Bilberrry

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a communications designer at the Snohomish County PUD.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

Our internal website was over a decade old, so it wasn’t modern at all. Thus, we needed help with its redesign to make it more modern, responsive, and ADA-compliant.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bilberrry helped us build a brand new website from scratch and curate its content. Initially, we did a walkthrough of the site and talked about our goals for it. Before starting this project, we also did surveys, so we provided them with input our coworkers had provided as well. Then, they took what we said and looked at every page of the website, after which they came back to us with some ideas.

We’ve always used single sign-in to access our website. However, we wanted this new site to be available externally as well, so Bilberrry had to make the single sign-in process work from anywhere and still be secure.

Additionally, every department has a space on our intranet, so there are about 90 administrators on the site. Thus, Bilberrry helped us integrate a training library where they can log in and find guides on how to administer the site.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with two people from Bilberrry: Emma (Head of Creative) and Mayelee (Project Coordinator).

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

Bilberrry had already helped us develop our external site. Originally, we launched an RFP and interviewed other public utility districts to see what companies they had worked with. One of our former team members had heard about Bilberrry, so we called them and interviewed them, along with 12 other companies. We were so impressed with them that we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the spring of 2022, did a lot of hard work in the summer of 2022, and finished the project in the fall of 2022.

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

We’ve received a lot of compliments on our new website, and we’ve had a lot of engagement from internal employees. We have a daily newsletter for news and other items of note about our utility. Prior to redesigning the site, the intranet was internal, so people would have to be inside our network to see the newsletter. If they weren’t in our network, they still received a notification but weren’t able to see the newsletter, which was frustrating.

Now, people can see all our district news, even if they’re not logged into our network, making our site more accessible. Bilberrry did an outstanding job making the site secure and available from anywhere in the world. Additionally, the site works well and is easy to use. Bilberrry took into account that there would be a huge number of users with different skill sets, so they made the site extremely user-friendly.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Bilberrry was an amazing partner throughout the whole process. They were very upfront about the schedule, and they stuck to the timelines. One time, a person from our team couldn’t make the deadline. Still, Bilberrry was able to reschedule things slightly, making the project flawless. We used Google Sheets and Google Docs to collaborate, and we often communicated via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The qualities I loved the most about Bilberrry were their listening and communication skills. They listened to our needs way better than any other company I’ve ever worked with, and they were a pleasure to work with. Moreover, they were very strong creatively, and organizationally.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were so fantastic that it would be amazing if they could clone themselves!

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Think about the guidance you can give Bilberrry before starting the process, ensure you know your goals, and find a couple of sites that you like so that they can have a starting point to work from.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the grant manager and communication associate for a fundraising company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We needed someone to develop our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bilberrry is our primary web development partner that also provides us with web design services. 

They’ve built our platform from the ground up using WordPress and implemented features such as a portfolio showcase, contact information, highlighted partnerships, and a donation form. They also redesigned our logo, created our color scheme, and improved our templates.

In addition, they’re currently hosting our website and providing us with maintenance and support.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Emma (Content Lead), but we’ve also interfaced with Adam (CEO).

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

They were highly recommended by an organization that we have a close relationship with.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2022.

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

We don’t have any metrics we can share at the moment, but Bilberrry has been very communicative and concise with what needs to be done. Their team is highly engaged when it comes to intergrating our feedback into the website and listening to our concerns.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

They adhere to our deadlines and strictly follow our budget, which helps move our tasks and project forward. We’ve had some struggles in the management aspect, but I believe that just comes with working remotely, and Bilberrry is able to resolve our issues almost immediately.

We typically communicate through email and have our standing meetings on Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their communication skills, cost-effective solutions, and quality of deliverables.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We can’t think of anything they need to improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to be clear with your needs and expectations and have consistent standing meetings. I highly recommend employing their services because Bilberrry is relatable and easy to work with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a marketing consulting company that mostly analyzes large quantitative data sets.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

They provided website development and design. We needed to create a website to be incorporated into a survey research program. The website would be used as part of a survey to test certain user experiences with different types of website modules and operations.

