Cretos

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the product manager at a startup yoga and fitness company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cretos?

We wanted to build an app so that our customers could still participate in our yoga classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We had a framework built by another company, but we needed help improving the UX/UI, partially because of how bad our CTRs were — our yoga instructors needed more work.    

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It turned into an extensive project — Cretos completely transformed the UX/UI. We provided them with our brand vision, highlighting our sleek, new-age aesthetic. They started by changing the fonts, colors, layouts, and other basic app visual pieces.

Then, we presented them with the existing user flow and some of our thoughts that they elaborated upon. They rebuilt our signup and account creation processes and improved the visuals for our content recommendation feature to make sure users engaged with our content. 

They presented us with three initial designs, and we went through 3–4 design iterations before finalization.  

Cretos also helped us launch a video streaming platform so users can easily find their classes through the app and our website. Their team also helped us create a yoga instructor portal to allow instructors to track their hours and number of class participants — the app became a two-sided marketplace. 

What is the team composition?

I only had one contact, the product manager, who managed their design team. 

How did you come to work with Cretos?

Our founder was the one who found Cretos, I believe he contacted Cretos’ founder, but I’m not quite sure. 

How much have you invested with them?

We were able to stay within our $5,000 budget. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Cretos from February–March 2021.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t go into specifics, but there have been significant improvements. First, our CTRs went through the roof and our drop-off rates decreased dramatically. Also, our yoga instructors now have larger workloads and have seen an increase in user retention. Overall, users are now finding our site, clicking through, and retaining our services. 

How did Cretos perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, Cretos had great project management. Deadlines were met and the final project was delivered on time within budget. 

We had a good mix of giving them creative leeway while also staying on top of the project. Generally, we stayed out of their way, and I only contacted the product manager when I needed project updates. I was not involved in their internal Slack or project tracking tools. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sometimes when we work with design companies, they push designs that don’t match what we want. However, Cretos really accommodated our wishes.

I appreciated that they weren’t a passive design agency; they gave us feedback on our ideas and then collaborated to design the final product. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think their communication could’ve improved: there were two instances where I was unclear what would be happening on the project throughout the next day. Other minor misunderstandings led to a half-day delay in delivery, but there were no major issues. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers need to be clear with what they want while also being open to Cretos’ advice. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the product owner of a luxury vacation rental company providing its services to vacation rental homes and resort condominiums.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cretos?

We requiered to improve the UX/UI of the product. The site was hard for people to understand. Outdated design discouraged potential customers to make a purchase.

SOLUTION

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

One of my colleagues did a project with them some time ago and recommended them to me.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They enhanced customer engagement through UI/UX improvement, increased LTV and significantly boosted customer retention rate and attracted new high-end clients in the luxury segment

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

I had communications with their PM, Helen, and sometimes we had calls with their designers, 2-3 people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have transformed UX/UI, improving design, changing color combinations, fonts, white spaces, creating understandable and convenient user flow for subscribers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Decent, I was receiving updates regularly so I have nothing negative to say about this experience.

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

I think their UI skills were the most impressive. I really like how our website looks now.

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

I think my advice would be to give a creative freedom to the designers, because when you try to be fully involved in the design part and you’re not the designer - it definitely won’t look good in the end.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Zeno is a self-improvement app intended for men starting their personal development journey with exercise, meditation, fasting, sleep tracking, breath work, cardio.  I am a product owner in the team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cretos?

We needed to create a platform for the average guy who is starting their personal development journey.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We compiled a list of possible vendors, carefully assesed technical and business details of each of them and after background check selected Cretos based on these factors.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They created a delightful and valuable MVP for Zeno’s initial customer segment with four sections including exercise, meditation, fasting, and sleep tracking and we later added four more new sections in the later releases.

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

I was in touch with their PM, but I don’t remember her name sorry.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They created MVP for Zeno’s and the Pro version of the app for future releases.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Project management was really great, I had nothing negative to say about this experience.

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

After the launch the team made sure to collect as much feedback as possible so they could release more than 40 updates related to changes in the client’s procedures.

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

I don't think so.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Nation.africa is a news website specializing in the African region. I am a product designer in the team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cretos?

We needed a full redesign of our website, cause the old one was outdated and needed a lot of changes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was searching for a UI/UX designing company on Facebook and I got to meet Cretos. Before. that too, I had an acquaintance who worked with them before. There were fast to respond and their services looked legit.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Cretos first gathered information about our company and targeted the audience so that they know exactly what we wanted. After that, they proceeded conduction research, and later on, they provided wireframes with detailed improvements that they planned to do. We liked them and they proceeded with creating high-fidelity designs which turned out to look amazing.

