AUQ

Please describe your company and your position there.

COWM is a food and beverage wholesaler with a specialty in asian goods. I am the CTO for COWM and its sister companies.

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

Front-end facing website redesign with SEO strategy to attract new organic web visitors.

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

Eugene, the Principal of COWM, had known Kirill, the CEO of AUQ, from previous projects they worked on together.

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

A complete redesign of our customer-facing website. This included a sitemap/outline revamp, as well as full page designs (desktop and mobile) for our home page, about page, product pages, and more.

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

Four people in total.

• Kirill - Project lead.
• Jessica - Main researcher and project manager.
• Andres - web / UI/UX designer.
• Matthew - copywriter.

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

We are still in the implementation period. Since we are responsible for implementing the design and SEO strategy (with our internal development team), we cannot provide measurable outcomes yet. The deliverables were provided via Figma, which was a good way to present the design to decision makers and developers.

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

The AUQ team was open to and willing to use our own internal Slack team to communicate. They always responded within 24 hours. When necessary or requested, they would hop on calls with us.

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

Their SEO research and ability to break it down to us were impressive.

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

There were a couple dates that needed to be extended, but other than that, things went well and as expected. It is possible that the small changes in scope added to the dates needing extensions.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO at Casino M8rix, a large casino in San Jose, California.

What challenge were you trying to address with AUQ?

We needed website development and ongoing maintenance services, so we partnered with AUQ. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

AUQ has overhauled the look of our website and done some SEO work — this is a lot of work since Google tends to block many casino-related ads. They’ve worked from the ground up to build the website using plug-ins from our active game list. For optimization, they work on keyword research to help our site rank better on search results. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Kirill (SEO Specialist & Founder), Walter (Director of Website Development & Project Manager), and Wanda (UI/UX designer). They’re our main points of contact, but we know there have been other members working on the project in the past. 

How did you come to work with AUQ?

Our previous marketing facilitator built a relationship with AUQ. We were happy with them, so I decided to continue working with them when I came into my role. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2018, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

We’ve had a successful SEO positioning on Google and received positive feedback for our website’s look and feel. 

How did AUQ perform from a project management standpoint?

AUQ’s project management has been excellent. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re highly flexible when it comes to their work; they also quote us in various ways to structure our projects, whether on an hourly basis or otherwise. They work within our budget all the time. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Voice your wants and needs. Tell AUQ what you want visually or creatively. Doing this upfront to eliminate any back and forth. This will help you save time and money, especially if you’re working with them on an hourly basis. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of communications at an investment management firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with AUQ?

Our organization was entering its 10-year anniversary. We've gone through many different phases and evolutions throughout the past 10 years, so we decided to partner with AUQ to create a microsite that reflected the different stages of our company's evolution.

What was the scope of their involvement?

AUQ developed a WordPress microsite for our company’s 10th year anniversary. The site featured three parts, each of which we launched in three different stages. The site includes data, storytelling, photos, video content, and a variety of different information that people can explore as we showcase the past, present, and future of the company.

AUQ worked closely with our internal graphic designer to develop the platform. We’d already finished developing the site, and I’m planning on using them again for web maintenance and support.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 4–5 people from AUQ, including the founder.

How did you come to work with AUQ?

I worked with the founder of AUQ at another company I was working at, and I was impressed by his work. He was very reliable.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere between $13,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from December 2021–April 2022.

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

We’re not selling a product, so we measured our success based on the increase in our engagement across our social channels. We shared the microsite in our email campaigns, and those email campaigns are one of the most successful campaigns we've ever launched in the organization.

The site’s design was spot-on, and our CEO was extremely pleased and excited with it. Overall, I’d say the site’s design and functionalities and the engagement and reception we received from our leaders point to the success of this campaign.

How did AUQ perform from a project management standpoint?

The AUQ team actually has developers that are in Ukraine. Those developers were supposed to work on this project with us, but because of the crisis there, they were not able to. Nevertheless, AUQ was still able to perform because they found another developer with a short turnaround plan to take on this project and work with us.

The founder of AUQ stepped in to do development for us too. We had specific deadlines, and we were able to fall within the window of these deadlines despite all these obstacles. I found this to be very impressive.

Overall, AUQ did an excellent job of managing the project. They led a smooth, cohesive process where everyone was contributing, and all deadlines were met.

We utilized Slack, Figma, and Google Meet throughout the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

AUQ’s biggest strengths were their agility and solution-oriented approach. They were always able to adjust things or make corrections immediately, which was great. This is not something that you can find with a larger agency.

Their real-time, constant communication was also critical in making sure that all deliverables were finished on time. It really felt like they were a part of our team, which I found very valuable. It wasn't like they were our consultants or they were one step removed. They were really immersed, and that's something they offer that I don’t think we would be able to find with other agencies or agencies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're still a small and growing team. As they continue to grow and get more clients, they're going to have to expand their team and resources. They need to just be able to continue to scale and make sure that they can take on new projects. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to treat them like your own team, and be very clear and communicative about what your needs are.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a small manufacturing business that manufactures and distributes a line of odor eliminating products for both consumer and industrial use.

