“It’s safe to put your trust in them, even for people who don’t fully understand how to build a website.”
Nov 1, 2018
Owner, Woodward Theater
Anonymous
Arts, entertainment & music
Cincinnati, Ohio
1-10 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO updated the UI for a music and events venue. They built out additional pages and reorganized content in order to improve SEO. They also created a contact form as a call to action for site visitors.
The team at EDUCO worked around busy schedules and even made a site visit in order to deliver the best service possible. Thanks to their work, site visitors understand the services better, make more targeted inquiries, and generate significantly more leads.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the owner of Woodward Theater, which is located in Ohio. We’ve been in business since 2014, hosting live concerts and private events such as weddings.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO?
Our existing website was just a very simple landing page, so we wanted something that would be more effective for driving up business. EDUCO helped us with web development and SEO.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
They provided us with a series of forms so we could clarify our vision for the new site and then we handed the work over to them. The new version was built with Drupal and contains most of the same information as the old one, but the UI’s been cleaned up so it’s more modern-looking and neatly organized.
After that, they worked with us on keywords and backlinking to improve our SEO. Since we get so much business for weddings, we wanted to make sure we were visible when people searched for venues in our area. They also added new content pages for us to highlight all the different categories of events we host. In addition, they created a contact form for visitors that lets them request information about specific services.
What is the team composition?
We worked directly with the owners, as well as with a developer and an account manager who handled our clerical issues.
How did you come to work with EDUCO?
They built a site for a regional record label and we really liked the look of it, so we reached out to them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $30,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked with them from November 2017–April 2018.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve seen a major increase in people inquiring about specific kinds of events now that those all have designated, searchable pages. Most of that’s due to the SEO, but I think the new site design, with more appealing images and a better layout, has helped as well. The online form has also been a major change. We’d never had one before, but now we get hundreds of inquiries and we can help people efficiently because we’ve already got a sense of what they’re looking for.
How did EDUCO perform from a project management standpoint?
They were very accommodating to our needs. It was sometimes challenging to get our whole in-house team together for hour-long conference calls, but they worked with our schedule. At one point, they even drove from Chicago to meet with us in person for an entire day.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I really appreciated their customer service skills and their commitment to meeting our needs. They were easy to work with and, on top of that, they delivered a great website.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I don’t want to say there’s nothing, because it’s important for everyone to improve, but I can’t think of anything right now.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
It’s safe to put your trust in them, even for people like me, who don’t fully understand how to build a website. They were true collaborators when it came to how much attention they gave my business.
In terms of cost and expertise, they typically develop e-commerce sites. We didn’t need any of that, so I thought our price was very fair, but it may cost more for a more complex project.
RATINGS
5.0
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
Cost
5.0
Value / within estimates
"It’s more than we’ve ever paid for a website, but we’ve already more than earned back that money."
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
"We’ve already hired them to work with another venue of ours.
Drupal Development for Chicago Mental Health Center
Web Development
$50,000 to $199,999
June 2017 - Ongoing
5.0
Quality
4.5
Schedule
5.0
Cost
5.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
“EDUCO is a pleasant, collaborative, and thoughtful team that’s never made our projects feel like work.”
May 3, 2018
Director of Marketing, The Family Institute at Northwestern University
Tessa Burton
Healthcare
Evanston, Illinois
201-500 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO contributed Drupal design and development expertise to support a platform redesign. They built a site that’s easy to maintain in-house.
The new site increased online bookings from 1–2 per month to 8-9 daily requests. EDUCO pairs technical proficiency with engaging interpersonal skills.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the director of marketing at the Family Institute of Northwestern University. We’re a behavioral-health group practice with four locations near Chicago. Our individual and group counseling services support children, adults, families, and couples.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO?
Our website was outdated and incompatible with mobile devices. It hadn’t been maintained well, which made it difficult to fix the existing issues internally. We needed a vendor to build a new platform that was up to date with current design standards. Rather than building a complex proprietary platform, we wanted the site to be easily modifiable and fit our budget.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
We leveraged EDUCO’s high-level development expertise to define our main goals and exact strategy elements. Having researched the benefits, I requested that they build it using Drupal. They revamped virtually every aspect of our site. Our small organization has very few in-house resources, so we relied heavily on their support.
