Coalesce

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a PR and marketing consultant at Air Liquide, a world leader in gases, technologies, and services for industry and health. A lot of my work focuses on local education and awareness.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Coalesce?

Air Liquide is a global corporation that supplies industrial gases and services to various industries, one of which is hydrogen fuel for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCV). Our goal was to educate the public and change perceptions about the safety and benefits of hydrogen as a fuel. We wanted to target the next generation of drivers in areas where new fueling stations would soon be opening. We hired Coalesce to create engaging content about hydrogen for a young audience.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to showcase hands-on activities and guests who are fluent in the science at several of our live events.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After reading their pitches for ideas, we decided they would be a good fit for the scope of the project and the audience.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Coalesce designed and developed live event concepts and content to promote hydrogen for young audiences. They produced two independent campaigns in California—one for high schoolers and another for children ages 5–12 at a science festival.

Both campaigns were created to be scalable for future activations. For the high school event, Coalesce produced custom video montages and sourced hydrogen fuel cell kits to donate to the science department for hands-on training that would outlive our visit. At the science festival, they designed easy-to-find, responsive iPad content well-suited for small hands, as well as a custom 360-degree VR video that took visitors inside a hydrogen fuel cell via lightweight viewing headsets. In addition to the digital touchpoints, Coalesce supplied ball-and-stick wooden models to encourage discovery, as well as various giveaways with lasting power. Children visiting the booth could interact with the technology and toys at their own pace, providing ownership over the experience and real-time reactions.

What was the team composition?

We worked primarily with a strategist who managed the entire project. Two designers created all of the print and digital assets. And we also worked with their talent—the scientist—who performed at both events.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The campaigns were fun, educational, and effective in communicating the importance of hydrogen as a fuel source to the next generation of drivers. The multimedia experiences and products combined to help showcase our technology to more than 1,000 students in two days. The VR video and implementation was especially seamless and helped elevate our offerings at the live event.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We formed an efficient collaboration process from the start.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Coalesce’s pitch decks were clear and contained well-researched products and a design direction that would be viable by the event deadlines. They moved quickly and had the skills and judgement to make decisions on the fly when needed. Plus, their team was present to manage and monitor the technology touch points at the events, ensuring each visitor could enjoy a VR video experience or use the touchscreens.

Coalesce has a varied and desirable set of skills that truly sets them apart. They understood our mission and our tight timeframe, and they ensured the components were working throughout the entire process.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing specific comes to mind as needing improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a small business that provides training and test prep for different exams. A lot of our work is linked to our online platform, which we use to train people online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalesce?

Our website was outdated and not mobile responsive, so we wanted to redesign it. There were a lot of components — the frontend, an eCommerce portion, online training tools, and the backend. Redesigning everything was a big task. We also wanted to rethink who we were and be more strategic in our branding, so we began looking for a strong partner to address those needs and help us overhaul the entire website and user experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They recommended that we simplify our eCommerce solution and our package structure,  focusing on the real value we provide. We got rid of all the additional things we were offering, which were complicating our eCommerce and training experience. They offered a new eCommerce solution that was fast, sleek, and mobile and user friendly.

They also created a new experience for students – a more intuitive training center that integrates with different platforms we use. Our website had different components that students could access but it looked clunky and disjointed. Coalesce brought that all under one roof for a more seamless integration.

For the backend experience, they enhanced the speed, making the website more robust and enabling us to manipulate data with ease. They had worked with a lot of startups, new websites, and projects that function in sprint or agile methodology, but our situation was more challenging since we already had an existing functioning system. They successfully tackled this challenge. We were impressed with the strategic game they brought to the table and all the designs and specs they put together. We launched our new site in November 2017.

What is the team composition?

We had an incredible strategist who managed the entire project, but also worked directly with the director of architecture, designer and UX experts. 

How did you come to work with them?

I found them through a Google search. At first, I thought they were a random company (they were not referred to us), but I was impressed by the high SEO they achieved in a crowded space in Manhattan. That was a good prospect.