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

We inherited our website from the previous owners of the business and it was very outdated and not very functional. We needed a complete redesign for both the front end and back end to support an improved shopping cart, mobile integration, customer accounts, messaging support, among other things. We also hired them for SEO work which has been a huge success.

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

I had heard about AUQ through another one of their clients who raved about the quality of their work and customer service through the entire process. We started work with another firm who was slow to respond and quite expensive.

I may have been a bit more demanding than I should have been, but once I switched to working with AUQ, I began to feel more comfortable that they would make sure everything was exactly how I wanted it. I am so glad we switched, they were faster, better, and cheaper than the company we first hired.

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

We had an initial discovery meeting where we discussed our goals and requirements. We provided a general site map and content for each page and then the AUQ team provided mockups for the site.

Once we settled on the perfect layout, AUQ designed and developed an amazing looking and functioning ecommerce site. They were quick to make any updates and changes we threw at them and I don’t think it could have turned out any better than it did.

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

Kirill was the project manager that worked with us throughout the entire process. There also was a full stack developer, a designer, and an SEO manager with all of whom who we had limited communication.

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

After the site was launched, we experienced more than a 300% increase in our online sales and customers seemed to trust our brand a lot more. The SEO has been a resounding success too, as we are the top result for the queries we were targeting. The increased traffic from the SEO has translated into an additional 50% sales boost and we are continuing to work on SEO to drive even more customers to our site.

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

The project manager would provide daily updates via email or phone calls. He was quick to tell me if there would be an issue or delay, but luckily there were only a couple hiccups that were resolved well before the timeframe provided.

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

AUQ delivered a professional quality website in a quick manner at an incredible price. Their service was outstanding, and it didn't stop after they completed our website. They are still quick to assist us with any issues that arise.

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

When the site first launched, we had to reroute the customer messaging to a different email, but they were quick to address the issue. I should have been clearer in the discovery meeting about this, so I don't fault them for that at all. We had to change a font too, but again that was our fault for not specifying which font we wanted.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Yaasa, an e-commerce company that sells ergonomic furniture, mattresses, and weighted blankets. 

What challenge were you trying to address with AUQ?

We engaged AUQ to redesign our website. They also did some SEO work for us. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before designing our website, we asked AUQ to help us with our SEO efforts. We strategized together. Initially, I told them the general keywords that I wanted to target. Then, they did a site analysis and gave us a list of keywords that we could rank for; we then created our entire SEO strategy around those keywords. 

From there, our team gave AUQ a rough idea of what we wanted for the website, including the design of the homepage, category page, product pages, and other features we needed. They then turned our ideas into a Figma-based mobile and desktop design. After that, their team developed the entire site on WordPress and WooCommerce, building it from scratch. 

At present, the website is live. It uses WordPress as its CMS, while all other functionality is powered by WooCommerce. We’re using Stripe as our payment gateway. Moreover, our entire checkout process has been custom-coded. We’ve integrated a financing tool into the website. It splits payments and shows our pricing via the product pages. We also continue to use AUQ’s SEO services. Apart from optimization, they also provide us with three or so blog posts per month. They also help us build backlinks and internal links. 

What is the team composition?

Kirill (Founder & SEO Specialist) serves as our project manager. We also work with Andres (UI/UX Designer) and Eugene (Lead Developer). Two other people work on the site’s SEO. 

How did you come to work with AUQ?

I found AUQ by doing a LinkedIn search. I wanted to work with a local company. The AUQ team used to be based in Santa Barbara — that’s where we are —  and that was what led me to them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $90,000. That includes their SEO fee, which is $2,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

We currently have around 25,000 organic visitors per month, up from 3,000 per month before engaging with AUQ. Similarly, our conversion rates have doubled since the website’s launch, though this isn’t purely because of the website’s redesign. 

How did AUQ perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great, and we’ve launched the site on time. To communicate, we have a Slack channel with AUQ. We have weekly meetings, but we haven’t used any project management tools. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

AUQ’s work is great and affordable — it’s not the same as any other services I’ve seen after launching several other websites. The team is great at explaining any issues they face in terms of the code. After seeing so many difficult site launches, I’m blown away by how smooth their process is.

Beyond that, I’m also impressed with their communication skills. They respond to me within 1–2 hours; sometimes, it’s within minutes. I don’t receive that kind of service from other companies; that’s a truly good part of our work together. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a small company. While they’re flexible, their size makes larger-scale projects difficult to handle. 

However, in terms of our project, their management is top-notch. They’ve delivered results, and it’s easy to communicate with them. That’s the most important thing for me. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set clear expectations, targets, and KPIs. Then, conduct weekly or bi-weekly meetings to discuss your progress. AUQ offers progress-tracking, but it’s better if you also do it. Check-in with them, and interact with the team to understand what they need. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a nonprofit organization. We provide technical expertise and catalytic funding to help countries improve their early detection and response capabilities to disease outbreaks.

