We design services for people, with people
For forward-thinking organizations who want to improve the experience of clients and stakeholders, Fifth Beat can start and manage design driven innovation. Unlike big consultancies, we measure the impact focusing on results rather than on effort and man/days.

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Portfolio
ECMWF, World Food Programme, Silversea, Teamsystem, ENI, La Repubblica, RCS, Sole24Ore, AGI, Fastweb, Zanichelli, Sorgenia, Soundreef, Luiss, List, Owners.com, Rai

Designing a website for a real estate company
Kaaja is a real estate company with a focus on digital services. They aim to simplify real estate sales in Italy through a combination of digital technology and services provided by highly qualified professionals. We designed their website in a way that would reflect Kaaja’s core values: speed, professionalism, safety, and transparency. To achieve this goal, we created a tailor-made design to bring out their identity in a convincing way. In addition, we made the user journey on the website clear and efficient, making sure that the core values of the brand were always in the foreground.

Qualitative research for a car rental platform
iDEAL is a B2B2C platform for long-term car rental services. The platform allows professionals, such as dealers and insurance agents, to have up-to-date and competitive offers, as well as dedicated customer service. We conducted qualitative research to understand how the experience of the iDEAL platform dedicated to business users could be improved. To achieve this aim, we interviewed dealers and insurance agents to investigate how they offer their services, what their needs are, as well as understanding their goals and mental models.

E-health service integration in one app
CompuGroup Medical (CGM) is a multinational company in the e-health sector. With offices in 18 countries, CGM provides software and services to patients, healthcare professionals, and structures. Our task was to design a mobile app for iOS and Android that would integrate different services offered to patients by the companies that are part of the CGM group. We achieved this goal through collaboration with Fastloop, a company that develops digital touchpoints and systems for corporations that are willing to innovate in a truly agile way.

Improving Sorgenia’s relationship with clients
Founded 20 years ago, Sorgenia is one of the most important Italian private energy suppliers. They provide not only sustainable energy but also simple, customized digital services to their clients. We designed and integrated the services dedicated to Sorgenia customers as an OnLife ecosystem for relationships and communities. We identified and analyzed insights and ideas provided by the Sorgenia Dream Team. Then, we built and applied the Dream Service method to people's needs. This allowed Sorgenia to innovate the service and improve their relationship with the customers.

MySorgenia 2.0
Redesign content and service of MySorgenia app
As one of the most important Italian private energy suppliers, Sorgenia provides sustainable energy to its customers and pays great attention to digital services. Our aim for this project was to redesign the content and services of the Mysorgenia app, starting from the involvement and needs of people. We innovated and renewed both Mysorgenia’s service, as well as their relationship with customers. Now Sorgenia offers an increasingly digital and autonomous experience in managing customers’ supply and daily needs.

Site redesign
Phyd is a digital platform and a physical space: it helps people to find their path in the job market and to acquire the right skills. We started to design some areas with a deep degree of exploration that allowed us to review the structure of the entire site. We worked to improve the structure of the site and support people when they use the employability index by profession, by matching the skills included in their personal profile with the market demand for that profession.

Crafting a data experience for Banca Passadore
Privately-owned, this independent bank has provided consumer and commercial banking services since 1888. Its flexible and dynamic structure enables it to provide tailored solutions to client needs.
Our partner, Intranet Management, conducted interviews, a co-design workshop, and tree testing for Information Architecture and personas. Our part was to transform all this data into design materials.Imagine white beaches, blue oceans, big waves, and brave surfers. No neverlands, these palaces do actually exist, we promise. Would like to go there?

Surf holidays customer experience
Pure Surfs Camps is first of all a community of surf lovers. A group of talented guys 10 years ago decided to share their passion with other people. How? Mixing their wavehunters’ nature with their expertise as tour operators. They arrange customize travels for amateur or professional surfers in 13 different countries, ensuring a unique customized experience. For them surfing is not just a sport, but a way of life, and we helped them to communicate their mission to the rest of the world.
Imagine white beaches, blue oceans, big waves, and brave surfers. No neverlands, these palaces do actually exist, we promise. Would like to go there?

From browser to app: services to readers, value for the newspaper
Founded in 1976, la Repubblica is one of the major national newspapers in Italy. Its goals are not only to inform, but also to help readers understand the complex reality of our time, so they can fully exercise their rights as citizens.
Starting from proto-personas and scenarios, we put in place tight wireframe iterations, prototypes and tests to define services and functions that are relevant for readers and for la Repubblica.