We went through a lengthy vetting process and met with lots of potential vendors. We had a few conversations with Coalesce and I shared our vision for the website, which they respected. Their ideas also impressed us and everything just clicked. On top of that, we liked the fact that we could have face-to-face meetings with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around March of 2017 and the major launch was in November of 2017. We are now working with them on an ongoing basis on additional projects. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within the first week, our website traffic increased by 7% and our overall SEO rankings shot up 22%. Our system's functionality has significantly improved. Now it's a pleasure to log in and use the system. They've also created a new brand book for us.

Everything they do they take one step beyond the new look and feel for the website – they dive in and try to understand what that really means for all facets of the business. They made everything more congruent and displayed our branding throughout the website.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been great. We were wary of this project because of our past experiences with other vendors, so we were very pleased with how they handled everything. They stayed on track with the project and gave us access to their tools, so we knew exactly when things were happening.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're strategic and critical thinkers with a lot of experience, insights, and knowledge. They're invested in our product and our brand and want us to succeed as a business. We're a small company, so we really needed a partner and not just a developer who builds a project and goes away. And they've been that product partner for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Gain an understanding from the beginning about what different members on the team handle so that you know who you need to talk about what. You have to be involved and give feedback to make the project successful. Also, throw a lot of information at them to let them see a bigger picture and fully grasp your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Zarin Fabrics is a third-generation family business since 1936 that sells fabric and decorating services such as custom window treatments and upholstery. I'm the president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalesce?

We were trying to create a new inventory system that worked well with a POS [point of sale] system and an e-commerce platform so that when we create purchase orders and receive the inventory, those items go directly into the POS and the website without having to manipulate the data several times during the process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalesce interviewed us to formulate a strategy in order to see what our needs were, and then they did all of the research on our behalf, coming up with all the different platforms that would work for us. Once they discovered what would work best for us, they did the testing, manipulated it, and then helped us implement and train our salespeople and other people who work here on how to use it.

We wanted something that was cloud-based. We had recently switched to a Shopify e-commerce platform. Since that was something that we had just done, they went out and discovered that the Shopify POS would work well for our in-store sales. They found an inventory management system called Stitch that worked well with the Shopify platforms as well.

There were two main people who were working on the project: Tucker [Strategy, Operations & Architecture, Coalesce] and Justin [Director of Architecture, Coalesce]. They seemed to have been overseen by Staton [Director of Strategy & Product, Coalesce].

How did you come to work with Coalesce?

They work in a co-working space above us. I was speaking with the owner of the co-working space about our needs and he referred us to them. I spoke with Coalesce, and they seemed to really know what they were talking about along with being professional and knowledgeable, so I went with them. Part of it was the convenience that they were in the building, so I would have access to them all the time, and they would be able to come right down the stairs and troubleshoot for us whenever we needed help.

How much have you invested with Coalesce?

We have invested around $30,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in July 2016. The work is ongoing. They helped us with choosing the platform and with implementing it. Now, over the next few months, they're going to be training all the employees and providing support. Half of it is implementation and finding the right platforms that work, and the other half is making sure that everyone here knows how to use it and uses it the right way.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Since using the platform, it's been very good for us as far as the inventory goes, because we didn't have a very good handle on tracking what or how much we had. Our fabric comes on a bolt of 50 yards, and we weren’t inputting specific SKUs in and deducting, so it was always difficult to know how much we had of anything—if we had any. Now it's become a lot easier to track what we're selling and also know that we have more of it on the shelf.

