Wojo Design

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a small company. I handle all aspects of the business except for finances, which my wife helps with.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wojo Design?

I hired Wojo Design to design and build our website and to be responsible for all online marketing.

What were your goals for this project?

My goal was to increase the number of home inspection leads we received. I also wanted to reduce our reliance on expensive and mostly ineffective Yellow Pages advertising. At the time, I had no online presence whatsoever, but I thought that a good website and effective online advertising would help us grow the business faster.

SOLUTION

Describe the project in detail.

I initially hired Wojo to do a one-off project. The quality of the work was great, so I continued to use them for all of my other marketing needs. Wojo quickly built the website as soon as I approved their design concept. Once the website was built, they started managing our SEO and Google AdWords, making sure that we appear in searches. In addition, they have helped me with brochure design, social media, logo design, and iPad app development.

What was the team composition?

I primarily work with Kyle (Co-Owner, Wojo Design), who is the project manager. From time to time, I've worked with two of his co-founders on technical and design projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As the primary decision-maker, I am happy with the work they are doing. I frequently hear customers say that they are very impressed with the website. Even though I’ve scaled back on print advertising, my business continues to grow quickly. I had my best year ever in 2016, with 400 inspections in a calendar year. This was a result of Wojo’s marketing efforts.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The process is quite seamless. I can reach Kyle quickly and expect a prompt response. They are available via phone, text message, email, and in-person meetings. However, I don't really like using fancy online tools, so we communicate via telephone. They have adapted well to my preferences.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I'm surprised at the variety of things Wojo can do, and do well. It's nice to have one agency that I can rely on for all of my marketing needs. I haven't considered hiring anyone else.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The biggest challenge I faced is that it was difficult for me to write all the recommended content for the website. It may have been wiser for me to see if Wojo or another agency could have done most of the content writing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of marketing for Energy Light, Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wojo Design?

We needed help with market visibility in our industry. We wanted customers to find us easily, and our ultimate goal was to increase revenue. The challenge was for people to find us when they put in a keyword for a specific product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The initial step was for them to understand our products and our customers. I was impressed that they took the time to do some homework. They studied our products and came to our facility to understand what the product does and how it solves problems for our customers.

In my experience, other companies didn’t care about that. They said they could help us with our challenge or project, but were only interested in us giving them some keywords or us helping them with a lot of the setup. Wojo Design took the initiative, completely learning and understanding the products before they did anything else. Their interest made me feel better.

Then they designed our so-called digital marketing plan. They wanted us to review it with them. They showed us every step that would take place during the benchmarks they had set up. It was very measurable.

In phase three, once the sales starting picking up, the primary goal became to consistently increase revenue and conversion rates. It was almost a repetition of the first two steps. The key was to convert not only online visitors but also people who called us. They used Google Analytics and other software to measure that.

When we started working with them, our website was based on Network Solutions. They told us that platform is probably the most challenging. Magento would be a little easier to use and would increase organic search visibility. It took us a few years to migrate to Magento.

What is the team composition?

The co-owner was our primary contact. We also worked with a few others.

How did you come to work with Wojo Design?

I searched Google for digital marketing agencies in Chicago. I figured that a good digital agency should have a good website. A few agencies had aggressive claims, but their websites looked terrible and didn’t rank well on Google. I looked for a digital marketing agency that not only had a nice, clean website, but could also promote their own brand. I narrowed my search down to three or four companies, and we didn’t regret choosing Wojo Design.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000-$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have grown about 30% a year for the last six years. I can’t imagine how that would have happened without them making us more visible. They helped us set up the products properly on the website. When somebody looks for it, it’s relevant content that customers are looking for.

In 2012, we had two employees; now we have 16. We now operate in a 25,000 square foot facility instead of working out of a home. Our success story is phenomenal. Considering the amount of money we invested, the return on investment is a no-brainer.

