Lounge Lizard

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing operations for a retirement community organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lounge Lizard?

We had the creative and marketing expertise on staff but not development expertise. We needed a partner to help us with intricate coding tasks.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lounge Lizard manages the development tasks for all of our websites. For example, if we wanted to update our website images, they would do that. Or if we needed to create a new form or widget, they would build them for us.

They make changes and updates. On a day to day basis, their team does maintenance work. They also provide ideas and solutions to meet our business needs.

What is the team composition?

We generally have one person who helps us with all of our tasks. It’s nice because he knows us. We also work with an account manager.

How did you come to work with Lounge Lizard?

I wasn’t part of the decision to bring on Lounge Lizard.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in 2018, and we have an ongoing service agreement with Lounge Lizard.

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

We’ve certainly seen an increase in website traffic. We have additional visitors as well as an increase in conversions and leads. We partially attribute all of those data points to having an improved website. They're also attributable to the services offered on the website.

How did Lounge Lizard perform from a project management standpoint?

When we have a task, our account manager usually assigns it to a team member. Tasks are always managed through their platform where we see all of the different milestones associated with a project. We can also respond and include attachments. Usually, their team responds within 24 hours. They’re on top of their responsibilities, so we’re happy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lounge Lizard’s proactive and quick to respond. Particularly through the COVID-19 crisis, they’ve been extremely responsive and fast to help us with any additional items. 

Their team makes helpful suggestions. They don’t try to sell us on all of their other services like other development groups. I like that their team stays in their lane.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. The only downside is that we’re not in the same time zone. I have to keep that in mind when sending any questions

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish expectations upfront. A defined project scope for both sides creates a successful partnership. Communicate with them. Set long-term expectations for when hours might need to be increased. Be able to help budget for that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a graphic designer for a healthcare architecture firm. I was responsible for overseeing the production and design of the website.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lounge Lizard?

We were merging four companies, and we assumed the initial merger on our own, but we decided to bring in Lounge Lizard to revamp the website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did the initial website, and then we revamped the site to reflect the merger. The challenge was getting a consensus among these different entities, so the site reflected each group.

We had a good understanding of how we wanted it to look and function. They’re very respected when it comes to design and functionality.

What is the team composition?

We had one point of contact, but I know there were other people working on the project. Once the site was launched, they brought on more people to handle questions and requests.

How did you come to work with Lounge Lizard?

I wasn’t a part of that process.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2017 and wrapped up in May 2019.

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

It’s gone well. There’s still a lot of bugs that were never fixed, though. On one hand, I really enjoyed working with them, but on the other hand, I’m a little frustrated that not everything was fixed. So, some features are great, and others aren’t. I was impressed with their design and project management of the whole process.

How did Lounge Lizard perform from a project management standpoint?

At one point, they responded quickly, but now we get no response from them. There were weekly calls and emails We used ActiveCollab, where we tracked tasks using tickets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The backend developer was great. He did tasks right away. The initial designer was good too. The team itself is very impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Towards the end of the project, things needed to be tightened up a bit.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think their roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager of a tree shrub and lawn care firm that takes care of residential and commercial landscaping.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lounge Lizard?

Initially, we hired them for SEO services. This time, we were looking for web redesign services, specifically just a mockup of what our website would look like.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lounge Lizard developed a mockup redesign of the website. Right now, they are also working on providing us a template that we can use.

What is the team composition?

We work with four teammates, including a project manager, his boss, a developer, and a designer. 

How did you come to work with Lounge Lizard?

We found them when we were looking for web design services before. We decided to go with another firm at first, but when that didn’t work out, we reached out to Lounge Lizard for this project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in November 2019. They've completed most of the work but we’re still waiting for them to send us some files so we can finalize the project.

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

I was able to present their mockup designs to our CEO at the time and he loved them. My boss also loved the designs, so it all worked out for us. They did great work. The product they delivered was phenomenal. People sing praises about the redesign.

How did Lounge Lizard perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager is phenomenal. He’s done a wonderful job of managing this project, so everything has worked out very well so far. He helped us get the mockup and template, so he’s great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What makes them stand out is their communication. Everything we’ve done so far, the team has been able to put into their documentation platform, ActiveCollab. We’re able to communicate and track everything using it.