There are issues with the solution, though. Part of it is that Shopify wants you to use their payment system to process payments, and we were happy with our merchant processor. Theirs was less expensive and easier because it's fully integrated, but there were problems with it. If we had a chargeback, with Shopify, you just have to submit what is in the system and you can't speak with anyone. With our old processor, I'm able to provide backup. We do a lot of custom work, so we have a lot of signatures on paper. We have a lot of detail written down that's outside of the system. With our old processor, we were able to send all that in, and we would never lose a chargeback. With Shopify, that didn't work for us, so we had to switch back to our old processor, who actually matched the rate which is good, but the third-party merchant processor doesn't work as well with the system. The Shopify system has the card chip readers; if you use a third-party processor, you have to use the old swipers. We're getting a lot of declines because they think it's fraud.

There's another issue, which they knew wasn't going to be able to be solved without putting in a larger investment, and that is that we sell fabric off the bolt. We cut 1¼ yards, 1½, and 1¾ yards. With our old system, we were able to input 0.25. With the new system, we can only sell in whole units. If we're selling something, we try to sell it as full yards, which is good because we sell half a yard more. A lot of our customers who have been coming to us for a while are not used to that. Let’s say they buy 5½ yards. We have to sell 5 off the SKU, and then we enter the ½ yard as a separate item. That messes up the inventory a little bit, so we have to stay on top of how much we have and make adjustments every so often.

To fix these things, we will need some custom programming, and we're not ready to spend the money on that now. It's something that is just becoming part of our sales process, and we're going to leave it be for now. However, we just met with them today about potentially fixing the issue of the chip card reader.

How did Coalesce perform from a project management standpoint?

They are excellent. They're really knowledgeable and on top of things, doing a lot of research into how the systems work and what would be best. They take into consideration the people who work here and their skill level. Although recommending something may not be as good as another solution, it would be better for us because of the skill level of the people who work here. They take all of those factors into consideration.

All of their work was delivered on time, but it wasn’t within budget. It definitely cost more than what we had expected. As they got into it, they realized that the scope of the project was larger than they had anticipated.

We just used email to communicate with them.

What did you find most impressive about Coalesce?

They're very organized and goal driven. They're not just trying to sell you their services, but rather really want to find the best solution. They operate on a very high level. We're a small business, but I think they can provide services to large corporations who would be happy with their reporting, follow-up, and attentiveness.

Are there any areas Coalesce could improve?

If they could try to come in within budget, that would be helpful. They work on an hourly basis, so they could provide a little more detail on what they're billing for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

ATLETO is a sports platform app which hosts a community of people who can find each other based on their particular sport, skill level, and location, setting up the most compatible matches. There are 40 sports represented in our app, and our platform provides verticals for people who want to take part in multiple sports, including smaller, niche ones. The company is made up of what I would call "ambassadors" from all around the world, around 10 in total, along with our CFO, CMO, and development team. Altogether, we're about 15 people, not all on the payroll.

I am the founder and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalesce?

We developed our app and got it approved on the App Store in May 2016, but we found out that it had been designed in a much too complicated way. During the creative product development phase, we wanted it to have a lot of features, giving our users a range of opportunities, but we lost sight of one of the most important elements, namely very simple access and the ability of a user to understand the value proposition quickly. I reached out to Coalesce for work on our onboarding user experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalesce analyzed the steps which a user needed to go through, identifying 10 or 11 of them, which is a lot. They brought those down to two, which meant a lot to us. We obtained a much more streamlined product with a much better flow, and without any barriers.

The work with Coalesce involved development in terms of getting into the core of who our primary demographics are for the initial phase. Based on that, we determined how the product could be mirrored for those customers. It was not only a background research process, we also created the actual product that matched the needs of our target group. Coalesce performed a lot of research into who would pick up a product like ATLETO, and also helped us with the UX flow of the app.

We went through four sprints together, and one of the greatest things I've noticed about Coalesce is that they can convey technical details which I wouldn't normally be able to understand, in a manner which I can see as being of value for the product. I liked having more complicated content be dissected into something I could understand.

How did you come to work with Coalesce?

We had a shopping list, a budget, and a timeframe which were put out there in order for companies to tell us how they planned to solve those problems. There was no substantial insight for determining whether those propositions were right or wrong, so I looked at agencies' ability to convey information that I didn't understand, in a manner which allowed me to see its value. I also looked at how available and accessible they were: could I get in touch with the team, and did they stick to the deadline and our timeframe?

