FOXGROOVE

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of software development at Runbeck Election Services. I’m responsible for the creation of products and execution of projects within our product roadmap.

What challenge were you trying to address with FOXGROOVE?

In the most recent project that we engaged on with FOXGROOVE, we needed to develop an election management system called VoteCORE, which is essentially like an ERP for an election management organization at county and state stirs of action.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I brought in FOXGROOVE in order to design the UI/UX capability of the new system that we were building. Their scope was to work hand-in-hand with the development team. They’ve worked as part of the overall software development team for the application, and they've defined what the design of the product would look like.

FOXGROOVE was instrumental in helping us define what their scope would look like to ensure consistency. They’ve also made sure that best practices are being followed for the design of the product itself and for how users will navigate through it.

This project is far larger than some of the others that we’d worked on. One of the key things that they did was to come up with the idea to develop a high-fidelity prototype that was used for sales and development simultaneously, which was brilliant for us.

FOXGROOVE was able to create a functional high-fidelity prototype. The sales team was able to use that prototype to acquire sales and show different interested parties what the product would look like. At the same time, in parallel, we were utilizing those wireframes for the development team to build out the functionality with good requirements definition.

They've done the design that we initially needed. Now, we have to catch up with the development. FOXGROOVE plays a role in making sure if there are more questions or if we need to tweak some parts as we develop stuff out. The designing side of their involvement is not as heavy now as it was several months ago.

What is the team composition?

I work mainly with three people from FOXGROOVE: David (CXO), Pete (Lead Experience Designer), and Cole (Senior Experience Designer). The three of them work together. David acts as the senior leader, and he has a fantastic knowledge of best practices. He has been helping us lead and navigate the design of the product — he’s more of a visionary on the development. Pete has been responsible for getting into the details and creating different screen images. He has been able to drive us through an approval process to make sure that the product was hitting the mark. Cole came in a little bit later on, and he has worked with Pete quite a bit to push things out. I work closely with David and quite a bit with Pete, but not as much with Cole.

How did you come to work with FOXGROOVE?

I originally met David through a mutual friend. This person recommended David, and he came and did multiple projects for us. His work was far superior to that of any other partner that we’d worked with in the past, and it was superior both from the leadership perspective in understanding UI/UX design and from being able to turn theory into practice — he has been heads and shoulders above the other people that I’ve worked with in the past. As FOXGROOVE did such a great job for us on previous projects, we brought them into this one.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together on this project around March 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. This project is coming to an end, so FOXGROOVE’s involvement will probably go into a maintenance phase.

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

First of all, we’ve measured the success of our engagement based on our development speed. We’ve been noticing how well we’ve been able to keep the developers moving and developing screens.

Before FOXGROOVE came on board, we were in a situation where we were bottlenecked by not having the designs ready far enough in advance to keep the development actively going. They came in and solved that problem for us. They’ve been able to pump out quality designs at a quick pace.

We’ve engaged in a very collaborative effort. We’ve shared the product with the owners and the sales organization within the company, and they’ve been extremely happy with how it looks. They’ve been able to show it to customers, and we’ve gotten very positive feedback. FOXGROOVE has played a key role in both positive feedback and development speed measurements.

How did FOXGROOVE perform from a project management standpoint?

FOXGROOVE has great project management. Even though we incorporate their pieces into our overall project management, they’re in charge of managing their own portion of it to make sure everything is going well.

They’ve typically been one step ahead of us. They’ve pointed out to us when we need to finish certain requirements in order to avoid slowing them down. In a way, they manage us while we manage the overall project, which has been extremely helpful.

We use our own tools for the overall project management, and FOXGROOVE uses its own tools as well. They share them with us, but I don’t remember the names. We’re using Agile methodologies and practices, so we use Microsoft Teams and all the associated tools that go with Agile practices. It all has been working really well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

FOXGROOVE’s greatest qualities are the leadership they bring to the project, a strong foundation in UI/UX design, and their ability to have creative ideas that have helped us do things that we would never have thought of — they’ve made our product better.

We worked with another company before engaging with them, and we ran into problems with this other company. It wasn’t because the other company didn’t have good skills, but that they didn’t have UI/UX leadership — this caused us a lot of problems.

FOXGROOVE knows how to lead while at the same time fits into our broader team. David, especially, is a great leader. He comes in and gives ideas and options that we talk through. Being able to lead and say things as they are is what sets him apart. He doesn’t ruffle the feathers; he does this in a way that’s very respectful to people that might have different opinions, and we can talk through those ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always areas for improvement, but the issues that we’ve run into have been more related to what we’ve had to do outside of the UI/UX area. I can’t think of anything that FOXGROOVE could improve on.

