Wonderment Apps

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CTO for Stamps.com, an internet postage provider, where I worked for 15 years. During that time, I was responsible for all of IT and software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wonderment Apps?

We needed a more rapid web development pipeline because our ability to deploy content to the web has become slow and cumbersome, so we looked for Wonderment to accelerate that. We also wanted them to provide some design suggestions and try to visually improve the look and feel of Stamps.com.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve had multiple projects with Wonderment, including taking over one of our websites for our first project. It’s an online store where you can use to purchase stamps with your own uploaded photos — so it was like a custom product workflow website.

The initial phase of the project was the provision of requirements and the design. Since Wonderment had a background in design, they pitched us some design and layout recommendations to enhance our website aesthetically. Our product team liked a lot of their suggestions, so we incorporated them into the requirements and moved on to the development phase.

Wonderment took over for an existing team during the development phase. They spent a period of time getting up to speed and learning the regular maintenance releases. Once they gained a bit of confidence, they took it over and did the redesign plans. After that, they started doing ongoing maintenance, and kept the responsibilities for that entire set of servers.

The website was built on a platform that we were already using called ETG, and it was developed using Java with an HTML layer. They worked within the framework of what we already had.

What is the team composition?

Back when I was still there, I believe we worked with about ten people, but based on my understanding, their footprints within Stamps.com have grown considerably since then.

How did you come to work with Wonderment Apps?

I had known one of the founders from a previous relationship where we collaborated on and off, while he was still a full-time employee from his previous employer. I had already developed confidence in him as an individual when he decided to leave and start his own business. I believe I was one of his early phone calls, and probably their company’s second client.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we spent somewhere around $2 million while I worked there.

What is the status of this engagement?

I retired in 2018, and by that point, we were already a year into our partnership. We started working with them in May 2017, and they never stopped working with Stamps.com so it’s still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a tough job where they had to go in and take over a system that had issues, it needed a deep redesign that was very complex due to the custom product workflow, so it’s not just a matter of buying and selling things. Therefore, my general feedback is that they were really adept when it came to understanding complex requirements, and adapting to existing systems. I also thought their design feedback was incredible and their coding was stable and reliable.

How did Wonderment Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

The way they managed the project was good. They ran a parallel project management team to our team, and they came in on time and on budget, so I couldn’t have been happier. Our teams both had Jira implementations, so we would communicate indirectly through Jira tickets. They would also visit us weekly, so we had good face-to-face contact with their chief technologist.

Moreover, we had contact with the other founder who did some of the business and design work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was very impressed with their platform flexibility, as they have experience with most major technologies. We had a very diverse set of technologies in the portfolio, and they were able to speak intelligently about all those things. Additionally, their development speed was faster than ours, and their ability to weigh in on design was what probably sold the rest of our team on hiring them.

They were also aware of newer technologies that we weren’t using, and they made some suggestions for ways to enhance our technologies that weren’t on our radar.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If anything would be different, I would’ve wanted them to ramp up faster back then. At the time, our issue early on was we wanted to grow, but they were just starting and were still getting their initial infrastructure built. I imagine that’s already been resolved and they have a really steady flow of candidates by now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to make sure that you bring them all the way into your organization, and have them collaborate on a peer-to-peer basis with the corresponding members of your team. You really want Wonderment in your organization and allow them to become part of your team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Digital Marketing at Copper Cow Coffee. Our product consists of pre-filled Vietnamese coffee filters paired with sweetened condensed milk creamers. I oversee all marketing activations, primarily focused on acquisition efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We worked with Wonderment to build a new homepage experience and new PDPs. A pain point of ours is education as our product is fairly new to the US marketing. Our in-house designer worked to create mock-ups based on PDP best practices and integrating more educational elements. Wonderment then implemented these designs on our Shopify storefront.

SOLUTION

How did you select Wonderment Apps and what were the deciding factors?

