Dialogue Theory

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the former chief communications officer of Prevent Child Abuse America. We’re a national nonprofit whose mission is to eliminated child abuse and neglect.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dialogue Theory?

One of our programs is called Healthy Families America, and it is a parent training program. A home visitor will be invited into the home of expecting parents to give them tips on how to raise a child and reduce stress in their lives. This programs website is integral to letting people know about the program, but it hadn’t been updated in 5–7 years. We needed a website that not only showcased the program and its offerings, but also its successes to date: parents who’d gone through it and were successful.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used WordPress, as it’s our basic CMS. Dialogue Theory started by listening to our needs and understanding our challenges and landscape.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Chris (Head of Design), who was my primary contact, and then a web developer.  

How did you come to work with Dialogue Theory?

I joined my organization three years ago, but as it turned out, my predecessor had already done some research. I was talking to some other web developers that I’d had good experiences with in the past, but the team had done so much research into Dialogue Theory that I decided to go with them, which was definitely the right decision. Chris and his team are head and shoulders above all other web development companies that I’ve worked with.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a little bit over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–October 2019, when the website launched.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw a 25% increase in traffic YoY right after launch, and that bump stayed constant throughout my tenure.

As far as qualitative feedback, we received so many positive comments from visitors detailing their thanks at finally having a tool that they can feel proud to show to others. When your website becomes decrepit, you’re embarrassed to show it off because a website represents who you are. We were in a downward spiral and had to reverse that.

Currently, the website reflects their services, expanded offerings, and has a cool interactive map embedded on the home page that allows you to find organization members to contact. We went from having a website that we had to keep in the closet to something that we could be proud of.

Not only did Dialogue Theory improve the quality of our website and the efficacy of our program, but they also improved the morale of our staff members.

How did Dialogue Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

After we had some introductory calls and a discovery period there were weekly check-in meetings that would range from 30 minutes to one hour in length. We used this time to ask any kind of probing or follow-up questions, and they endeavored to keep us apprised of any information they knew we needed.

We primarily communicated over email and phone. There were also no budget overages.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with a number of web developers and other consultants, and they only do a cursory landscape evaluation. They only pretend to listen to us. Dialogue Theory, on the other hand, refused to move forward until they fully understood the situation.

Chris in particular was very thoughtful and insightful — demonstrated a true commitment to being on the journey with us. We’re a relatively small nonprofit with a mid-sized budget, so this website was a big investment for us. Dialogue Theory understood that and acted as trusted partner to the point where I consider them to be a part of my extended team. I’ve enlisted them a few times since that initial engagement because I know that they know our company.

I’ve worked with a number of different web developers and designers, as well as videographers, and they rarely are able to branch out into other fields. Dialogue Theory brought stand-out design and development expertise. The term one-stop-shop gets bandied about, but that’s what Dialogue Theory truly is.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind for them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Organizations can sometimes be distrustful of vendors, expecting them not to be able to understand what they do and their language and acronyms, but people should be trusting of Dialogue Theory.

People also think that vendors are all about the business and not about performing a task correctly, but Dialogue Theory takes all the time they need; there is no time limit. They are diligent and committed to social impact organizations, meaning they’re positioned well to work with nonprofits. I would tell anyone to go in with an open mind and be willing to collaborate.