This was a bit unusual of a project for Bilberrry, as most of their products are commercial facing and go to a much wider audience than ours was going to.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came to them with an idea for the website and some other websites we liked the look of but had them create some aspects from scratch. They built all the code themselves, however. They designed the site in Figma, and we iterated on the design and functionality there. The final site runs on HTML.

The website was not very complex compared to other sites I’ve seen, but it needed to have a carousel of photos, multiple subpages, and pop-up text triggered by clicking on various parts of the site. We came in with pretty exact specifications.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with three people, but I’m not sure how many were in the background. My main point of contact was the CEO       

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

They were recommended to us by a creative independent contractor we’ve worked with. They’d worked with Bilberrry in the past, and we trusted this person’s judgement.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $31,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–September 2021.

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

We don’t have any quantitative numbers, but we were very happy internally. The reactions were super positive. They had great attention to detail and built a responsive product.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great — perfectly calm communication that took place over email and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Both in meeting our deadlines and paying attention to details, they excelled, as well as with communication. The latter was always open, quick, and clear. We got exactly what we expected the first time they delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything to say about this. They were great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I felt very fortunate that the CEO was our point of contact, as was our secondary point of contact. They were both very responsive. Presumably, the rest of their team is just as good.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at a wealth management firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

Prior to my current position, I worked for my company’s marketing department. During that period, we had a corporate website that needed an update both in its layout and design. Thus, we engaged with Bilberrry for help.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went through the full breadth of our website’s redesign with Bilberrry’s help. First, we had a discovery session, where we talked about our needs and goals, which included a transition from our current WordPress website to a new WordPress environment. Since we would migrate the content, we also discussed reorganizing our website and restructuring our navigation.

After the initial process, we worked with Bilberrry on the actual site’s design. They came to us with different design direction mockups made on Figma based on our brand guidelines, and we selected one of them. After that, they designed the wireframes before we migrated the content. They also helped us migrate the content, and they recently launched the new site.

What is the team composition?

My main contact was a project manager, but in a number of meetings, I also talked with a larger team from Bilberrry that included a few designers.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

I was looking for an agency in Seattle with a background and expertise in WordPress, and I shortlisted 4–5 companies, including Bilberrry, based on a broad internet search. One of our partners had worked with them in the past. They had a really good experience working with them, so they highly recommended them, and we decided to go with them at that point.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2021–February 2022.

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

Comparing the last three weeks after we launched the site to the previous three with our former site, we saw a 25% increase in page views, as well as a 35% increase in time on site. Additionally, the average number of pages a user visits per session increased as well. It has been a short period, and we will continue tracking those trends, but I’ve definitely seen results.

Qualitatively speaking, we saw a lot of internal support about our new site, as well as very positive feedback from a number of clients that saw it and explored it.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Bilberrry’s project management was fantastic. We had to move our launch date once, but it was due to an internal hurdle. Still, they were always very flexible, and every time we had a deadline to hit, they always came ahead of it.

In terms of communication, Bilberrry was great. They were awesome at following up, and they always delivered work above and beyond our expectations. We had weekly check-in Zoom meetings with our project manager, as well as a shared to-do list. To manage every other aspect of the project, we just used email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The creativity of Bilberrry’s team was impressive. The wealth management industry is usually very conservative, and our competitors’ websites look almost the same. What I loved about Bilberrry was that they came up with different design options that set us apart in our field. We really appreciated their creative license, which helped us widen our vision and break out of the traditional wealth management company mold.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be good if Bilberrry shared a project management tool with their clients. Not having one didn’t create any hurdles for us, but it would be helpful for clients who want to have a more tactical view of their projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you leverage Bilberrry’s entire team. They have various resources with different capabilities, which is awesome. Being able to leverage their resources and do a lot of different things in the project was really helpful for us.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a member of the web redesign team at Snohomish County PUD. The PUD is a not-for-profit public utility that provides electric service to over 360,000 customers and water service to about 23,000 customers in Snohomish County and Camano Island.

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

Our customer-facing website Snopud.com needed restructuring and a redesign.

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

We have a request for proposal process. We interviewed six vendors, choosing Bilberrry for their responsiveness, thoroughness and design skills. We were very impressed with how they listened and the research they did.

