what our company does, focusing on making the site visually appealing and straightforward while still looking professional. 

Currently, they provide us with site maintenance on a retainer and develop small sections as needed. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve primarily worked with Nathan (Founder & Owner), who acts as our project manager. In addition, we’ve had email exchanges with two other people. 

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

I found them through a Google search for top website design companies in Boston. We chose Temper And Forge because they’d won awards and ranked as one of the leading companies in the area.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000–$27,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our leadership team is very happy with how the website turned out. How fast Temper And Forge completed the site has been a key benefit. Their effective communication is also outstanding; they understand what we want and run with it. Since we're not actively running marketing campaigns, we don't have metrics. 

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

They're excellent at project management; it's crazy how fast they've turned around the project. They've also been quick with the edits we've requested. Temper And Forge delivered the site a couple of days ahead of time to give us time for last-minute changes.

We use Monday.com for project management. As for communication, we use email and the occasional Google Meet call. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge excels at web design and does all the work for us; we only need to provide feedback and input. We were looking at another company that didn't think they'd be able to meet our deadline. Discussing the project initially, I was on the phone longer with this other vendor than the entire time I've spent talking to Nathan.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there's nothing they need to improve at this time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I definitely recommend Temper And Forge! To get the most out of the engagement, I recommend being as upfront as possible and giving them a sense of your brand and what you're all about. This way, they'll be more on target. Initially, we gave them our pitch deck and pre-selected some images, which gave them a good idea of what we wanted. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of a software company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

I hired Temper And Forge to build a website for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge has used WordPress to build our website. It has basic functionality and menus. There’s a video on the landing page, and it has a contact us page. At present, the team also provides maintenance and hosting services for us. 

What is the team composition?

We work with four people from Temper And Forge, including their founder who serves as our main point of contact. We’ve also worked with two of their designers. Their assistant keeps all notes and makes project plans.

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

I found Temper And Forge through Google.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $12,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement in March 2022, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve only recently launched the website, so we don’t have much quantitative data yet. However, the feedback that I’ve gotten from other people is that the website is clean and easy to understand and navigate. It’s modern-looking and looks great on mobile devices. It makes good use of fonts, and I’m generally happy with it.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge has met our deadline and stayed on budget. To manage the project, they use Monday. To communicate, we use a mix of Teams, Zoom, Slack, and email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re flexible and provide great advice on content, texts, and editing. That’s a good skill on their part. We’ve given them a lot of paragraphs, and they’ve created a lot of good content from those paragraphs. 

On top of that, Temper And Forge definitely has a good eye for font usage. They have a good command of UX — they have a technical understanding of the data behind UX designs. As a result, the website isn’t designed randomly. Everything is intentionally structured based on data. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Weekly communication meetings, scheduled in advance would improve communication. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Show examples of existing sites you like to ensure your vision is clear.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior digital marketing manager of a nationwide home services provider. We primarily focus on residential painting, but we also offer commercial business painting. In my role, I handle anything related to digital marketing and advertising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

When I first joined the company, I decided that we needed a website redesign. Our former website was outdated, and it didn’t reflect the national premium presence that we had. Thus, we needed help with this project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge has helped us design and develop our WordPress website, which includes over 100 different pages. First, we went over the project and what we needed from our website before jumping into its design and development. They’ve also implemented a page builder per my request. We’ve just launched our website, and Temper And Forge will be in charge of its maintenance moving forward.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Nate (Founder & Owner), Sam (Developer), and Katelyn (Account Manager).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

We did extensive research and evaluated different companies. Ultimately, I believe we found Temper And Forge on Clutch and decided to work with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback regarding our site’s appearance has been great. We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from our internal staff and leadership, and everyone thinks that it reflects who we are very well. The process has also been really fast, which I consider a great success as well.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge sticks to timelines very well, and our engagement has been great. They’ve handled the entire project through Monday.com, and we have a shared Slack channel to communicate. Additionally, we communicate via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge can take their clients’ vision and turn it into a reality at a very competitive price. They did a great job at reflecting the highly visual characteristics of a painting business like ours on our website.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if Temper And Forge offered better communication regarding the hours we’re using compared to the ours we had budgeted.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with a detailed plan around what you need. It is helpful to provide them with how you want the pages to look and examples of other sites you like.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of Billie & Bird Jewelry Co., an online jewelry website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We wanted to launch an online portal for our jewelry distribution. We needed a company that could help us design an e-commerce site in a cost-effective manner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge helped us develop a template for our Shopify e-commerce site. We showed them our existing logo design, primary branding colors, product samples, and some examples of the different websites that we gravitated towards to give them an idea of our style and our vision for this website. They then came back to us with some sample templates.

Our plan was to customize an existing Shopify website template rather than develop a new one from scratch. Temper And Forge was able to weed through the different template options that we had and choose one that showcased our products the best. After selecting the final template, we continued working with them to make some changes to it. They gave us recommendations on the creative elements of the template, which included the images, font sizes, or font design. We worked back and forth until we came up with the final website design.

