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UX Design and Web Development - Get in Kahoots!

5.0
4 reviews

We are a digital consulting group that specializes in design, development and digital strategy.

Rooted in the principles of design thinking, we work with brands to evolve their digital presence and create more value for their customers.

Whether we are using technology to solve everyday problems or answering the big marketing questions of the day, We’re here to make your life easier and your brand better.

So if you are looking to work with smart, creative, no-nonsense people, then you might want to get in Kahoots!

 

READ MORE...
 
$10,000+
 
$150 - $199 / hr
 
10 - 49
 Founded
2014
Show all +
Chicago, IL
headquarters
  • 4541 N Ravenswood Rd
    Chicago, IL 60640
    United States
    312.488.2554

Portfolio

Key clients: 

PepsiCo, TransUnion, Q-Centrix, Arcadia Data, BlueData, Gilda's Club

HealthMyne - Website Redesign

Arcadia Data - Website Redesign

Q-Centrix - New Meaning Campaign

Q-Centrix - Recruitment Campaign

Q-Centrix - Campaign Landing Page

BlueData - Website Redesign

Life Meets Work - Website Redesign

Reviews

5.0
4 reviews
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Software & App Dev for Credit Reporting Agency

"They are very easy to work with while producing great work, which ultimately is what you want."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
2014 - 2015
Project summary: 

Kahoots developed web software for a U.S credit bureau that allowed independent landlords to run mass background checks on potential renters.

The Reviewer
 
1,0001-5,000 Employees
 
Denver, Colorado
Bryan Lesniewski
UX Designer, TransUnion
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Bugs and user issues to the platform dropped 30% after the implementation of the new system. This improvement led the client to free up more time to focus on adding more features to the product. The new design also greatly increased mobile usability.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are TransUnion, one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States. I work for the rental screenings department. We do tenant background checks on potential renters for landlords, typically independent landlords of one to five properties. These landlords want to find the right tenant but they don’t want to go through a big management process, get a membership, or pay fees. We offer a quick, legal way to have renters push their credit reports and criminal and eviction background checks to a landlord.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kahoots Creative?

We were trying to move away from centralized corporate marketing or a creative team. Instead, we wanted to embed a creative team within each of the verticals at TransUnion. I was hired on as the UX designer of the team. That role traditionally wasn’t on the team because we didn’t have any creative services at the time. My VP brought me in and there was an abundance of work for me to take on. I needed some assistance developing UI prototypes, or clickable HTML prototypes, for our internal development team to stitch together to our APIs. These will let us build out different platforms and software for our individual products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

From the user end, Kahoots Creative helped us with the ones for independent landlords. They can go on, join our product, create an account, and run their potential renter applicants through our system. This would then allow the landlord to get those reports back and allow them to make a decision. They can understand if there’s anything that they may have missed during their interview process with the applicant. Anything outside of software development was taken care of on our end. They would provide light usability tests and offer UI recommendations that were sometimes outside of the scope of the project, which was good. For the most part, we handled a lot of the strategy on that project while Kahoots did the execution. From our side, it was probably 15–20 developers in two Scrum teams at that time.

How did you come to work with Kahoots Creative?

Sherrie Hablitzel, the CEO at Kahoots Creative, worked and headed TransUnion’s corporate marketing team in Chicago. Eventually, she left and started her own company. My VP made the connection with her and her new team at Kahoots. He felt that she was a pretty good vendor and recommended her. We had to test Kahoots on a small piece of the project to see how they did and how my relationship was with them. After that, I could decide if I needed to open it up to a couple of other agencies. I had additional vendors that I looked at, but we considered the cost savings and the relationship with my VP.

How much have you invested with Kahoots Creative?

 After everything was said and done, we spent $30,000–$50,000 on their services. It was actually lower than what I expected for the amount of work that they wound up producing.

What is the status of this engagement?

It started at the end of 2014, with a portion of it ending in 2015. The majority of the work was backend and linking up the UI from that point forward, which ended in 2016. The project is live.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have an affiliate program that white labels the site in the system that we built and in the website portal. Players like Zillow, USAA, or Farmers can put their logo on and have their own co-branded version of the site. At an anecdotal level, people were quite pleased because it was a responsive designed site. Previous iterations of this product did not work on mobile at all, both from a functional and usability standpoint. We did get rave reviews from our partners on that. From a ticket problem analysis, we had a 30% drop in defects and users calling in about confusing UI, bugs, or technical aspects. From a quality control standpoint, it was a much cleaner process, from the code to the visuals. This helped our organization focus on building new features rather than trying to tackle defects, which was a new thing for our product. The previous iteration was plagued with defects from the day it launched to the day it was shelved. That was a very big victory for our group.

How did Kahoots Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

There were times that they would not only come in early, they would also include additional rounds of revisions. They did this even if the needed revisions were outside of the scope of the project. Because we are a credit bureau, we have a pretty extensive legal process to get a lot of these platforms up and running. There were times where we would have legal come back and ask for additional revisions or verbiage, and Kahoots would always comply with that. I give them a lot of credit for beating the initial due date with that added additional scope. I’m very pleased with that. They always met the quality that we asked.