Redesigning the UX of a complex software platform without affecting its clout
Copernicus is the European Earth Observation Program. It is a set of systems to collect information from multiple sources, such as satellites and sensors from the land, sea and air. It deals with processing and providing up-to-date and reliable information about the environment, territories, and safety. The information is accessible through the Climate Data Store (CDS): a set of freely available services and datasets. Together with the European Center for Medium-Term Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and B-Open, we participated in a European Union project to improve the UX of the Climate Data Store Toolbox.

Real Estate Platform
Owners is one of the most important players in the US real estate market. Its agents only deal with exclusive clients: customer care is at the center of their successful strategy. We helped Owners to change the role of the design process in their organizational flows, by making it a strategic step of service development. We managed to build a new role for the design process in the Owners organization.

Rai - B2E Design System
Rai is the exclusive concessionaire of the Italian public radio and television service. It is one of the largest communication companies in Europe and the fifth largest television group on the continent, with its 11,000 employees, including 2,000 journalists, divided into 20 offices in Italy and 12 abroad
Our partner, Intranet Management, conducted interviews, a co-design workshop, and three testing sessions focused on Information Architecture and personas. Our task was to transform all these data into design materials.
Reviews
the project
Design Staff Augmentation for Software Dev Firm
"Their capacity and commitment to achieving results had been impressive."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and managing partner of buildo, we develop custom software for enterprises.
What challenge were you trying to address with Fifth Beat?
We were trying to create a strong design team that could support our customer journey design needs. On top of that, we needed help to define and implement our design system. Above all, we needed a team that could collaborate with our own design team.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We leveraged Fifth Beat’s skills in designing UX and customer journeys for the banking sector. The team helped us in creating a complete and modern design system — they didn’t just create some drawings.
What is the team composition?
We worked with five full-time resources on average, including a team leader who was very experienced in banking and was extremely autonomous in managing stakeholder relations. She wasn’t there simply to turn requirements into designs, but she facilitated a complete support process and client relationship.
How did you come to work with Fifth Beat?
We had collaborated with Fifth Beath on a previous project a few years back. I went to them mainly because they had a good portfolio, which matched what we needed. More importantly, we sent our designers and developers because they were capable of conducting an exceptional design training.
How much have you invested with them?
The total cost was around €500,000 (approximately $580,000 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked with Fifth Beat between May 2020–June 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The quality of Fifth Beat’s work was pretty good, but we didn’t directly get any feedback from end-users since it involved a complex process in the bank.
How did Fifth Beat perform from a project management standpoint?
Fifth Beat was very active in creating specific processes for our project. Additionally, they made process suggestions, and they organized meetings to seamlessly let information flow. They were also proactive in fulfilling our project’s milestones. The team used Jira and many other solutions to manage the project.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their capacity and commitment to achieving results had been impressive. It was extremely easy to delegate projects to them, even the complex ones.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There were situations where, given the complexity, Fifth Beat wasn’t able to find the correct people, in terms of skill level. Considering that the price was fixed, the value was variable, but they always managed to mitigate these issues by ensuring support and reviews by more senior designers. Overall, we were very happy with the results of the partnership.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Ensure that you have enough budget because working with Fifth Beat is guaranteed success, but to achieve the quality level that they provide, the investment must be consistent. They may not be the right partner for someone looking to run a €50,000 (approximately $58,000 USD) project who expects to have complete results. However, the team is very good at achieving results for complex projects and enterprise customers who have the right amount of resource allocation and budget.
the project
Desk Booking App Development for Internet Provider
"All the Fifth Beat Team was always available to respond to our needs."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am Head of Corporate Culture & Inclusion for an Ultra Broadband Internet &IPVoice Provider for families and business companies
For what projects/services did your company hire Fifth Beat, and what were your goals?
We cooperated with Fifth Beat in several occasions. From January to April 2018 we developped the most efficient framework to realize our Intranet App for desk & meeting room booking related to a moving in news premises without offices and without assigned desk-seats
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We had cooperated with Fifth Beat and knew their expertise about UX and Digital Employee Experience. Their offer was in line also relating to budget and timing
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
surveys, workshop with employees and developpers, user testing helped to a complete delivery of wireframe to be developped
How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We worked with about 4 or 5 people. I can' t remember their positions.Raffaele woa the project leader for us
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