Making the site mobile responsive was critical since 50% of our patients and grad students access our site from their phones. Together, we completed the entire information architecture through to the final build and launch.
What is the team composition?
I’ve worked with Marty (Co-Founder, EDUCO) and his primary project manager on the development. Our project manager managed the relationship throughout and served as my day-to-day contact.
How did you come to work with EDUCO?
I’d completed similar projects before in the academic and medical spaces. I searched online for local vendors in Chicago and found EDUCO through a link related to Drupal. We liked the team very much and decided to hire them.
How much have you invested with them?
Their work has cost $60,000–$70,000 so far.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with EDUCO in June 2017 and launched the site the first week of March 2018. We’re actually meeting with the team today about phase two of our project.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our partnership with EDUCO has manifested in a huge transformation for our business. After we launched the new site, leads increased by 20% right away. This spike in numbers has been leveling off slightly but was very noticeable during the first month. The more leads that come through the funnel, the better we can grow our business. After users demonstrate an interest in booking an appointment, they help us follow through to solidify a final commitment. We used to receive 1–2 online monthly appointment requests. By comparison, the new platform they built garners 8–9 bookings each day.
EDUCO revamped our site to be warmer, friendlier, and more visually appealing. They improved the UX to make it easier for clients to contact us. Restructuring the site with swift, easy navigation helps them find exactly what they’re looking for. Expanding the functionality made it a better all-around experience for our users. Anecdotally, people have loved the new site’s design.
How did EDUCO perform from a project management standpoint?
I’d give EDUCO an A or A- from this perspective. They kept thorough documentation, which proved useful. I worked closely with their project manager, who was outstanding. There was no question I couldn’t ask him. He was endlessly patient, even though at times I must have emailed him 20–30 times per day. We mostly used email along with a few phone calls for urgent matters.
They’re great at keeping everyone on the same page. This was a breath of fresh air compared to negative experiences with past vendors that cost millions of dollars.
What did you find most impressive about them?
EDUCO works adeptly with Drupal, which is a flexible and easy-to-use platform from our client perspective. I appreciate that they invest in furthering their own education. Recently, the whole team spent a week at the Drupal conference. They make the important effort of staying updated with emerging technology. This endeavor helps them fully understand a platform’s capabilities.
They’re an exceptionally nice group of people that are fun to work with. At some major firms I’ve engaged with, this wasn’t necessarily the case. EDUCO is a pleasant, collaborative, and thoughtful team that’s never made our projects feel like work.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Since we had so much content to develop, I wish I’d involved our in-house expert sooner than 3-4 months into the project. I didn’t get a sense that EDUCO had this type of resource internally, but I may be wrong about that.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
EDUCO is a great group, but they are small and lean. If you need to build large sites with lots of in-depth content, consider adding additional talent into the mix. I have nothing negative to say about them; it all depends on your specific project’s needs.
RATINGS
5.0
Quality
4.5
Service & Deliverables
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
Cost
5.0
Value / within estimates
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
Website Redesign For Religious Organization
Web Design
$10,000 to $49,999
Aug. 2015 - Jan. 2016
5.0
Quality
5.0
Schedule
5.0
Cost
5.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
"They kept us on track, listened to us, took great notes, and shared the notes with us."
May 22, 2017
Director Of Liturgy, Church
Anonymous
Nonprofit
Chicago, Illinois
11-50 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO redesigned and redeveloped a church website, focusing on organizing site content according to the group’s mission. That involved integrating some successful elements from the legacy Drupal website.
Ongoing analytics reports show that EDUCO has delivered increased traffic and user satisfaction. The site is beautiful and useable. While support dwindled after launch, EDUCO maintained excellent project management; they were utterly professional despite the distance.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the director of liturgy for a church, a religious nonprofit organization. I was one of the people who oversaw the redevelopment our website with EDUCO.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO?
We wanted to improve the usability and friendliness of our website. We were originally going to revise our site, which was already in the Drupal platform. After meeting with EDUCO and hearing their ideas, we decided to make a full investment and do a complete redesign.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
They came up with some proposals for how the website would look, and we worked with them to develop it further. We have five primary missions, which are Belong, Pray, Serve, Give, and Learn. Those are the five things that our church emphasizes. EDUCO worked with those five things to develop a website that would make sense under those headings.
