Xivic

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Monona Terrace is a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed community and convention center located in Madison, WI on the shore of Lake Monona. I'm an associate director for Marketing and Events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

XIVIC is our go-to partner for all things website-related aside from hosting. Most recently, the project involved website optimization. Our goals were to increase organic traffic and goal conversions for mononaterrace.com

SOLUTION

How did you select Xivic and what were the deciding factors?

We have a long history with Founder and Chief Strategist Bahman Z.

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

Xivic has provided an array of services to Monona Terrace over the years, including an initiative for A/B testing on our site's lead forms, template updates, custom developing, and SEO and Analytics projects.

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

Client Contact Developer(s) Strategist(s)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Projects are always followed up with a meeting with all team members to discuss the findings which are shared and explained in detail. The organic traffic to the site has increased and optimized site pages and keyword rankings have increased conversions.

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

We were always kept up-to-date on projects. There's great communication through e-mail and phone calls.

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

The depth of knowledge of all the people we’ve met, not just on their specific job duties, but across the whole XIVIC business offerings impressed us.

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

XIVIC ALWAYS exceeds our expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT director of a chemicals company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We needed help with e-commerce development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were able to come up with a plan to update our WordPress site to include an e-commerce component. They integrated our site so now all of the orders go automatically go into the system to facilitate shipping.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Dakota (Associate Director of Production).

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $120,000–$180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2013, and our work wrapped up in June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We started out getting a few orders here and there, and we gradually got a couple of hundred orders processed per day thanks to the new e-commerce component. It’s much easier now for people to order quickly.

The team was very responsive and thorough. There were minimal discrepancies. Everyone internally was in awe when they first saw it. Over the years with our requests and revamps, the team at Xivic was very capable of keeping up with what we wanted. They even suggested improvements. Overall, it was great.

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very timely, and it never felt like we were pushed to the side. Project management was always fast and thorough. It was an intuitive process. The communication was well maintained back and forth

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had a good gut feeling with them from the beginning. We had a vision and they made it happen.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were always impressed and grateful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to tell them what you want. Lay out your vision, and they’ll take care of it. We had no issues with them at all.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Trevanna Tracks. We’re a productivity tool for music licensing that content producers use while their licensing music for film, television, and videogames.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

I was trying to get my industry, which is film production, off of using Excel and DropBox because they didn’t connect with each other. The goal was to create one platform where you could input all the songs you were going to use in your project, as well as all the documents that correlate to them for licensing and payment. It also had to have great visibility, that way, everyone on the team can look and see things in real-time. That way, people won’t have to comb through to find a needle in a haystack. Prior to this, there was no technology solution that allowed producers to prove that they’d properly licensed and paid for all the music they were turning in for a television show or film.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I started with another company that did my MVP but it didn’t go so well. A technology consultant introduced me to Xivic, and their first task was to QA the platform from the previous provider. Right from the beginning, as an objective, third-party on everything, they were able to give me so much insight into what we could do better, regarding both architecture and UI. They also fixed bugs and browser optimization issues. I loved working with them and found them to be honest and straightforward. There were no surprises, and I didn’t think they were trying to oversell me.

This was the first time I was running a software company, and I felt that if I was doing this for the long run I’d want to be in business with them. Therefore, I switched over full-time to Xivic. From there, we spent six months chasing bugs. It was horrible for me, but they had a good attitude about it. We decided to rebuild the platform from scratch. Since building the new version we’ve also added over 100 new features. Most of the work is in PHP and Angular.

What is the team composition?

I have completely unfettered access to Bahman (Chief Strategist & CEO) and could call him 24 hours a day. I also have a project manager based here in the United States, as well as a team in Romania.

How did you come to work with Xivic?

