Charlie

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Wildcrat is a 100% natural wellness company based in Toronto, Canada. Our mission is to bring the power of nature to your everyday ritual through affordable, consciously crafted, and plant-powered products. My role at the company is Senior Manager, Digital Marketing and I help with the conception and excecution of any marketing efforts from social media and email, to the website and print collateral.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired the Charlie team to help us build a custom Shopify theme for our e-commerce store since we hadn't done a complete overhaul in quite some time. We found the out-of-the-box options to not fully meet our needs as we wanted to build a web experience based wholly around our brand, products, and customer. Our old website was outdated and didn't have the modern and fresh feel evoked by our products, and we felt this was a missed opportunity. We needed some fresh colours and new fonts to help supplement other brand elements we already had without being too distracting as our products are colourful in themselves.

The UX was also not smooth and had pain points we wanted to address for our customers, such as the website journey, loading speed, and mobile optimization. From the backend, we wanted to update to a theme that allowed us to use the Shopify 2.0 system so we could easily update and create new pages on our own. From the beginning, we knew we needed to find someone well-immersed in the Shopify world. Our website is enhanced with many third-party applications that help us run our loyalty program, wholesale portal, reviews, etc. We also needed to consolidate our individual Canada and US sites into a single one.

SOLUTION

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

We started by doing a Google search for Toronto web development companies. As a small business, we wanted to support another Canadian company if possible. Out of the firms we originally contacted, we decided Charlie was the best fit for this project as, right away, we could tell they were committed to learning about the brand and our customers and building a unique solution. We also needed a team that wasn't just focused on aesthetics but also considered the functionality and sales side of the project.

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

The scope of the project was divided into four main buckets: Planning & strategy, brand design, website design, and development.

• For the planning & strategy stage

Charlie started by setting Google video meetings with us to understand the brand and customers better. On their own, they researched the market and our competitors to help inform some of the decisions of the project.

This planning phase led to Brett's creation of user personas and user journeys, who then shared all of this information with us and explained how it would help inform decisions on the website. In the meantime, all three team members also did a complete website audit and asked questions about its functionality to help inform of any unexpected hurdles in the project. The sitemap and delivery timelines were also a big part of this phase.

• For the brand design part

Stefan helped us choose a new colour scheme and font which would be used on our website and across other digital and print assets. We wanted the new colours and the new font to enhance our products and not detract from them.

• For the website design part of the project

This was all about coming up with the look and feel of the new theme. It started with Stefan presenting us with mood boards based on our conversations and vision to help guide any further design decisions. Once the mood board was finalized, Stefan created wireframes for some of the pages to help us understand how the new website would be structured. This phase ended by creating high-fidelity mocks of major pages (both desktop and mobile) to see exactly how they would render on the web.

All the wireframes and mocks were provided via Figma, allowing us to leave comments and feedback on specific files easily. Stefan was super fast at responding to my comments.

• Development 

Kyle started this while we were finalizing the website design to help move the project on time. Stefan also helped with this part of the project, and they both did an amazing job at taking all of our feedback and applying it accordingly. However, if they thought something we wanted might not work, they would communicate this to us.

In the meantime, Brett helped with our SEO strategy, setting up Google Analytics, and any custom tracking events. Once the website was ready for review, we used Pastel to leave comments on the theme. This made it super easy for us to relay information as we could pinpoint exactly where the change needed to be applied.

On the day of the launch, all three members were available for the day to help out with any unforeseen challenges. We did encounter an issue with one of the third-party apps, which delayed the launch by a few hours, but this was due to the app itself having issues and not the work Charlie did. It took us a few days to get customer service help from the app developer, but Kyle and Stefan were there almost 24/7 to help with any other issues and bugs.

In the end, we ended up with a website that we are truly proud of and showcased our brand in a fresh and modern way without compromising on the UX.

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

We had the pleasure of working with Stefan, Brett, and Kyle. Stefan was our main point of contact and head of design and UX / UI. Brett provided his marketing know-how to help us with any customer data and analytics, setting up an SEO strategy. He is always more than happy to answer any data questions we may have. Kyle helped with the majority of the backend development of the website, including any research needed on app implementation, website migration, and custom features we wanted. He was a lifesaver when we had unforeseen issues on launch week.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The most exciting outcome is the response we've received from the customers! We keep getting messages saying how good the website looks and how much better it works. 