Aside from that, Temper And Forge also helped us choose the secondary colors to use on the website. They’re currently working on our site’s SEO.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with Nate (Founder & Owner) and Sam (Frontend Web Developer).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

Temper And Forge was recommended to us by a mutual friend, so we decided to reach out to them. We were really impressed with their previous work and their strategy in terms of working with us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $10,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've only been live for less than a month, so we don’t really have any quantitative metrics just yet. But we were in the top 7% of all Shopify websites that were launched in the same time period as our website.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge has met our goals in terms of delivering everything on time. Their communication has been very good as well — they’re very responsive, and they always get back to us quickly whenever we have any questions or concerns.

We use Monday for project management, and we primarily communicate through email and text messaging.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge is a very talented team, but I’m most impressed with the fact that we could use their services on an as-needed basis instead of having them on retainer. This has been incredibly helpful in terms of sticking to our budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Temper And Forge’s communication is good, but it could be a little bit better. We’ve had a few instances where they could have been more proactive in terms of letting us know what needed to be done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of Billie & Bird Jewelry Co, a women’s jewelry website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We wanted to launch an online portal for our jewelry distribution in a cost-effective way while making it look very professional. Although we have a broad skillset, website and online store development are not part of our talents. Thus, we connected with Temper And Forge to get help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Creating a custom template from an existing one was more cost-effective than designing and developing a new website from scratch, so Temper And Forge helped us develop a custom Shopify template for our site. Part of the reason why they recommended Shopify for our site was that online sales were our main focus. They told us that Shopify was a very seamless platform for new businesses like ours, and we would be able to combine a lot of the elements that we needed to run our store.

First, we provided them with assets to create the template, including our logo, primary branding colors, product samples, target audience information, and samples of different websites that we liked. With our input, they got a better understanding of our style. Then, they came back with different template options based on our style and the products we needed to showcase.

After choosing a template to start from, Temper And Forge started customizing it and fine-tuning it. This process was very collaborative, during which they gave us recommendations of different creative elements to add, including imagery, font size, and font design.

We launched the site recently, but Temper And Forge keeps working with us. Currently, they’re helping us with our SEO. These efforts started when they were still building the site, implementing on-site SEO strategies for our product names and listings.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we were introduced to four people from Temper And Forge, two of which focused on account services. However, we haven’t interacted with them a lot. Our main contact points have been Nate (Lead Developer & Owner) and Sam (Developer).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

We were connected with Temper And Forge through a mutual friend, and we really liked the strategy they brought to the table to work with us. It was very attractive to us that we didn’t need to put them on a retainer, so they would work for us as much as we needed them to, and we would pay them accordingly. This approach was very helpful for us as a new business because we would be able to control our costs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around July 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. Our goal was to launch the site around January 2022, but we were behind schedule and launched in February 2022, which was partially our fault.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Generally speaking, Temper And Forge has met our goals and done what we needed them to do. During the first month of our launch, we were in the top 7% of all Shopify websites that were launched in the same period, which was a great metric to understand how users perceived us. However, it is still early to provide any metrics regarding the site’s performance.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge have been good at meeting timeline expectations. Although we launched our site later than we wanted, it was more our fault than theirs. Additionally, their communication has been good.

In terms of budgeting, we’ve been surprised a couple of times by our bills, but I don’t think it has to do with Temper And Forge. We use a Monday.com board, which tells us how many work hours we’re using. However, we haven’t been on top of it as much as needed, and we’ve ended up going over our budgeted hours. Moving forward, we will be more aware of that.

Besides Monday.com, we communicate via email and text messages. Our communication was especially helpful during launch because we texted them whenever we found bugs, and they fixed them immediately.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge is a very talented team. They run very leanly while being highly professional — that’s a good combination. Additionally, I like that they’re similar to a boutique shop financially speaking, so we don’t have to pay monthly contracts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Temper And Forge’s communication has room for improvement. It would be great if they were more on top of things and frequently touched base with us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and president of a wine retail company. We have four stores in the Boston area, and we do a fair amount of virtual events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We had a shoddy website, and we needed help in web and e-commerce development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Temper and Forge designed and developed a quick turnaround funnel website for our events business. We would use that as a landing page for our Google and social media ads. 

The site is built on WordPress and contains our company information, services, and some testimonials. It also features a basic questionnaire that allows us to obtain essential details from prospective clients. After development, they’ve hosted this platform. 

Since we’ve liked what Temper and Forge did, we’ve also asked them to revamp our retail website. They’re currently rebuilding our Shopify website from scratch. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with Nathan (Founder & Owner), a designer, and a developer. 

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

I found Temper and Forge through Clutch. I was in touch with five web developers for my landing page project. They were the only ones who confidently committed that they could deliver the project in 2–3 weeks. Their price was also very reasonable, and I liked their portfolio. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $10,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve started working together in September 2021, and our relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Temper and Forge’s work has helped us generate close to $100,000 in revenue in just two months. Our customers like the site since it’s simple and represents who we are. The site has also received positive feedback from our organization. 

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper and Forge’s project management is top-notch. They’ve followed our schedule and even over-delivered; their team functions with very little guidance. We communicate through emails and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper and Forge has delivered what they’ve promised — that’s rare. They offer quality and timely work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to what they have to say because it’s valuable.