DotLabel

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the head of marketing for Europe's largest marina operator, with a network spanning 124 marinas.

For what projects/services did your company hire DotLabel?

The task was to write a detailed specification for a new group website that was in-line with the company's five-year business and 
marina-marketplace transformation plan. The specification was to be based upon extensive primary and secondary user and stakeholder research.

What were your goals for this project?

The specification was to outline everything from the functionality, features, and style of the website design to the CTAs, messaging, and content requirements.

How did you select this vendor?

From website reviews and a recommendation. DotLabel were shortlisted from a choice of four vendors.

Describe the project in detail.

DotLabel's work involved researching the business' new target audience and testing the viability of the business’ new strategy. They were challenged to create a business offering, operation, and ethos 
that met the expectations of a new generation 
of customers, primarily from the Millennial group. 

The project included:

• Stakeholder planning workshop
• Creation of personas, user goal definitions, task mapping, and user scenarios
• User focus groups (planning, review of workshop video and analysis of research findings)
• User Surveys (planning and analysis of survey results)
• Competitor analysis and benchmarking
• Stakeholder workshop
• Review of research findings
• Formulation of a brief

What was the team composition?

Matt Oxley - Account Director. Mike Craddock - Head of UX and Project Lead. Caroline Richardson - UX Designer. Charlie Utton - Project Manager/Research Assistant. Kevin Sharp - Creative Director. 

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

The research required was undertaken on time and budget. A detailed specification for a new group website was developed and presented to the board.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

A proactive approach to account management was adopted and appreciated. A dedicated account manager was assigned to our project; Charlie saw the project through from start to finish.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The ability and willingness to understand both the business and its needs stood out. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of marketing at Utilita Energy, one of the leading energy suppliers in the UK. I oversee all business communications both internally and externally.

For what projects/services did your company hire DotLabel?

We brought DotLabel on to build a companywide social intranet, linking 1,600 employees across ten different offices. The product would give staff members the ability to create content and share company news.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to introduce an engaging platform that would facilitate collaboration between our departments and offices, and eventually replace email for internal communication. Our company is growing rapidly, and we want each member of our team to feel connected to our business and each other.

How did you select this vendor?

We approached several agencies who had developed company intranets, including DotLabel. We were impressed with their experience and quality of work, especially as it related to UX/UI.

We brought them in for an initial meeting, and felt that they understood our objectives and had expert technical knowledge. Also, their office is local to our headquarters, which made it possible for us to have face-to-face meetings.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Their team began the project by presenting a number of product concepts. During the discovery phase, we held multiple workshops to identify critical requirements for our platform. They worked closely with our team to understand our branding guidelines and internal communication environment. They built a functional prototype, and then carried out testing to detect bugs and assess usability. The product has launched, and they provide ongoing maintenance and updates.

What was the team composition?

Our main points of contact were their director and a digital project manager who supported us from initial presentation to product launch. We also communicated with several developers during the final integration phase of the project.

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

The new intranet has been a useful tool for connecting our employees and promoting collaboration. All initial feedback has been positive, and our staff is now more engaged with the company as a whole, across every location.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Working with their team was a delight. They were always happy to visit our office or to discuss progress over the phone. We utilized the Trello app to keep track of tasks and bug fixes while remaining in constant contact with their team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their technical knowledge and expertise set them apart. Also, their ability to collaborate with each of our departments made for a smooth development process. Their company ethos is positive, and it’s clear that they love working together. We enjoyed every one of our meetings with their team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would’ve appreciated greater clarity regarding additional costs, especially as we neared the end of the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Microsec, a software development company established in 1979. Between our two main offices in the UK and Poland, we have about 320 total employees. We offer bespoke mobile app development and software support for existing applications.

What challenge were you trying to address with DotLabel?

We’ve worked well in partnership with DotLabel for many years. Our team is made up of technical coders, so DotLabel provides the UX design we need. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Along with supporting our client projects, DotLabel refreshed our company’s website. When we develop applications together, they typically conduct workshop exercises upfront to define how it should look and feel in use.  

One of our recent projects was for large vehicle fleet management company. DotLabel initially started without us. They ran workshops to determine what the client wanted to get out of the mobile app. 
After they assembled a look and feel for the branding, they created a clickable wireframe to show the client how the end product would look before we started the development activities. It’s much easier to make changes during the wireframing stage than later on after the coding is complete.  

During the first phase of the project, we built a portal to view driver information for GDPR compliance. In the next stage, we’ll create an app feature to document vehicle issues from a health and safety point of view.

What is the team composition? 

We’ve worked with teams of 2–3 people from DotLabel, typically comprised of a project manager, a designer, and a UX expert who brainstorms ideas for the screens.
 
How did you come to work with DotLabel?

I’ve known Matthew (Director and Founder, DotLabel) for several years. We used to work together at another company. We met up after he started DotLabel, and I thought they’d be a good fit for us.
 
How much have you invested with them?

We've spent £150,000–£200,000 (approximately $199,000– $265,000) so far.
 
What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with DotLabel around three years ago, in 2016. We’re meeting with them tomorrow to discuss phase two of a project.