Coalesce did all of that, which was very important to me. I also liked their price; Coalesce promised a Volkswagen and delivered a Ferrari, whereas the typical approach is to overpromise and underdeliver.

How much have you invested with Coalesce?

The cost of Coalesce's work was between $1,000 and $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We used them as an advisor for the things we were trying to get accomplished, and on which we will work on down the line. We haven't worked with Coalesce since that initial case, but I talk to the team frequently. There is no doubt that, when there will be new things that we want to get developed, Coalesce will be involved in that. We currently have an iOS version, but we are planning to build an Android app as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Coalesce delivered a much easier access to our value proposition. The only thing that a user needs to do at the moment, in order to be presented with our main functionality, is to submit an email, a password, and a sports preference. When those three things are plotted in, the user is signed up and they will get into our feed, which will show them all the games and activities matching their sports. If a user likes tennis, golf, and karate, then only those sports will be featured on the feed.

In general, Coalesce has taught us a lot about the "less is more" concept; that was a key takeaway. We've learned to better understand our main target group.

How did Coalesce perform from a project management standpoint?

One thing I really liked about Coalesce, especially when dealing with our contact, was their availability. I really liked that, especially when coming into a market space for which we didn't really have the expertise for challenging our partners.

What did you find most impressive about Coalesce?

I talked to three or four people from Coalesce's team, who were in charge of different areas. I appreciated the variety of experts on their team.

Are there any areas Coalesce could improve?

The only thing I don't like about them is their name, especially in cases where I referred Coalesce to other clients. This doesn't really matter, though. There's nothing that really stands out as a missed point. Coalesce had a fair price and they kept deadlines.

BACKGROUND

Burton & Company., P.A., CPAs is a full-service public accounting firm providing personalized tax, audit, accounting, and consulting solutions to clients ranging from individuals to large businesses.

As partner and New York managing director, my roles range from client serving to business development as well as product development, marketing, branch operations, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

The challenge was to create a tool that is functional and attractive that can provide valuable information in an easy-to-digest format for a topic that pretty much everyone in the world hates: taxes. It wasn’t an easy task at all. The concept was to have an educational component driven by a softer marketing strategy. The main goal was to test the market's needs and wants for personal and business tax information, determine what information was most important, and develop effective marketing strategies for disseminating rather boring information in a user-friendly way.

Our target market spans all US taxpayers but hones into freelancers and, more specifically, NYC-based freelancers and start-up professionals likely between the ages of 21–40. We needed equal parts education and client generation while creating a modern brand for our NYC branch and my personal brand.

SOLUTION

Coalesce came highly recommend through friends in the field. Their team was very well balanced and showed strong expertise in many of the fields which were needed to make not only a beautiful and useful product but to be able to roll out the product and drive strong advertising results as well. This kind of team was needed considering that the scope of the project was so broad. The scope included product development from conception to release and advertising analysis post-launch, all managed by different members of the team with a team leader keeping everything on time and on budget. The product took about three months start to finish.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Coalesce exceeded our expectations in all aspects of the project, providing an attractive and functional mobile web tool from scratch, customized content to provide a truly unique user experience, highly effective social media marketing to release the product, backend analytics to assess product objectives, and speedy responses to smooth out any kinks along the way.

Coalesce has an outstanding team, impressive expertise, and offers true professionalism.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We’re a B2B [business-to-business] industry publication covering the residential real estate market. We’ve been in business for more than 30 years, and are the publication of record for residential real estate brokers, agents, and other professionals that service that industry.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the vice president of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Coalesce?

