Dizzain

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the president of KNS Contracting LLC. We specialize in fit-out work for tenant office spaces.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dizzain?

We contracted Dizzain to revamp our existing website.

What were your goals for this project?

Our website was first constructed in 2009 when we first opened for business. Unfortunately, we did not maintain it as we should have, so before we knew it, we were dealing with an outdated piece of technology. The primary goals were to make the website user-friendly with the latest technology available in the market to draw prospective customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

A gentleman who we have been doing business with referred Dizzain. We had hired another website design company before but terminated that relationship almost out of the gate as we could see that they were not that interested in knowing our business.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Dizzain completely overhauled our current website, including all design elements. The team developed each section and took us through every step of the process with ease. Not only did they help us understand the content that our prospective clients would want to see, but they also helped develop key marketing points and worked with us on the art content. They were highly interested in our feedback, so we were on the same page with the development and content from start to end.

What was the team composition?

The top three executives of our company worked directly with Alex (COO & Founder, Dizzain) and his team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

I couldn’t be happier with their work. The website was just launched, and we are already getting leads from prospective clients. We now look like a professional company that can compete in the market.

At the beginning of the project, our three executives had different visions of what we needed, but Dizzain was great at bringing our ideas together. The one thing that we truly enjoyed about Dizzain is their interest in what we did as a company, which gave them a true understanding of how to guide us forward.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Alex worked with his team on all items, which in turn minimized the time going back and forth. I could not have asked for a better project manager to handle our account.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They know design and content. I was impressed with how they took the time to dig into our company to learn what we do and how we go to market. I think this is what made the project so successful.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not in my eyes, no.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and client relations at Apis Capital Advisors, LLC, a global hedge fund.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dizzain?

We’ve had a weak online presence for years, and, quite frankly, our site was nothing more than a landing page. It wasn’t engaging or interactive.

We reached out to Dizzain to redesign our website, enhance its functionality, and improve its content. Our goal was to increase our overall visibility and brand awareness.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we provided a handful of websites that we liked and a list of specific elements that we favored over others. They took our ideas and came back to us with suggestions for features and page layouts. We worked with their team to identify which aspects would fit best with our site, relying heavily on their team to come up with the overall design.  

They revamped our entire website, incorporating our feedback as they built it. Because of our industry’s many compliance regulations, they split the site into two sections. The public section displays basic information about our firm, including our investment strategy, a team summary, and location and contact details.

The private section of the website is password-protected and only accessible to registered users. The information they can view includes internal documents, secure investment data, previous investor letter, and further details about our strategy and clientele.

In addition to designing and developing our site, they’ve provided SEO consulting services. Alex (Founder, Dizzain) worked with me to pinpoint strategies for driving traffic and increasing our brand awareness.

What is the team composition?

We worked closely with Alex and two other account managers. They were our regular points of contact.

How did you come to work with Dizzain?

One of our partners did some research online and found reviews of Dizzain, along with some web pages that they designed. He reached out to Alex and began the due diligence process. We spoke with his team to feel out if they would be a capable partner and eventually decided to start the project with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested somewhere between $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in July 2018, and the site went live in March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our site is eye-catching and professional, and we’ve received positive feedback from clients and service providers. Our brokers have greatly benefitted from the website, using it to review our data and communicate about our insight and experience. It’s too early for me to give any specific metrics, but we’re pleased with what they’ve built. We look forward to having more people interact with the site.

How did Dizzain perform from a project management standpoint?

They took a collaborative approach, and the development process was interactive. We would regularly go back and forth, bouncing ideas off of each other as they worked to clarify our needs. They were great listeners and did a fantastic job of planning out the development timeline.

Their team was accessible via phone, email, and Webex. They used Asana, which allowed us to organize and track project tasks. Whenever there was an issue or a misunderstanding over email, they were quick to hop on the phone or Webex to talk through it in real time. They also anticipated problems and worked with us to resolve them right when they appeared. They were incredibly responsive, and the level of support they provided was terrific.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their innovative ideas and ability to walk us through the minutia of web development. We’re not tech folks, and they helped us appreciate the nuances of content publishing and website building. Their background and experience were invaluable.