A recommendation from our in-house designer brought us to Wonderment Apps. While we were vetting other freelance developers and agencies, Wonderment was always the quickest to respond and provided clear answers, timelines, etc. We felt confident with our scope of work and what to expect in our conversations, which was something we did not feel from the others we were speaking too.

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

Our key deliverables were a new homepage build, as well as new product description pages. Our store is hosted on Shopify, and the team was mindful of our current tech stack, including Recharge, Okendo, etc. It was also important to us that the pages be easily editable as we do not have an in-house developer. Wonderment made sure to keep this in mind during the build.

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

We worked largely with the Director of Product. He hosted weekly calls as well as provided weekly updates. On a few occasions, the lead developer would also join the calls to provide more granular details.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We immediately saw a sizable increase in our overall conversion rates as well as time spent on site. Bounce rates also slightly decreased. We immediately heat-mapped our PDPs and noticed that 40%+ mobile users were making it to the bottom of the page, despite the overall increase in content hosted on those pages. The pages are also incredibly easy to edit, which is a big plus for our small team!

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

We communicated mainly over email and had weekly calls with the Director of Product. Any changes to the timelines, asset needs, etc were quickly communicated to both myself and our designer.

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

I appreciated the weekly walk-throughs of progress, we could actually view the site and ask questions in real time. I also really appreciated updates on how far we were in our scope/spend so we were always clear on our overall budget.

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

There was a minor issue when we first launched (the images on the PDPs would not load on mobile depending on connection speed, etc), but their team was incredibly quick to pinpoint the issue and implement a response.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing partner at a managing consulting group. We do operational excellence projects in the energy sector. We work with our clients to improve cost savings, efficiency, productivity, leadership, and safety.

We specialize in conducting operational diagnostics to identify the root causes of the challenges faced by organizations when working. Then, we work with the organization to develop mitigation strategies to help resolve the challenges that they’re up against.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wonderment Apps?

I was trying to create a new website and rebrand our organization. I hired Wonderment Apps to develop a new design and website with a modern look and feel to attract my target demographic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went through the process of flushing out the key priorities of my business including the messaging, the look, and the feel I wanted. Wonderment Apps then helped design the backend system and the overall website for my organization. The team used WordPress to develop the website. 

What is the team composition?

There are three people who work with us. We work with Ryan (Co-Founder & Partner), a project manager, and a team member who’s working on the backend. 

How did you come to work with Wonderment Apps?

We found them through word of mouth. A friend of mine referred me to Ryan and his company. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in October 2015 and it’s ongoing. It’s an on-and-off engagement; the website is done, but I go to them when there are updates and maintenance needed. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have specific metrics, since most of the feedback is qualitative rather than quantitative. My business has grown steadily in the last five years and I can’t attribute that to something specific such as the site. However, the website is a good tool that supports me in growing my business. Wonderment Apps did a good job at thoroughly developing the look and feel I wanted on the website. 

How did Wonderment Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

Wonderment Apps performs well. I’m happy with the three individuals that I work with. They’re responsive and it’s a good working experience. We use their project management tools to guide the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The involvement of senior leadership in the project is important. It’s not just a project that once you get on board, you’ll be handed down and be forgotten. I appreciate Ryan's involvement in the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Double-check grammatical errors when posting content. Acting as a second set of their eyes to see wording and grammatical errors; I think they missed those before and it required extra effort on my part to go through sentences — that took a lot of time and effort on my side.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with your priorities and with the look and feel that you’re going after. If you can clarify your vision ahead of time, they’ll do a good job executing it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide a SaaS platform that allows people to print postage and shipping labels from their home or office. We also have an e-commerce component, selling scales, printers, and shipping labels to shippers and mailers. I’m the product manager at the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wonderment Apps?

They’re helping us with the e-commerce side of the business. We had an in-house team, but it wasn’t working out that well, and we needed a replacement.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wonderment Apps has been doing ongoing maintenance and feature enhancement for our two stores. They’ve also been helping us with the WordPress marketing sites we have in place. They were involved in launching two new career websites for our subsidiaries.