Over the years, we’ve had areas where we've refined our processes, and we’ve figured out how to work together better and better — it has been pretty smooth sailing. They’ve done an amazing job, so I don’t have any constructive feedback to add.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

FOXGROOVE is our expert in UI/UX. They know what they’re doing and how to balance, trade-off, and share different options. The more a company can let them drive, lead, and do what they do best, the better. I’m not talking about letting them do whatever they want, but you need to look at the options that they provide and take their advice.

For example, we ran into a problem where we were discussing internally whether to just copy some of the stuff over and repeat them. FOXGROOVE was recommending going a certain way for us to have the best design given our timeline and other considerations. If we had listened to their advice from the start, we wouldn’t have wasted three months of the project on making up our minds.

If you´re bringing FOXGROOVE in, you’re bringing them for their UI/UX leadership and expertise. Don’t sit there and second guess what they tell you — let them do what they do best.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a global chemical company with three divisions: health care, life sciences, and performance materials. Health care is the pharmaceutical part of the company, while the life sciences division provides supplies, processes, and custom products for health care. 

I’m in charge of the UI/UX group for life sciences, but I also have oversight of things that’s going on in other parts of the company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with FoxGroove Interactive?

Another agency redesigned the UI/UX of our e-commerce site in 2019, and our stakeholders weren’t exactly happy with the end result.  We put a billion and a half dollars to our site every year, so having a UI/UX design that gets in the way of conversion was a serious concern. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired FoxGroove Interactive to do a serious evaluation of the site’s UI/UX and give us another point of view on the visual design. A large part of what they did was augmenting our internal team, which worked directly with them and helped them create the deliverables. 

Initially, we provided them with both Adobe XD and Sketch files. We walked them through the files, and they provided a holistic evaluation of the UI/UX. There were periodic reports for six or seven months about where we had problems and what we were going to do.

Then, they took on the redesigning of the experience and showed exactly how they would handle it. We would come back with some designs and give them feedback. 

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with two people: David (UI Director/Chief Experience Officer, FoxGroove Interactive) and Elana (Creative Director, FoxGroove Interactive). We also had two additional designers when needed. 

How did you come to work with FoxGroove Interactive?

I had worked with one of their principals 12 years ago at a different company. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $225,000, although our budget was $250,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with FoxGroove Interactive from February–July 2020. 

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

Overall, the feedback from stakeholders — everyone from the development teams to product owners to stakeholders and management — has been positive. Now we have a component library that is very well-defined and everybody’s operating off of it. We’ve cleared up a lot of little issues we had. 

How did FoxGroove Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

FoxGroove’s project management was absolutely perfect. They were a part of daily standups and twice-weekly design reviews. The communication was also phenomenal every step of the way, helping us fix the problems we had.  

They came in and really took control. Their designers worked directly with stakeholders when needed. The team did an excellent job and didn’t miss a beat, and the best thing for me is I’ve got stakeholders, product owners, and leadership that are happy. That makes a world of difference. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I liked most about working with David and Elana was they weren’t just simply telling you what they like. They showed why something would work, where it could fail, and what the best practices were in the industry. 

There was data behind almost all of the decisions. That’s key when you’re dealing with any agency that’s going to help you with the UI/UX design. It wasn’t about what they like; it was about what’s best for the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could offer cheaper prices. Other than that, we walked away with exactly what we needed. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have tools where you could work with FoxGroove’s team remotely so you can walk them through the experience— something like Zeplin, where you could store your files. We used Adobe XD and Sketch, and having the ability to co-edit was fantastic for the project. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of software development at an election services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with FoxGroove Interactive?

We were looking to develop an online application that enables constituents to endorse petitions without having to sign anything.

What was the scope of their involvement?

FoxGroove Interactive developed a web app for us. Before we even awarded them the contract they helped us create a prototype with screen designs. The team was also responsible for all of the UI/UX aspects of the project and the requirements definition. The team built a React frontend for the application and a Node.js backend. 

FoxGroove Interactive included all key features and functionality, ensuring security was at the forefront. We plan on moving into a second phase, implementing workflows and integrating our existing archiving solution.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one team of software developers working on coding, a QA team, a scrum master, and a design team.

How did you come to work with FoxGroove Interactive?