As performance goes, it's a bit early to tell as it has only been live for over a month. However, the website loading speed has been tremendously improved, which was one of our initial goals. We've also received fewer customer service emails regarding our loyalty program, which is a great relief (the previous app we used wasn't too user-friendly).

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

Stefan, Kyle, and Brett all communicate in a fast and efficient manner. If we need to chat quickly, we do it via email, but if a larger conversation is required, they always set up a Google meeting so we can discuss all of the details. 

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

Working with all three team members has been super awesome and amazing. I know exactly who to reach out to for every question I have. Even though not all three members are present in every meeting or email conversation, they are always up-to-date with the project, making for a super efficient workflow.

Their level of detail is always outstanding. From the scope documents to the digital deliverables, they always take the time to do research before proposing any solution to the problem presented. We are impressed by how well all three team members got to know the Wildcraft brand, which we deeply admire as it makes a world of difference when creating a project. Their level of care and commitment was felt through every step of the process.

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

Overall, we are so happy with the project deliverables and the experience. As with any large project, it was difficult to know exactly how long it would take or what problems would arise once we began. The timelines were sometimes hard to nail down, but that's not due to their team but more to us requiring design changes and some unseen delays with some of the applications implemented within the website.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and executive director at Hackergal. Hackergal is a Canadian charity with a mission to change the face of computer science and pave the way for a technology industry that is diverse and inclusive of girls and young women in underrepresented groups across Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We partner and work with many schools and school boards across the country to deliver our National Hackathon Program. We found that the only way we could disseminate our program materials was through Google Drive. This was a big challenge for Hackergal as our program reach grew significantly. Many of our schools were not able to access Google drive folders and there was a lot of room for manual error when it comes to files and folders being deleted.

Our goal was to develop an online learning portal that was customized to our program delivery and would meet the needs of our learners and facilitators when it comes to data collection and reporting.

SOLUTION

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

We found Charlie online and by drafting a request for proposal. We really enjoyed how agile they were and how they really took the time to understand our challenges and the journey map of our users. This allowed us to brainstorm unique solutions and explore new ways we would be able to best support them. They were very understanding throughout the entire project. Charlie has many years of experience managing and launching various products which was extremely helpful!

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

Charlie designed and developed Hackergal's online learning portal which is available for our national audience of learners. Charlie first facilitated a discovery call which allowed them to understand who our learners were, what the main points we were experiencing were, and how our program works in schools and communities. They really took the time to understand what they were working with before they prepared a detailed proposal of the various phases of development.

Our project was done in multiple phases due to funding limitations, they provided detailed work back schedules which identified where their time would be dedicated to. This includes project management, design, development and testing for each development phase. They were very clear with their communications along the way and were very mindful of timelines.

After each phase was completed they would host a feedback call after our users and our internal team had the chance to test new functionality. This was very helpful for us to understand where we needed to pivot if at all. They were always very mindful of budget and project costs throughout each phase.

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

There were 4 people that worked with Hackergal. We had :

• 1 project manager
• 1 designer
• 2 developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Hackergal has allowed us to grow our programs tremendously, directing our users to an online platform that had limited barriers to access. Hackergal Hub has optimized the way Hackergal collects program and participant data leaving very little room for manual error. Charlie hosted a beta test phase for our users which was very helpful in collecting feedback about the platform for us to further improve it. Hackergal Hub has successfully changed the way we deliver free programming for our national audience!

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

The project management was very clear and detailed. We received timely follow-up emails that clearly identifies action items, timelines, and ownership. They kept the project moving and kept our team accountable. We really appreciated this.

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

They were very personable and easy to communicate with. Our internal team had limited development knowledge, Charlie was able to explain the technical process in a clear way for us to easily understand which was very helpful in planning our project and understanding what was needed. I always felt they really cared about our mission and really put time into the project.

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

We really enjoyed working with Charlie and would highly recommend them for development projects!