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

After the selection process, our project went through the following phases: discover and define; design and copywriting; development and content migration; quality assurance and training; deployment and finally, ongoing support.

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

We engaged with others as needed, but our core team consisted of three people: CEO/strategist; Creative Director; and Head of Content.

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

Our site is newly launched. It fulfilled all of our goals and we have received a great deal of positive feedback.

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

Bilberrry is very responsive, engaging and accountable. They listened carefully, then took our goals and approached them in ways we would never have considered. They know their stuff and are a pleasure to work with.

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

The amount of research they did and how they zeroed in on our goals quickly. When we previewed design options, they offered three solid, very different options.

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

They really are a pleasure to work with, their responsiveness is outstanding.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the internal marketing specialist for the Washington Apple Commission, a promotional organization responsible for marketing Washington apples in our export markets. I work in our marketing department to help execute the different marketing programs that we have around the world.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

The previous version of our website was released in 2015, so it had become a bit outdated. Considering the changes in our industry and the different aspects that we wanted to highlight on our website, we decided to completely redo our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Although we migrated a lot of the content from our former website, Bilberrry helped us create a new WordPress website, which included a new look, layout, and design.

They also implemented GTranslate, a translator plug-in. Instead of having to create our site in English and seven other languages, as we did with our former site, this translator plug-in helps us translate our page automatically. We’re still working through some edits because the translation is very literal, and some of the text is odd.

In addition to that, Bilberrry created new brand guidelines that we shared with our representatives around the world. Now, those representatives will start to integrate those guidelines into their marketing campaigns, marketing materials, social media posts, and all of their digital communications.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had three main people from Bilberrry involved in our Zoom meetings. Their team includes Arthur (Product & Digital Strategy), Emma (Content), and Adam (Co-Founder & CEO).

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

As we’re a state agency, we have to bid out these kinds of big projects, so we put an RFP on a Washington state website, and we had about 70–80 proposals. We went through all of these proposals and whittled them down until we reach a handful of contenders. Then, we went through those companies in more detail and decided to go with Bilberrry because they presented the best proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

Our contract was for around $90,000, but we will spend a bit less than that amount.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in February 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. However, we’re now wrapping the project up, and we estimate that we will finish in the next couple of weeks, around the end of October 2021.

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

As we had our former website manually translated to various languages, making updates was a lot more labor-intensive. Since using the translator plug-in that Bilberrry suggested, any updates are automatically translated for all of our audiences. This will make it easier for us to add content to the site since every representative of each language that we use will only make small edits to the texts when needed.

Everyone in our office loves the work that Bilberrry has done. However, as the site hasn’t gone live yet, we don’t have any statistics to share.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Bilberrry’s project management is excellent; they’ve been wonderful to work with. They’ve answered various questions for me, and they’ve been very patient. I can’t imagine working with a better web design team.

We’ve communicated a lot via email, and we’ve shared files through Google Drive and Dropbox.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our goal for this website was to create a dynamic and very authentic website for our consumers to get a glimpse into the Washington apple industry. Bilberrry has done an impressive job at bringing their creativity into the project to help create an awesome-looking website that people want to keep discovering.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive criticism; Bilberrry has been great throughout the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The Zoom calls have been very helpful for us. They’re a great way to talk through the project, and they’re a useful tool for them to show what they’re working on and give feedback in real-time. Thus, I suggest you leverage those calls.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

CCHP is the federally designated national telehealth policy resource center serving as an independent center of excellence in telehealth policy.  We provide technical assistance to 12 federally funded regional Telehealth Resource Centers (TRC), state and federal policymakers, national organizations, health systems, providers, and the public.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We needed help executing a website overhaul. We also wanted to create a proprietary database to help us better track and convey the telehealth laws, legislation, and regulations in all 50 states, DC, and federally. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re performing an overhaul of our current Drupal site and migrating it to a WordPress site. The team is also converting all the information for all of the states across the nation out of a 500 page PDF report into an interactive tool. They’re making it easier for users to come to our site and drill down what they’re looking for.

First, we started talking about design. Once we got the design done, they got into building the actual database. It’ll allow us to make the experience better for the end-user; it'll also help those of us who on the backend who have to update content pretty regularly.