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

Every project we’ve done with DotLabel has been very well-managed. The feedback we’ve received about their work has been fantastic overall.
As a business, they seem to be growing in the right direction. They’ve worked with some very prestigious clients, so they must be doing a decent job.
  
How did DotLabel perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very skilled and have a strong ethos on project management. Our hybrid methodology involves Jira for tracking purposes. While our other partners have struggled with scheduling, our projects with DotLabel have always been done on time.

Nearly all our clients want us to work in Agile, but they also want to know the total project cost upfront, which that method doesn’t allow. Once we complete the estimation stage, we usually have an iterative process with two-week sprints.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

Coming up with fresh ideas that others might not think of is one of DotLabel’s strong points. Their work is exceptional. Everything they’ve done has been high-quality.
 
Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. They should continue in the same direction and keep up with evolving technology.
 
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Many clients try to scrimp and save on the initial workshops, but this can lead to more work later on in the project. The initial discovery phase, done correctly, can considerably reduce the amount of effort it takes to actually deliver a project.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the digital project manager for Moet Hennessy Europe, a regional division of Moet Hennessy which forms part of LVMH. We oversee brands that sell wine and spirits.

For what projects/services did your company hire DotLabel?

In 2017, we launched a digital news platform called Digipedia. It has since transformed into a source for videos and social listening reports. We engaged DotLabel to update its design. 

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase the usage of the platform in Europe, enrich its content sections, and improve the user experience.

How did you select this vendor?

DotLabel worked on the first release of Digipedia in 2017 and is a trusted vendor for our company. Given their high-quality work in the past, it made sense for us to continue the collaboration.

Describe the project in detail.

The team first created a proof-of-concept design. They then built an upgrade to our platform’s progressive web application and made new site architecture with three new sections and a MyAccount page. They also performed development work on a CMS for us. Once DotLabel finished the designs, they passed off materials to our internal development team. 

What was the team composition?

The account director serves as our main point of contact while the project manager oversees the project. Their creative director presented us with initial concept designs that he then worked into the final visuals. A tech lead worked closely with our internal IT team to ensure corporate governance and seamless integration. While we build and tested the platform updates internally, DotLabel helped with QA and testing as well.

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

Within six months, we saw a 50% spike in views and a 165% increase in the number of registered users on our platform. The platform serves as a successful resource in multiple markets in Europe and has received appraisal and valuation from different departments.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Matt (Director and Founder, DotLabel) serves as our project manager. He has been an exceptional collaborator. He gives timely updates, offers valuable insights, and respects deadlines. He also responds and implements our feedback rapidly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is highly professional and responsive. Matt is reliable and always open to challenges.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re thrilled with their work and hope they keep up their efforts.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a blood donation charity. I’m the head of register development. I manage the team that’s responsible for recruiting and retaining all of our new potential studies for the register.

We recruit volunteer donors that are willing to donate their stem cells to a patient who needs a stem cell transplant as their last chance of survival. We recruit people online and at events around the country.

What challenge were you trying to address with DotLabel?

We needed to increase awareness about stem cell donation. We know that the people who are actually more likely to be chosen to donate stem cells are young men. We’re successful recruiting young men to the register, but we struggle with that online. We also struggle to recruit people with ethnic backgrounds online. We have an online process that we wanted to revamp, and we needed help targeting those groups. We reached out to DotLabel to support us to completely change the online process to help us to better educate people who register online, target the right kind of people who want to learn, and also to make the process simpler. It’s not just about conversions and making it as easy as possible; it’s about educating people along the way.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We already had an application form, but we wanted to revamp our process. DotLabel helped us with the user experience and a new format of the form. We have a marketing team that took care of the outreach.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with Charlotte, who’s our project manager, as our main contact. There were a number of developers who worked behind the scenes. The whole team was involved when we first accepted their pitch and in a number of the kickoff and design workshops.

How did you come to work with DotLabel?

One of our colleagues recommended DotLabel to us. We found ratings on them on service similar to Clutch. We also looked to see who was winning the awards to help us make our selection. We’re a charity organization so we had a limited budget.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2016, and they delivered the prototype in August 2017.

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

We’re just getting into the metrics now. We’re looking to launch in November. We will gauge the impact by where people drop out in the form and if this work helps people getting through the form and helping us reach the right people.

We only have internal feedback because people haven’t used it externally. People say it’s much simpler. We added in some pre-screening questions so people don’t have to spend as long filling out the information before they get rejected. We expect that to improve.

How did DotLabel perform from a project management standpoint?

We enjoyed working with them. Matt was really involved and supportive. He’s an MD. We know there are bigger clients, and we were turned down by other agencies. He engaged in the calls and was excited to be part of something different. He was always approachable, and always got back to us. We’re still in touch now, which is nice. We used Trello and Jira during the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very personable and we built a relationship with them. We went out for a celebratory meal at the end of the project and they’ve had patience and got in touch and offered other support.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Internally the feedback is they were nice to work with. We didn’t feel like we’d been taken advantage of in any way.