One of our recent projects was to migrate an e-commerce site for photo stamps from a legacy system to a Shopify one. 

What is the team composition?

We have 8–10 people from Wonderment working on the e-commerce part, including developers, QA testers, and a team lead. A couple of them are shared with other projects.

We have one lead and one assistant developer and a couple of QA people on the WordPress side of things. I oversee their work in both areas.

How did you come to work with Wonderment Apps?

This goes back to before my time with the company. Our CTO brought them on as a replacement to the existing in-house team. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve been involved with us since 2015. The photo stamps project started around October 2018, and it was officially launched in August 2019. The WordPress careers websites project started in June or July 2020, and it had a short runtime. They’re still providing maintenance for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the photo stamps site in 2019, and it turned out to be very successful and profitable. It was a huge project, and I give kudos to Wonderment for their hard work on it.

We saw a 20–25% bump in our conversion rate after launching the new site. The old one wasn’t doing that great, and the difference in conversions was day and night. This goes to how well the new site was developed.

We’ve done a lot of enhancements and optimizations to the e-commerce sites, and we’ve seen an uptick in orders and order values from 2015, when Wonderment took over, till now.  

Wonderment delivered on time and on budget, and they met all our expectations.

How did Wonderment Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team has been very responsive to us. They’re available around the clock, even though it’s not required of them. They’ve been good in terms of overall communication and status reporting.

They have internal project managers, and we have weekly check-ins with the business and development teams. Wonderment is present on our company Slack channels, where we can discuss anything on the fly. We also have an escalation channel set up, where we can reach out to them outside working hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don’t try to oversell themselves. Whenever we go to Wonderment with a problem or a new project, they’ll try to reason with us as a partner. They focus on the good of our company rather than the value of the service. 

From a development team standpoint, the availability they’ve shown is impressive. We’ve had issues where we had to contact them at 3 a.m. their time, and they were willing to help right away.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the things I’d critique is the overall testing. We had some bumps when we first started. The testing wasn’t being done that well, and we found a lot of issues. Wonderment Apps has improved a lot over time, and they’ve brought in some quality folks from the testing world.

Things are great now, but I’d still like to see test automation. We have a lot of manual testing in place, and things can be missed in-between. There are a lot of automated tests and scripts that can be written these days, and I’d expect to see this going forward. This way, we could improve speed as well as quality.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should share their needs and try to see how Wonderment Apps can fit in with their company. Having an official requirements document can also be extremely beneficial. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of a nonprofit focused on making financial literacy engaging, fun, and accessible to all. We also look to inspire entrepreneurship.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wonderment Apps?

We were looking to bring entertainment to our target audience, which are GenZ and Millennials. We wanted to engage them, make them interested in learning financial concepts, and connecting them to learning resources.

We needed a platform that would not only deliver this information to our audience but also give us the analytic tools to see which things had the highest impact on our audience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us with conception, designing, and laying out all of the requirements for the system that we’d need. For that part, they worked closely with our internal design team. Then, we moved to a phase that involved executing and building the system, based on those requirements. Features include a video player, a resource of learning applications, and an analytics panel. Now, they do maintenance and add new features.

What is the team composition?

We work with Ryan (Co-founder & Partner), and two other members from their team.

How did you come to work with Wonderment Apps?

They were referred to us, and were one of two companies we looked into.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in June 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work is excellent, and they’ve been a pleasure to collaborate with. They kept us updated on the progress along the way, worked with us on any challenges along the way, and they’ve been open and transparent to work with.

How did Wonderment Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

Their ability to meet deadlines has been very good. The team’s road mapping of new features has been really good, too. Overall, their communication and responsiveness have been great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take the time to understand your business and goals, before diving into the project. The team is very thoughtful in making sure the service they provide is the one you want. Additionally, they bring their experience to the table to help think things through.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve had a really positive experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have really clear goals on what you want to achieve; it’ll help determine which actions to take once they start the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Storied Media Group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wonderment Apps?