They gave me passwords to log into the site. I can’t tell you how many times I or another teammate, while working with another vendor, have had to ask for passwords. With Lounge Lizard, I’ve never had to ask for credentials. This project has been so well-organized, which is one aspect that sets them apart. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind right away. One thing I would say is that there have been a few times where it has taken them some time to respond to my questions. It hasn’t been anything too big, but I’m noticing it more right now, maybe because of the times we’re in.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to work with Lounge Lizard, you need to have everything ready. If you come in unprepared, you’re going to struggle. They have a team of knowledgeable individuals who ask great questions and provide great analysis.

They were very on top of their work, giving us a list of things to do and what they needed. We too are an organized team, so it’s worked out well. But I can tell that if I wasn’t as organized, this project would’ve gone longer than it needed to.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior product manager of Connected Solutions at Watts Water Technologies. My division — heating and hot water solutions — is responsible for commercial and industrial applications for boilers and water heaters.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lounge Lizard?

We wanted to develop a new, break-through mobile app for customers that would provide a differentiated customer experience, beyond the typical and basic features available on other industry apps. The scope included a comprehensive mobile app experience that would allow our customers to use the app as they would use the controller on the front of the unit.

We wanted to develop a mobile app that would provide an intuitive experience for our customers and remove the complexity that can traditionally accompany commercial boilers and water heaters. We envisioned a mobile app that would be comprehensive in providing guidance and efficiency with start-up, service, and on-going performance. This would require having a developer who would be able to understand complex equipment and unique needs in order to create a seamless experience for customers and technicians.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lounge Lizard started by listening to our vision for the app, meeting with us regularly to discuss all our requirements, giving us feedback and recommendations, coming up with a design concept for the app, as well as wireframes. Using those inputs, they worked seamlessly with us to develop the app and conducted regression testing and debugging complex edge use cases.

Our app isn’t a standard app; it interacts with our product. So, it’s unique to the market. Lounge Lizard had to be on-site to do system and regression testing.

What is the team composition?

We started working with Ken (Founder & Chief Creative Officer) and Greg Kubacki (Senior Mobile Engineer & Technical Lead), who became our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Lounge Lizard?

Once we developed our commercial scope of the project, we reached out to several vendors, including Lounge Lizard, to submit their proposal for our Request For Proposal. 

Our scope was quite complex, so we gave each vendor 2–3 weeks to get back to us. There were some iterations during that time for them to truly understand our product and app in order for them to do proper technical coding.

During that time, we selected Lounge Lizard based on their HVAC background and branding capabilities. Additionally, they showed us some of the previous work they had done for other customers. We saw that they would be the right partner to give us a technical, customer-facing product.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was successfully completed and launched in 2018.

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

They’ve done a fantastic job and are extremely easy to work with. We were able to achieve what we wanted in terms of having a wonderful, user-friendly, customer-facing tool. Lounge Lizard was able to deliver what we wanted by working with our internal marketing team.

We’ve received a lot of positive feedback about the tool from our customers. Overall, the app is easy and simple, yet advanced. They are a creative team and delivered a product that has impacted our business positively.

How did Lounge Lizard perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver on their commitment and milestones. If they see any roadblocks, they proactively engage with us to work through issues and keep the project on track.   They respond very quickly, usually within the same day or a few hours. Lounge Lizard is approachable, reachable, flexible, and supportive. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are an impressive combination of technical ability, branding capability and genuinely easy to do business with. Initially, we were impressed by the “wow-factor” that they exhibited. As I mentioned earlier, their proposal document showed their branding capabilities. They’re a very capable company and continue to work with us as a partner.

Lounge Lizard has also been honest and upfront about what capabilities they do and don’t have. When they don’t know something, they’ve been willing to learn those skills without charging us for that extra time. Overall, we have a good relationship that allows profitability for both parties. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

From a project management perspective, they work in a pseudo agile format. They work on elements that they can move forward with, and if there’s a bottleneck, they often push that to us for guidance, which we like.

However, there was a bit of a learning curve for us on this method and on this complex of a commercial scope. So, we would’ve liked to have gained a little more knowledge from them about how the process works before we jumped into the details.