Originally, I found them through a mutual contact. We have worked with FoxGroove Interactive on several projects in the past. They’ve performed exceptionally well on all of the projects we’ve worked on with them, so we knew they have the capabilities and expertise we needed. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $75,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement ran from December 2019–May 2020. Phase two starts in August.

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

Although the web app has only just gone live, but our customers have absolutely loved the design. The quality of the end product is high. It has been extremely well accepted by our customers and brings in all of the UI?UX principles we wanted. FoxGroove Interactive accomplished all of our requirements.

How did FoxGroove Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

We had daily standups and regular meetings with FoxGroove Interactive. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to envision a final solution and build patterns that are intuitive is really helpful.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything went very smoothly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bringing them early was a huge win for us. If you can pull them in during the RFP stages, I highly recommend doing so.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of communications at a pharmaceutical company. We create cancer therapy for patients typically in stage 3–4. We recently acquired the company I used to work at.

What challenge were you trying to address with FoxGroove Interactive?

Initially, we needed help evaluating different corporate intranet options.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us evaluate different corporate intranet options as well as our .com websites, digital signage, and internal monitors. They were hired in the discovery phase and evaluating the different stakeholders. We did that in Europe, as well as in the US. They helped gather all the data that was collected and helped present it with a great design.

More recently, they helped us integrate our enterprise search tool. They really had a lot to offer with their user interface skills and complemented what we didn’t have in-house.

What is the team composition?

We work with 1–3 people from their team.

How did you come to work with FoxGroove Interactive?

My IT business partner introduced us.

How much have you invested with them?

The first project was around $150,000. The second project was less than $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and we wrapped up in November 2019.

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

I’ve worked with a lot of vendors, and they’re one of the better vendors that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. They’d be a nine on a ten-point scale.

How did FoxGroove Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very meticulous with staying on top of things. The team is also very good with email communication. Overall, their design work is excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their personalities and the ease of working together were the best part. The team came on-site sometimes and they were very friendly. They always went above and beyond for us so we never had to play catch up. It was a very pleasant experience.

They were very flexible, especially during our last project when we were going through an acquisition. They made whatever adjustments needed for our timelines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They take the time to get to know your business before jumping to a solution. That being said, it’s really important to communicate, on the client-side, the challenges, and what you’re looking for.

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I'm the VP of software development for Runbeck Election Services. We produce a combination of software and hardware products for the election industry, as well as provide services such as ballot printing and mailing.

What challenge were you trying to address with FoxGroove Interactive? 

When I joined the company about a year ago, one of the first things I realized was that our products didn’t have good UI/UX design. They were disjointed and didn’t have good flow. There was no usability designed into the products. I needed external assistance in creating a line of products that deliver an improved user experience.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

FoxGroove Interactive started off with an introductory conversation. I showed them our products, and we talked about what I was trying to accomplish. After providing them with a demo and some documentation, they put together a statement of work that outlined a plan to create products with the flow we envisioned.

For each product, they do a usability analysis to determine a solution that would work best. Then, they use that information to design wireframes that illustrate both layout and functionality. My team gives feedback on what does and doesn’t work, and they make necessary modifications. We follow this iterative process until each wireframe matches our vision.

The first product they worked on is for petition processing. The interface originally resembled a client-server model, but FoxGroove converted it to look more like the frontend of a website. They've since moved to the next product in our pipeline.

What is the team composition? 

We primarily work with David (Principal, FoxGroove Interactive) and Peter (UX Architect, FoxGroove Interactive). 

How did you come to work with FoxGroove Interactive? 

They were a referral. I reached out to a former colleague who was responsible for UI/UX, and he put me in touch with David. 

How much have you invested with them?

I don't know the exact figure because we've done multiple projects. It's probably in the $100,000–$140,000 range. They work with us quite effectively on ways to stay within our budget. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

Work started around May 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

It's been extremely successful thus far. Our products wouldn’t be as successful as they are today without FoxGroove Interactive.

The petition processing product is going live at the end of this month. We’ve designed the entire look and feel of the product based on their input. It’s gone through user acceptance testing and received positive results from customers. When we compare what it used to look like to what it is today, everyone is blown away by the improvement. 

In addition, David and Peter regularly generate ideas that we’d never come up with ourselves. Their creativity and innovation results in better layouts and functionality. Now, we have a really cool wireframe that’s totally different but completely meets our needs. 

How did FoxGroove Interactive perform from a project management standpoint? 

