Lift Interactive Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company’s called Trip Tribe. We’re an online group travel company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lift Interactive Inc.?

We brought Lift Interactive on board for a full overhaul of our entire website. Our system was outdated and needed revisions from start to finish.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lift Interactive helped with the full website redesign, which involved UX and visual design. They helped rebrand the entire company website and built user flows for several different types of users. Their team helped to create all of the interactions and imagery, including logos, color palettes, and typography.  All of their work was visual design, so they used Figma and Photoshop.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five people from Lift Interactive.

How did you come to work with Lift Interactive Inc.?

We initially found them on Clutch. We interviewed several companies that we found on Clutch and through separate research. After learning more about those companies' processes and experiences, we decided that Lift Interactive’s visual designs fit our style.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $30,000 in their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in July and finished it in November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As we’re still rolling out the website, we don’t have precise metrics yet. However, anecdotally, they were a supremely talented team — smart, capable, insightful, and creative. Lift Interactive promptly delivered beyond our expectations.

How did Lift Interactive Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We used a tool called ActiveCollab to collaborate and share the status of tasks. We also had regular meetings 1–2 times a week, if not more, over the course of the engagement. They shared all of the drafts for the UX and visual designs, and we were able to use online tools to review and comment on the drafts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lift Interactive was an experienced and talented team. Their project management was as good as I expected.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re happy with the results.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a lot of timely feedback. Their team is responsive, but the sooner you engage their draft materials, the faster you can reach the outcome.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lift Interactive Inc.?

We wanted them to create a website for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lift Interactive helped us with everything from idea creation to putting the site together, to eventually giving us the final product.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five or six people.

How did you come to work with Lift Interactive Inc.?

We found them after doing some web research. We narrowed it down to three companies and had conversations with all of them before choosing Lift Interactive.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from April–October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just launched, so we don’t have any metrics, but the site looks great. We get compliments from everyone who sees it; I think people think we spent more money on it than we did. Lift Interactive was very easy to work with.

How did Lift Interactive Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They were terrific. They used a project management tool for collaboration.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with how on top of things Lift Interactive was. They were organized throughout the project, and they drove results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. They were great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to hire Lift Interactive and let them run with it. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for the Natan Fund, and I work on a program called Amplifier. We call it the Jewish Giving Circle Movement, and we help people start and sustain Jewish giving circles. A giving circle is just a group of people who come together, pool their charitable contributions, and then decide together where to give it away. It's a community building effort, and it's a model for philanthropy and a way to engage with your community while doing philanthropy. It's a whole new initiative to help people start new giving circles, help sustain giving circles, and gather research and resources that are out there to be really in one central place.

What is your position?

I am the community manager for Amplifier at the Natan Fund.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Lift Interactive?

The initiative started early 2013 and, soon after that, we realized that we needed a website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The scope of the work was primarily website design and development. We had a whole design process where they came down to New York with their team to think through the design of the site. We had already done some branding with a different firm, so we showed them that. They developed it a little bit further, just so that it would work with the site they were designing. They also worked out the functionality, and thinking through user experience, and all that important, defining work upfront.

We did all that with them, and then the implementation. We did a beta and then a live site, which went live just about a year ago. Since then, we've been working with them on a retainer basis, to continue to make updates, changes, and additions to functionality and design. They're great because we have many ideas, and they work with us to take those ideas and turn them into something real.

How did you come to work with Lift Interactive?

We did an RFP [request for proposal] process and looked at a couple different firms. I think what was most appealing about them was that they seemed to get it. The concept behind the website was that we wanted to have an online home. Beyond that, there's a lot of awesome functionality that makes it easier to run your own giving circle. The logistical side of things is simpler because you have the website to manage the application process, and it's a place to find great organizations.

Lift Interactive understood where we were coming from and the movement goals, beyond the website goals, and that's been something that's been consistent throughout our collaboration. They even pushed us to change different things that we asked because they understand the overall goal. We'll come to a point where we request something, and they'll say, "Actually, it seems like this might be a better solve," and it is. The only reason they're able to think that strategically is because they really get our strategic goals as an organization.

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

Right now, we're on a $10,000 a month retainer, and that's so that we can get a lot done. We have quite a bit of work ongoing. The cost for the initial build wasn't crazy for that first year of work with them. It was in the medium range of what we got back from people. We got back a couple estimates that were way out of our price range, and then a couple of them seemed in our price range, but not so great. Lift was in our price range, and seemed to get it. One of the good things about working with them is that you get a lot for what you pay. It's very reasonable as far as the fees go.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work with them remains ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Everyone who visits our website, the first thing they say is, "Wow, it's so beautiful." That's pretty exciting because I think in our field there are a lot of ugly sites, so they are more likely to stick around if it's a beautiful site. I always say, it's beautiful on the outside, but it's also beautiful on the inside.

The functionality is very sophisticated and complex. We have multiple different processes running. There's a common application system, which is rare for the philanthropy field. It's a big thing to be able to contribute to the field, to have organizations fill out an application for a grant once, and then be able to use that same application to apply for multiple different grants from Giving Circles. That's a huge piece of functionality that just didn't exist in the field before, and it's getting a lot of great use.

We have more than 1,200 users on the site, and that's all in the course of one year. We're tracking analytics. We have yet to do that deep dive into the analytics, just because we have been so focused on other updates. That is something that Lift has been working with us on, doing the meta descriptions and making sure we get our SEO [search engine optimization] in shape, and all that good stuff. I know I'm in good hands with that, too. It's just a matter of time.

How did Lift Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They were definitely great at staying on budget. The deadline are kind of in flux sometimes because there are so many things happening at once, but I will say that they're great at communicating the changes in the deadlines, if there are any. If there's anything that's super time sensitive, and we tell them, "This is really urgent and needs to be done by Friday," then it is definitely always done by Friday.

I'm really the manager of the project of the website as far as this whole initiative goes, and I work really closely with Jean [Butcher], who is our project manager over at Lift. We have a great working relationship; really good communication, and we have a regular check-in every two weeks to make sure everything is running smoothly and that we're all on the same page. We also use Basecamp for managing the project on both sides.

What distinguishes Lift Interactive from other providers?

I've never worked with other agencies that do website stuff. I will say we had a disappointing experience with our branding firm, which was a completely different firm. I think one of the things that sets Lift apart from that experience is their responsiveness, and they really care. The branding firm did not care about our mission or what we're trying to accomplish and didn't take the time to understand the impact we were trying to have.

We're really trying to build a philanthropic movement and encourage new philanthropists to take ownership of their giving, which is a powerful goal and it's a big goal. Lift is on board for that goal, and they take the time to understand the way that the website can help us accomplish that goal. I see them as partners in accomplishing that goal of our mission, of changing philanthropy. We talk about our website as the third staff member. We're a small team, but at least we have our website.

Is there anything Lift Interactive could have improved or done differently?

They've been pretty responsive on Basecamp. Email is a little less quick, but usually if I nudge them I get a good response, and that's not a huge thing.