Bilberrry also created a workflow system on the backend to allow us to communicate amongst ourselves and easily move the pieces of information for approval through a workflow process. We plan to go live in two weeks.

What is the team composition?

We work with Arthur (Director, Product & Digital Strategy), Emma (Head of Content), and Bryan (Creative Director).

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

We sent an RFP out to 30 firms. We knew this was going to be a big project for us and wanted to throw out a wide net to find the best partner possible. We formally reviewed all of the proposals and did a scoring process. We also heavily weighed communication outside of the proposal.

Bilberrry’s methodical approach and experience in building databases really drew us to them. Their personality and demeanor also fit our bill, as well.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $140,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2020. We plan to wrap up in April 2021.

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

Since we haven’t launched yet, we don’t have a lot of end-user experience to share. From what I can tell, it’ll be really successful. Anytime we can make telehealth policy a little more appealing is a total win in our eyes. Based on what I’ve seen so far, Bilberrry is going to help us achieve that goal.

The team was really quick to learn and understand what we do. They were really willing and committed to having that understanding. Arthur is very responsive, smart, and quick to understand our needs. He’s very good at incorporating our feedback into the next iterations.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. We’re in constant communication with one another. We have weekly project discussions, too. Anytime we reach out to them, they’re extremely quick to respond. Bilberrry is excellent with communication and meeting deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They hear us and incorporate our feedback. Anytime we’ve made even the slightest comment or suggestion, they’re really good about incorporating it into the final design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been great partners for us. They’ve created something for us that’ll have a big impact in our field. We’re really grateful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts and ideas, no matter how off point you think you are; Bilberrry will hear you and they’ll find a way to include it in the final product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief communications officer at Days for Girls International. We’re an award-winning NGO, and our mission is focused on shattering stigma and limitations associated with menstruation.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We needed a new website. Our website was built by our founder on Wix and had just become a dumping ground for information. It was cluttered and outdated in terms of design, fonts, and colors. There was no strategy, so we hired them to build a new website to uplevel our brand.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bilberrry had a couple of discovery calls with stakeholders in our organization, and they collected a lot of feedback about what people wanted, the problems we had, and the solutions that they were hoping to see.

I came in around that time and kind of facilitated some of those conversations. Bilberrry then started working on wireframes for us using a tool that allowed us to experience the designs as if they were in real-time. 

One of the experiences that we wanted for our users was the ability to find us on a map and search for us in different locations, so the team also created some new integrations with Google Maps, because we have different chapters and teams around the world.

It’s a WordPress website. Part of the scope of work was that they would deliver a design for us and create building blocks that we could use to build out our own pages as we saw fit going forward.

What is the team composition?

I initially worked primarily with three teammates: Bryan (Creative Director), Emma (Head of Content), and Adam (CEO). Once we settled on the design, we went down to a team of two. 

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

I started working at the organization in August, and my CEO had already signed a contract with Bilberrry. She reviewed some proposals and used Clutch to find a partner. Bilberrry had great testimonials and reviews, and for what they were offering at their price, they were the best option. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in August 2020, and our engagement is ongoing. Bilberrry still assists with any questions or errors that pop up. We’re winding down and should launch in January 2020.

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

Bilberrry delivered the keys to our website, which is on a staging server. The feedback has been great. People are so excited and they love the design. It’s a gorgeous website and the functionality is great. 

I’ve had such a great experience with them, they’ve gone above and beyond on this project. The interface is beautiful, and people are really blown away. It’s going to uplevel our brand.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Bilberrry used InVision to communicate their design, as well as Google Drive. Within our organization, we use Trello, and the team joined our Trello board. We also use Zoom and have phone calls.

I've worked in communications my entire career and even worked for agencies that facilitated the building of websites for other nonprofit organizations, so I've been through this process many times. I've been blown away by the new tools and technology that Bilberrry uses to manage the project and to show us the designs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re pros. I’ve been really impressed with how professional they are in terms of following through on deadlines and every email. They really heard what we wanted and delivered. That's so rare when it comes to working with a design firm.