Their team is excellent. They meet every deadline—even if it means working extra hours because we added a key deliverable late in the process. I can't think of a single timeline or deliverable they’ve missed. They work very well with an agile methodology. When they've had to redesign wireframes, it’s usually because we didn't give clear requirements on what we were trying to achieve. 

The frequency of communication does vary, but it’s almost always weekly—sometimes more frequently during the design phase. At a bare minimum, they’d come back with different wireframes and flows once a week. FoxGroove Interactive responds extremely fast to our feedback and suggested changes. We’ll usually receive a revised version within a day or two. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

FoxGroove Interactive has a deep knowledge of design principles and patterns. That enables them to offer innovative solutions that we’d never think of ourselves. Their level of professionalism and ability to hit the deadlines are also fantastic.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

I always have areas for improvement, yet I'm struggling to come up with anything. I can't think of anything they can do better or that should be done differently. Nobody's perfect, but they’re as close as you can get. It’s just fantastic to work with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Have a detailed conversation upfront about your goals and what they're trying to achieve, but don’t box them in. If you tell them exactly how you wanted your solution to be designed, you're taking away some of the creativity that they can provide.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO [chief technology officer] of Poln. We’re a startup based in New York City. Our primary product is a plug-in for the Shopify e-commerce platform. We provide Shopify store owners with automated Facebook campaign capabilities.

Through the plug-in, we connect to Facebook and some other ad platforms and generate accounts for them, manage their product catalogue and create a simple interface for them to submit campaigns. Through some business intelligence and automated processes we have, we then operate with the Facebook API to generate campaigns for them based on the information we have gathered from their store.

What challenge were you trying to address with FoxGroove Interactive?

We were in search of a UX [user experience] resource that could come in and help us do an evaluation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of our goals for 2018 is to improve our client’s onboarding process, and we realized that there were probably some UX issues that were standing in the way of clients installing and following through on the entire install process and then continuing to use the app.

They typically work on much larger projects, and to get their expertise and to engage with them at the level I needed to engage with them, as well as with the budget I had, I didn’t expect a lot other than a quick evaluation and to get familiar with the product so that in the future it would be easier to bring them in for smaller chunks of time if we needed them.

They gave us some different remediation options for certain areas, and we are integrating those into the roadmap for the immediate future. We didn’t have a lot of time on this project as it was around 40 hours of work, but I hope to use them more in the future.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Dave DeBonis [CEO, FoxGroove Interactive].

How did you come to work with FoxGroove Interactive?

I have worked with Dave in the past and have a good relationship with him. I pulled him in on this project based on that.

How much have you invested in them?

The total was around $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on the project in January 2018.

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

As I had worked with Dave in the past, I knew exactly what I was getting which is why I reached out to him. It is always a challenge with UX for business owners and stakeholders understanding the need to spend the money on UX.

It was a bit of a challenge to convince Dave that it was worth it to do the heuristic evaluation, but in my role as CTO, I knew that I needed to have the evaluation done so that I can do what I needed to do. I think it was worth it, and I am very satisfied with the technical capabilities as well as the end deliverable.

How did FoxGroove Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

I called him and asked him if he had some availability. Two days later he was on the phone conducting interviews with people, and then he came up to the office to give his final presentation. Everything happened within the course of one and a half weeks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that Dave takes the time to really understand the business objectives, the goals that we have, and to ultimately provide UX guidance in such a way that it translates a path of least resistance for our users to get where we want them to be.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had no issues at all.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m president of BNO, which is a creative agency with many major corporate clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with FoxGroove?

They are our exclusive UX design partner for client projects because we do not have enough relevant work to justify an in-house team. They supplement our internal resources as needed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

While they offer additional services, we only engage them for UX design, heuristic analysis and usability testing. Their works includes both mobile and web-based applications. Recently, they did a digital property usability analysis for international education institutions.

An 8-minute end-to-end credit card processing system was among the most complex tools they’ve developed. Dave, the owner, designed the system to take payments via smart watches or chip cards; it also helps companies set up underwriting.

Since we use them on a client-by-client basis, we pay both retainers or hourly rates. Occasionally, Dave collaborates with us on pitches to prospective clients. He’ll upsell his company’s services, such as additional usability testing, to help land the account.

The team also developed a proprietary digital heuristic analysis system with their own IP. It rates, ranks, and categorizes different consumer digital experience functions across multiple devices and languages. They delivered it for us to pitch to major brands.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with 4 different employees, including Dave. He scales each project with his own team and can bring in additional talent when necessary.