We’re not a traditional customer in terms of web development, and Dizzain was committed to understanding our industry, including the legal structures that dictate our content management. This was a strong partnership, and we plan to continue to work with them in the future. Given some of the design features we settled on, we’ll need their assistance to edit and update parts of the site.

My team and I enjoyed partnering with Alex and his team. We look forward to working with them to monitor and tweak the website going forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a startup with a fitness-based platform that connects users and trainers for cheaper personal training.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dizzain?

I needed someone to develop the prototype of a fitness training platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began with a discussion about what ideas and features I wanted to include in the prototype. They worked on the UX/UI and came back with a first version, which we iterated from there. One of the features is to promote trainers’ videos on their profile. They built the page and planned where all the videos should be laid out.

What is the team composition?

There were three people. My main point of contact was the project manager.

How did you come to work with Dizzain?

I needed someone who knew what kind of UI design would appeal to customers. I interviewed quite a few companies, and Dizzain stood out to me. I initially found them through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $15,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m very comfortable going to market with what they’ve built, which I can use to survey and get opinions.

How did Dizzain perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is very good. They manage a good pace and communication is smooth—they respond and do things very quickly. There was one point where our alignment was missed, but I brought it up, and they adjusted very quickly. We set up weekly meetings and would have additional ones if needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand the pace of a startup and how they grow. Working with them is very comfortable as they progress at a flexible pace, which I liked.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m happy with the process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a few conversations before getting started because they can take on an advisory role during the startup phase.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the director of digital content for Westwood One Sports, a play-by-play sports radio company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dizzain?

We needed to build a customer-facing website.

What were your goals for this project?

We were looking for an ongoing development partner. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

One of our former employees connected us.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Dizzain has been our developer since our inception in 2011, coding production ideas into deliverable realities. From integrating custom scheduling pages to tweaking our client-facing design, they’ve been a reliable partner in the years after our launch. We continue to use them for any future updates.

What was the team composition?

We work directly with their COO, who acts as a project manager. He directed their development team through the required backend work during the initial build.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our web presence had been an embarrassment for years, but with Dizzain’s help, we were able to create a consumer-facing site that works for our audience—and at a budget that works for our bottom line.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The COO acts as our point person and go-between, filtering and coordinating all our tasks. He’s always responsive, helpful, and accessible when we need him.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Dizzain is responsive, easy to work with, and budget-friendly—three great attributes for any vendor, regardless of the project. They’ve also kept up with our many and ever-changing desires.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

We've had great success with Dizzain and would recommend them highly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-owner of BestBlackFriday.com, an online portal showcasing holiday deals and digital flyers. My main responsibilities include content creation and partnership development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dizzain?

We hired Dizzain in 2013 to build a website from the ground up. We needed them to allow us to display digital flyers, add deals to our admin panel, maintain a blog, and manage our users' accounts.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to build a speedy and reliable site to efficiently add deals and digital flyers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Dizzain via a Google search in 2013. Out of ten different companies, Dizzain impressed us the most. After a series of phone calls with Dizzain, we decided to go with them.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Dizzain assisted us every step of the way. After we described how BestBlackFriday.com would work, they completed mockups of the site. Then, their team developed a responsive and mobile-friendly frontend, a secure user account system, and robust backend.

Dizzain also installed a WordPress blog to write content and display news. As part of this, they created an easy way to add deals to digital flyers via a hovering feature. Their project managers relayed our requests to the programmers and made useful suggestions. Their team also helped us with our server and acted as system administrators. Presently, Dizzain is working on various new updates to our site.

What was the team composition?

We work with their project managers and their owner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Dizzain's rates remain extremely fair, and their rates allow us to build the site much faster compared to more expensive companies we've used in the past. Their work is also top-notch, which helps every aspect of our business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Dizzain uses Asana to effectively handle project management. It allows us to organize tasks and see what is being worked on. Their team almost always meets deadlines and give an explanation if one is missed.

