Highrise Digital

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am marketing and design consultant brought on board to project manage a rebrand, new website design and build and marketing strategy.

For what projects/services did your company hire Highrise Digital?

The Precision Microdrives website was very old and needed a complete overhaul in design and usability. We wanted to maintain the ability for the marketing team to add content and build new pages, but with a sophisticated and contemporary new design. Whilst we had an idea about the aesthetics of the site and the content, we need the expertise of back-end wordpress design team to take our vision and build and high-performing good looking website.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Having worked with Highrise on a landing page project successfully the year before, they were our first choice when looking for website designers. We liked the fact that the team was small and communication was frank and open, allowing us to understand the process which can often feel quite overwhelming in a bigger agency.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

In house, we had worked up a project specification, sitemap plan and basic design elements that we wanted the new site to have. After some initial brainstorms and discovery meetings, the Highrise team took our ideas and worked them into pixel perfect responsive designs, using wordpress blocks. The team were also create at thinking of design elements to add to bring the site to life and incorporating our ideas.

After we had approved all of their page designs, they proceeded to add these designs to the wordpress block editor, resulting in a website framework that we could then use to build pages. The support throughout and afterwards has been excellent. As you can imagine there are plenty of times that bugs or ideas don't work as well as you imagined and the Highrise team were always ready to find a workaround and solution to these issues.

After we built the website, they worked really hard to make sure everything ran smoothly and effectively, monitoring loading times and making sure we maintained the site's health and SEO ranking.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with the two company directors, Mark, who worked on all the back-end development and Keith who was focussed on the front end design.

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

Off the back of this project, we recently designed a smaller German site in no time at all, which demonstrates how easy the website is to now use in the back end and is all down to how well Highrise built our website. It's such a huge improvement from the old site and really reflects the company and direction the company is moving into.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were very easy to work with, helpful, and communicative.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It's quite unique with a project like this to work with the actual developers, rather than a middle man. Not only that, but to work with the two company founders and for them to be able to make change in real time was excellent. It was the first time I'd worked on a digital project where there was no smoke and mirrors and where the team were so happy to find solutions to problems.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nope can't think of any.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Cheerful Twentyfirst is a creative brand experiences agency. We deliver live and virtual event across the globe. My roles is creative director across all the agency projects.

For what projects/services did your company hire Highrise Digital?

We brought Highrise Digital on board to help us craft a new agency website. They facilitated a detail development process to make the creative vision a reality.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a very robust Wordpress CMS website that could succinctly articulate our offering and showcase the work we do. The team at Highrise digital we instrumental in ensuring the development of the site was robust for our on-going growth and that the experience was rich across al platforms.

How did you select this vendor?

We spoke with a number of development agencies. Highrise Digital stood apart based on their clear development process and attention to detail. The preliminary video calls confirmed that the team were easy to work with, accessible and driven by best price and quality.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We supplied the Highrise team initial designs for the website. They were very consultive in the early stages of design by recommending stylistic choice that would improve performance of the site. The team were responsible for the front end and back end functionality of the site.

They developed CMS formate the was easy to use and versatile wiht considerations for the growth of the site. The process of styling the front end was fairly seamless and organic. The team were very good at sharing their progress with short videos and using troll throughout the dev cycle

What was the team composition?

The dynamic duo consisted of: Mark - Backend/ WP Dev Keith - Front End/CSS Design support was supplied from us

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The feed back has been brilliant. The new website has been part of our new marketing push and we have had many compliments on it. The ease of navigation and showcase of work has directly related to us acquiring new work.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team were super effective and very organised throughout all stages the project development. Even wiht the hurdles that the covid landscape provided, Mark & Keith were always available and made regular updates. most of the comms was though Trello for project management with frequent video chats (Google Meet) and video updates from the HD team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Both Mark & Keith were curious and had a strong eye for detail and best practice. With every challenge that was presented, their solution was well considered and researched. They are also genuinely really nice people. They are very easy to talk to and easy to work with

Are there any areas for improvement?

A brief tutorial by the team on how they utilise Trello as part of the development process would be beneficial. The client would then be more proficient from the outset in supplying feedback.

Please describe your company and your position there.

ABM Training UK Ltd is a specialist provider of apprenticeships and online learning. I'm the Managing Director

For what projects/services did your company hire Highrise Digital?

Conceptual creation, design, development and implementation of a new website that captures youtube videos in curated playlists for apprentices who access www.apprenticetv.co.uk

What were your goals for this project?

To create a simple user friendly and engaging curated video playlist website.

How did you select this vendor?

Random emails to contacts suggested by Linking for "freelance' web designers who work in wordpress. Highrise responded same day, others did not.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Highrise Digital provided web consultancy and guidance, ux design, visual design and programming. But importantly they did this within the brand guidelines that we set in terms of look and feel and successfully enhanced these.

What was the team composition?