Nevertheless, the team was flexible and supportive enough to work with us on tackling those technical challenges. Overall, we’ve had a great experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When we asked them to teach us something, they were more than happy to do that. When we asked them questions, they gave us all of the options and their recommendations. So, don’t hesitate to ask Lounge Lizard questions early and often.

Please describe your company.

We are a premium home fragrance manufacturer. We’ve been making home fragrance options since around 1990. We started out in a garage, hand-pouring candles, and have grown to be a large company. 

What are your role and responsibilities?

I do the e-commerce, so I handle anything online, including social media, SEM [search engine marketing] and SEO [search engine optimization].

What was your goal in working with Lounge Lizard?

We had designed a website a few years back and, at the time, it was done in a hurry because our existing site had crashed. When we designed the site, we weren’t thinking too much about future growth. Now, here we are six or seven years later, and we’ve completely outgrown the site. We went to Lounge Lizard to try to find someone who could build us a much more state-of-the-art website, one that could grow with us and look more like the changing times – more modern, sleeker, and more user-friendly. Overall, we needed to replace something that was just not working anymore.

Please describe the scope of their work.

The work is still in progress, but so far, they have gone in and completely redesigned the site from top to bottom. It looks wonderful, very sleek, user-friendly, and easy to navigate. They’re also going to be doing some SEO testing for us as well as usability testing. They’ve also found the perfect shopping cart software that will allow us to grow as our company grows. The shopping cart software is wonderful because it’s easy to add on different features or programs. They have definitely listened to us and have responded to all of our demands appropriately.

What was your process in selecting Lounge Lizard with which to work?

We started with a search of different Web companies. I reached out to 10 or 15 of them and got them to give me a couple different quotes, timelines, and ideas and, of course, I looked through their portfolios. We narrowed the search down to Lounge Lizard and two or three others. What made them stand out from the rest was their portfolio. Even their own website was beautifully designed. Our graphics team was super impressed with everything they had done. After talking with them, we knew that they would be a wonderful fit for us.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

We have spent somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000 working with Lounge Lizard.

When did you start working with them and is the relationship ongoing?

The relationship started in August 2014. The site should be done in the next couple of weeks, and we can’t wait to launch.

Do you have any statistics, metrics, or general feedback to demonstrate the quality of their work?

So far, all our graphics and marketing people love the designs they submitted for us. As far as back-end functionality of the website, they’re very flexible. If one of my team members finds they need something, Lounge Lizard addresses it immediately. Their response has been spot on.

Is there anything unique about Lounge Lizard that really makes them stand out compared to other companies?

What really stands out is their level of commitment and personal, one-on-one approach. We were assigned a single account manager, so we weren’t going back and forth with different people. We were able to speak directly with her, and she worked her hardest trying to find solutions and get back to us with answers. I think the level of knowledge and commitment Lounge Lizard has to the customer is amazing. We hit a few bumps in the road on our end, and they handled our delays very well and with complete understanding. They haven’t tried to push us into anything. It’s just been amazing working with them.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

No. Everything’s been great. I truly was expecting this project to be much more difficult, but they’ve made it incredibly easy and seamless.

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

Be open to their ideas. They have some wonderful ideas, and they truly have the client’s best interests at heart. So, if they suggest something a little bit different than you originally thought, don’t be afraid to give it a chance. Their ideas really are for the betterment of your site.

Please describe your work.

I’m a professor at the UCLA medical school. I’m active in bio-medical research, and I do evaluations for the State of California. I’m located in Brentwood, Calif.

What was your goal in working with Lounge Lizard?

I wanted to develop an app aimed at young women and girls.

Please describe the scope of your work with Lounge Lizard.

The idea for the app was mine, but the software development part was all totally new to me. Lounge Lizard took my idea and showed me how it could be implemented. All of the design and development work was done by Lounge Lizard.

What was your process for selecting Lounge Lizard with which to work?

I did some research on the Internet and asked for advice from several colleagues. I interviewed five or six people face to face and explained what I wanted. But, I eventually found Lounge Lizard online, and they were obviously in a different league than the others I’d met. Because Lounge Lizard seemed both very imaginative and creative, I decided to work with them.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

We’re estimating $50,000 for the actual work and another $50,000 for marketing.

What were the results of the project?

We’re still working on the project, but it’s come a long way. The design phase has been finished, and we’re doing a mockup of the app right now. I have complete confidence that Lounge Lizard will bring this to a very successful conclusion.