Our technology consultant had worked with Xivic, and after helping me struggle with our first vendor, he advised me to bring on Xivic. He’d worked with Xivic with many of his clients over the past ten years.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $700,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together for over two years, since March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I didn’t know anything about software at the beginning; I would describe things by drawing them on a piece of paper, and I didn’t use wireframes or project management software either. It was very frustrating for them when I would try to convey feature sets and what I wanted to do, but they taught me how to do everything. They didn’t charge me extra either. Instead, they helped me grow from scribbles on pieces of paper to a confident and organized development plan in a short time. Considering where we were two years ago and where we are now, I really think they helped me learn how to run a software company, in addition to providing engineering and architecture services.

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

When issues come up that I haven’t thought of yet, whether they be security or industry trends, they always have their eyes open. They’re very proactive in communicating about opportunities like blockchain or other sites that are similar to ours.

We use AC and Monday.com for project management, and I couldn’t be a bigger fan of Monday. We use Monday to house all of our feature set ideas, and then the things we move forward with go through AC.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have an amazing dedicated team in Romania. There are not only enough hands available, but there are senior people assigned to our team. If something happens to one person we still have continuity. The depth of their talent pool is certainly deep. The very best thing about them is Bahman, the CEO. He’s an amazing visionary, but he’s also realistic; he always considers all options, as well as our suggestions. He’s never let me down.

The reliability factor is highly important. Because we’re outsourcing, I can’t walk to my engineering team down the hall and see what they’re doing, so it’s nice to work with a third-party I can trust.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have improved in a lot of the areas where we needed to improve. Everything used to go through our LA-based project manager first, but some things got lost. We recently decided to talk straight to the team once a week. That only happened about four months ago, but it’s already made a huge difference. Whenever we’ve seen an opportunity to improve things, we’ve done it together.

Sometimes, little things could be fixed with a more design-focused final review before deployment, but that’s a very small thing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior digital designer for Health Strategies Insights by EVERSANA, a life sciences organization. My branch provides insights to pharmaceutical companies on their brand positioning.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We needed someone who understood Drupal and could build out our original website. We were working with another company but weren’t satisfied with their services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Xivic managed our Drupal site. They fine-tuned our search capabilities within the product, put up pop-up windows, and came with ways to add webinars or different marketing pieces. Whenever we added a whole new line of products, they built out pages within the site to showcase them. If we needed certain things to appear certain days or to certain audiences, they’d control it or time it for us. They also handled any upgrade patches and added e-commerce functions.

What is the team composition?

We had a development person from Los Angeles and a team in Romania. Our main point of contact was Dakota (Associate Director of Production).

How did you come to work with Xivic?

I wasn’t involved in that search process, but whoever did it clearly did a good job.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $25,000 over two years on just maintenance and marketing our products. It was a monthly retainer.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in November 2017, but our company had been working with them for 7–8 years before that. We’re not working with them any longer; we shut down our site about two months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t say enough good things about them. Xivic was fantastic to work with. When we ended up closing the site, it was a big deal for me because I enjoyed working with them. They were always proactive in offering different ways to come up with solutions, even when I had a question or was just thinking out loud. Anything I didn’t know anything about, I’d mention it to them, and they took care of it.

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

We met weekly over video chat. They were always on top of everything. If they saw something on the horizon, they’d bring it to our attention so we can make a decision about it. If I needed them to take care of something, Dakota would talk to the team and get back to me within 24 hours with a timeline of when they’ll complete it. I could also call Dakota if we ever had an issue like a link not working, and she’d promptly get back to me and her team would be on it. That only had to happen a couple of times.

Their follow-through was perfect, and so was their ability to stick to timetables. Any time something would cost more than our monthly retainer, they’d give me a statement of work to approve so we could move forward. Overall, it was easy to work with them. I never had to worry about anything with their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

No matter what came up, Xivic made it their number one priority. They made me feel important and like they were going to stop everything to resolve our issues quickly. They met and exceeded my expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. Xivic was probably one of the best vendors I’ve worked with. They just took such good care of us. I felt like I could just trust them explicitly, and I haven’t had that a lot.

Any advice for potential customers?