They were excellent, as they had an outside view and never worked with a church before. We can get stuck in our head with churchy language, and EDUCO did a great job of bringing that down to the common user. They listened to us every step of the way and adjusted based on our feedback. We’re a pretty big church, with a multi-million-dollar budget. We have about 15 on staff, and about 4,000 households.
They looked at the rough designs we had and then changed it by 90% into new wireframes. They did a good job with that. There were aspects of our old website that were okay. They utilized some of what we had, but not very much. The original design was done by a different company. They did some theming, but we didn’t make changes to our branding. They used what we had, such as our color palette and fonts.
How did you come to work with EDUCO?
Our communications director found them, but I don’t know how. We chose EDUCO based on that recommendation, and because they’re familiar with Drupal.
How much have you invested with EDUCO?
I believe the development of the redesign was $30,000. We did some continuing things after that, so we’re in the neighborhood of $35,000 to $40,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in August of 2015, and we wrapped it up by January of 2016.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
They went through some of the numbers with me, but I don’t know the background of a lot of those things. We usually have a conference call or a meeting with them once a quarter, where they go over the analytics to see what is and is not working. We have seen an increase. People love it, and other churches steal our website.
How did EDUCO perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re amazing. Project management is one of their biggest assets. They were right on with that. They kept us on track, listened to us, took great notes, and shared the notes with us. Everything was done via screen share, so we only went to their office for the original discussion. I think that was one of their strongest points.
What did you find most impressive about EDUCO?
They have one guy there who used to do some church stuff, so he was very helpful to us. All in all, they learned the lingo, and they knew how to deliver it to people. The website is beautiful, usable, and easy for us to manage. It’s everything we wanted. They really hit it.
Are there any areas EDUCO could improve?
They had a little bit of fall-off with support, but not horribly so. It’s just prioritizing for them, and we understand that. I don’t even know if I’d call that a negative. We’ve been very pleased. It’s more money than we’ve ever spent on a website, but they’re worth the money. We know that our website is the primary way people get to know who we are.
RATINGS
5.0
"<p>It’s been great to work with them across the board.</p>
"
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
"<p>It’s top notch.</p>
"
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
"<p>Everything was on time, and they kept us to a schedule.</p>
"
Cost
5.0
Value / within estimates
"<p>I like them, and they did great work for us. We didn’t compare with any other firm. We went to them with the idea of developing our Drupal website already, they showed us what they could do, and we were impressed and hired them.</p>
"
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
"<p> For all the reasons I gave. They were great to work with and they did excellent work.</p>
Web Sesign For Loyola University Chicago
Web Design
$10,000 to $49,999
Jan. - Apr. 2017
5.0
Quality
5.0
Schedule
5.0
Cost
5.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
"They’re outstanding and so meticulous, especially compared to our previous experience."
May 15, 2017
Dean, Loyola University Chicago School of Communication
Don Heider
Education
Chicago, Illinois
1,001-5,000 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO created an inward-facing website for hosting job and internship openings, incorporating simple search and application functions and an intuitive UX/UI. They also provided beta testing and user training.
Thanks to EDUCO’s high-quality deliverables, the finished platform now supports over a third of the student body. The team’s accessibility, attention to detail, and competitive price point contributed to the partnership’s success.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We are the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago. We educate students.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO?
As a university, we don’t have very strong software for posting jobs for students and internships. We’ve been using an archaic spreadsheet, so we needed an inward-facing website that was more functional. We needed a cleaner and easier-to-use database, allowing us to post jobs and internships, update those, and allow students and alumni to search and apply for them with more ease.
We also wanted it to be designed in a way that allows almost anyone to post an internship. It’s still moderated by someone on our staff, but we wanted to allow employers to post. We have work-study students, and we often have 8–10 things that need to be posted over a couple days. It has to be simple and user-friendly enough that a work-study student can post it.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
EDUCO basically did everything from start to finish. They did all the wireframes. They helped us design the website, figure out what the architecture was going to be, design all the functionality, and deliver it to us. They went through beta testing with us; once we rolled it out, there were a few issues. There were a few things they needed to tweak, but they also helped our people understand exactly how to use the Drupal software, as we’d never used the Drupal platform before. All of the logos and themes are pre-prescribed, so they weren’t involved in that area.