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

I was in touch with their PM, but I don’t remember her name isn't close to my head now. But, we worked with some designers and we once had calls for clarifications.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new website now looks attractive. It has good and unique content layouts. This boosted our visitors and subscribers to our website and we even gained more companies to advertise with us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was good enough. We had calls when necessary and they were ready to satisfy our needs.

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

Time difference and location aren't a problem to them at all. They were always available to help us. They improved the requests that were valuable to us.

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

As far as I remember, I don't have any improvements I can suggest.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Marketing Officer of the Heitechsoft company. We provide program solutions for Canada and US car racing competitions and make custom software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cretos?

We wanted to enhance viewer engagement, so we needed to redesign the whole UX/UI of our tool.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Cretos have fully redesigned our UX and UI. Our tool was looking a bit boring and techy and Cretos designers gave it a futuristic look so it looks cool now. Also, they designed all of the new features that we wanted to implement.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Our project name is Soteria from the Canadian F1 Department. As I mentioned above, we wanted to improve the UI of our software that we had at that moment. We provided our current designs to them and explained all the information they wanted to know.

After that, they conducted UX research and provided wireframes of how they can improve our design. We approved them with our team and they started to work on the design. It didn’t take more that 2 weeks and the whole UI design was brought to life and everything looked perfect to us in general.

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

I had contact with their project manager, Tasia and sometimes we had calls with the designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project management was good, there were no communications problems, we were constantly receiving updates. I believe the UI skills were the most impressive. I really love it.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The management team delivered great designs at the right moment. The project manager was flexible and easy to reach.

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

The results were awesome, and they brought the idea alive. The efficiency of Cretos in designing, itself stands out. There were no issues in communication.

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

I would suggest they make sure to be helpful with the product side of things and keep in touch during the design process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Fanimie, a social media app. On our app, creators can earn money through fan subscriptions. They can set their price and share exclusive content and merchandise.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cretos?

We had to design our app quickly and well because we needed to find investments.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cretos did a complete analysis of the project. They analyzed if it was necessary for some countries and researched many design projects with the same idea. Also, they created user flows, such as happy flows, segmented flows, and more. They did some wireframes and an excellent UX/UI design.

Basically, they created the MVP with basic functionality for the project, including subscribing, selling videos, and more. Since it’s hard to compete with other popular apps, we had to add more functionality, like selling merchandise. It was also necessary to implement it in the app and web design. They spent one month doing this.

For stack, they used Sketch and Figma. For the research, they did A/B testing. We initially discussed colors, fonts, and so on, and the entire guideline was made from scratch.

What is the team composition?

We worked with five people, including a lead designer and 2–3 UX/UI designers. One of them did 3D modeling, rendering, and more. My main point of contact was the project manager.

How did you come to work with Cretos?

A friend recommended them. They sent me their work portfolio; they’d worked on the same kind of project before and had extensive knowledge in this sphere. Also, other design studios were much more expensive.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–September 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to their work, we were able to get a lot of good investments — we obtained approximately $3 million. Cretos was a good team, and they delivered all the tasks on time. They did massive research in terms of design and always gave us a couple of choices. We didn’t have any confusing moments. 

How did Cretos perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was pretty good. Their project manager was working from Russia, but we found a comfortable time that worked for both of us — it was our morning and their night. In summary, they adapted to our time and delivered on time.

We communicated via Skype, email, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cretos was really professional. They created magic in terms of design, which was exciting.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything was perfect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them; they’re an excellent team and aren’t expensive. Overall, working with them is great because they extensively analyze everything. They show you your weak points and strengths and try to implement your ideas in a good way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product owner at the company. I help startups get ready by doing all the calculations that they need.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cretos?

We needed to create the UI/UX design of our complex online SaaS product. We also needed a website and logo.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cretos designed our tool from scratch, and they turned complex spreadsheets into visually appealing elements in our tool. The team completed our product’s frontend design, but they’re still working on the backend.

What is the team composition?

We're working with their two designers and project manager.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2021, and we continue to collaborate.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Cretos has incredible design skills. We’ve secured funding from investors because we were able to show the prototypes that they created. Their work has allowed us to see the potential of our product, too.

How did Cretos perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a great project management process. We receive regular updates from them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been impressed with how they've been able to translate our boring spreadsheet into a modern online-looking tool.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’m happy with our partnership; everything has been smooth, so I can’t really complain about anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let the designers do their job and don’t cling to your own ideas of what your product should look like. Instead, give them some creative freedom so that they can create a product better than what you’ve imagined.