We email a project manager or their owner with more immediate concerns, who replied quickly with solutions. Our present, primary project manager is extremely responsive and gives us great suggestions on how to improve certain aspects of our site. During busy periods, she always puts in the extra effort to make sure we are happy. Dizzain's owner also goes above and beyond in helping us with our more complex problems.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their communication is impressive, as they really care about our needs and value our relationship. We feel like Dizzain truly wants us to succeed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was VP of product development at Social Flow.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dizzain?

We needed a development partner to help with work that didn’t align with the core engineering team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They took on a lot of different projects for us. They did everything from work on the marketing website in WordPress, to Chrome extension development, to WordPress plugin development that plugged our API to an Android and iOS app.

We’d start off with kickoff meetings and sometimes do some work on the specifications. They’d begin to deliver the product based on those. We’d then generally go into a long-running, more iterative process where I collected and prioritized features as they came in from stakeholders. I’d pass those over to them and make sure they understood them.

In some cases, they did some of the design, while they generally worked on development, QA, and QA and acceptance testing on our side. They pushed products into GitHub or WordPress, among others.

They did an iOS app. We internally figured out what the minimum features were that we needed within the app for our customers. They built out the first product and delivered it for testing, using Xcode. They put the new products into beta so that our customers could check it out. It was in a state that I could push into the store when it was ready to go.

What is the team composition?

I worked with multiple teams. I don’t know how many members were on the iOS team, the Android team, or the people doing the plugin development. I generally work with the main project manager and filter the requests through her.

How did you come to work with Dizzain?

I found them five or six years ago. We created a WordPress plugin and we worked with a team recommended by WordPress to create this plugin. They didn’t do a great job, so I started to look around for people with WordPress experience. We found Dizzain, started working with them, and had a good experience. I asked them if they did Chrome extension development and we were then able to take on that project. When we were set to do mobile apps, they had people available who could do that as well.

How much have you invested with them?

Over $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2011. All our projects are ongoing. After we started with them, we use them for the entire lifecycle of the products or plugins.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There were major retention successes due to their work on the iOS application. That allowed us to continue working with many of our largest customers who expected us to have an iOS app which we didn’t have the resources to build internally.

They're reasonably priced. The level of work that they do, compared to what you pay, is exceptional. Their products are integral to our product offering.

How did Dizzain perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicated with the project manager multiple times a week. They mostly use email or phone. We did use a ticketing app, Lighthouse, to report issues, bugs, or updates, and they’d respond to that. We also used Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have great communication. They do very solid development work, which worked very well for our clients once it was released. A lack of bugs in the released software was really important.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to be in communication with them and pay attention to what they’re doing. You need to make sure that it’s working toward meeting your needs. It’s a collaborative process. Make sure you’re doing acceptance testing and that you go in and do QA. Make sure you have clients test it out and provide feedback. Make sure you’re also delivering that feedback back to Dizzain in a timely manner. Their dev team is in Belarus so there’s probably a time difference. You need to make sure you’re good on your distributed team skills, and that you’re comfortable working with remote teams.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an advertising and marketing company. I lead Kenshoo's global marketing organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dizzain?

We needed them to repair, optimize and sustain Kenshoo's corporate website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to grow our brand awareness, lead generation, and recruiting efforts.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had hired Dizzain at a former company. I was impressed with their level of passion and the thorough service they provided, so decided to pick them for this project as well.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Dizzain work on front- and backend development. They advise us on the best platform to host our site, assist with design, and implement micro-sites we need for an upcoming event.

What was the team composition?

Dizzain staff our account based on whatever is needed at the time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

With Dizzain's support, our response times are cut down to a fraction of what it was before. We also did a number of improvements to the UX and are now never late in preparing for an event or new product release.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They conduct weekly meetings and manage through Asana. Our workflow is highly effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their willingness to approach our account with a "whatever it takes mentality".

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No, there are no areas to improve so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an online-only publication and website. We focus on reviewing visual arts in the New York City area, as well as in Miami and Palm Beach. I am the publisher, founder, and managing editor of the company. We have about 15 people that work for us.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dizzain?