How did you come to work with EDUCO?
We’d had a horrible experience with a previous web design company. It was really one of the worst experiences of my life. So, I was looking for an agency and was amazed that it’s so difficult to find a competent web designer. I found EDUCO through a web search, and they had very good reviews on a couple different sites, including testimonials. I actually found three firms in Chicago who all had outstanding reviews. I contacted all three through their websites, but only two of the companies answered. EDUCO and the other company were incredibly prompt, friendly, and professional, but then the other company just dropped out, so their follow-through wasn’t as good. We had a proposal meeting with EDUCO, and I was very impressed with them, so we ended up choosing them.
How much have you invested with EDUCO?
We’ve invested $25,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project ran for about five months. I think we started in January of 2017, and the site went live in April.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?
I don’t have a lot of stats, but the website is working very well. I think we have 500–600 students signed up for it, which is pretty good considering we have about 800–900 students in total. They have to complete an application and be approved to get a login, as we’re trying to limit access to only people who are part of our school or alumni. So far, it’s worked fine.
I haven’t heard from any students, which is good. Usually, when students contact us, it’s because something is bad. They rarely call me to say something is excellent. I know the staff is very happy with it. It’s working so well that I’ve just signed a contract for another website with EDUCO.
How did EDUCO perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re outstanding and so meticulous, especially compared to our previous experience. We used another web designer even before the crazy people, and he was a good designer. He delivered what he said he would, but it was just one guy working out of his home. So, this was really our first experience with a full-fledged, professional web design agency, and it’s just night and day.
We had regularly scheduled conference calls to go over things, and their communication was excellent. They have project management software, but I don’t know what it was. We would log in on a conference call, and they would take us through it. Even when we weren’t talking with them, we could go in and add material. They imported all our old jobs into the software, but then we sorted them all and added some stuff. It was easy to do.
What did you find most impressive about EDUCO?
They are responsive, detail-oriented, professional, and very strong in customer service. Also, they’re incredibly nice people, so overall they get strong marks.
Are there any areas EDUCO could improve?
There were times when I thought they were communicating too much, which sounds crazy. I think they do that to ensure we’re in the loop on everything.
RATINGS
5.0
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
Cost
5.0
Value / within estimates
"We always want it cheaper, but they’re very competitive. The other agency that bid on this project was significantly higher. EDUCO offered us a discount because we’re a nonprofit, which was nice."
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
Web Redesign for Bahamas Tourism Organization
Web Design
$50,000 to $199,999
Oct. 2015 - Nov. 2016
5.0
Quality
5.0
Schedule
5.0
Cost
5.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
"They are a small, efficient, and very detail-oriented team."
Feb 13, 2017
Director, Bahamas Tourist Office
Andre Miller
Hospitality & leisure
Miami, Florida
201-500 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO redesigned a Drupal website that was outdated and unresponsive. They also provided website analytics and UX research.
The redesign led to an increase in website traffic and time spent on the site. EDUCO's project management and detail-oriented work stood out.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We are a government entity representing the tourism and marketing arm of the islands of the Bahamas. We have several offices in the US, Europe, Canada, and South America. The organization stems from our headquarters in the Bahamas. Our job is to market the islands and make sure that the potential visitors are aware of what we have to offer, and that companies who are selling the Bahamas, such as airline partners, trade partners, etc., have the most up-to-date information. I’m the director of global communications.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO?
Our original challenge was that we had an outdated version of our main website. It was not responsive and was dated in terms of the user experience, the information architecture, and some other obvious key components.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
Their task was to redesign the website to make it current, modern, innovative, and responsive on multiple devices. The site is not only based on US traffic but also global traffic. We looked at the whole site to see what we could use and what we didn’t need in order to make sure that we had a good foundation to start with. We wanted to be sure that the user experience and all the other assets were improved from what we had before.
The previous website was on Drupal and it made sense to keep it in that environment. They provided research in terms of the analytics associated with the site. They gave suggestions in terms of having data drive some of the aspects of the rebuild instead of just the emotional perspectives of what people thought we should be doing. They gave a good direction of what they thought were key areas that needed to be highlighted on the website.
How did you come to work with EDUCO?
