AMG DESIGN

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office manager at a law firm, and we provide legal services.

What challenge were you trying to address with AMG DESIGN?

We asked AMG DESIGN to create and design a user-friendly and modern website from scratch because the one we had was pretty poor.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had a face-to-face meeting where the team was trying to see what our culture was like in order to ensure that the website matched us as people. In addition, they ensured that what we were going to show was going to be right for our clients to see We then gave them our pictures, biographies, and other details about the firm. 

On top of that, we gave them the text they needed. Based on that information, they created the layout and produced the photos for our platform. They continue to provide updates on our website.

What is the team composition?

Two people are working with us.

How did you come to work with AMG DESIGN?

The team was knowledgeable and approachable. They also responded quickly to any requests that we had, and they were genuinely interested in supporting our small business. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in June 2018.

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

Our traffic has increased significantly. As a result, we’re also getting more calls from customers. We’ve also received good suggestions from them.

How did AMG DESIGN perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re professional and reliable. They make a really good team, and they’ve never let us down. We communicate mostly by email, but we also keep in touch through phone calls and face-to-face meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listen to what we want, and they clearly explain terms that can be understood by someone that’s not particularly tech-savvy. We also appreciate that they know what they’re talking about. Above all, we’re not intimidated by them even if we don’t have knowledge about creating websites because they’re friendly and approachable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything that they can do differently. We’ve been happy with their process, which is why we continue to work with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront and let them know what you need. In addition, trust them and have faith that they know what you want and will create what you want.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a catering company.

What challenge were you trying to address with AMG?

We needed someone to develop a website for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The website ended up being developed as a combination site, where you can look at our company and find both our catering businesses and our accommodation business.

It’s designed with an easy search flow. There’s the options accommodations or catering for a wedding. You pick one, and it follows a whole course of photos, images, planning arrangements, context, and so on.

They also host the site, and we get reports about the number of hits and other factors.

What is the team dynamic?

Pen [Director/Web Designer/Graphic Designer/Creative Designer, AMG Design] does the work, and her husband does most of the photographs. It’s been convenient and not too expensive.

How did you come to work with AMG?

We saw one of her other websites that we liked, and so we contacted her.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2007, and the work is ongoing.

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

Our website is nearly always on the 1st page. On accommodation sites, you usually have it with 1 or 2 agents. We end up getting more bookings off our site than we do off Booking.com, which saves us money.

How did AMG perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t have to contact Pen too often, but she is quite responsive. When we got a complaint about a process that wasn’t working on the site, she responded quickly and got it corrected. We communicate by email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They keep us informed. I had another venture and used Pen to design and register a website and start thinking about how we might proceed from there. We continue to regard her as good quality and good value for money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be nice if they sent out a news page once a year about what they’re doing and new innovations.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the executive director of a registered charitable trust for a conservation program. The trust was established in 1992 to develop the New Zealand National Bird of Prey Centre, which is open to visitors. We also have extensive programs for captive management, research, education, and advocacy.

What challenge were you trying to address with AMG?

Our trust was established 25 years ago at a time of technology changes. At that time, we wanted to establish a website to educate and provide information for visitors, as well as allow users to purchase products online to support the conservation program. However, we were looking for a tech partner since our main strength was in conservation, not in IT.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since 2001, AMG Design has been helping us with IT, website development, and photography. They developed the new Wingspan website in 2001, which included a series of meetings, correspondence, photographic work, and sourcing of archival material.

What is the team dynamic?

The project continues to be a group effort among the executive director of Wingspan, our board of trustees, our staff, and the team at AMG.

How did you come to work with AMG?

AMG was known to us because of our associations within the film and advertising fields. We hired them based on their experience and understanding of our needs. They also gave a competitive development estimate that matched our not-for-profit budgets.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent less than $10,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2001, and our engagement is ongoing. We are more than happy with the work they have done, and we look forward to continuing with them into the future.

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

The website continues to show positive growth based on Google analytics of website search engines. Recently, we’ve also had users of other technology such as home computers and mobile devices. Over time, our website sales for memberships, donations, and products have exceeded our sales onsite.

How did AMG perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication has always been easy with AMG. They have an in-depth knowledge of our client base and the needs of the conservation program.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We value their ability to change and upgrade over time. They have kept up with changes in technology, improving our website regularly for easy customer navigation.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is Love My New Zealand. I work in high-end tourism in New Zealand. I show visitors who come to our island the best sites and experiences.

What challenge were you trying to address with AMG Design?