How did you come to work with FoxGroove?

and I have known each other for 20 years. We used to work at the same agency and I’ve used his services at subsequent companies.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work with BNO started in 2016 and is ongoing.

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

The client that Dave designed the credit card tool for came back to us after another company acquired them. They explained that Dave’s design made them more attractive to the buyer. This one case exemplifies why we put Dave in front of our clients. He exudes credibility. I can absolutely count on him.

How did FoxGroove perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ll work nights and weekends to make deadlines. For one client, we worked over Fourth of July at the end of an 8-week engagement to complete a 40-page clickable prototype.

But they’ll be honest when requests are unreasonable. In those cases, Dave will suggest an alternative solution to keep the project on schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very thorough and constantly conceive ways to add value. I always feel I’m getting more than I paid for when working with them.

For example, Patrick, one of Dave’s developers, called the customer service line for a device they developed. He had a representative troubleshoot a scenario, which ensured that the offline customer experience matched the excellent digital one. Patrick’s foresight and dedication were very impressive because offline experience exceeded the scope of UX design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While they’re extremely passionate and scientific in approach, they should dial it back more when the client does not have the resources or desire to execute everything they recommend.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a senior account manager at a digital marketing agency in Philadelphia. As a digital marketing company, we specialize in the life sciences verticals. I act as a liaison between my agency, my internal team, and our clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with Foxgroove Interactive?

A major pharmaceutical client’s outdated, ineffective internet portal was hampering efficiency. Like most businesses, this portal on their websites supports employees in their daily work. Functions might include selecting benefits, mapping employee seating charts, or providing general (or more private) company information.

We were tasked with an extensive redesign, and needed to staff accordingly. Foxgroove’s supplemental experts extended our team, and provided similar user experience resources.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We took a full audit of everything topical to this project on the Internet, and developed a redesign approach with the client. Taking the audience segments and user needs into account, we created wireframe and new design. The content was specifically tailored to the user. As a global company, our client has countless employees and a variety of user types. The backend development was sophisticated and complex. The frontend, while not very user-friendly, necessitated extensive work to compile all the data.

What is the team dynamic?

I worked with several user experience experts from Dave Debonis’s team. Everyone is such a delight to work with, and we’ve had a lot of laughs. Not only are they experts, they also made my day a little bit more fun.

How did you come to work with Foxgroove Interactive?

As a selected and trusted partner, their abilities and expertise immediately came to mind when this position opened. We have had a longstanding relationship with their CEO that predates my 4-year tenure. This project gave me the pleasure of finally working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

While I can’t share exact figures, we stayed on scope. We estimated an appropriate budget, and were able to pace accordingly.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted between February and December of 2016.

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

We've seen overall satisfaction with not only the client, but also the internal team. The solution is functional, without any major defects or bugs.

How Foxgroove Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

We experienced very few problems. They met the deadlines we'd set out, and communicated well with our team. We used a couple collaboration and project management tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to get to the crux of the situation makes them stand out from other vendors. From the beginning, they commit to the due diligence and requisite work to create strong deliverables. We built on the foundation of a thorough audit, which informed our recommendations. It makes everyone's job easier when the results are high-quality. Their flexibility and adaptation made for a very successful partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Each client and situation will have unique needs. Although they were nimble and flexible, that’s something that can always be improved.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a plant-based soup company that has products available in retail locations as well as on our website via a direct-to-consumer program

For what projects/services did your company hire FOXGROOVE?

Our website was not converting the appropriate number of visitors. We had concerns that the customer flow, buttons, colors, and overall user experience wasn't designed correctly.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a comprehensive review to understand how to improve our conversion rates and make the proper site upgrades.

How did you select FOXGROOVE?

My team reached out via Linked In after noticing the work and accolades that they were receiving.

Describe the project in detail.

The project involved a kick off meeting and comprehensive review of our site, functionality, analytics, KPI's, etc. FoxGroove then dug deep into every page of the site, identifying areas in need of critical improvements along with "good to haves." We were presented with a comprehensive roadmap to success!

What was the team composition?

We worked with the FoxGroove leadership team through the project.

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

The audit resulted in a decision to completely overhaul the website. FoxGroove provided the insight and knowledge we needed to embark on an overhaul of our customer and brand experience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was excellent. FoxGroove was communicative, responsive, and great to work with.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

FoxGroove's attention to detail was astonishing. The breadth of their understanding of the DTC industry is incredible.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None. I cannot think of anything.