How did Wojo Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent and very reachable. Whenever the website isn’t working or the conversion rate drops, they get back to me very quickly. They manage the project well too. I was concerned because they were so young and small at the time, but they came through. I’d give them an A for project management. At the beginning, we talked weekly and had meetings once a month. Once everything was set up, we had a quarterly meeting. Those still continue.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have impressive knowledge across the board. They know what our website needs to gain visibility and increase conversions, and their knowledge constantly increases. They freely offer suggestions and advice, and they care about our growth. They don’t just look at us as a client. They know that if we do well, they will do well. That's rare in this day and age.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We’ve been very happy with them. They serve companies with small to medium revenue. I don’t think you could find a better boutique agency. There are lots of big agencies out there, but these guys spend time time working with you and ensuring your success. If they don’t grow too fast too quickly, they will continue to be a great find.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of Viper Apparel. We are a prom and pageant apparel company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wojo Design?

I needed help to develop a unique website for my business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kyle (Co-owner, Wojo Design) developed an e-commerce website for me from scratch. He helped me with SEO, Google Ads, and AdWords Express so that we rank well for people who are looking for prom dresses in our area. Kyle added a cart to my website and created a function for customers to search by designer, style, or price. Customers can click on the image and add it to the cart or forward it to a friend. He also added a function for customers to leave a review.

We are currently making a website for my bridal store to let customers know who we are and what we do.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Kyle.

How did you come to work with Wojo Design?

I found Kyle through a local website. I considered seven vendors, but Kyle was the only one who listened to everything I said and then emailed me all of the information.

How much have you invested in them?

I have spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2011 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When I first started with Kyle, the website shut down because of high traffic. Kyle got me a server that controlled my website, and now, the number of people that can be on my website is unlimited, and it will never shut down.

Kyle gave me a lot of his time, and I appreciate his business. He has been so patient with me. He always looks out for my company and asks a lot of questions. He gives me advice on advertising spending and has saved me money by focusing on the results I get.

Kyle is very unique, and he listens to my needs. My business went from being really small, and now we do over $1 million dollars per year at both locations. He has done a lot for my business.

How did Wojo Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was delivered on time and on budget, and he saves me money. I have emailed him at midnight, and 20 minutes later, he emailed me back. If there are issues with my website, he always responds. We talk by phone almost every week.

I was with Kyle for seven years and I went to another company for about a year. The other company didn’t care about me and only cared about getting their fees. Kyle cared, which is why I went back to him. I made the biggest mistake going to the other company, and I will never leave his company again. He really cares about his customers. I trust him with all my information, including username and passwords.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing about Kyle is that he is loyal to his customers. He calls me right back when I need something or if there is an issue with the website. He talks to my employees if I am not available and does a lot of training with them with no questions asked. He is always willing to train my staff. He is a good person and a good businessman.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend Kyle and Wojo Design.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the project manager and CEO of Foundations Medical Informatics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wojo Design?

We were building software for the treatment of hepatitis C. We started working on logo design and wanted to work out a prototype for beta testing among professionals in the hepatitis C healthcare industry.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They spent a lot of time working on design concepts. They were experts in making things look good. We weren’t technically proficient or talented with design. We had ideas about what the app should do, but not what it should look like.

I attended clinics to observe treatment procedures for patients. We had a rough sketch of our ideas that I presented to Kyle (Co-owner, Wojo Design). Wojo transformed our ideas and algorithms into a good-looking prototype. We were planning to do a web-based application, but the prototype worked on either Android or iOS. The only time we saw it was on Apple products.

We met in person to whiteboard the process and possible wireframes. They did all the color schemes, form, and functionality to fit our budget. They designed the logo and helped pick a name. The design was simple and the name was great. It would easily translate to the different editions of the app.

What is the team composition?

I only interacted with Kyle. We would email throughout the week and he was always available for communication. I could only drive up on the weekends, so we did the whiteboarding and changes when I was available. During the week, his team would build things out. There were at least one or two other team members. I don’t know the exact number. We had another partner based out of Princeton who worked on our databases and backend.

How did you come to work with Wojo Design?