We put out an RFP [request for proposal] and searched online for Drupal developers. I searched top websites in the US and went through a couple of rankings that were within our requirements. We had an internal panel that looked at all the proposals, and something about EDUCO stood out. Their attention to detail throughout the RFP process and the questions they asked were impressive. We chose EDUCO because of their expertise in Drupal and because of their proven success. We tend to steer ourselves towards companies that are small and intimate, instead of large companies where we fall below the radar. We got the attention and focus from them that we needed. The ability to have international versions of the website was a key factor in choosing EDUCO as well as their project management skills.
How much have you invested with EDUCO?
We spent between $50,000 and $100,000 on this project.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in October 2015 and we launched the website November 2016. We’re now continuing to work with them on other websites because of the way they’ve conducted themselves as a partner.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
Since it’s still so new, I don’t have a lot of metrics. Our mobile traffic has increased, and our month over month traffic from November to December was up. Time spent on the site has increased as well. Everybody in our offices has been using it a lot more. Certain features that were added are being used more by our trade partners as tools to help inform travel agents about additional things to do in the Bahamas.
How did EDUCO perform from a project management standpoint?
They had a very in-depth project management structure with milestones to ensure we were on schedule. They were also very transparent about any delays in the schedule. We wanted the site to be launched in time for marketing campaigns that we were planning around the project. EDUCO is very thorough and detail oriented and did an awesome job in terms of receiving feedback from us.
What did you find most impressive about EDUCO?
They are a small, efficient, and very detail-oriented team, which is definitely something we like to work with.
Are there any areas EDUCO could improve?
They are interpreting everything about the Bahamas via conversation, visuals, literature, and content. We need them to see more of the Bahamas in person so they can actually have that feel of what the destination has to offer and how that can improve the website for visitors.
RATINGS
5.0
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
Cost
5.0
Value / within estimates
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
Web Redesign for University
Web Design
$10,000 to $49,999
Apr. - Sep. 2016
5.0
Quality
5.0
Schedule
5.0
Cost
n/a
Willing to Refer
5.0
"They’re honest and they made sure to keep us on schedule so they could meet deadlines."
Feb 10, 2017
Executive Director of Admissions, Coyne College
Claudia Silverstein
Education
Chicago, Illinois
51-200 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO redesigned a college website to make it more user-friendly and trained their clients to maintain and update the site. They also provided PPC and SEO services.
EDUCO made a site that is easier to keep up and update. Their responsiveness and project management were highlighted.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
Coyne College is a for-profit higher education institution. I am the executive director of admissions.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO?
To attract more students, we were looking for some marketing optimization for our website.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
We already had an established website when EDUCO consulted with us. They gave suggestions on how to improve the creatives and processes of the website. We gave them the goal of a better website and they took it from there. To make the site more user-friendly, they updated the creatives and links. Once the site was built, they taught me how to update the site on my own and do regular maintenance. They also did SEO [search engine optimization] and PPC [pay-per-click], providing the content and everything we needed.
How did you come to work with EDUCO?
They were referred to us by our ad agency.
How much have you invested with EDUCO?
We spent $100,000 on our website. However, I don’t know what their portion was for sure since we paid through our ad agency.
What is the status of this engagement?
I’ve been working with EDUCO since spring 2015. We started working with them on this project in April 2016 and the site was launched in September 2016.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
It’s easy for me to make updates to the website in real time, which is important for us. Now, I don’t have to outsource that work since I can do it myself. We will know at the end of this summer if we’ve seen any ROI.
How did EDUCO perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re honest. They made sure to keep us on schedule so they could meet deadlines. We were updated every other week and I gave them feedback. They were very responsive.
What did you find most impressive about EDUCO?
They have great customer service, which you don’t always find with an IT company. One thing I really liked about them was that they knew exactly what I was looking for. They would give me suggestions on how to make it happen. Since I’m not a technical person, they also checked and made sure I knew how to use the site.
Are there any areas EDUCO could improve?
None.
RATINGS
5.0
"I’m very satisfied for all the reasons I’ve already given."
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
"I’ve gotten great feedback on our website from students and employees. They have great customer service and the quality of their work was amazing."
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
"They often exceed the deadline. They remind us if there’s something we need to provide to avoid getting behind."