I originally reached out to them to do a website redesign when we moved from the free version to the paid version of WordPress. We also needed a custom app at the time, because we had an opportunity with Google’s Field Trip initiative.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dizzain has done everything for us since that first redesign, including a second redesign. Although we’re on WordPress, it’s very customized, and they do all the custom work. They’re also designing and are about to unveil a new website for us, which is directly related to our existing site.

A big goal has been extending our geographical reach. We cover the art field broadly but with a local focus. They redesigned the home page and mapped our URLs to enable users to search geographically while retaining our navigation categories. They also created a searchable calendar for arts exhibitions to be user-friendly and responsive on mobile devices.

We’re also in the process of advertising. They designed a custom sidebar for us that’s functional, but we haven’t implemented it, yet. They’re in the process of designing the system to address our business and backend management challenges. They researched the best options for us.

They’ve set up Google Analytics so that we can make educated decisions. For example, they helped us identify and fix a layout problem that improved the amount of stories people viewed per visit.

When SEO became more of a concern, they examined all of our URLs and adjusted the site mapping to boost our Internet searches. They also moved us from our original hosting site for better security and SEO and reworked our caching system.

The mobile app is a different project entirely. We were one of many contributors to the Google Field Trip app nationwide. Our app has a custom interface that uses GPS technology and selects stories to pop up when users drive by relevant cultural sites.

Lastly, I’ve asked them to do our site maintenance due to their familiarity with our custom features.

What is the team dynamic?

Since I don’t have anyone in-house, they act as my IT team.

Their philosophy is that the client works directly with the project manager, who acts the gatekeeper of all project information. Then they schedule the developers to do the coding work. It’s my impression that the project managers themselves can also do minor fixes.

How did you come to work with Dizzain?

I was working with a local developer who was unable to meet what my company needed. He was very expensive, and he couldn’t create the app. I Googled developers and kept investigating until I found one that was likely to have the services and expertise I needed. Dizzain had an office in Brooklyn, which set me at ease since I’m in New York. I spoke to them and gave them a try. Their deliverable worked, and nothing broke, so I went with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $6,000–$10,000 per year. The total spend is $90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2012, and our relationship has continued to grow since. As our needs change, they change with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I watch my analytics very carefully because we’re a growing company that has to adapt quickly to reader preferences. We’ve easily doubled our viewership in the past 5 years. A big part of that has been the changes we’ve made in collaboration with Dizzain, as well as their design work.

They bring their best resources to the table from a design standpoint. I’m competing against very large companies in this business, and a responsive site with a sophisticated aesthetic is a must. The appearance and functionality of our products have to rival major corporations, and they’ve delivered that for us.

As far as metrics, our centerpiece is a seasonal resort area. In the height of our season, we used to attract 1,000–2,000 individual viewers. Now that number is 11,000–12,000. Dizzain’s troubleshooting also increased our average views per visit from 1.2 to 3.65.

They did a fantastic job on our app.

How did Dizzain perform from a project management standpoint?

When I started this business, I knew nothing about technology. I’ve had a steep learning curve as a journalist who founded an online magazine. So when I first started interfacing with them, there were quite a few challenges because I didn’t understand tech language. That’s certainly changed over the last 5 years, and they’ve evolved with me. As my system and goals become more sophisticated and as technology changes, they’re responsive and adjusting our process.

We now have a system in place to do 2-week sprints. We set up a task list and a goal, and have all work done or in process in 2 weeks. If it’s not complete, I know what progress we’ve made. At any time, I’m able to assign new projects without overloading their system. Better planning enables me to get the developers that are the best fit for my projects.

They’re very transparent. When I was unhappy with the workflow, they set the system up my comments to be visible to the whole team. That gave me confidence that they were taking care of me and the necessary team members were seeing my input.

I prefer emails, but they use Asana. It’s an efficient system that allows me to see whether tasks I’ve scheduled are being translated correctly. In general, I interface with the project manager who dissembles the information from there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Simply put, when they design our site, it doesn’t break. I have complete trust in their technical savvy. They’re in touch with trends and new options for improving the site. I don’t have to worry that they’re going to make changes that will impair the site’s functionality, and that’s huge.

