Greenstone Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of IT for Skyterra Wellness Retreat. We offer yoga, meditation, and nutrition programs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Greenstone Media?

We hired Greenstone Media to build an iOS and Android application for our customers. We wanted them to continue the progress they made during our sustainability programs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Greenstone Media developed the app from scratch. They established the initial planning stages and clarified our vague ideas to create the product. We created the content and our videographer filmed the videos. Their team developed backend functionalities to upload video and add tags. The app delivered recipes in addition to a scrolling newsfeed of health and wellness articles. There is also content on exercise and meditation.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 people including Greta (Former UX Strategist and VP of Software Department, Greenstone Media). They had a team working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Greenstone Media?

I found Greenstone Media online and reached out to them. I then reviewed their portfolio before attending our first scheduled meeting.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $60,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2016 and the partnership ended in December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first version was successful. Out of 600 total guests, 160 subscribed to the app. However, we couldn’t handle constant development costs and switched to a different platform to limit expenditures.

How did Greenstone Media perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was organized and kept us on track. They made us flesh out ideas and execute tasks early on in the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated that Greenstone Media was a local business. Whenever technical challenges arose, they always found a solution quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We were happy, and it wasn’t their fault that we didn’t end up being successful with the app. From a development standpoint, it was all great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Greta is a great project manager.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Henderson Oil Company. We sell wholesale gasoline for major brands across North Carolina, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Greenstone Media?

We wanted an easy way for our consumers to purchase transport modes of gasoline. We had a system in place for phone and email orders but wanted a mobile app that would allow them to do it much more quickly and simply.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Greenstone Media designed our app for iOS, Android, and tablet. They worked from our ideas and some rudimentary sketches we had. The app prepopulates our existing customers’ location information including the convenient store address and the tanks specific to that location. They enter the gallons of product they want and select a delivery date and time of day.

What is the team composition?

The head of their web department was our main contact point.

How did you come to work with Greenstone Media?

We asked the owner of a marketing company here that is a friend of ours if he had any contacts. He gave us a couple of names. We also reached out to our IT person who gave us some ideas. Greenstone Media was on both of their lists so I contacted them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together for about four months in early 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our users really like the app. It’s very simple, which is what we wanted from the beginning. The feedback we’ve received is very positive—that it serves a need and makes things more workable. We eventually want to have a second version of the app that integrates with our account and ordering software.

How did Greenstone Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via phone and email. We also met with them in-person twice early in the project and for a final face-to-face wrap-up. They were very responsive and quickly addressed any glitches, concerns, or things that we needed to be tweaked. They stayed on budget and met deadlines. Any delays were on our side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They produced and delivered what we asked for. For us, it was that simple. We knew what we wanted, we just didn't know how to do it ourselves.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. There wasn’t anything we asked them to do that they couldn’t do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to ask all the pertinent questions. For us, it was hard because we didn't know what the questions needed to be. We consistently asked them what else we needed to know and listened to their advice based on their experience with other clients on similar projects. That open communication allowed us to start asking better questions.