Cost
n/a
Value / within estimates
"I don’t know how much they were paid. I would give them a low rating because they’re expensive."
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
Web Site Redesign
Web Design
$50,000 to $199,999
Feb. - Sep. 2016
5.0
Quality
4.5
Schedule
5.0
Cost
4.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
"The Educo team has been great to work with from the very beginning."
Feb 9, 2017
Office Manager, JA Frate
Transportation
Chicago, Illinois
11-50 Employees
Online Review
Verified
Educo designed a new website and logo to increase brand recognition. They utilized a discovery period to internalize specifications and provided website strategy, photography and SEO services.
Search engine placement increased and the website and logo were delivered on time and within budget. They were receptive to feedback and edits, and were prompt in their communications. Customers can expect a personal touch and modern designs.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
We are a Chicago/McHenry County, IL based transportation solution provider. We are a 45-year old, family owned company with annual revenue of $24 Million. We offer integrated logistics solutions, warehouse, pick and pack, domestic transportation and international freight forwarding services.
I am the Office Manager and IT liaison for all our business entities. I was the lead project manager on this project to redesign our web site.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
Over the past 15 years JA Frate has grown from a Chicago regional trucking company to include additional companies of JA Logistics, a 3pl warehouse; JA Nationwide, a 3rd party domestic transportation provider; JA Logistics International, an international freight forwarder; and JA Equipment Leasing, an equipment leasing and repair company.
As we added each new company, we had a seperate web site developed. We tried to tie them together but the sites had different looks and the customer experience was disjointed. We realized that we were losing brand recognition by having various designs and a lack of coheshion; it was hard for an "outsider" to understand what we had to offer.
Our goal was to have one cohesive web site that simply explained what we had to offer.
SOLUTION
We spent six months searching for a web designer. We found Educo from a blog that they had written on the Top 9 Web Design Companies in Chicago.
The Educo team has been great to work with from the very beginning. Their paid discovery process was extermely helpful in building the relationship between the Educo team & myself, and the others on the JA project team.
The project included logo redesign, web site stragegy, design, development, and training. Educo also provide photo sessions for staff, buildings, and equipment.
They provided a portal for easy review and content editing during the site build.
The project took six months, and our new site unveiled on schedule for our 45th anniversary celebration.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
The keyword selections they made on most of the pages have resulted in higher placement on search engines
Everything that was on the agreed scope was covered on time and on budget.
The most difficult part of the project was the redesign of our logo. The Educo team listened to what we were asking for and were able to provide us with our new logo that includes all of our companies in a fresh modern design that we LOVE!
RATINGS
5.0
Quality
4.5
Service & Deliverables
"The logo and web site process and design are just the look that we wanted. They did a great job visually displaying all of our service offerings."
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
"All our meetings were on time and all deadlines were met."
Cost
4.0
Value / within estimates
"They were in line with other vendors we looked at. But we had to work with 3rd party content writers they used."
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
"We continue to work with Educo. They are a partner that we will continue to work with.
Website Redesign for Transportation Company
Web Design
$50,000 to $199,999
Feb. - Sep. 2016
5.0
Quality
4.5
Schedule
5.0
Cost
4.5
Willing to Refer
5.0
"Anytime we submitted something, they were on top of it."
Feb 9, 2017
Senior Pricing Analyst, JA Frate
Jessica Camarillo
Transportation
McHenry, Illinois
51-200 Employees
Online Review
Verified
EDUCO redesigned and aggregated four brand drupal websites into one main company website to streamline their online presence. They also provided branding services.
The new website has been well received. EDUCO's broad range of expertise and organization stood out.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and your role there.
The JA Brand of companies, is a full-service logistics and transportation company in the midwest. We are 23 million dollar company with services asset based trucking, warehousing, international freight forwarding, and nationwide freight brokerage. I am the Sr. Pricing Analyst for the asset based trucking division JAFrate. I process RFQs, analyze existing business for profitability, manage and write all rate programs in our transportation management software. Secondarily, I serve as part of the IT liaison team for all divisions.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO?