The project team was small and lean with three people focussing on all the tasks. Content was developed with one or two freelancers but mainly the whole project was completed by three people.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

It's early days but the test version of our new website has been very well received. It's bend described as "brilliant", "superb", "Fab", "great content", "really useable"... A very good start.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project was managed via regular Google meets. These were both scheduled and arranged on an add hoc / as needed basis. The team were very flexible and responsive.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Highrise listened carefully, bothered to make sure they understood our objectives, and contributed ideas which expanded our horizons. The most impressive thing is they deliver clever 'tech' solutions that are simple whilst designing a visual language fit for purpose.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Sadly I can't think of any really. These guys will do well in business and will be in increasing demand.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Practice Manager for a niche law firm specialising in employee ownership and employee share schemes.

For what projects/services did your company hire Highrise Digital?

Initially we recruited Highrise to assist with the ongoing maintenance and development of our old website. In 2018 we began planning for a fundemental redevelopment and redesign of the site, the knowledgable and friendly approach of the team at Highrise has been crucial to this projects success.

What were your goals for this project?

An increasing number of clients find us through the website so we needed to create a site that helped us increase that flow of new business enquiries and reflected our company values and mission statement in a modern and attractive way.

How did you select this vendor?

We had been working with Highrise already for a number of years following a referral from an external SEO manager so it was a no-brainer to use them for this project because we knew we trusted their ability to complete the project as planned.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

As stated above the designed the template for our new website, finally launched early 2020 after much internal debate. I continue to work with Highrise for ongoing development and general website maintenance.

What was the team composition?

I work with the two co-founders mainly but have worked with other team members.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The analytics from Google show an increase of 47% in the time spent on the website since the changes have been made and we continue to receive positive feedback from clients on the ease of use of the website.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The new website project was managed through aTrello board and we also had regular video meetings to discuss various elements of the project. Always clear and consise and for someone who is not working in IT they made the whole thing easy.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their knowledge, flexible approach and their passion for getting things right shines through any contact I have with them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is nothing I can think of at the moment.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of TOMD, a specialist financial services marketing agency. We provide ready-to-use web content to intermediaries in the financial services industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Highrise Digital?

Our clients needed cost-effective professional sites that can be managed and hosted centrally by our team.  We hired Highrise Digital to build that content which required third-party integrations and calculators.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Highrise Digital developed—frontend and backend—and delivered a WordPress enterprise solution based on designs. The team guided the process, however, because the designs needed to be interchangeable for users that wanted to switch the UI.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people.

How did you come to work with Highrise Digital?

We looked for a collaborative UK-based vendor with which we could meet regularly. Our team did fairly rigorous online research and considered referrals. We then selected Highrise Digital for their capacity to facilitate direct communication and collaborate with our side.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2016 and the launch occurred in January 2017. Both teams are now creating a much larger environment for a marketing platform with added websites and functionalities, as well as social media.

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

We have over 700 sites live in a relatively small marketplace, which is significant given our project’s standing start.

How did Highrise Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Although we prefer direct communication with programmers, that arrangement does lead to the development of project management skills. However, the collaborative partnership compensates for that downside. We have weekly conference calls via Skype or Google Hangouts, while also retaining the option for in-person meetings as a fallback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve developed a good working relationship. Highrise Digital is honest and comfortable with open communication. We implement their advice immediately while knowing our suggestions will be heard.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We are a highly responsive business and tend to measure everyone against that attribute. Therefore, we expect all suppliers to be the same and place unrealistic expectations on them as a result. Yet, asking them to respond faster would create delays with other aspects of the work. Our team is aware of Highrise Digital’s ongoing effort to develop processes.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a digital marketing manager at Meltwater, a global SaaS provider that deals primarily with media intelligence and social listening tools. I’m currently working on launching a new division that will focus on helping financial firms locate new investment opportunities and better manage risk.

For what projects/services did your company hire Highrise Digital?

Our CEO wrote a book about corporate decision making, and we made a small blog to promote some of the ideas that it covered. Unfortunately, the original site we had was poorly built, and the maintenance costs were high. We partnered with Highrise Digital to develop a more stable platform that is easy to use and optimized for search engines.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a website with organized content that would become a go-to resource for business executives. We were also looking to expand the platform past the limits of a blog. Other goals included pages that load quickly and excellent keyword ranking for our content.

How did you select this vendor?

I looked through online reviews to find a partner that could work effectively with our in-house team. We wrote a project brief and interviewed over 10 different firms. We chose Highrise Digital after seeing positive feedback from their customers and learning more about their capabilities.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We started with designing and planning in-house, then sent our work to the Highrise Digital team. They gave us feedback, and, after discussing our ideas, they began development of the platform. Aside from building the product, they’ve also served as a consultancy for us, offering best practices regarding page content and flow.

What was the team composition?