The app is still online and won the Intranet Italia Champions Award on October 2019. The deskbooking has always been very used and has become essential in Covid time
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
We used every type of live and online Communication. All the Fifth Beat Team was always available to respond to our needs
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Specific Knowledge, competencies wich have double asset: not only technological but also antropoligical
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
I don't have any unexpected need to punctualize
the project
Innovation Consulting for Utility Company
“They can manage complex items and some of the very technical matters in our sector.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the head of customer management for one of the main Italian utility companies. We work in the energy sector, commercializing electricity and gas.
I coordinate the group of people who work on commercial operations and the entire lifecycle with our clients in the energy sector. I work on all the commercial processes such as customer care, billing, and activation, and I’m in charge of improving the operations of my area.
What challenge were you trying to address with Fifth Beat?
We engaged with Fifth Beat to innovate the relationship with our clients. Our mission was to have a more customer-oriented relationship with them to improve their experience and make it excellent and straightforward from a quality point of view.
We needed to design a new solution and integrate new services into the general ecosystem between our clients and us. Basically, we needed to build an innovation program within the customer management group to achieve our mission.
What was the scope of their involvement?
First, we set up the project. Our main goal during this phase was to design a dream team to serve our final clients and achieve our goals. We selected a group of people within the company, combining several people from different areas, not only from the customer management group but also from other areas within the company, such as the legal and marketing teams.
Once this group was consolidated, we went through an innovation process using design thinking. We generated new ideas around the service that we wanted to offer and the relationship with our clients. The group explored these ideas, and some of them became new processes and solutions for our business.
Fifth Beat guided us through the design of some ideas, and they accompanied us to deliver them, doing experimentation to test them and get them directly to our clients. They also helped us set up some specific KPIs and asked us to measure them. Then, we looked at the KPIs to see if the pilot was successful and either move forward with a real solution or not.
What is the team composition?
The current team that we work with from Fifth Beat is composed of three people. Additionally, one more person was involved during the most demanding and intensive month of the project.
One of the people that we currently work with is an executive and the leader of the group. I work directly with him to set our direction and make decisions. The other two people are more involved in the workshops; they lead the creative sessions and work with my team to generate ideas and deliver the pilots.
How did you come to work with Fifth Beat?
I got some good references about Fifth Beat; they had a good reputation in the field. I met with them and realized that we had a common point of view on this business challenge.
Their methodology and how they presented the project's process were more in line with our internal philosophy, culture, and values than the other companies we met.
How much have you invested in them?
We have spent around €130,000 (approximately $153,000 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
The project began in May 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We worked on a cultural transformation rather than a business transformation at the beginning of the project. The added value we got from Fifth Beat’s work was having guidelines for innovation and change management in the people’s cultural approach towards it. We're learning to innovate daily with a new methodological and human approach based on our customer needs.
Moreover, we're working with Fifth Beat and using their methodology in other, more defined projects to change some touchpoints with the clients, such as the invoice we send to our clients or the interactive voice response we use in our call center.
We’ve gained some business advantages during this project by improving our client’s experience and some operational KPIs within our contact center, including the frequency of calls and the resolutions. I cannot measure this kind of advantage yet, but I'm sure that we will be able to get some more comprehensive results in the next few months, and we will be able to measure them from a quantity perspective.
Our general feedback is also very, very good. Firstly, we have a good relationship with Fifth Beat, and there is good chemistry between us. We understand each other, and they understand my business needs, so there is a common goal. Secondly, the final products that have been delivered are of good quality.
We made the invoices that we send to our clients interactive, web-based, and simpler. We then tested it with some of our clients and measured the final impact on them, and the results were very good. Fifth Beat has a good approach, delivers high-quality results, and has sensitivity towards both our final clients and us.
How did Fifth Beat perform from a project management standpoint?
From a communication point of view, Fifth Beat is very direct and clear. They share pain points and critical items in a very transparent and sincere way.
From a project management point of view, they have a creative approach, but they’re also very structured. Generally, they meet deadlines, and they have good organization skills.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Fifth Beat is very quick. Additionally, they can manage complex items and some of the very technical matters in our sector. They learn and stay at the right level of deepness, which allows them to know enough and make decisions quickly.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Fifth Beat could integrate with other groups within their team, focusing on other skills, such as UI and usability on digital devices. They work with my company in various areas within our skills and scopes. Maybe they could have a higher integration and more synergy within other groups in the company — this is for sure one area of improvement.