How satisfied are you with the work of Lounge Lizard so far?

So far, I’m very satisfied. I’ve talked to several people on the team who are working on my project, and they were all very helpful, cooperative, creative, and positive. We are absolutely right on track.

Is there anything unique about Lounge Lizard that really makes them stand out compared to other companies?

The people at Lounge Lizard are very bright, very knowledgeable. Every contact I’ve had with them has been positive.

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

Meet them, be open and frank about what you need, and you will get honest feedback.

Please describe your company.

We own a smartphone application called STUDR. It’s designed to help new college students with networking. We’ve been in business for a year.

What are your role and responsibilities?

I am the owner and operational partner.

What was your goal in working with Lounge Lizard?

We had the idea for STUDR, but we had no background in software development. We needed someone to turn our idea into a real app.

Please describe the scope of their work.

Essentially, we gave them the idea, told them what we wanted and got out of the way. Lounge Lizard built everything. They actually took our idea and owned it.

What was your process in selecting Lounge Lizard with which to work?

We interviewed 20 different app developers. We found that a lot of developers were just mass-producing apps, pumping them out all the time. But, Lounge Lizard asked a lot of great questions and really listened to what we wanted. We felt we could trust them. We felt that Lounge Lizard would be a partner and not just someone we outsourced the work to.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

We’ve spent somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000 working with Lounge Lizard.

When did you start working with them?

We started the project in August, and the app was successively launched in October 2014. We continue to work with Lounge Lizard for maintenance and support.

How satisfied are you with your work with Lounge Lizard?

I’m very satisfied. I just get a good feeling working with them. Lounge Lizard genuinely cares about their customers and cares what the project is about. The designs came out exactly as we wanted, and the usability of the app is exactly what we wanted it to be. Working with Lounge Lizard has been great.

Is there anything unique about Lounge Lizard that really makes them stand out compared to other companies?

It’s a small organization, and I really like that about them. They have a lot of customers, but you feel like you’re the only one when you’re with them. Their communication is also very strong.

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

First, I would definitely recommend them. Second, the more information you can give them, the better work they can do for you.

Please describe your company.

We’re a national association. We’re located in New York City, and we have members all around the country, as well as some international members.

What are your role and responsibilities?

I am the director of digital operations and technology.

What was your goal in working with Lounge Lizard?

We needed to combine two old websites. We had one for touring Broadway and one for Broadway in New York City. We wanted to combine them into one site that would encompass both and had a modern design and a flexible content management system.

Please describe the scope of their work.

They provided both the Web design and the database design. They worked with a local Access database and turned it into something that powered the CMS of our website while still allowing us to work locally in Access. They also designed the CMS portion of the site.

What was your process in selecting Lounge Lizard with which to work?

I believe I found them via a Google search. We were looking for someone in the New York area. I’m not sure I would make that choice again in the future but, at the time, we were working with some developers who were outside the area, and we felt being able to meet face to face was important. I don’t regret the decision, but we did limit our options to just companies in New York City. I put out three requests for proposals. It was obvious that Lounge Lizard had taken the most time to understand what we were looking for and were the most flexible in being able to deliver what we wanted.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

We have spent about $180,000 working with Lounge Lizard.

When did you start working with them?

Relationship started in the fall of 2011 and is ongoing for maintenance.

How satisfied are you with the work of Lounge Lizard?

We’re very happy with their work. We’re working with them on another website project of equal scope, so we were satisfied enough to hire them again. We’re very happy with the level of accountability and project management we get from Lounge Lizard.

Is there anything unique about Lounge Lizard that really makes them stand out compared to other companies?

They do a better job than other developers we have worked with in terms of accountability. They keep to the schedule and keep us informed on where we are on the schedule. They have someone on their team who’s responsible for keeping the project on track and for letting me know that the project is on track. They’re very good at tracking their hours and letting me know what’s been done and what hours are being carried forward to the next month. They’re responsive when I ask for little things to be fixed on other websites, apart from the primary one they’re working on. I don’t feel like I’m being nickeled and dimed to death, or being told different pieces are not within the scope of our agreement. They always agree to work on whatever I ask, and they get it done.