After several years of our brands being divided on the web with several different web sites and different formats, we decided to streamline them into one all inclusive, streamlined web presence that would create an excellent user experience for both our current customer base and prospective customers. With the design update we also discovered a need to update our exisitng logo and brand image. The goal here also included an increased web presence, with phase 2 being a marketing plan to increase organic traffic, leading to increased warm sales leads.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
They created a completely new site. We had four or five websites that had been built by different agencies over the years as we added our different divisions of business. We had the original company, an international division, warehouse division, and national division that were all on different websites and all looked completely different. We designed the new website from scratch and it was built in Drupal. We had started writing the content but couldn’t do it so they outsourced it which we didn’t like. They polished the content for us and we were really pleased with that. Our website is integrated with two of our third-party systems. When you go on our website, you’re able to log into our domestic system or our international system which are two different software vendors who have their own online presence. They also integrated with us on the careers platform.
We spent approximately 6 months vetting website design companies for this project. When we started looking, I had done a basic web search for web design companies and found a blog highlighting some written by co-founder of Educo, Marty Vernon. At that time, we choose two local candidates, and two off of his list. In retrospect, I didn’t even think to consider Educo. I was thinking perhaps they may have been out of our price point. After narrowing the first four down to two, we were left feeling unsure of the proposals we had. We felt it necessary to seek out one or two more vendors. Remembering the original blog I decided to contact Educo. We found a match! Through Educo's paid discovery process, we uncovered exactly what needed and were looking for in partner. We started the discovery workshop in February 2016. This launched us on an exciting 6 month journey in which we collaboratively redesigned the logos, wrote brand new content, did an amazing photo shoot, redesigned the website, tested it all in time for our companies 45th Anniversary party. Where we displayed the hard work for all our customers and employees to see firsthand. Educo, provided us with a specialty demo version of our website for the occasion. From start to finish the process was extremely well organized by Educo team members using their portal for interactive solutions.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
All the feedback has been excellent. They redesigned our color scheme and logo to bring all the divisions together. We loved the new colors. They came out for a 45th-anniversary party and did a demo site at no charge. The response was overly positive especially internally. We’re now working on marketing our website and they’ve come up with a plan for us to move the website forward.
How did EDUCO perform from a project management standpoint?
I personally was not highly involved in the budget or financial agreements surrounding this project. It is my understanding, however, that EDUCO, was up front and kept us in the loop financially all the way through. They most definitely kept to the schedule, if anything we held up the timeline internally. This vendor brought a broad variety of expertise to the table, from design, photography, and content. I personally felt that they blew their competition out of the water with their organizational skills. They didn’t seem to miss a beat. They also addressed all of our concerns thoughtfully, and timely.
Are there any areas EDUCO could improve?
Our only disappointment was the third party they had contracted with for the content. We as company were inspired by their organization. They have a dashboard where they keep everything. The whole experience was smooth. Every delay that happened was because of us. Anytime we submitted something, they were on top of it. They do an excellent job of discovery.
RATINGS
5.0
"Overall, I personally felt that Educo's team did a stellar job, and wouldn't hesitate to use them on any other project. We are currently in talks with them about marketing phase 2."
Quality
4.5
Service & Deliverables
"I only choose to not give a ten here, because the only disappointment we had, was with an outside partner they had selected for content, we didn't feel were up to the standard we received form Educos team."
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
"This is a strong suit for them, they are highly organized and clearly take pride in schedule management."
Cost
4.5
Value / within estimates
"Again, I don't feel I was involved enough financially to make this determination, however this is from an observant level."
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
"I would definitely refer this team to a company of our size or smaller, as I think this a niche for them that they can really work well with. A team they are able to form a partnership with.
Web Design for Financial Services Company
Web Design
$10,000 to $49,999
5.0
Quality
5.0
Schedule
5.0
Cost
5.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
"[EDUCO] pretty much took the ball, ran with it, and did a great job."
Sep 17, 2015
CTO, Financial Services Company
Anonymous
Financial services
Chicago, Illinois
11-50 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO redesigned the client’s website to be more modern and representative of their company, while an in-house team handled the development.
EDUCO’s organization and project management kept the redesign process entirely painless for the client. The client appreciates that they never had to do any hand-holding with EDUCO and still got exactly what they wanted.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your organization.
We are one of the leading privately owned Internet-based automobile finance companies. We mainly provide loans to individuals looking for short-term financing by leveraging the title of the personal automobile.
What is your position?