They could also improve how they help us communicate to our clients from a language point of view, such as the voice tone.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Share your values and internal culture from the beginning. Start with a common point of view regarding your company and your goals, and build a long-term partnership with Fifth Beat driven by getting the goals and results that you want.
the project
Web Redesign for Manufacturing Company
"They supported us extremely well in selling this project to our internal sponsor (CEO)."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
We are a leading European manufacturer and distributor of lawnmowers and power garden equipment. The company has about 1600 employees , 13 subsidiaries In Europe. My role is Digital Marketing platform manager: responsible for the digital transformation of the company
For what projects/services did your company hire Fifth Beat?
They helped us in redesigning the website, the UX and UI project behind it, and additional UX analysis specifically on the consumer journey and some new website features development
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
professionalism, dimensions, international profile, good English skills
Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.
Considering the plan to launch many e-commerce sites in this 2021, we needed to change the website layout making it more consumer-oriented and eCommerce-oriented compared to the previous layout. We go through a discovery phase mapping requirements, brand values, data analysis based mainly on analytics tools Then we did a UX and UI study Then we go through the approval and test of all the basic functionalities of our new website, graphics. We launch it in all the 13 countries Then we complete the last sections like Magazine and Product advisor and the Battery configurator
How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Many around 10 probably. The main ones have been: Raffaele Boianno CEO & Co-founder Francesco Vetica HEAD OF DESIGN Antonello Reale QA Tester Stefano Bussolon UX UI qualitative tests coordinator
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
From a results point of view, it is too early also because we are a seasonal business. But the positive feedback came from all the colleagues in terms of website usability, from our stakeholders (the board) and our CEO.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Perfect I would say. They are also super available and kind
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The availability of all of them in supporting us in every single task, doubt, question or even issue. They supported us extremely well in selling this project to our internal sponsor (CEO). In addition they expertise
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
None
the project
UX Research & Support for International Publisher
"I really appreciated the quality of the research deliverables."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
am the UX/UI Design Manager of an international publisher of newspapers and magazines, active in Italy and Spain. RCS is the publisher of the most important general news daily newspaper in Italy and, among the others, of the most read sport news newspaper.
For what projects/services did your company hire Fifth Beat?
One of our publications was going to completely redesign their news app. We hired Fifth Beat for helping us in the user research activities we needed for the project: an initial discovery research focalized on Personas development, and, after the design phase, a round of usability testing on the app prototype.
What were your goals for this project?
We wanted to investigate needs and behaviour of our readers in order to identify the functionalities of the app that could be useful for them, to increase app adoption, both in terms of new downloads and engagement on the app (time spent on visit, page views).
How did you select Fifth Beat?
We initially selected three vendors based on their expertise in the media/publishing sector and their knowledge of qualitative user research methodology.
The offers were then evaluated both by our marketing department and procurement officer, who negotiated the economics side of the offer. We chose Fifth Beat because they had the best value for money offer and because of their deep knowledge of our market.
Describe the project in detail.
After closing the pitch, Fifth Beat set up the project team and arranged a kickoff meeting which objective was to share the research plan: target users, objectives, timing, and output. Then they conducted 14 moderated user interviews - they took charge of the recruiting and meeting room hire, and we also had the chance of following a couple of them.
The raw material of the interviews was organized into 3 kinds of deliverables:
- Personas - which were the main output we requested.
- a document with the most important insights.
- a codebook with the transcription of all the most interesting quotes taken from user interviews, which supported the insights and personas documents, organized for the theme.
The research helped us to decide which features develop (for example, a recommendation engine based on user interests and bookmark and notification features). Three months later, we completed the UI design of the new app and built an interactive mockup on Invision.
Fifth Beat conducted a round of usability tests on the prototype, with 10 users. This time the main deliverable was a detailed usability report that described user difficulties and UI, navigation, and interactive elements that we should fix to improve the overall usability of the app.
What was the team composition?
The team assigned to the first part of the project was of 5 people: 4 researchers (head of discovery, a senior researcher, two junior researchers, and an account), while on the usability test phase worked on the project a team of 4 people (3 researchers and a senior UX designer)
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