I’ve known Kyle for 12 years now. I want with his company because I knew him; we didn’t consider other companies. The amount of time and design they contributed to the project was beyond what I could have expected with anyone else.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $10,000–$15,000 for their work on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on the project in summer 2015 and continued into early 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For as much as we did with it, we ran into time constraints on our end. We never took it farther, but they did everything we wanted and more. I was nothing but happy with the work they did. I couldn't believe what they came up with based on what we told them. They made it look really cool.

How did Wojo Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They were perfect. My schedule meant I had to communicate on weekends or weird times. I never expected quick answers, but they usually got back to me quickly. When they started iterating different screens, they got back to me with screenshots. I’d make comments and they made changes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity and what they could do with what we asked them were impressive. This is their first time working on a medical product or medical design. The language we used was probably different from what they’re used to, but they were not afraid to ask questions and learned quickly. I was impressed that they developed a product based on a field they’d never worked in.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of; I was happy with the work they did. They gave us exactly what we asked for and the product wouldn’t look even half as good without their help.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re design experts and know how to make things look and feel good for users. Let them put their ideas into your project. They might surprise you with something you’ll like.

BACKGROUND

Can you give a brief description of your company?

We are Little Books. We publish reflection books for the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, and also a children’s book for Lent. We distribute them to mostly Catholic parishes, but also many individuals. It’s worldwide. We sell more than three million books a year.

What is your role at Little Books?

I’m the operations manager. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

When you approached Wojo Design, what was the business challenge that you were trying to address?

We didn’t have a website at the time. They built the website from scratch. We just felt we needed a website in today’s world. We thought it might be an easier way to handle the small orders. We market letters to about 2,500 parishes every year, but we weren’t reaching the people who only ordered one. Besides that, if they send it through the mail or they call us, it takes a lot of staff time. Whereas if they order and pay on the website, it’s done. We process the order. Staff time is minimized. The website has been a real help to us. We get lots of orders. They pay by credit card and PayPal. We don’t have to deal with the credit card liability because we never see it. It’s been a real help. Wojo also sends out an email blast whenever I tell them to, saying it’s time order Lent books or Easter books. The response to that has been phenomenal. We can’t get them all printed in a day. It’s been a very good marketing and processing tool for us.

SOLUTION

Did they provide training and support for the website?

They do all the support. We don’t have much training to do. It’s very simple for us. Someone else may have different needs but, in our case, we get an email which bounces to my computer with the order and with the payment information. That’s what we have to do. If I want to update my message on the website, he showed me how to do that. They basically do everything for us, but our needs might be different from someone else’s.

How long did it take them to build your website?

I think it was two or three months. They gave us a timeline in their proposal and pretty much kept to it. I never questioned it because it was fine, and the timing was perfect for us because it was up and running before the new fiscal year started.

When was this?

It must be four or five years ago, at least.

What was your process for selecting Wojo Design to work with?

It happened that my grandson was part of the original company. They started doing this when they were in high school, building websites and doing all kinds of things. I had a personal connection. He has since gone on to other jobs, but they continue to do our work for us, and it was seamless as far as I was concerned. There was no change in whether it was my grandson or somebody else doing it.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative either in a cost range or personnel work hour estimate?

It doesn’t seem to me that I paid a whole lot for the original website. I pay when they do an email blast. I pay for the conversion to e-books. They handled all of that for me and it made connections with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Apple. Every project has been a different cost, but they’ve always given me a proposal ahead of time and we’ve evaluated and said go ahead. I think it’s about $1,500 for each book conversion, but it’s been going down. The more they do it, the less it’s going to be.

It’s less than $10,000 a year if I count all the conversions and the updating of the website. They also built the websites for our office in Ireland.

So, for each new book that Little Books publishes, Wojo Design converts it to the various formats. Is that correct?

Yes. They also set up all the reporting for me so that I get reports of how many books sold and everything. I just go to their website and can get that. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

We’re extremely pleased with not only what their work has been like, but the website has just been a real benefit to Little Books. They increase our exposure, and they cut down a lot of staff work because it’s done through the Web. I’d hate to have to think about changing. I’m very pleased with what they’re doing. 