What did you most impressive about Kahoots Creative?

They’re willing to be very collaborative. With Kahoots, there’s this lack of ego—they have the ability to be flexible without necessarily being a pushover. They are able to find the best solution and get through the political spectrum that other development teams struggle with. Other developers or agencies would often have a strict point of view and they are not flexible outside of those bounds. Usually, they are also not personable. That’s where Sherrie and her development team are different. They are very easy to work with while producing great work, which ultimately is what you want. They get put in front of not just directors or VPs, but also some of our developers as well. For them to mesh pretty well with them is pretty unique for a development or UI agency.

Are there any areas Kahoots Creative could improve?

Honestly, no. I can’t pinpoint one thing. They know what they’re good at and that’s what we hired them to do. We’ve had no problems.

5.0
Overall Score They come under budget, deliver earlier than expected, and provide quality work.
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Web Design & Dev for Software & Data Firm

"Kahoots cooperated in working with the designer and with our needs and were very patient with us ..."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
4.5
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
June 2016 - Sept. 2016
Project summary: 

Kahoots designed and developed a WordPress website for a business intelligence company aimed at helping corporations analyze large amounts of data.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 employees
 
San Mateo, California
Marketing Analyst, Computer Software Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Since Kahoots started the engagement, bounce rates on the new site have decreased, while time spent on the site has increased. The client is impressed with the quality and usability of the redesign, and it has received universal praise from peers.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is a business intelligence firm for people with large amounts of data, generally on Hadoop. I do digital marketing which includes anything from our website, marketing operations, sales operations, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kahoots Creative Group?

We had recently reworked our website with another agency who had not done a good job with the design and the hard-code on the backend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They completely rebuilt the website and made it easier to use and change. Our site was on WordPress and with it being hard-coded, if any changes needed to be made, you had to go into the code. Kahoots set up the Page Builder plug-in inside of WordPress, which is more flexible and makes it easier to manage the website. The scope has now expanded and they are now helping with designs for conferences, style guides, and slides for our sales teams.

How did you come to work with Kahoots Creative Group?

Kahoots had done some work for our company before I was hired. We didn’t vet any other agencies because we knew them from the previous work.

How much have you invested with Kahoots Creative Group?

For the website project, we spent between $5,000 and $10,000 a month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2016 and it was completed in September 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The new site has been working very well. Bounce rates have been down and we’ve had people spending more time on our pages. A lot of people internally have complimented the site. We recently got a new VP of marketing that has been talking to other companies about our site. They have looked at it and are very big fans of the work that has been done.

How did Kahoots Creative Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They do really well. I still meet with them once a week. The communication has been good.

What did you find most impressive about Kahoots Creative Group?

They’ve done good work and they’re willing to compromise and work with you. We were initially working with an outside designer that had a lot of input and wanted to use his own developer, but we knew that it would be more hard-coded. Kahoots also wanted to develop it and we didn’t want two people developing the site and making it more unmanageable. Kahoots cooperated in working with the designer and with our needs and were very patient with us as we tried to figure out what we wanted to do.

Are there any areas Kahoots Creative Group could improve?

No.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 4.5 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Web Design & Development for Chicago Non-Profit

"Thanks to Kahoots, we understand the process, its advantages and disadvantages, and what we can do with the site."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
4.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Confidential
 
2014 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Kahoots designed and developed a website for a non-profit organization in Chicago that acts as a cancer support group in the community. Kahoots also worked on the site's mobile responsiveness.

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
Chicago, IL
Maggie Bahler
Director of Marketing, Gilda's Club Chicago
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The newly designed site is not only more user-friendly but also makes donating online more amenable and manageable for the end client. The non-profit remarked at Kahoot’s capability to translate ideas into tangible improvements without any confusion or errors.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at Gilda's Club Chicago. We’re a nonprofit free cancer support community. We serve anyone living with cancer or someone who’s lost someone to cancer, including men, women, teens, children, friends, family, and caregivers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kahoots Creative?

We needed to update our website and, more specifically, make it mobile-responsive. Also, we were looking for a vendor who was already familiar with our organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kahoots was responsible for an overhaul of our existing site and content management system. All the development was on their end. They did convert us into a much more backend user-friendly site. That let us make more updates than we have ever had done in the past. Their involvement also included training some for our team members.

They brought a lot of marketing strategy, especially from Sherrie’s expertise. By that, I mean we thought we were just having them update our website. As we worked with Kahoots, we ended up getting a lot of great insight into marketing strategy and how we should present ourselves. They proposed marketing at the time, but we weren’t quite ready to go down that road. We now are looking into marketing and we just met with them last week to incorporate search engine optimization and pay per click into our site.

How did you come to work with Kahoots Creative?