I'm sorry but I cannot share metrics or company results. Anyway, we noticed a general improvement of main KPI's and better reviews of the app on app stores.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Fifth Beat delivered both research activities in the agreed deadlines, even though they were very tight.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
I really appreciated the quality of the research deliverables: rich and very practical documents that we still use as a referral two years after the research was conducted.
Are there any areas for improvement?
I think that an aspect that could be improved is to better detail what is included in the offer during the negotiating phase
the project
Research & Analysis for Nonprofit Organization
"They were flexible and committed to meeting their objectives and the mission of our organization."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work for a nonprofit organization that provides emergency assistance and humanitarian aid. I work at the headquarters in the technology division, particularly in the unit that does corporate solutions development. I’m part of a team of UX experts and service designers that support the development team.
We work at the early stages of design, doing research, and shaping the demands for technology. Additionally, we also work at the level of specific products, providing oversight on the work done by the user researchers and interface designers in the product team.
What challenge were you trying to address with Fifth Beat?
The first time we worked with Fifth Beat was back in 2017, at the very beginning of bringing a user-centered design as strategic leverage in shaping the demand for technology. We needed someone to help us run our research to define personas of a certain type of profile within the organization.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Fifth Beat provided us with qualitative research and content analysis. We had one major engagement in 2019, when they provided us with field research on three separate cases, at the very beginning of the digital transformation initiative. What their engagements had in common was we would have in-depth briefing sessions, where I would provide them with high-level research questions.
Fifth Beat would be doing further analysis and collect more information from stakeholders, and come up with their own proposed brief and research questions and business objectives.
From there, they would develop the interview guides and give us the profile of the sample population they want to interview, and the logistics of recruiting people. We needed the logistics because they would be using the people from our organization every time they worked for us — they’ll provide us with an idea of the type of people they wanted, after which we would identify the participants and recruit them for the interviews and research.
Moreover, I also requested for us to have more frequent questions during the research and analysis campaign, so we can refine them and hone in on the particular aspects we were looking for. As a rule, they would come to the office and present their main findings, as well as the full report of all the analysis as we required.
What is the team composition?
We usually communicated with Raffaele (CEO & Co-Founder) and Raffaella (Head of Discovery).
How did you come to work with Fifth Beat?
Engaging with Fifth Beat was something our director actually wanted. I got the chance to work with them after our director contacted them.
How much have you invested with them?
Combining all the projects, we probably spent around €200,000–€250,000 (approximately $230,100–$290,900 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from December 2017–May 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The quality of their work was always high, in the sense that they were able to bring back findings, that were part of strategic conversations inside the organization. We work a lot in the field, so there are constant dialogs with the field offices. They said that a lot of the findings Fifth Beat reported were not absolutely unheard of, but it was very useful for us to show as evidence that what we were assuming as the tech division about the work in the field was correct.
Their impact on our work was very good because their findings were always mentioned and discussed in strategic conversations about how to invest in technology.
How did Fifth Beat perform from a project management standpoint?
We usually ask external vendors to use our infrastructure, so they became part of our Teams channels and SharePoint spaces. Additionally, we used Slack for regular communications and keeping in touch.
They were flexible and committed to meeting their objectives and the mission of our organization. We felt that they were actually believers in our cause, and it made it easier to work with them.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We were impressed with the high-quality results of their research, as with the overall design of their deliverables — mainly their reports and posters.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There was one instance when the Fifth Beat team delivered a report that wasn’t translated well into English. It was so bad that we didn’t give it to the business team who had commissioned the work. When I reported this issue with Fifth Beat, they took it very seriously and invested in regular English writing and speaking lessons for their staff. They acted upon the feedback and the issue hasn’t happened again.
the project
Mobile App UI/UX Design for Editorial Group
"I’m impressed with their resilience."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the head of digital design & information architecture at GEDI, an editorial group that owns newspapers and radio stations.
What challenge were you trying to address with Fifth Beat?
We hired Fifth Beat to design our new app following our instructions and user needs.
What was the scope of their involvement?
For this project, their team had to put themselves in the shoes of our readers. They had to stay up to date, studying the user flows of our news and tools. We met to discuss the common vision of the app's different functions, and then we iterated on different prototypes. After that, they put together the documentation and wireframes for us to build the mobile app.
The app was built for iOS and Android, so their team had to use different approaches.
What is the team composition?
Raffaele (CEO & Co-Founder) was our main point of contact.
