Jordan Crown

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company is called MatchBuilt, and we are an executive recruiting firm in the home building industry. We are based in Indianapolis. However, we do work across the country.

What is your position?

I’m a principal at MatchBuilt.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Jordan Crown?

My company was in need of a new website. Our old website was outdated. The website was still on Flash, as late as 2014, which doesn't work on all browsers. I knew I wanted a Wordpress site so I could do my own updates. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They did three websites for me last year, the recruiting one being the primary one. I renamed the company this month and they created a whole new website, with a whole new branding, and a new name.

How did you come to work with Jordan Crown?

I found them on the internet and I filled out their contact form. I had probably interviewed three or four other companies, but Jordan Crown seemed like a good fit. They were probably the more expensive of my other choices, but I felt that what they would do would last longer.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

That is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The brand new website launched in November of 2015. On the old site, you couldn't even apply to one of our jobs. On this site, you can. That's just the simplest, low-hanging fruit. When we went live with that, it was much easier for both our clients and our candidates to find us and get in touch.

How did Jordan Crown perform from a project management standpoint?

First class. We're a small company, and it’s a first class website that works well. I'm a very nitpicky person, and I like to be dialed in. They did exactly what I wanted with very little issues. It was a very good process.

What distinguishes Jordan Crown from other providers?

Jordan Crown tells it like it is. They offer good suggestions that are actually helpful. They are not afraid of working with small businesses. A lot of the big website companies only work with big companies. They communicate very well with you to keep you in tune with the project and the development. In summary, I don't think there was anything hidden along the way and no surprises. I felt it was very upfront and fair, and we communicated well.

Is there anything Jordan Crown could have improved or done differently?

No, I don't think so.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a startup based in New York City. So far, we have created an app on Android and iOS to help parents teach their kids about money and how to manage their allowances.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Jordan Crown?

In 2014, we created a very basic website for the company, and we decided that we wanted to do something that looked a bit more professional. We were coming up to a launch and wanted to reflect on where we were going rather than where we were a year earlier. We engaged Jordan Crown to help us rebuild our website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Their primary involvement was to migrate our original site to WordPress.

How did you come to work with Jordan Crown?

I had a few friends here in New York City who either worked in the startup or the digital media space. I got a few referrals from them. Jordan Crown came up as one of the referred companies.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We've spent somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000 working with Jordan Crown.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have an agreement for ongoing maintenance, and if we want to do anything with the website, we get them to do the work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from your work with Jordan Crown?

The site was good, and I'm happy with it. We haven't made any major changes to it in quite a while. I found the team at Jordan Crown to be very thoughtful and responsive during the entire period we worked with them.

We didn't try to collect any metrics that would allow a comparison between the old and new site. We just wanted to redo the website, to have a site that reflected who we were and a place where we could direct consumers. We just wanted something that had a few elements – a blog, main page and something that would drive people to the app stores. But, it wasn't simply a direct copy and paste of the old site. The blog was new and the front page was new. The old site was collecting emails; the new site doesn't. I would say that Jordan Crown just delivered to us a more professional looking site that is now the front of our company.

What distinguishes Jordan Crown from other providers?

One of the reasons we chose Jordan Crown was I felt that they were good people. I liked the interaction I had with them. Any kind of formal documentation they produce seems to be well done and professional. Jordan Crown doesn't feel like a bunch of guys who just graduated from college and thought they'd try the web development thing. Jordan Crown felt like it was a mature firm. I felt that carried through in the interactions we had with the entire team. They were all very professional and anytime we had a problem, they offered solutions.

Is there anything Jordan Crown could have improved or done differently?

Perhaps Jordan Crown could improve a bit on the creative side. Some people can walk into an empty apartment and visualize how to decorate that apartment in different styles and others can't. I'm in the "I can't" category. I don't have that design aptitude. But, I'm a good editor. If I see an apartment after it's been decorated, I can tell you how to make it look even better. I feel that Jordan Crown has an opportunity for a little more creativity internally when it comes to that blank room – visualizing for somebody like me what it might look like.

A second concern involved the way we actually migrated from our old host to the new one. During that transition, we were down for, I think, two days because of something technical in the order in which we executed the domain transfer. The feedback I gave at the time was that a shop like Jordan Crown should be very familiar with that kind of transition. They should have been able to do the work upfront, so that on the actual day we did the switchover there would be no delay. Our new domain should have been set up in advance, so that on the actual day of the switchover, it could have been just turn one off, turn one on. But, that didn't happen. We talked about that at the time. That was just one thing that I wish had gone better. It happened and I'm sure going forward they will handle that kind of transition much better. But, that was just the one thing that didn't go well.