I've seen the life cycle of projects with third-party vendors, and it's often really happy in the beginning, but as the process goes on, the happiness goes way down. I haven’t had that experience with Bilberrry.

They’re professional and like-minded. I enjoy working with them on a personal level, and we get along really well. They delivered what they promised and did it in a really professional way. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind right away. If anything, they could consider implementing something like Trello or Basecamp into their project management. 

They use Google Sheets to gather documentation and feedback from us, so making that change could help their process. But, from my end, it didn’t matter to me how they managed the project, as long as they got the work done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

With any design project, the biggest challenge is the discovery piece. Often, the customer doesn’t generally know what they want until the project starts, so I would advise customers to be mindful and thoughtful about the kind of information they give Bilberrry. 

During the discovery process, be thorough and talk about your challenges and needs. Think through what you want going into the project so that you’re giving Bilberrry the best chance to succeed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of iMovR.com.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We needed development help.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done every generation of two of our websites. The first site they did is a Magento site. Most recently, they converted the second site from WordPress 4 to WordPress 5 and an all-new theme.

One of our websites was hideously and extremely slow. We put site speed metrics they have to meet. It was an off the shelf theme that we used for reviews websites and that company was tiny and never updated it. We needed to replace a theme that was designed specifically for review sites. They had built a good review site before.

We wanted a theme programmed specifically to mimic what we had before, as much as possible, but at the same time, be more attuned to rich snippets and other SEO things that have come along since that old theme didn’t work well with. We were using plugins that were garbage. Our SEO performance now is integrated into the theme.

It’s a combination of site performance, load speed, UX, and look and feel. On the backend, it gives us a lot more control over things that the prior theme didn’t allow us to do. It makes my team more productive.

What is the team composition?

Our account manager was Adam (Co-Founder/CEO). There’s a graphic designer and a project manager as well.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

Adam used to work for me before he launched his company. I was his first client with our first website. He actually came up with our company name in about three minutes. He’s a very great guy.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $80,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2013 and the work is ongoing.

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

They’re a state-of-the-art agency. I will continue giving them my business. Their skillset and especially their U.S. based team has really improved.

Everything went so well. We gave them a spec of what we wanted. They gave us back a detailed proposal. Then we had very little interaction. They just executed really well. They gave us two rounds of review on the screen designs and then after that, it’s just been bug fixes and they’ve been fixing them at light speed as soon as we bring them up.

I continue working with them because we’re experts in our industry but we’re not experts on WordPress or Magento. I can tell them what I’m looking for and they come back and say they can do that but then also tell us what else they could do. They add enhancements to our spec of things we’re just not aware of.

We still get 1.2 million users a year. I give them 5-stars across the board. We rarely give a 5 to anything.

We’re not live yet on the second site because we’re finishing content changes.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is 5-stars. They were on time to the day. They took our feedback really well and listened extremely well. They had their own advice to us of things we could do even nicer and better which we took. Bug fixes have been incredibly fast.

We communicate via email. There hasn’t been much need because it was so well done. The spec was clear. Their proposal was clear. They built exactly what we asked for. We haven’t had a need for any more ways to communicate. There’s a Google Doc where we’d put errors or questions when we found them. They’d get an immediate email when we posted something in there. They responded within hours on everything.

We get very good value using their Ukrainian team but we speak with a small staff in the US. We don’t have to ever deal with translation. They’re very intelligent with SEO which is critical with the design of the sites.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really get a deep understanding of our business. I’ve worked with a lot of agencies and I’ve never found a software development firm that actually listens to you and learns your business as if they’re a Bain or Accenture consultant.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve. They took my feedback on the project three years ago and they now have a well-honed organization.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Both sides have to walk that extra mile. Explain your entire business well and you’ll get a better result. Have a good grasp of your audience demographics. The more they understand about what your business is, the better their advice is going to be on features on your website.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Grand Image is an art publishing and creation company. We intake commissions from our customers as well as create brand new content that we also sell. We create that art, print it out, and help with the install and the publication. We have a variety of clients across the architectural and design communities, as well as hospitality and other markets. We also do 3D art, so we make sculptures. A lot of our art is digital or 2D. My role is COO, so I’m in charge of technology as well. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We needed to update our marketing site and have it integrated with some of the backend sites that we have, which is basically our catalog. We have an extensive catalog of about 60,000 images of the works that we’ve created. When our customers log in, they need to have access to that catalog, because they make purchases from it and also browse it to get ideas of how their work is installed. We also needed a CMS.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bilberrry built a new marketing site from scratch that is focused solely on marketing to new customers or people that want to know about Grand Image. They also implemented a WordPress CMS.