How would you describe their performance?

Excellent. They always meet our needs, and they respond in a timely manner. Our sales results are very good. There are times after the email blast that I might get 200 orders in a day.

Looking back on the project, is there any area that you think Wojo Design could improve or that you would do differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Can you give a description of your company and your role?

We provide flash sales for shows like “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America,” where brands will have 24 hour sales and regular e-commerce sites actually can’t handle the traffic and the volume that go through regular websites. So, we developed what’s called no-database carts, and that’s mainly what we do at PP Web Pros.

What is your role?

I’m the director and lead designer. I manage everything with the company and oversee all the projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

When you approached Wojo Design, what was the challenge that you were trying to address?

It was in the early stages when we were actually developing the technology, and looking for the pieces and the people to make the technology actually work. 

We’d dealt with other developers before, and we weren’t happy with them. The quality of work wasn’t very good. We were looking for somebody that could do a lot better work, could do it faster, and had a better rapport with customers and clients.

Did you have any specific business goals for the project?

The goal was to be able to develop the sites. It’s very fast paced, [we would be notified that] a brand was going on with a show in maybe two weeks or a week. So, turnaround is very quick on these. There’s a lot of long hours and long nights, and people have to adapt under high stress. Millions of dollars’ worth of transactions happen within a 24-hour period. So, you have to be able to deal with the stress of these sales. When things go wrong, you have to be able to cope, adapt, problem solve, and troubleshoot on the spot. They have to be able to handle stress and pressure, and adapt when things go wrong.    

SOLUTION

Did you look at other potential vendors when you hired them? What made you choose Wojo Design?

Yes, we did. I scoured a lot of developers. One thing Wojo did is they had developed their own no-database cart with a content management system called ExpressionEngine. They’d actually released the technology online for free to help other developers learn from it. The little crew that they had at Wojo was a really talented group. So, I started reaching out to them and talking to them about what they’ve done, and I was really impressed with some of the work that they were doing. So, we just started our conversation from there.

Can you tell us more about the scope of the work they do for you?

They’re mainly the development and technical end of everything. They deal with all the coding, the content management system, the e-commerce side of things, and the databases.

It’s based around the ExpressionEngine CMS, but they’ve really developed a customized system all our own. It’s a really complex system that works off of Authorize.net. We’ve developed a few things with a series of databases that is set up with Rackspace in the cloud. It’s a complex little system.   

Is this ongoing work?

Yes. Every time we get a new project, they are a big part of it. It’s been going on for about three or four years now. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of the results of the project, are there any metrics that you can share?

We do track all the analytics. We can have anywhere from 1,000 sales, 1,000 units sold at force, to nearly 40,000 units sold within a 24-hour period. The volume of traffic that goes through some of these sites is staggering. Sites like Target.com have crashed on “The Today Show,” and our sites have never crashed.

How would you describe Wojo Design’s performance?

It’s been fantastic. I’ve been in the industry for about 20 years now, and I’ve worked with a lot of developers. I have never worked with anybody or a group of guys better than Kyle [Deming, the co-owner of Wojo Design] and his crew.

What do you find special or unique about them?

I think it’s a collection of things. He works very well under pressure. His dedication and amount of time he puts into, not just these projects, but he works on a lot of things. He works very long hours. So, he’s really dedicated and hardworking. I work a lot of hours, and I didn’t think anybody worked as hard as I did. But, Kyle is always working when I’m working. I can find him online when I’m working all the time. It’s really reassuring. Anytime we’ve had problems with anything, I can call him up anytime, and he reacts, and he fixes things. He’s very even keel. When things go wrong, he never panics, he never gets upset, and he’s very good with clients. I send him work all the time. Clients love him. He’s just a really great partner to have.

Is there any area that you think Wojo Design could improve upon or that you would do differently?

I don’t know. I wish they had more guys so they could do more work. But, it’s hard to get guys that good, so I think that would be very difficult.