They created a SaaS platform called Story Scout.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us from the very beginning, providing us design work and building the system.

What is the team composition?

There was a project manager who managed a group in Belarus.

How did you come to work with Wonderment Apps?

I found them through a contact who thought they’d be good for what we needed. They had a background in entertainment, which was good.

How much have you invested with them?

Between $250,000 and $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work started in 2018 and is ongoing. They continue to tweak and update the product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was very happy with what we did. The architecture of the site and the price were great. Their transparency was solid.

How did Wonderment Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was good. They hit all deadlines and communicated well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone says it’s great and easy to use.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I was very pleased to recommend them to others.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Western Region Manager of TAG Manufacturing

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Aftermarket construction equipment manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Wonderment Apps to accomplish?

• Create a new, modern website
• Make our product info easily accessible for current and prospective customers
• Increase web traffic

SOLUTION

How did you find Wonderment Apps?

Referral

Why did you select Wonderment Apps over others?

Great culture fit, Good value for cost, Referred to me

What was the size of Wonderment Apps’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

Full new website design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Website launch

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

Wonderment was streamlined and efficient. We were given a project manager that set up weekly calls with us to discuss deadlines and give updates on progress. We always had a direct line for questions and concerns. Wonderment went above and beyond with our CRM integration when that vendor fell short. The project was completed on time and within budget.

What was your primary form of communication with Wonderment Apps?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

Wonderment was a full-service firm that tackled every aspect of the project without having to refer us to multiple vendors.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Special Project Manager of HIS USA Holding, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Trevelcomany

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Wonderment Apps to accomplish?

• Build new mobile app

SOLUTION

How did you find Wonderment Apps?

Referral

Why did you select Wonderment Apps over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Wonderment Apps’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

Design and development of the application from concept design

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• material

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

They were very accommodating in developing the app and gave me a lot of very good advice. The development schedule was smooth.

What was your primary form of communication with Wonderment Apps?

Virtual Meeting

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

He thought of developing the app as if it were his own company.

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

nothing

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the managing partner at Empire Foot and Ankle. I manage a few difference practices specialized in foot and ankle surgery.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We used Wonderment Apps to develop a custom software solution for us in order to connect our patient database system to a number of internal sales and marketing systems in addition to our insurance tracking software.

SOLUTION

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

We came across this company on Clutch through some searches and comparison to other competitors.

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

The key deliverables were API systems to connect a number of internal systems in order for patient information to flow seamlessly throughout most of our software tracking systems.

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

We worked directly with 4-5 people. A technical project manager was assigned to our project along with a number of developers and a QA team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The solution Wonderment Apps provided made it so much easier for us to manage the overall data. We ended up saving so much software license cost by simplifying our flow and gaining full control over our data and data flow.

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

They had the most transparent project management system. We felt in control all the time and the deliverables were inline with our expectations. They were on time and on budget. The overall experience was super satisfactory.

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

The most impressive thing was how they always come up with a creative and cost effective solution in order for us to have the most cost saving along with a very long-term and effective solution.

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

I can't think of anything in particular. I think I was extremely happy with their service and I would highly recommend them to whoever is looking for custom software development.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CreatorWorks is an Influencer marketing platform. I was the Co-Founder and COO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Because we were trying to attract both Marketers and Influencers the design had to be two-sided, one focused on the marketer and the other focused on an audience that is known to be "fickle" if the design isn't just right.

SOLUTION

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

Joe and his team did a great job understanding this challenge, they did a lot of research on other platforms and came up with a really strong design concept.

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

Wonderment came through and did all our creative mockups and prototyping for the product.

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

4

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The beta test of the design drew rave reviews both Marketers and Influencers.

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

We got regular status reports with regularly scheduled meetings. Wonderment did a great job of acting like they were internal while being a vendor.

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

The amount of thoughtfulness in each of the steps was impressive. You didn't feel like a cog in the wheel, everything felt custom and strategic.

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

Not from my experience.