Emote Digital

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT project manager of Brown Family Wine Group, a private, family-owned wine company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Emote Digital?

We’re a very traditional business and we’re a little slow on the digital curve. We needed to get serious about the direct-to-consumer digital economy and we needed to coordinate our efforts for direct-to-consumer offline and digital. There was a lot of inconsistency between what we were doing in digital and in our offline space.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed WordPress WooCommerce websites. We needed them to work within our requirements regarding product management, site management, and the functionality of templates, navigation, and mobility. UX was a big factor with regard to the simplicity of design and navigation. We wanted a fast, effective, simple customer experience.

We took the requirements to them and they worked with us, then came back and presented ideas to us. We eventually locked down a set of designs and built the sites. One of the requirements across our four websites was to simplify our ongoing maintenance and upgrades. We adopted a template approach across our four branded websites, using common elements such as navigation, headers, footers, and page structures.

They did a lot of work on MailChimp for us. They have some social media and digital marketing people who specialize in remarketing and email campaigns. We’ve had them do quite a bit of work.

We also asked them to make each of the sites shine individually. On the surface, it seems like an impossible requirement when you say you need the sites standardized and also need them to shine and really promote your own brand. They were able to achieve that.

We signed up for a maintenance retainer. They patch WordPress and WooCommerce for any vulnerabilities. We also buy a development pack from them quarterly and on-demand. If we have an increase in work around some competitions or events, we may buy additional development hours from them.

What is the team composition?

My point of contact is Brendon (Digital Project Director, Emote Digital). He coordinates with the development team and the designers to bring the build together. Indirectly, we dealt with some of the broader team, as well as Boyd (Director, Emote Digital), one of the partners, and Matt (Digital Marketing Director, Emote Digital) who helped us with MailChimp integration as well as helping us set up templates and automation.

If Brendon isn’t available, anyone else we deal with is consistent with Brendon.

How did you come to work with Emote Digital?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000-$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018 and the work is ongoing.

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

We’re satisfied that the sites individually promote their own brand and have their own brand personality. I don’t think the sites appear to be cookie cutter websites out of the same factory.

We get a lot of positive feedback from our own group. We did some informal surveying. Our customer service team, which deals directly with consumers, has had emails and phone calls with positive feedback. The simple navigation has enabled users to find what they’re looking for.

We had some requirements around shipping where you have to have a minimum of six bottles of wine in a cart to check out. If you go over six, you need to have increments of six. There were some other rules around special mixed packs and more. Some of our team members thought that would be a barrier to shopping for customers, but thanks to the support of our design, we haven’t had any negative feedback on that at all. From a UX point of view, it’s really easy and obvious from the outset on how to shop. No one is shocked at the checkout and then ends up abandoning it.

They delivered one of the sites in October and the other two in November. The fourth website will launch in the next few weeks.

How did Emote Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They follow an agile methodology and break work into sprints. Brendon and I would discuss priorities and work out a schedule with regard to sprints. I held a weekly phone call with him to review progress and upcoming deliverables. They’d have workshops when we needed to do a deep dive into requirements or design on a particular site or sprint. They use Trello and other tools to track their work. They invited us onto their Trello board so we could see their progress.

I had a very honest conversation with Brendon early on about playing the partner role rather than being a paid supplier.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They focus on customer requirements and honor them. If Brendon felt we were putting a requirement on the table that didn’t make sense or could be done a lot better, he’d consult with us on it. He’s brave enough to challenge me on that. We’re really pleased with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They follow a formal methodology, but the reporting around that wasn’t always given to me. However, I could get access to it very quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your core objectives, your project requirements, and what the problem is you’re trying to solve. Be really clear on your expectations around delivery and timelines. Make sure they have the capacity to meet your needs.