They’re experts on so many levels. I’d ask them to review my site and give me a list of recommendations to make it better. I’d listen to them and trust that their advice will make my site the best it can be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a digital marketing at a paint company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We contracted them for SEO and web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first engaged Xivic for SEO. We wanted to increase traffic to our site and translate that into more business. They worked on our site to increase our rankings on Google and Bing. They made changes, conducted keyword research, and suggested changes to our landing pages’ headlines, format, and copy. This is an ongoing project where we meet monthly and both bring suggestions on things to work on.

Xivic is also our partner for web development. They maintain our site and provide fixes and new features when we need them. We have a project list that we go through together.

What is the team composition?

Jessica (Director of Accounts) is our account rep. I work closely with her and Bahman (Chief Strategist). 

How did you come to work with Xivic?

They already working with our company as an agency when I came to my position.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $25,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started working with us around two years before I joined the company. It’s an ongoing partnership; we’re looking at other things to work on with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen a significant increase in traffic to our site through SEO. That’s important for us; we rely on SEO instead of SEM to grow our traffic. For example, we recently launched a shopping portal on our website for consumers. Their SEO efforts have been a huge contributor in driving organic traffic to our site and making it a success. 

I’m very happy with what they’ve done so far. Xivic has been instrumental in the success of our site. They regularly come up with helpful suggestions about our navigation and our look and feel. 

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

Xivic is one of the best agencies I’ve worked with in my career. Overall, the team is professional and proactive. They regularly meet or beat our deadlines. I’ve told them several times how excellent the work they do is. 

Jessica is especially good at what she does. She has amazing follow-through, great ideas, and clear organization. She was very supportive of me acclimating to the business when I just started at the company two months prior to working with her. We talk several times a day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their follow-through, ability to meet deadlines and budgets, and willingness to bring ideas to the table all impress me. Xivic suggests things that we don’t even think of, which I really like in a partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m very happy with them. Like I said, we’re hoping to be doing some more work with them in the future.

Any advice for potential customers?

Research other agencies first and have a list of what to get accomplished with them. I do highly recommend Xivic and think you won’t be disappointed by hiring them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

We’re a restaurant franchisor. We also have corporate stores. We currently have 50 locations in the United States, primarily on the west coast.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We were looking to increase our presence. We were also looking for the ability to customize each individual store. While we’re one brand, each store has its differences. We wanted a website where users could customize by location. The brand effort and customization were primarily meant to increase and generate sales.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Xivic built our overall website with content and design provided by our creative agency. They also assist with SEO. On the site’s backend, they created a page for each individual store. Guests can book parties, order catering, and find other store information. That process was meant to streamline party and fundraiser reservations.

For SEO, we work with them monthly to go over the strategy, determining if anything needs to change and what needs to be executed. They recently started working with Google Ads.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Bahman (Chief Strategist). We work directly with one or two people, but there’s a strategist, the director of search marketing, the director of social marketing, the VP of experience strategy, a director of technology, and the VP of production accounts. We also are in contact with an account exec.

How did you come to work with Xivic?

We had our advertising agency go out and find different website providers. Xivic came back with some of the best cost, but also some of the best technology at the time.

How much have you invested with them?

Initially, we spent $65,000. We currently pay $6,000 a month for SEO and $5,000 a month to maintain the backend of each store’s individual page.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our engagement with December 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been very happy with them. Their team is part of our company’s strategy. They’re quick to make any changes we ask.

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

The process is very streamlined. They communicate well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re willing to take on anything for us. We can come to them with our ideas, and they figure out a way to make it happen. We’ve been with them long enough now that I haven’t worked with other providers. They’re easy to work with. Xivic brings creative and new ideas to the table we haven’t thought of. So far, I’ve been delighted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any. There might be some on a day-to-day level that I’m not aware of, but I’m overall pleased with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to collaboration because they’re very open to listening. I feel like Xivic really knows what they’re doing. They’re experts in the field that they’re in.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of Growth-U. We focus on self-development, and we offer online behavior conditioning programs, workshops, and a community of other like minds that support each other.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We had an outdated website that wasn’t designed for user engagement. We weren’t meeting our objective for people converting to members. Our coding was also outdated with our learning management system (LMS) in the backend, so we needed an updated website with new design, UX, and an updated LMS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They completely redesigned our site and also created a new logo. We’re still working with them on phase by phase approach on updating our LMS on the backend.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact, and every now and again they’ll bring in someone who’s working behind the scenes on the project.