What challenge were you trying to address with AUQ?

We needed help with web development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

AUQ has worked with us on several web development projects using WordPress. We decide on timelines and expectations together for every project, and then AUQ’s team works with us on different components of the projects. They work within our branding requirements and color scheme; we’ve provided them with our brand book.

Sometimes they create the design themselves using Figma. They work very iteratively with us until we come to an agreed-upon visual. Then, AUQ transfers it over to their coders to execute it. Other times, they’ve brought in third parties for design. In some cases, we’ve provided them with all the visual graphic ideas, and in others, they’ll come up with some ideas on their own.

AUQ helped us build our main website, which informs the public about our work, who we are, and how we engage. For that project, they designed some pages from scratch and redesigned others. 

Currently, they’re helping us build a website for a conference we’re hosting in late 2022. They’re developing this new site from scratch. We provided them with the content, and they helped us post information about what the conference is about and how to apply. The site is now live, and AUQ has created forms for users to leave their information if they’re interested.

The AUQ team is also helping us develop an interactive map of systems we’ve mapped around the globe. We’re in the design phase right now, and we’ve gone through several iterations with their designer. 

The map’s purpose is to explain how many systems occur across the globe and provide descriptions of those systems. AUQ is using several filter features that can isolate information by sector, whether it’s human, animal, environment sector, or a combination.

What is the team composition?

We operate directly with Kirill (Founder & SEO), and I’m also in contact with the project manager and the designer. 

How did you come to work with AUQ?

We found them through a search for web developers.

How much have you invested with them?

Our annual contract for this year is for about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

AUQ has helped us with visibility. We’re not the kind of company that needs to track clicks. However, our reputation, how people view our work, and our site’s clarity have all improved thanks to AUQ’s work. 

For me, success is that people understand what we’re doing and can visualize it based on the site descriptions — our websites speak for themselves!

Additionally, AUQ is a very decisive team that knows what they want. We appreciate that they work very iteratively with us, responding to every comment.

How did AUQ perform from a project management standpoint?

Budget-wise, there are never any surprises with AUQ. For the timeline, we always clearly articulate what we need, and the AUQ team is very accessible. 

We typically communicate through email and Zoom, though I’ve texted Kirill once when it was very urgent. Kirill is always there for us, even on off hours — if there’s something very urgent, he’s very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There’s a lot of transparency with AUQ about expectations of timelines and deliverables. I’m impressed by their openness to listen — they want to make sure we’re happy with the results. If they produce something and we say it’s not going to work, they completely scrap it without forcing the issue.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve in using project management tools. Currently, we send them emails about what we’ve talked about, and it would probably be a good idea if a dashboard documented that information. That’s the only advice I have for them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about what you want, the timeline, and expected deliverables. Showing examples of what you’re thinking tends to help — at least it has for us. Also, using project management tools with AUQ would be a bonus.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and creative director of Tsang Seymour, a design firm. We specialize in branded marketing and communications. We’re a distributed agency, so our team is made up of contractors.

What challenge were you trying to address with AUQ?

We needed help with website development and maintenance.

What was the scope of their involvement?

AUQ is currently developing a website for a new client. They’ve checked our design files from Sigma, and they’re building a WordPress backend. The client specifications included functionality and some complex add-ons to WordPress, including MemberPress. None of us had worked with it before, so there has been a learning curve.

The team has interpreted our design files into HTML and CSS programming, creating a quick prototype for the client to approve. Then, they’ve worked on different milestones, building out sections and features of the website.

In general, they’re involved with many of our clients. For example, they’re on retainer with one to do all their website maintenance. Each month, they work for a certain number of hours, and they also do edits, changes, expansions, and new features outside the scope of the maintenance contract. AUQ does all that work for us — their primary focus is on WordPress sites, although they build other types of backends.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been in contact with Kirill (Founder & SEO) and Eugene (Lead Developer). Our main point of contact is Kirill.

How did you come to work with AUQ?

I can’t remember how we found them. It could’ve been a project that we saw or from a directory of web developers.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2019, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

Clients respond positively to their communication. AUQ keeps them updated, works directly with them, and is responsive to their input and changes. Moreover, they’re great at explaining the technology and suggesting solutions that can save time and money.

In terms of metrics, we don’t have hard numbers, but the client response has always been positive. Also, the projects continue to grow, which is the most important thing for us. In general, they’ve exceeded expectations.

How did AUQ perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is great. They often deliver ahead of schedule. We use calls, emails, and texts to communicate. For project management tools, we use Monday.com — they control the account and share updates with us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, they stand out for their ability to build stable and advanced WordPress websites that are also clean and light in the backend code. Additionally, they’re excellent at communicating directly with clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything specifically.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear specifications — the more detailed information you can give them, the more accurate their project budget estimate will be. If you’re not sure of what you need, it’ll be difficult for them to give a precise estimate.