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

I think it’s important to have a very detailed scope of work so that both parties know what’s going to be done and what the expectations are. I would also extend that to the wireframing process.

Please provide a description of your company. 

I work at a computer hardware company. We build business-to-business solutions for large enterprises, everything from courier companies to retailers to warehousing to manufacturing to health care. We are all about rugged mobile devices, mobility solutions, and tracking solutions.

What is your role and responsibilities?

My official title is Director of Innovation Research. I’m part of the design innovation team, and I head up the research portion. 

What was your goal for working with Lounge Lizard?

We do a lot of customer engagement. We have about 130 onsite engagements with customers, trying to understand their business processes and what their needs are. We needed a way to capture that information, and to be able to disseminate it.  We wanted to put it into some kind of searchable and usable format where we could also incorporate video. The goal was for it to be as immersive as possible so that the engineers could have an idea of what the customers need. Lounge Lizard helped us customize a database based on WordPress software, making the information easily available and searchable. We designed the layout and Lounge Lizard implemented our ideas.

Please describe the scope of their work.

We designed the UI [universal interface] and all the content, and we knew how we wanted it to work. They helped us implement it using WordPress. We gave them access to our servers so that they could get it up and running on our internal servers. 

What was your process for selecting Lounge Lizard with which to work?

They were working on another project in a different department, and we’re doing a great job there. It’s also was really important to us that they had a local office, so we could easily meet with them in person. 

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

The updates vary, but they have probably completed in the $15,000 to $20,000 range.

When did you start working with them, and is the relationship ongoing?

We have been working with them for about five or six years. Now that they have done the initial site in WordPress, I’ve been using them periodically to do various updates and changes. Originally, it was through another person who was using them. The fact that they were local and had all the capabilities we needed was what made it work. 

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

I don’t have any metrics with me right now, but they’ve been very responsive and their work has been thorough. Things work well when they set them up. They’ve been fairly timely, too. There hasn’t been much pressure on the schedule, because they do it offline, but I’m happy with the relationship and the way it has worked.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

I would say that we use them because they’re responsive, they’re local, and their turnaround is quick. They also have a great understanding of retail space, and they’re helping us do retail solutions. Overall, their pricing is fair, and they do a really good, reliable job.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

They ask for half of their payment upfront, and that’s not the way my company works. I usually figure out a way to do it, but there are a lot of people here who frown on that. 

Please describe your company.

Frazier Industrial is a structural steel manufacturing company headquartered in New Jersey.

What are your roles and responsibilities?

I am the marketing and customer service director.

What was your goal in working with Lounge Lizard?

Our immediate goal was to do a complete redesign and update of our website and to create a modern layout that would respond to current and future needs.

Please describe the scope of their work.

They were basically involved in all aspects of the redesign of our website. We had extensive discussions with Ken Braun [chief creative officer at Lounge Lizard] and his team to help establish an overall look and feel for the layout and design. We also discussed our needs around branding and messaging.

In addition to helping us address issues of graphics and interactivity, Lounge Lizard got us thinking about using our website as a client portal, thinking about setting it up in such a way that customers could order directly from us using the site. So, they provided expert advice on really all aspects of the project.

What was your process for selecting Lounge Lizard with which to work?

I knew of Lounge Lizard from my previous job at Reuters. So, when I joined this company, Frazier Industrial was already in the process of contacting several providers, including the people who had done the company’s original website. After a series of presentations, we chose Lounge Lizard based on their knowledge, skill, expertise, and cutting-edge technology. We also were impressed by their ability to help us optimize our SEO [search engine optimization] capabilities.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

Depending on what we eventually decide to do, our cost will range anywhere from $20,000 to more than $150,000.

When did you start working with Lounge Lizard and is the relationship ongoing?

The relationship started in late 2013, when they won the bid to redesign our current website, and we’re still working with them.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

At this point, we have no metrics, because we haven’t yet gone live. But, Lounge Lizard has set up a process that will allow us to check our progress and share feedback once we do.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They provided us with a team of real experts and professionals. They seem to be true subject matter experts in their area and they leverage those skills and talents effectively. They are on top of the technology, they know how to increase our SEO capabilities and they know how to create a user-friendly experience that at the same time achieves our company’s goals.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

If there were anything, it would be to make sure to address and set clear expectations.