Appycodes

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a fast-growing IT vendor that invests a significant portion of our marketing budget in publishing high-quality educational and training content to attract prospective customers and partners. Our multiple WordPress blogs combined attracted over 1.5 million unique readers in 2018. 

For what projects/services did your company hire Appycodes?

We needed a web development agency to help improve and optimize our existing blogs through redesign and UX, consolidation of non-blog content, and additional functionality to help us manage leads and call to action (CTA) placements across our platforms. We also needed to establish a WordPress-based forum to complement the blogs.

What were your goals for this project?

With a rapidly growing reader base, we wanted to position ourselves to better manage higher visitor numbers. We wanted to be able to convert more visitors into leads, nurture those leads, and build a community around our brand via the forum.

How did you select this vendor?

We received several proposals for the project from a variety of providers around the world. Although there were more economical options, there were a few compelling reasons why we chose to work with Appycodes.

First of all, their proposal was the most complete from the outset, demonstrating their thorough understanding of our requirements as well as their experience with similar platforms and projects. Second, our subsequent conversations with them confirmed their depth of knowledge and ability to communicate clearly and effectively. Finally, we had received positive recommendations from a few business partners.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project consisted of several parts:

1) Audit, reorganize, and upgrade three WordPress blogs and plug-ins on staging. 

2) Establish and customize a popular block-builder theme based on template designs provided by our in-house design team. 

3) Develop functionality for CTA placements and email capture, as well as connection and testing with different hooks as part of our marketing automation and lead nurturing systems.

4) Establish WordPress-based forums with custom theme development based on designs as well as detailed briefs for custom-coded design elements and UX functionality. 

5) Develop a single-account login across all of our WordPress installations, including account sync, to ensure users could remain logged in wherever they are.

6) Develop a maintenance schedule and regular smoke tests for ongoing updates and security policy enforcement.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a project coordinator, a lead developer, and several developers with specific skill sets. 

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Appycodes managed to deliver by the deadline, which was no easy task considering the project’s size, complexity, and tight timeframes. They helped us build a much stronger platform for attracting and converting quality leads. Despite the relatively recent completion, we are already seeing positive KPIs and preparing to embark on new development opportunities with more advanced functionality that will enable us to grow even further. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Appycodes provided a collaboration platform to track all areas of development, small and large. Communication was easy, efficient, and highly professional with regular calls and email updates to report progress, potential challenges, and items that required our feedback or attention. The team was responsive to unexpected issues, reacting quickly as new requirements surfaced along the way.  

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Working with agencies can be tricky when you face tight deadlines, primarily because you are competing for attention with several other clients who may have larger projects in progress. However, we never felt ignored or impeded by lack of responsiveness, which pleasantly surprised us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Appycodes is lacking in no areas. I would like to see them be more open with ideas and feedback to improve our requirements. They have a wealth of knowledge and experience that can greatly benefit marketers like us. This is no fault, as we gained much more value in this regard from Appycodes than any other agency we’ve worked with, but they can speak up more confidently and be even more involved than they already are. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a digital agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with AppyCodes Digital?

We hired AppyCodes Digital to create designs for a site that we produced for one of our clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our client was a football club with about 10 or 12 different teams. Each was in a different league with their own scores and positions. The website needed to be flexible so that updates could be made frequently. The designs were Photoshop files. AppyCodes Digital produced a bespoke WordPress site. It was PHP and database-driven with an e-commerce shop built within. It also linked to MailChimp for newsletter subscribers. Their team followed all of our requirements.

What is the team composition?

I had one point of contact, and all work was distributed amongst their team. Whenever I needed something dealt with, one person would take on the task and load it to the test site.

How did you come to work with AppyCodes Digital?

I worked with AppyCodes Digital before and was happy with them. I had worked with agencies in the UK previously, and they weren’t as reliable.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost between $4,000–$5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

AppyCodes Digital began their work in 2017. The website took about eight months to produce, but a lot of time was spent waiting on client feedback, so it took longer than expected to complete.

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

The site had to go through different people and their opinions. It was a big task to put everyone’s thoughts together within a final solution. If there’s an issue with the site now, AppyCodes Digital will go out of their way to rectify it. A fully-functional and responsive platform replaced the previous site. There’s been positive feedback on the ease of the website. Our client was impressed, and the football club’s fanbase even expanded.

How did AppyCodes Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

AppyCodes Digital is one of the better companies we’ve engaged with. We produced a to-do list for them, and everything was cross-referenced and delivered to our expectations. Skype was our communication tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve come up with a solution for anything I’ve thrown at them. Their team will even call in specialists to get things done. AppyCodes Digital is by far the best of the companies we’ve dealt with that has figured out practical solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes AppyCodes Digital becomes busy, but their team tries their best. If clients stress the urgency, they will bend over backward to help.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

AppyCodes Digital delivers excellent value.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the owner and president of Northwest eSource, Inc., a web design, marketing, and software development company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Appycodes?

We hired AppyCodes Digital to convert two different applications into a single, large website for a third-party client.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to successfully convert the two apps into a site that could perform as well as or better than the individual parts.

How did you select this vendor?

We’d already worked together, so it was an easy decision.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

AppyCodes Digital merged two applications into a WordPress site, implementing new technology to transform it into a complete e-commerce solution. The resulting site is based on the application logic required with each sale, a customer backend that allows for long-term data storage, and additional application logic for future orders.

What was the team composition?

I act as the consultant and work with Ritesh (Co-Founder, AppyCodes Digital) and Swati (Lead Developer, AppyCodes Digital).

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project was a success. The website was so effective that our client was able to completely rededicate an employee to a different role. Since then, we’ve continued to retain our client for the long-term and now provide ongoing maintenance with AppyCodes Digital.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their project management was great. We mostly used Google sheets to plan and track the project. Now, we use Trello to record issues and coordinate ongoing support.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Ritesh and Swati are excellent engineers. They have a deeper technical knowledge than any web designer I’ve met to date, and I've been in the same business for 13 years.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, there’s nothing to note.