Xeno Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a digital marketing manager at Diamond Piers. We manufacture low-impact foundation systems for decks and porches.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xeno Media?

Our website was about 10 years old. We're a fast-growing company, so we wanted to present a more modern website to our customers. We started looking for a company to help us redesign our site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Xeno Media partnered with another company to do the design and then, they did the actual development. We wanted to have a CMS (our old website was built in HTML), so they ended up developing an entirely new website in Drupal.

Our products are very specific, so our in-house team was involved in all the decisions about the content they put on each page. Xeno Media also added many new features, so now our customers can search for a retailer by a zip code and see all the retailers within a certain distance of their location. (Our old site just had a list of all the retailers organized by state, so that's a step up for us.)

What is the team composition?

We worked with about four people, including our project manager Kerry (Frontend Developer, Xeno Media).

How did you come to work with Xeno Media?

We sent out a few RFPs and received a lot of quotes. After we interviewed two companies, we decided that Xeno Media was the best fit for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between March–September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've received a very good feedback and our distributors are thrilled with the website. We go through a distribution chain, so we sell our product to a distributor who sells it to retail stores and then, to our customers. Our website has to be helpful to both our end users and our distributors, who are training people to use our product. Xeno Media successfully accomplished that goal. Also, the new site makes it easy for people to find where our products are sold, which is very important to us.

How did Xeno Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very responsive and easy to work with. We used phone and email to communicate, but I also went to their office three times and spent a day there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate the fact that they have a lot of women on staff.  I'm in a male-dominated industry and the tech industry is usually very male-dominated, so it was nice to work with Kerry. Also, they were very patient when we had to make changes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We were happy with everything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Meet with them in person. If they're local, they can come to your office or you can go to theirs. Those were the most helpful times for us because we could make the changes right then and there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for a confectionary and snack manufacturer. We’ve been in business for 100 years producing private-label products for the food industry and for retailers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xeno Media?

Our website was outdated. We added a number of new business units over the years and the site was patched together to include them all. Nothing felt cohesive, the copy on our landing page needed updating, and the design needed an overhaul.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially hired them just to focus on the candy division of the business but quickly realized that we needed to broaden our scope to the entire corporation. They spent some time learning about each section of the business in order to understand its unique attributes, which included some products sold B2B and some that were consumer-facing. Throughout this process, they focused on which customers we needed to reach within each division of the company and came up with strategies for doing so.

When the project started, we thought they’d just redesign our existing site, but it was patched together using several outdated platforms, so they built an entirely new site using Drupal instead. They handled every step of the process, including the design work. We explained the sort of content we wanted and they used that feedback to develop the wireframe. Next, the designers worked with us to come up with a look and feel that accurately represented our company. Once that was set, they incorporated those details into the site and enhanced the functionality by adding new features like a product search option. They also added video to our site, which we’d never had before.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six or seven people throughout the process, including the owner, account manager, project manager, designer, and engineers.

How did you come to work with Xeno Media?

We searched for local web designers and one of my colleagues received a referral for them. We chose them after interviewing a number of other firms.

How much have you invested with them?

The whole project cost about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from April–October 2018. They still perform ongoing maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched the site to customers yet, but our sales and management teams are very excited. The new site has really captured our essence as a company and reflects all the growth we’ve experienced over the years.

How did Xeno Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager did a fantastic job and their whole team was always on top of things. We didn’t realize their office was so close by when we hired them, so being able to meet in person was a nice bonus. They’d have recap notes from our meetings sent out within 10 or 20 minutes, which was impressive.

We had weekly hour-long meetings in person during the discovery process and initial build out of the site, but once things got underway, we used phone and email to touch base.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took a different approach than most of the other firms we’d interviewed. A lot of people wanted to address our problem very tactically by offering up a new design or new graphics, but Xeno Media stepped back and looked comprehensively at our whole business. They took time to understand our business as a whole, considered our key markets, and designed a site that suited us as an individual organization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. Sometimes they finished quickly and pushed us to move on before we were ready, but they were very good about keeping us on track. They were also mindful of the fact that we have a small marketing staff, so when we needed more help, they helped us reach out and find someone to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in agency operations at a large insurance provider. Our department supports agency owners throughout the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xeno Media?

Part of my team works with job board vendors to post our company openings. We then gather lists of candidates to send to individual agency owners that are looking to hire. We operate across 14 regions that cover all of the U.S., and each of those regions has its own recruiting team. In the past, we’ve provided job board vendors with national job postings to blanket the whole country, but we were looking to update our approach. We wanted to create an online tool that allowed agency owners to choose different sourcing tactics, as well as specific areas they wanted to target with those tactics.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Xeno Media built this tool for us from scratch. We gave them a set of requirements with our overall vision, and they were able to execute from design through to development. Our vision included a rough design to explain the platform’s functionality, but they took a lead on the process from there. They used Drupal to build the tool and were able to meet every requirement without issue.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, a developer, and a designer. They were a great team to work with. They were all present on our calls and cc’d on our email chains.

How did you come to work with Xeno Media?

They’ve worked with one of the marketing teams at our organization in the past and came highly recommended. That marketing team introduced us to their contacts at Xeno Media and we decided to move forward with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $45,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We were working together from November 2017 through March 2018. They built the tool in a way that allows us to update and make some changes on our end, but we left the engagement somewhat open ended in case we decide to enhance the tool or make more substantial changes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve gotten a variety of positive feedback from agency owners. They’ve appreciated the tool’s user-friendly layout and had very few questions on how to leverage its features.