I'm the CTO.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What business challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO Web Design?
We wanted a new look and feel for our website – something that represented a more modern and a bit more of a financial institution site than what we had in place.
SOLUTION
Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.
It was purely web design. We have a development team in house that did the development.
How did you come to work with EDUCO Web Design?
We ended up going with EDUCO because of work they had done for another business that we are familiar with. They took that company's old site and turned their new site into something that I thought was exactly what we're looking for.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
This project was in the $10,000 to $50,000 range.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?
We were very happy with the design that EDUCO provided. The whole process was great. When we talked to them about what we were looking for and our goals they took that information and ran with it. We didn't have to do any hand holding or be involved to the point where we felt we were putting a lot of work into it. They understood where we were coming from and only had to work with them in regard to approving little things and going through very minor aspects. They pretty much took the ball, ran with it, and did a great job.
What distinguishes EDUCO Web Design from other providers?
The whole EDUCO Web Design team is great. We worked with their content and production lead, Rami Atassi, primarily and Marty Vernon, the CEO, came in a couple of times to check in on the project. I think they had a good idea of what we were looking for and Rami was on top of everything. He was very organized. He did a great job of managing the project and did a great job at keeping us in the loop. Everything was painless.
Is there anything EDUCO Web Design could have improved or done differently?
No. All expectations were met.
RATINGS
5.0
"I don't have any complaints."
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
Schedule
5.0
On time / deadlines
Cost
5.0
Value / within estimates
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
Website Redesign for Protective Gear Company
Web Development
Less than $10,000
5.0
Quality
5.0
Schedule
n/a
Cost
4.0
Willing to Refer
5.0
"We got exactly what we wanted in the time frame that we wanted it."
Sep 3, 2015
Marketing Coordinator, Protective Gear Company
Kelly Graham
Advertising & marketing
Chicago, Illinois
51-200 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified
EDUCO redesigned the client’s outdated website, redeveloping it so that that the client’s team could easily update and manage it on their own.
EDUCO strove to make the client comfortable throughout the redevelopment process and to deliver a much more user friendly website. The client describes EDUCO as friendly, responsive, professional, and knowledgeable.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this
client over the phone. Below is an edited
transcript.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your organization.
It is Magid Glove and Safety. We are a manufacturer and distributor of personal protective equipment so that includes safety gloves, goggles, glasses, and head and face protection.
What is your position?
I am the retail marketing and operations coordinator.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What business challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO Web Design?
We had a website, but it was extremely outdated. Our main problem was we had no way of updating it. The company we had used really didn't make it user friendly. It was so old, we had so many new products, and we just wanted something new and fresh and something that was updatable easily.
SOLUTION
Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.
The scope was website redesign.
How did you come to work with EDUCO Web Design?
Our industrial division already had a website. They use a different company, and the company that they were using was just more expensive than we wanted. We asked that company to give us a referral to a company that we could use that was more affordable. They referred a few companies to us, and we investigated all of the companies and EDUCO just had the right price and seemed to understand what we were looking for.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
It was less than $10,000.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What distinguishes EDUCO Web Design from other providers?
The EDUCO Web Design team is very friendly and very responsive, and they're really easy to work with. They are very professional, but they're very laid back. I knew nothing about web design or anything, and they made me really comfortable coming to them with questions when I didn't understand something they were talking about. They are very knowledgeable.
Is there anything EDUCO Web Design could have improved or done differently?
Not really. Our experience with EDUCO has been great. They trained us on everything we need to know.
RATINGS
5.0
"They're always offering ways to make our website faster. When we were designing the website they were really focused on getting to know our customer and understanding how our customer might view the site and what kind of things our customer is looking for"
Quality
5.0
Service & Deliverables
"We had a very specific design in mind to go along with some of our print marketing pieces. EDUCO worked with us to make sure those design elements were incorporated in our website and make sure the color schemes were right."
Schedule
n/a
On time / deadlines
"EDUCO was very up front with us on how long this would take. I don't think they ever had to reschedule anything."
Cost
4.0
Value / within estimates
"As far as what they quoted us and what we paid, it was spot on. We got exactly what we wanted in the time frame that we wanted it. "
Willing to Refer
5.0
NPS
"We got everything we needed, and they've worked with us even after the project.