It was through a referral. One of the partners had made a donation to us on behalf of a friend who visited Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids. We became acquainted with them through our development office. Our development officer asked them to come in for a tour to learn more about them. When they came in, Anna from Kahoots Creative mentioned the kind of business they were in and made a connection with myself and the marketing team. I asked them if they could help us out with our website. We had a couple of agencies that had done some work for us, but we felt that we wanted someone who specialized in digital media. It was a unique vendor that we were looking for, and it worked out

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started summer or fall 2014, and the work is ongoing. The new site is live.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

They made it so much easier for us to accept online donations. It was a very cumbersome process before, almost nonexistent, and they have made it much more user-friendly. That’s been a huge bonus for us. They did a lot beyond that, but that was a very big part of the help that they gave us.

How did Kahoots Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Very well. They are very responsive. I think one of the most important features they bring is that they’re very good at translation. I have worked with a lot of web developers who are speaking their own language, and it is difficult to understand what they actually want to do for us or what we should do as a result of what they have done for us. They are skilled at translating it for regular people, myself included. Thanks to Kahoots, we understand the process, its advantages and disadvantages, and what we can do with the site.

What did you most impressive about Kahoots Creative?

I was impressed by their capability. Both Sherrie and Anna have a great mix of skills. Sherrie is great at translating while Anna is great at saying “I can make that happen”—you’re looking up at the screen and she’s making it happen.

Are there any areas Kahoots Creative could improve?

No, I really can’t.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 4.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I already have. I know of a friend who is using them.

Web Design & Marketing for Healthcare Services Group

"... my fear is that other people will figure out how great they are."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
Apr. 2014 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Kahoots Creative develop and design websites for a healthcare management company to increase customer engagement. The scope of their work includes digital and social media marketing, as well as SEO.

The Reviewer
 
501-1,000 employees
 
Chicago, Illinois
Marketing, Health Care Services Group
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Users are spending more time on the site, and leads have increased by 400% since the redesign went live. Kahoot’s ability to match the client's unorthodox scheduling and deadline needs is a crucial component of their successful partnership. 

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a healthcare information management organization. We also have 700 remote workers who partner with hospitals throughout the country for quality initiatives. I am senior director of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kahoots Creative Group?

We have a very lean marketing team. The company was started with our CEO, our VP of products and myself, so we needed support in every facet. Over the course of three years, we've grown exponentially, but continue to use Kahoots Creative's services substantially for any kinds of graphics work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kahoots Creative has provided graphic design for both online and print material. They've also partnered with us for marketing automation, which includes any email marketing, also SEO [search engine optimization], and social media.

We have launched two websites using Kahoots Creative. The first one is serving as an update to our company's existing page. The second site was created a year later, at a time when we had a lot more information under our belts. It was done with a completely different strategy in mind, optimizing our content, and bringing in our target audience. Kahoots Creative assigned two developers and a graphics designer to the project. We wrote our content. The second site had a one-month development time since our schedule was tight.

Since I partnered with Kahoots Creative right after coming onboard with the company, I consider their account manager to be as knowledgeable as myself. We have worked together on various types of marketing solutions.

How did you come to work with Kahoots Creative?

When I came onboard, we were working with two agencies in New Hampshire, one for our website efforts, and another serving as a more traditional creative agency. Both gave us a proposal for the site, and we also considered two other agencies in Chicago. Kahoots Creative's proposal was the most detailed, giving us as much information as we could have. As a result, we could figure out where some budget variability could be attained. Kahoots Creative was also much more flexible in terms of discussing the site's structure. We could have more informal conversations, instead of creating precise reports.

How much have you invested with Kahoots Creative Group?

Our original website had a cost of between $35,000 and $45,000. The more recent redesign cost around $60,000. It was a longer project and was paid in installments. It was more expensive, but it also featured more content and engagement assets.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kahoots Creative in April 2014. We have an ongoing retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The site created by Kahoots Creative has brought a 400% increase in our leads. This is due in small part to the additional content we've put on the site. Our site is text-heavy, even though we've tried to give it a graphical appeal. Even such, people are mentioning that they've been spending more time on the site than they expected to. It's much more sticky than our previous site and compared to competitor's pages too.

How did Kahoots Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

My work style tends to be crazy. We are a small, privately-owned business with a lean team. Kahoots Creative seems to match our momentum fairly well. It's not uncommon to have late night or weekend conversations, which doesn't happen with many other agencies. Kahoots Creative is great in terms of deadline management.

What did you find most impressive about Kahoots Creative Group?

Kahoots Creative is a great organization for a small business trying to grow at light speed. When someone is in that mode, they won't have the time to create the documentation that most agencies need for their own workforce management. Kahoots Creative is a small agency with a work process in tandem to that of a small business in a hypergrowth state.

I'm always hesitant to give a reference for Kahoots Creative because my fear is that other people will figure out how great they are.

Are there any areas Kahoots Creative Group could improve?

Kahoots Creative has an interesting relationship with us, by which they challenge our group a bit. We tend to do the same, so any improvements have already been addressed.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 4.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    I would obviously want to spend less.
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    In general terms, I would recommend Kahoots Creative, but I try not to.