We had two primary goals in our work with Coalesce. The first was to introduce a subscription model to our content by moving our news articles and content behind a paywall. The second was to refresh and improve our overall online experience.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

We’re a pretty small team, so they handled the majority of the project. We did the business requirements and worked with them on finding the scope of work. Overall, they helped us with everything from user research, customer development, content strategy, wireframing, design, information architecture, development work, and quality assurance testing. We have one internal front-end engineer who helped a little with the integration of some of our existing systems but, for the most part, they did everything.

What was your process for selecting Coalesce with which to work?

We looked at a few options, but we really liked the work they did with other publishing firms. They had a lot of experience in some of the things that were important to us; mobile Web, Web design, and Web application development. Eventually, the team at Coalesce came and met with our founder, and that face time was really important to us.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

I would say in the $100,000 to $200,000 range.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

The paywall is new to our business, and implementing that had an immediate half-million dollar impact to the bottom line within three months.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They are incredibly thoughtful and detail oriented. They really put a lot of value and emphasis on process and not skipping steps, not rushing. They’re very methodical. They’re great to work with. They’re very smart and capable, and bring an opinion and point of view to the table, instead of just being order takers. They brought a whole new perspective and set of recommendations that we weren’t thinking of, but ended up being really valuable. They’re very much like a partner rather than a vendor.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

As an agency, they’re great. I couldn’t ask for a better partner. The only constructive criticism I could give is that they are very opinionated and, sometimes they might push a little too hard for their opinion, which can be a little off-putting. But, overall, their feedback and recommendations were definitely useful for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I own an iOS jukebox app. I had a previous version in the iOS store, and it was a consumer jukebox for your iPad.

What is your role and responsibilities, please?

I am the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Coalesce?

The work I did previously wasn’t with them. For the paid app in the iOS store, I went with a previous contractor. I was looking for an update to the existing app. Down the line I wanted to do different with them, but it was a custom job.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

I was looking for a company to help me develop a custom version that I would sell commercially, and I had a specific opportunity that I brought to them. This is a side project that I did on my own time.

The work was mostly custom development for the app. They took a base project and customized it for the specific project. They also did some UX/UI [user experience/user interface] updates, because we had some updates from the original product. They provided a lot of strategies, and they provided a full service solution.

What was your process for selecting Coalesce with which to work?

Someone I worked with referred them to me. In my job, I work on mobile applications for Fortune 500 companies. One of the people in our UX/UI department knew some employees at Coalesce fairly well. He introduced us. I had looked at some other companies, and once I found them with such a great reference, I knew it was a good fit.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

It was a medium-sized project, but I don’t know how many hours they put in. It was about $20,000. It wasn’t a from-scratch build.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

I was very impressed with them. We had a very tight timeframe, and we got an early version pretty quickly. They nailed the first UI right away. We worked together to make some additional adjustments. I was very impressed with the final product, especially in the amount of time they turned it around. They were very responsive, and were able to deliver under tough conditions.

I was very impressed with them, and we're going to be doing a lot more work together.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

It's hard to say because we don’t track formal metrics. The clients were happy, and we're working through a couple of minor bugs. Overall, they’re very impressed with the product. They’re putting it on cruise ships in the disco. They’ve done a few already, and they’re successful, so that’s a good sign. The clients are happy, and the app is solving the problem they had.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

For me, you could tell there is a real passion for what they do. That passion comes through in their work. They go the extra mile. Sometimes when you work with developers, you have to tell them the exact requirements, and what you put in is exactly what you get out. I have a lot of trust in their direction and their product based on the feedback and direction I gave them.

Someone who is looking for a top-to-bottom service can go with them and trust that they will take ownership of the project.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

I wish we had more time to beta test before we got the product out, but that’s the nature of the project and the timeline. I don’t think they could have completed it much faster.

They gave us the initial quote, and we came up a fair amount after we started talking about strategy. They did a great job of meeting me in the middle. Once we defined the scope, I was very happy with that. There was a little sticker shock over what we talked about initially, but that is the nature of the industry, especially when you’re building custom applications. They worked with us on pricing, so it didn’t become an issue at all. They really nailed the job.