How did you come to work with Fifth Beat?
We’re in the same association for information architecture and UX design. We actually met ten years ago, but over the years, I saw Raffaele’s company grow. I thought he was a very clever guy, so I gave his company the opportunity to work on this project.
How much have you invested with them?
I believe we spent between €25,000–€50,000 (approximately $30,000–$60,000 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
Their team started on the app in March 2018, and the project wrapped in November 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
It wasn’t an easy task, but the team at Fifth Beat worked quite well. We ended up with a good application for one of our daily newspapers. Their team shared their knowledge in all areas to meet our different goals.
We measured how clear they were in delivering instructions to their developers and the number of downloads. We were pleased with both metrics.
How did Fifth Beat perform from a project management standpoint?
We used an online tool that allows users to share wireframes and mind mappings. Their team used another tool for the prototype.
We had regular meetings every two or three days. We iterated a lot together.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I’m impressed with their resilience. Their team has an empathetic way of understanding how people work.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I can’t imagine right now.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Fifth Beat can help you with developing and ideation. They have a lot of skills in content strategy and positioning. I suggest using them for those skills, not just for designing and shaping services you already had in mind.
the project
UX Development for Scholastic App Company
"Thanks to Fifth Beat, my company has adopted a more user-centric philosophy."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
Zanichelli editore is one of the biggest educational companies in Italy. We develop a lot of applications, especially for teachers. We have digital book readers, three assessment platforms, and apps for creating lessons based on our digital content.
I’m in charge of digital products, and I mainly work on applications for teachers and students.
What challenge were you trying to address with Fifth Beat?
We had an idea for an app, and we designed and developed it ourselves. What resulted was something that our end users didn’t use at all, because we didn’t reach out to them to discuss their needs.
As a result, we adopted a more design-focused approach three years ago and looked for a third-party development partner.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Fifth Beat provided UX development services for our main portal, which serves as a starting point for teachers and students into our digital products. Students activate their digital books through the portal.
Students couldn’t find what they were searching for through the site, so we started analyzing how we could improve it. We did the initial research and asked Fifth Beat to ideate and design the product with us.
They can also do all sorts of development, but we’ve used internal people or other companies for that part.
What is the team composition?
We’re working with 5–6 people right now, who cover different competencies. For example, we have one designer and three people dedicated to user research. We have a product manager on Fifth Beat’s side, with whom I communicate very often, sometimes 3–4 times a day. He also has UX skills.
The team changes throughout the year, depending on what we need. We need more researchers at the moment, due to what’s happening with COVID. We need to understand how e-learning has changed teaching practices.
How did you come to work with Fifth Beat?
There weren’t a lot of UX companies in Italy a few years ago, or companies that used design thinking to create a final product. Fifth Beat brought a lot of competencies. They could cover the initial user research, along with all the work necessary to arrive at a perfect mockup.
We started with some small projects in the beginning. Those went well, so we expanded the engagement.
How much have you invested with them?
The cost so far is €700,000–€1,000,000 (approximately $800,000–$1,200,000 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Fifth Beat in July 2018 and it's ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Students are now able to find what they’re looking for on our site. I can be sure that through the methodology we’re using with Fifth Beat, we can deliver products that users really love and use.
Fifth Beat has helped us not only with the product but with changing the way we define projects. Thanks to Fifth Beat, my company has adopted a more user-centric philosophy. We’re more or less a classic publisher, so our earnings come mainly from selling paper books and audiobooks. My colleagues from other departments have used some of the things that Fifth Beat taught us.
How did Fifth Beat perform from a project management standpoint?
We used Basecamp to communicate in the beginning. It’s good for some types of communication, but it’s not ideal for managing backlog activities. We’re using Slack for quick communication, and Jira for addressing all activities. We work in agile sprints for the design part.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The people working for them are very clever, and they can follow us through all the steps.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They’ve improved a lot during the time they’ve worked with us. I’ve talked to their boss about what could be improved on both sides. I’m really very happy with Fifth Beat, and I’m sure that, if there’s a problem, I can just talk to them and solve it. The team we have now is very good across all elements.
We’re trying to be quicker in producing research and ideation output. Especially at this moment, speed is one of the most important parts. We have continuous challenges from real users.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Fifth Beat is a great choice for someone looking to have a user-centric approach to their design.
the project
UI/UX Design for Property Management Hub
“We couldn’t get the same level of quality for that cost anywhere else.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I was the general manager for growth at Altisource. I used to run marketing products for Owners.com. The website sold homes to private buyers and selling distressed assets from banks.