How did you come to work with Xivic?

We found them through a colleague. She was aware from them from another colleague that she worked with at a different company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2019, and our work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, they’re very professional. I like how they’re global, and our point person is from Romania. The level of detail with notes and how they keep track of everything from the timeline to deliverables is great. Their flexibility is nice, too. They’re good about learning something from week to week and applying what they’re learning and switching gears if they need to.

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was our favorite part of the process. Our point person listened to what we’re all about and gave us 4-6 options, and told a story behind each one. We got to view it on different platforms and it was a thorough presentation process to get a full picture of our brand. We had a handful of people in that process and it was certainly enjoyable.

We used a tool called ActiveCollab. We didn’t mind using it, since it made our working relationship smoother and we were open to exploring tools. Overall, it’s been an effective tool that we’ve used consistently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their experience really stands out. This was not their first rodeo. They have worked with other companies in the same exact situation as us. They handled it well from beginning to end. They took the reins and guided us through the process.

The way they decided which phased would be designated for which goal was helpful. They also sorted through all the tables, which proved to be another helpful knowledge base that they brought to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not right now

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

There are no games or hidden issues with them. They’re very straight forward, practical, and follow through when they say they will. They bring more value to the table than what we would have expected.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of Trusum Visions. We’re a management company for a couple of different brands. We’re a personal development and organizational and cultural leadership company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We needed a new learning management system. Our current one was built 10–15 years ago and we’d been scaling and putting band-aids on it. When it really started to fall apart at every turn, we needed to build a new one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had them re-architect and re-engineer the entire solution to our needs. They worked on both front- and backend work, developing mockups and wireframes themselves.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 10 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Xivic?

We were referred to them by a friend in the industry. I’d actually worked with Xivic previously and didn’t know it. They ended up building a platform I used at a previous job. There were two departments in between us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent at least $500,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since July 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re about four weeks from the launch and I have nothing but amazing things to say. The wireframes and designs look amazing, and they’ve delivered early consistently.

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly calls with the development team. We’re not technical people; we just know what our users need. Their communication is incredibly thoughtful and intuitive to our laymen level.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re an absolute pleasure to work with. First, I love their approach because it’s iterative, flexible, and focused on our needs. They understand how we and our users are going to use the solution. Because of their high level of expertise, I trust them with everything. Their focus on our users stands out.

They also go the extra mile to put extra features into each development phase when we ask for them, even if they weren’t in our original plan. They rarely have to go away and think about something; they’re so in tune with our needs it’s like they know what we’re going to ask for beforehand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as candid as possible about your needs and trust them. The more information you give them the more they will help you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a telecommunications company that offers wireless services and high-speed Internet. I’m the digital marketing manager, so I oversee our digital marketing campaigns as well as SEO, SEM, brand management, reputation management, email campaigns, and automated marketing in HubSpot.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We had an SEO partner that recommended that we partner with their team to consolidate all of our web content into a single domain.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re working with them to complete a site migration and redesign project for both our residential and business websites. They set up a staging website on AWS, and are in the process of migrating content from all of our existing subdomain websites to our new residential platform. Their team is also responsible for getting our sites ADA compliant and establishing a digital standard for our sites going forward. That includes fonts, colors, and sizes. 

They’re also focusing on a complete UX redesign for navigation and functionality. That includes on-page optimization and the inclusion of new HTML5 banners. One of the biggest needs in our day-to-day work is address verification because we use addresses to determine whether or not we can serve different customers. They built an address verification module into our site to bypass a landing page. That’s removed several steps for our customers within the funnel. Now, consumers can input their address and be directed to our online shop, which can only be accessed once address verification is complete.

They’re also working with our SEO partner to ensure that our SEO remains strong throughout and after this transition.  