We told them what we were looking for. One of the unique things that Bilberrry did, and a reason we decided to go with them, was that they did some initial design mockups. This is pretty unique, because they really wanted to work with us and did some quick mockups to show us what the site could look like. They were pretty simple mockups, but nobody else was willing to go so far as to present something to us. Our owner is really driven by design and the aesthetics of things, so he really appreciated being able to visually see the site instead of having the possibilities described to him.

We will have an ongoing contract with them, where they will host the site for at least the first year before we move it over to AWS. We will also have them come back and add in some more functionality that we want, like an e-commerce site.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with three people on the Bilberrry team, including Bryan (Graphic Designer). Our main point of contact is Arthur (Director, Digital Strategy & Product Management), and he’s been phenomenal. Around six people from my side have been deeply involved in this project.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

We initially found Bilberrry through Clutch. They had good reviews. One of the reasons that we really liked Bilberrry is that they used WordPress. Millions of sites use WordPress as their CMS, and it gets updated regularly. We’d previously worked with somebody that had a custom CMS solution, and we didn’t like that because we were tied to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a total of $50,000. Our hosting contract will be $150 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We contracted them in late December 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. Being an art company, we’re always looking to change some of the art or aesthetics of it all, and we’ve been updating our content a lot. The site’s code has been complete for many weeks now, but we have a ton of content, so we’ve been going through to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward. We fully expect to actually launch this week and transfer over to the new website. 

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

I can’t share any metrics because we haven’t launched the site yet. However, Bilberrry has always been on top of everything. They really helped us put together a visual, professional site. Our previous marketing site has an interesting design, but it’s completely nonfunctional. It’s difficult to navigate through and has too much parallax animation going on. Bilberrry helped us create a site that is pretty to look at; as an art company, we need a visually-acceptable site, to say the least. We also wanted it to be really functional so that if somebody dropped into the site, they would immediately know what to do, and it would funnel them directly to contacting us as quickly as possible.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Arthur is just wonderful to work with. Every week, he checks in and lets us know what is due from us. He manages the project quite well. With COVID-19 going on, it would be very easy for us to focus on other things, but Arthur has always been there to keep us on target. They had a project plan from the beginning, which laid out the steps they’d take, the projected dates of when things would be done, and the areas where they’d need interaction from us. They’ve had constant and consistent follow-up on at least a weekly basis, if not more frequently. They’ve even followed up on weekends. 

It was pretty simple project management from a software standpoint; we weren’t using anything complex like Microsoft Project. All we needed was a spreadsheet, which we referred to quite consistently. We also used InVision so that we could see the website’s design and how it would function. That was really useful, especially for our owner. 

Most of the work was done remotely, but they flew in their designer from Nashville to work with us for a day and make sure that we got the design right before it was finalized. Also, we met with one of their co-owners, Adam (Co-CEO & CMO), a couple of times during the initial phases. He was able to give us a lot of information about ERP software. It was really good to meet with Adam and Arthur to go over future enhancements and things that they could possibly help us out with. They were really informative, helpful, and honest. They let us know when things would cost us more, even though it would be beneficial to them to have us on as a client.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I thought they were and still are excellent at communication. They’re just on top of everything, and that’s really appreciated, especially considering it was difficult to get our last vendor to provide any information on the project’s status. Bilberrry lets us know what’s going on and what they need from us and when, and then they follow up on that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there really isn’t. To be honest, they have just been a fantastic vendor to work with. I have really enjoyed the process with them.

Any advice for potential customers?

Bilberrry is going to guide and direct you to get the most out of the engagement; they’re really quite good at that. Just sit back and let them take over, which is the perfect way for a vendor to function.