Materiell

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

This project was extremely successful. We had a robust response rate with extremely well-though-out answers. We’ve already begun analyzing them with our advisory committees, and we’ll be using that analysis as part of the input to plan our future investments.

The website looked extremely professional, and had our company’s branding on it. We had an email address for complaints, comments, or questions, but we didn’t receive a single complaint. We received 136 responses with over 360 authors from around the country, which is a big number for this kind of survey.

How did Materiell perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly phone calls with Materiell during the development phase, and they provided regular prototype testing. We also maintained contact via email, and our prime contractor was always involved in those conversations.  Materiell had a well-defined schedule of development and testing milestones, and accomplished each one at the agreed date.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The owner and our project manager were willing to accommodate to our needs, and they resolved most of our questions or problems that arose. They responded quickly to inquiries and gave us all the code and products that they created. We had nothing but positive interactions with them, and it was an excellent experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have a standard approach they’re used to implementing, but a few features were not ideal for our project, so it took a bit of iterating with them on these items to finalize a solution that met our specific needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend having a well-described statement of work. Keeping things simple and well-planned is likely to help any customer succeed.

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

In 2014, my business literally doubled during the prior two years and, in 2015, I’m expecting it to double again. My Web traffic is increasing, and I’m getting inbound conversations from outside the Washington area, including the New York area. Now that there is a clear call to action on the site, it’s a lot easier to navigate. People are finding it more intuitive. They’re finding the background on my firm insightful, and they clearly want to know more about what we do.

From a project management perspective, they delivered a creative design and an implementation that was just remarkable. The site is now impressive, distinct, and unique. They delivered on time and on budget.

When working with CMS Advertising Group, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

They work hard at understanding your business, your market, and your competitive challenges. They want to know about your uniqueness, your strengths, and even what your potential weaknesses are. You get an extensive document on the front-end that begins the relationship, and then they do research on their own to understand your current positioning. Their work is impressive. They went beyond the call of duty to make sure that we were happy with the work product. They not only met, but also far exceeded our expectations.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

Be enthusiastic about engaging in a dialogue with these professionals because they really know their business, and they’re invested in you fully. Let it take the time it needs to take. Don’t try to hurry them along, because their creativeness, research, and business savvy are going to get you where you want and need to go. Don’t be looking at it as a website. Be looking at it as an extension of your firm, as your window to the world. They are your partners who will give you the best shot to achieve the success you want.

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback you’ve received that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

We’ve gotten very good praise from our readership. We have a pretty public website that we publish a lot of blog posts and content that people in journalism come to read. They’re a fairly critical bunch who publish their own things online. We had very good reaction from our audience. They’re very pleased with the design and the clean overall approach. We took a lot of extra steps in the design and in the building to make sure that everything was responsibly designed; that it was going to work well across all devices.

When working with CMS Advertising Group, is there anything you’d consider unique or special about their development methodology that distinguishes them from the vendors?

I don’t know if there’s anything too different. I would say that it’s pretty easy to get a hold of them, which isn’t always the case with some vendors. Being consistently responsive tends to be the downfall of many technology partners. As things arise, as problems progress, the vendor thinks it’s a better idea to keep the client in the dark, rather than admit to issues or errors. That kind of mentality makes the situation worse. CMS Ad Group doesn’t approach their client relationships like that. When we have questions about a project that we’re going to launch, they’re always quite prompt with responses and information.

In retrospect, are there areas you think they could improve on as a service provider?

I don’t know if there’s too much that I could recommend from my limited perspective. We’ve had a little bit of turnover in the early buildout stages, but it wasn’t a huge issue because the overall budget and timeline wasn’t affected.