What is the team composition?

Our initial point of contact was Bahman (Chief Strategist), but Chris (Senior Account Manager) served as our project manager partway through the partnership.

How did you come to work with Xivic?

They were a referral from our SEO partner. We did some research, and their work was strong. That paired with a recommendation from a trusted partner made this an easy decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $70,000–$80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in September 2019, and their work is ongoing. After the site is launched, we’ll have them on a maintenance retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been great at taking our requirements and getting it to function correctly while being visually appealing to users. We’re seeing all of our requesting being taken care of in a timely manner. Since we’re in the middle of the project, I don’t have any hard metrics, but we can see their progress over time through the site. We’re satisfied with their work.

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is great. We initially set up Jira, but our teams later transitioned to ActiveCollab because that’s their preferred tool. At this point, we’re in the QA process, so that transition was meant to make that effort easier. We also use Slack for quick messages and email for more formalized communication. Their response times are great, and they’re delivering according to their original timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise in their field is very impressive. They can communicate about our requirements and translate them into an action item that produces a result. Their professionalism, communication, and expertise really pushed the project forward. Additionally, they don’t outsource any components of their service. Instead, they provide a wide variety of services in-house. In that regard, their team can handle pretty much any project that comes their way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

An updated progress report or summary would be helpful for us once or twice each month. That would be nice for communications with stakeholders.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Driven Brands is the largest family of automotive aftermarket service companies in the country. Our 3,100+ centers in North America represent iconic brands including Meineke, Maaco, Take 5 Oil Change, Carstar, and others.

Since 2015, Driven Brands has been owned by Roark Capital Group. In my role as Director of Digital Customer Experience, I oversee our portfolio of 20+ web properties, SEO, and digital listings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Xivic?

We’ve worked with them for several years now on web management and optimization across our entire portfolio.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Within the portfolio of work we partner with Xivic on, they manage our entire Meineke website from soup to nuts, having stood up the site from the ground up.

They also provide our corporate office, field operations, and franchisee base with the necessary abilities to update location page information across our chain of 800 centers. In this effort, they handled both front and backend web development. They continue to manage and optimize this site and many others today.

What is the team composition?

Chris (Senior Account Manager) has worked with us as our account manager for quite some time. We also collaborate with their chief strategy officer as well as a number of technical specialists on their team. 

How did you come to work with Xivic?

While I wasn’t part of their team for the initial selection of their team, but we continue to work with them because of their knowledge of building websites. 

How much have you invested with them?

For Meineke, we retain Xivic for $10 - $20K monthly and have done so since 2013. In that time, we’ve spent about $250,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They initially came onboard in 2013 but worked on our larger relaunch project in 2015. Their team continues to manage our sites.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen a 60%–70% increase in page views since starting our relationship with them. That’s due to both our efforts as a business and the optimization work on their end. Much of our success with them stems from their ability to respond quickly to our requests. They make updates and troubleshoot problems in a matter of hours.   

How did Xivic perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is a strong suit of theirs. While they are a small team, they’re forthcoming with updates. They’ve been good about keeping us updated on their progress, but sometimes we struggle with getting them to look at the big picture for the sake of our communication to our stakeholders. 

We’ve recently started using ActiveCollab, a collaboration tool that they’ve used for quite some time. With that change, I’ve seen dramatic improvements in how effectively we’re able to manage the entire portfolio of projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Given the complexities of our business, I appreciate the level of flexibility and responsiveness they’re able to provide. They’ve been a nimble, reliable partner, which has taken a big weight off my shoulders. We know that we can count on them for urgent requests. 

They’ve been loyal to us and really understand our business, always acting as a partner that we can lean on. They can always be trusted to provide the technical know-how within the context of our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re great at tactical deliverables, but they could be even more helpful in our efforts to determine a long-term roadmap for our website projects. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand the entire suite of services that they can offer. Otherwise, you might underutilize their abilities. For instance, they also offer SEO and digital marketing services that we aren’t using.