Also, I appreciate their responsiveness. If I have a problem or a suggestion for how we work together, they make those changes to preserve our working relationship. That means a great deal to me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While I wish everything could be done yesterday, they could improve their reaction times. I’ve had to prompt them to pay attention to my account when there appeared to be no activity for a month.

I’ve voiced issues with developers a few times, and they route new ones to my account so I’m happy. I understand that I’m a smaller client and they may not have the staff to please everyone at once, but I wish I didn’t need to speak up for myself.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're an e-commerce-only fashion brand. We manufacture in-house in the United States. I'm the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dizzain?

We needed complete web development, which included our entire online store, the backend, and maintenance. They developed the e-commerce part of our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They've taken care of nearly 100% of the backend part of our site. It's a completely custom PHP website with a built-in CMS and a custom shopping cart integrated with Salesforce and PayPal. They've built the site from scratch about three times.

They've set up Google Analytics and everything performance tracking-based on our site. There are around three or four apps we're using right now. They’ve set up Hotjar and all the Google marketing programs. They've also built a WordPress blog for us.  

What is the team dynamic?

My team and I are in daily contact with them in the frontend and backend development. Mostly everything is filtered through the project manager, but we do have access to the developers and founders, as well as a frontend designer if needed.

How did you come to work with Dizzain?

Dizzain did special projects for PC Magazine, and an IT friend who worked there recommended them to me.

I initially had a designer-developer. My first website was with a different company, and then we switched to Dizzain. We started them on smaller projects, saw that they could do them, and gradually gave them more.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $500,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in May 2006, and we're still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're happy with what they've given us. They've put a system in place for us to track analytics, so there's a good foundation for us to understand where we can improve. They offer suggestions on different apps we can use to monitor performance.

They have specialists in Google AdWords and all the Google advertisement programs, as well as backend developers who are familiar with Salesforce, PayPal integrations, and some of the more technical integrations.

We can do a lot more on the development side with them, both frontend and backend. We handle some of the design work ourselves, being a fashion brand, and some of the frontend design. We say where we want specific things to be, and they implement it. We've both come up with the design of the site.

How did Dizzain perform from a project management standpoint?

It has been phenomenal. We use Asana to communicate, and we are in contact daily. I have a project manager who is very responsive. There isn't a day that goes by where they don't answer our questions, and they're continually solving problems for us. We're e-commerce only, so something happens all the time. If our site goes off, we'll send them an email and somebody will fix it. They take care of any and all issues with a sense of urgency.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their consistency, responsiveness, and respect for billing. They have a positive attitude toward work, so you know they're not pushing back on us; they're helping us. I look at Dizzain as partners. We wouldn't want to be running the business without them. It's more than just a project we've given them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We're in a competitive business, and it's a crowded space. We're not a top 1,000 or even 10,000 site, but I wouldn't hold that against them. It's our job to get those numbers higher. They've done everything they can for us, and now it's about executing it the right way on our end.

I'm happy with Dizzain; if I wasn't, I wouldn't have stuck with them for 10 years. They do everything we ask them to.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Director of Marketing, Strategy, Corp Dev of Earlens

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Revolutionary Hearing Technology and Service for general consumers who need hearing treatment

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Dizzain to accomplish?

• Construct an electronic patient to patient referral engine
• Install Active Campaign

SOLUTION

How did you find Dizzain?

Personal connection

Why did you select Dizzain over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fits our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Dizzain were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Dizzan setup and operationalized Active Campaign for Earlens with our Salesforce
• DIzan also setup a patient to patient referral engine between Active Campaign, Referral Factory, and Salesforce.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Effective completion and acceptance testing of efforts.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Dizzan was amazing.  They were ahead of schedule, really went deep to understand the problem, identified areas we hadn't considered, and delivered with amazing velocity.

What was your primary form of communication with Dizzain?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Dizzan is a highly adaptable technology developer.  They took efforts they were familiar with and ones they weren't, and created bespoke solutions to what we needed

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

Not really. I'm very satisfied with our partnership.