What challenge were you trying to address with Fifth Beat?
We were looking to design a new customer experience. We found that the real estate market was pretty stagnant, and we wanted to come up with something different in terms of website interaction. The entry point on many real estate websites is flat, the same for everybody. People look for home locations as well as travel distances to schools, workplaces, and other places. We wanted to give them the ability to crawl through inventory and engage with the agency in the most frictionless way possible.
We tried doing that with our team over a nine-month period, but we couldn’t come up with any ideas. Everybody working in that sector was getting a repetitive view of the world, with very little change. We wanted someone coming from a different industry background, who could bring a different point of view to our customer journey.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Fifth Beat designed the UI/UX of our main hub. The main ask was for them to come up with radical new ideas, along with some more linear ones. They brought best practices from industries like travel, while some ideas were completely new.
We ran 40–50 tests across multiple touchpoints, some going better than others. This gave us an idea of how much we could stretch with our customers. We did a lot of user testing to see how people perceived and understood the new functionality and experience before we went live.
How did you come to work with Fifth Beat?
A close friend of mine was the CEO of the European arm of a large international media agency. He introduced me to Fifth Beat.
How much have you invested with them?
The first project cost $180,000–$200,000. We added some bits and pieces after that.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our first engagement ran between May 2018–November 2019. We’ve used them multiple times since then to design additional components.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The new design brought a massive uplift in our conversion rate. It was an impressive level of achievement. We got $1 million incremental revenue as a result.
We told them when things worked and didn’t work so that the net result would be significantly positive. We made some errors along the way, but we measured and learned from them.
How did Fifth Beat perform from a project management standpoint?
One requirement when onboarding Fifth Beat was to get quick ideas, do some iterations, and get back with results. We agreed early on a process by which Fifth Beat would communicate with me once a week, and daily with my team.
They reported what tests were being planned, executed, and closed, and what the results were. We put together a quick dashboard in Google Sheets, which allowed us to easily identify what was working and what wasn’t, and what the reactions of the testers were. The product team measured results live.
We had documentation with slides to present the solution in detail. The summaries of the plans and the results of the tests were given to us in spreadsheet form. There was also reporting for my procurement team on the burn rate of the resources. We made sure that we were steady in the use of resources and on the budget allocated
Are there any areas they could improve?
We asked them to do some additional tests for us on emailing. They told us that they were quite overbooked, but they agreed to do it and tried to find somebody. That person wasn’t great, which we could see from the reports. I told their CEO that the resource wasn’t working out for us, and he gave us someone else immediately. We got back on track quickly after that.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
It’s important to have a clear plan and metrics on what we want to achieve. Fifth Beat tends to design for beauty rather than functionality and should be given clear metrics on conversion paths and customer satisfaction. That way, they can be creative, but can also keep objectives in mind.
Designers I’ve worked with in the past tended to get too creative for my liking. Fifth Beat understood from the beginning that we were working off of metrics. Nobody’s perfect, but, when they made a mistake, they resolved it every single time.
the project
Web Redesign for Financial Services Agency
"They went above and beyond to reach high-quality results."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am general manager of Pegaso, pension fund of public utilities employees
For what projects/services did your company hire Fifth Beat?
We hired Fifth Beat to redesign several communication services (as website) and to have support for new communicaton strategy. In our sector it is unusual think in terms of communication design and it is evident what are benefits of this approach
How did you select Fifth Beat?
I partecipate to learning course with some members of Fifth Beat and then I contacted them.
Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.
In the first phase there is a workshop with pension fund employees to individuate a protopersonas and most relevant needs to satisfy with website. Then we have several meetings where we examined several level of development of new website.
At the end they helped us to organise tender to find company to implement the project of new website
How many resources from the Fifth Beat team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Five resources with different position
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
The new website change perceptions of our members and allow to chenge perspective after several years
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Very effective. They went above and beyond to reach high-quality results.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Specialisation in design communication is real difference compare to other provider, more concentrated on realisation of communication services.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
No
The client was pleased with Fifth Beat's exemplary design work. Organized and proactive, they efficiently managed processes and provided effective solutions. As a result, they accomplished the client's project milestones. Overall, the positive results of the project ensured strong partnership.