How did Xeno Media perform from a project management standpoint?

This was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had working with an outside vendor. The team efficiently addressed any concerns that came up and were always confident in their work. We visited their office in March for an afternoon work session, which was extremely helpful and productive. They met every deadline and were detailed in their cost estimates.

We had weekly meetings that started as Skype/screen sharing sessions, and as the project went on, we switched to primarily phone calls and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with a variety of outside vendors, and Xeno stood out in every aspect of the engagement. I would recommend them to anyone without hesitation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d love to be able to provide some constructive feedback, but I really don’t have any. They met every expectation for this project.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Ask as many questions as you can about what’s possible, and don’t assume anything is off limits. Their pricing structure is very reasonable and they’ll work with you to meet your requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I manage the website for a bridal company. The company houses three designers, and each designer has 1–2 different brands underneath them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xeno Media?

We've been working with Xeno for a very long time. We hired them to make our original website. As we added different designers, we tasked them with building each of our designers' websites as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since building our very first website, Xeno’s probably done 4–5 redesigns. We work together on the design. They show us different options or I’ll bring them something that I saw on another site. They do all of the implementation, building the site in Drupal and setting up databases. They’ve also created non-public websites that we use for our retailers.

In terms of SEO, we work together on creating our keywords. They help us with our social media strategy for Instagram and Pinterest. We provide the content and they help us troubleshoot any problems. They also created our blog as well.

What is the team composition?

We've had the same project manager for about 15 years, and we work with 3–4 people overall.

How did you come to work with Xeno Media?

Someone we worked with recommended them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay a monthly maintenance fee that comes to around $50,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2000 and it's an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen a lot more website traffic. The site is really easy to navigate and user-friendly. We don’t sell anything via our website, it just publicizes what we offer through our retailer. Our goal is to get site visitors to go to our store locator page. Whatever it is that they're doing, it’s working.

How did Xeno Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They're fantastic project managers; I don’t have any complaints. We communicate primarily through phone and email. When we were in the web development process, they used a staging site for us to go on and make notes if we wanted to change anything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're always on top of all aspects of the project. If I ask them to do something, it's done immediately. They're really quick.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at all.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you can, work with Diane (senior account manager, Xeno Media). She is absolutely great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your company and what you do there.

I'm the Executive Director of Science Olympiad. We are one of the nations largest science and education non-profit organizations. We've been around for 34 years and we have 50 state chapters that run about 450 tournaments for almost 8,000 middle school and high school teams across the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xeno Media?

We had an old website that was not functioning at the level we needed. We had hundreds of thousands of users often with no access to our website because it had crashed, so we wanted to completely rebuild it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Xeno has been absolutely crucial to the design and function of our website. They built the site on Drupal, and I think we've gone through three or four redesigns since its inception in 2008. We have had some outsiders help with design, but Xeno has really been in charge of everything. For the first few inceptions of the site they handled all the wireframes, but for our latest update we gave them some wireframes to help fit other marketing we were doing.

Xeno has built custom modules for us including a frequently asked questions area that coaches and teachers across the country will use to submit questions. It then has a sophisticated backend where those questions are farmed out to people across the country and then coordinated before the answer is posted. They've also developed custom web forms and most recently developed a secure portion of our site that only state directors can access.

They also handle all routine maintenance and step in if there are any problems with the site like bugs, crashes, etc. They have helped optimize the site for phone and tablet use.

What is the team composition?

Our project manager is our point person and main contact, but we also work with a wide array of developers and other principles.

How did you come to work with Xeno Media?

We did a simple search for web designers and learned that Xeno happened to be right across the street from us. So it was really a location-based request to meet, but when we did meet it was clear they were the best choice.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been continually working with them since February 2008.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our site has grown exponentially since we've had Xeno take over the design and development. We have an extremely dense site, but people love its responsive design and how easy it is to use. We get lots of compliments on the clean look, the hovering menus, and more. Every time there's a new wave of how websites are designed and people access information, we've been able to respond to that because of Xeno. They have also worked closely with our 50 state directors who are not necessarily web experts to make sure they are comfortable with the site, which went above and beyond what a normal web company would do.

How did Xeno Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I would give them 10 out of five stars on project management if I could. We are able to communicate with them over phone, email, text, and in-person meetings. There's never a time when we don't have a question answered almost immediately, and when any problem comes up they're able to help walk us through a solution.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Xeno is not just a regular web firm but a true partner to Science Olympiad. They are always aware of our needs and very conscious of the fact that we are a non-profit. They have helped us find a great service option that fits our budget, and they solve all the problems that we've had to address in the past ten years of working with them.

I also must compliment our project manager, Diane (senior account manager, Xeno Media). She has been there for the entire 10-year partnership and her level of service is rare in the industry. She has a quick response time and her ability to understand the technological and developer needs is outstanding. She quickly delegates any question to the right manager at her office and the developers respond really well to her. She has been really amazing for us and saves us a lot of time.

All of this is to say that Xeno doesn’t just service us—they take care of us. They actually care about and understand us as a client. The level of trust between us is something that is very rare in a client relationship, but they have ours and we have theirs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there is nothing they need to change.

Do you have any advice for potential clients?

Any client would be lucky to work with them. Their pricing is really very reasonable, and you can’t find a better partner.