I needed someone to design and create a website that stood out from the crowd, but that also was very clean. I wanted it on a good platform, well hosted, and built from scratch for best SEO practices and engagement with clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

AMG Design offered a full, in-house service. From the initial meeting, we gathered ideas of what I currently had in the company as far as website design and the platform it was on. They talked me through what was okay about it, what could be improved, where to start again, and what needed to be done. For example, we discussed what code the website needed to be relevant now and into the future. Then I went through the whole procedure with them about designing, building our brand, what we wanted that to look like, future proofing so it could stay cutting edge for the next 10 years, what message we wanted to get across, and how to put all of that together. They listened to understand what I wanted but also gave some great advice about things that I hadn’t even thought of.

AMG Design helped to maximize the imagery, including the banner images and general flow or navigation of the website. The website was designed with the client’s thoughts in mind, not how we thought it should look. That was quite a key difference. The website is being built in HTML. Whatever platform it sits in, it can be removed and put into something else. The team also works on the site’s security features, which was quite important to us.

What is the team dynamic? 

The team is headed up by Penelope [Director/Web Designer/Web Developer, AMG Design]. She is at an age where she’s had a great deal of experience working in advertising and media. She understands PR. She also has a great team member, Allan [Creative Director/Photographer, AMG Design], who helped us with the photography. He was able to capture some of the really unique imagery that we wanted on our website, which was all about people and emotion. Tourists from New Zealand want to experience the country and want to have special moments. We wanted to convey that in the photography. Penelope was my main point of contact and still is via email, telephone, or face to face meetings. Lisa [Graphic Designer/Print Manager, AMG Design[ helps as well. She does some of the technical work on the website.

How did you come to work with AMG Design?

We have worked with several companies before. There are a lot of companies that can convince you they know what they’re doing, but are not able to demonstrate that. I was recommended to contact AMG Design through a business who had used their services and thought they were fantastic. I really came home when we found AMG Design. I felt, on a long-term basis, they understood us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $20,000-$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2016 and the work is ongoing.

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

They made it pretty easy for me. We have Google Analytics and reports that are printed monthly to measure how the website is performing, who is visiting what page, how long they’re staying on it, bounce rates, and where it’s coming from. They are pretty comprehensive reports. I have seen an increase in traffic from the first month of the website going live. AMG made the search engine analytics excellent and easy to understand. 

The website itself is great. It has phenomenal imagery.  They worked to design great banner images and a good clean flow of the website. It’s very easy to navigate. It’s quick on opening. Page loading time is great. AMG really brought it to the public’s attention that it was something they would want to use and that they understood the website. I’ve had feedback from my own business network when we launched the website and put different things onto different media platforms to illustrate what might be new on the website. We’ve had plenty of feedback there saying it looks fantastic; it’s very positive. With international clients, the biggest feedback we’ve gotten is the increase in sales conversion. 

How did AMG Design perform from a project management standpoint?

I would rate them very highly. They worked for me in another company called Discover the Beyond. They managed the whole brand immersion of that company with business cards, the website design, the social media aspects of it, and it was pretty impressive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

AMG Design really knows the marketing and media target market. If you’re in the business of luxury yachts or you’re in the business of tourism or hotels, they research that market to really understand it. Once they know who your target market is, they help bring it to you. Penelope really knows her stuff when it comes to how to get traffic to the website. More than that, they really know what we want to achieve. There’s a lot of authenticity within the company. They’re not looking to make quick money now. They really want to work with you as a long-term client.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could probably benefit from scaling up their team to have more people. That would be a great thing down the line for them. With them being such a great company, they would benefit from having a bigger team so they can expand out to more clients.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Only Events is an Event Management Company based in Auckland.I am the company owner.

For what projects/services did your company hire AMG DESIGN?

AMG updated our website with a whole new look, feel and design. Modernising it and developing it making it more user-friendly at the same time making look great and user friendly on mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Importantly and successfully AMG manage the SEO for us keeping our rankings high on google.

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

Simply via a google search of web design companies in the city. After seeing their portfolio of works.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After an online brief of what we wanted to achieve and the kind of look and feel we were going for AMG came back with some draft designs and other recommendations for us to choose from. Once approved they gave us a time line and kept us updated through the process.

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

One - the owner

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

Increase in site traffic, general feedback from trusted contacts and incase rankings on google.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They are really helpful working direct via email and phone remotely.

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

I am always impressed at how they keep up to date with the latest trends and requirements to keep our SEO up to date with evolving changes.

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

No we are very happy with the process and the outcome.