The team was composed of four developers, and included the two founders of the company.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The rank position of our site, particularly in mobile search, has dramatically increased. Organic traffic has grown by over 20%, and our page loading speed has improved as well.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Highrise Digital used Trello for project management, which gave us access to a clear overview of tasks and deliverables. They also held weekly review meetings to gather feedback and address challenges. In terms of communication, they frequently reached out through Google Hangouts, which I preferred over a simple phone call.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They emphasized transparency, building trust with our team from the very first meeting.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We could’ve benefitted from more guidance during the design phase of the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing and communications manager for VGC Group. We provide people and deliver contracts to key infrastructure projects. We’ve provided workers for a range of fields, including crane controllers, engineers, and technicians. These workers primarily tackle motorway, nuclear, airport, or rail infrastructure projects.

What challenge were you trying to address with Highrise Digital?

One of Highrise Digital’s co-founders developed a highly adaptable WordPress site for us while under a different company. Once he started Highrise Digital, we continued our contract with him at his new business. Our goal was to maintain our WordPress site and make updates as our company grew.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Because they originally built such a flexible, easily customisable site, they've been able to support us through a time of exponential growth. We're currently going through some big changes, and Highrise Digital has helped me adjust the website structure and functionality to better fit our evolving needs.

Considering our circumstances, it wasn't feasible to build a parallel site and migrate the content. Instead, we've been making gradual adjustments to areas of our current site. The team has a talent for assessing our proposals and outlining different ideas to our benefit. They’ve offered input for all of our functionality and structure changes, suggesting alternative solutions when appropriate.

Highrise Digital is also capable of taking an assigned task and moving forward with very little input. Recently, we had an internal security upgrade that forced us to change hosts. They took control of the project, and it went better than I could've possibly imagined.

What is the team composition?

I collaborate directly with their two co-founders but have also worked with several other team members.

How did you come to work with Highrise Digital?

When the co-founders established the company in 2016, our contract with one of them moved over to Highrise Digital.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2016, and the work is ongoing.

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

I’ve had nothing but praise for the website. Everyone we’ve worked with has said that the website is useful and informative. People new to the company have said that they learned a lot about us from our website. Additionally, new clients use it to determine if we fit their needs. 

How did Highrise Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They are supportive, responsive, and flexible. If there is something that needs to be addressed urgently, they take care of it right away. If we’re in a long-term project and need to pause different processes, they patiently wait until we’re free to move forward.

We have regular monthly phone calls regarding the project’s progress, but they also provide us with ongoing updates and maintain all of the background functionalities (i.e. checking our links and hosting) without us having to prompt them. I can assign them a task with absolute certainty that they will complete it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Aside from them being talented and responsive, they definitely care about their customers' success. They've been incredibly helpful and supportive and have even recommended us to a customer video testimonial supplier who'd worked with them previously.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The only advice I have is to begin working with them as soon as possible. They’re so dedicated to their customers that I don’t think new work or clients would interfere with their existing projects.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am head of partnerships and communications at a medium-sized non-profit which improves access to water and sanitation in developing countries.

For what projects/services did your company hire Highrise Digital?

We recruited Highrise Digital to relaunch our website in line with our new messaging and visual identity. Our previous website was several years old, had really clunky architecture and was visually very unappealing.

What were your goals for this project?

The objective was to make our work more accessible, more engaging and to help us reach new audiences (our previous website was quite technical). We also wanted to reduce our bounce rate and increase downloads, as we publish regular reports on issues relating to water and sanitation.

How did you select Highrise Digital?

We went through a fairly standard shortlisting process. We picked Highrise Digital for a few reasons, notably:

1. Understanding and interest in the project;
2. We wanted to work with a smaller agency rather than a large firm where you get recruited by a Director and then often passed down the food-chain to someone much more junior;
3. Price.

Describe the project in detail.

The website redesign project followed the usual pathway of wireframing > design > CMS build.

What was the team composition?

The project was led by Keith and Mark but other developers were used as needed.

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

We have found our new website a much better tool to present our work and saw improvements in the bounce rate and downloads.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We used Trello which was pretty effective to keep control of different aspects of the project and ensure we knew who was working on what at any given time, and what feedback we needed to give. Much better than working on email.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It was clear Highrise is very knowledgeable about WordPress and we liked their approach. The way they would take our challenges and interpret them into a clear solution using the technology we were working with. I also liked that sometimes they would advise us against doing something - good to have a consultant who does this.

Are there any areas for improvement?

You always want to get more for your money but overall I think Highrise offers great quality service at an affordable price and would recommend them to anyone looking for a small but expert agency.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Design lead

For what projects/services did your company hire Highrise Digital, and what were your goals?

Develop corporate website

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Attitude, location, size.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Website development using Wordpress.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

2

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

They delivered an excellent finished product.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Slack, face to face meetings.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Delivery.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No.