Modern Craft

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president at the North American Pediatric Renal Trials and Collaborative Studies (NAPRTCS). We started off as a volunteer registry for centers caring for children who had received a kidney transplant, in 1987. That registry expanded to children who were treated with dialysis and who had chronic kidney disease but who did not yet need dialysis or transplant. We currently have more than 30,000 enrollments, and we're now an internet data-based collection service.

What challenge were you trying to address with Modern Craft?

We realized the registry system was extremely antiquated and wanted to minimize the registry for this online platform. The centers and people who were participating didn't have access to the data in real-time. We decided to update the platform to try to start capturing more contemporary, user-friendly data. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We reached out to Modern Craft to help us select a vendor to develop the data entry platform, the data maintenance platform and then a reporting platform. They started by doing a needs assessment and interviewing stakeholders with an RFP. Next, they guided the NAPRTCS leadership through the selection process to select a vendor. Then, they remained engaged and assisted with the development and implementation of that data platform and reporting system. They interpreted our needs for a technical vendor and doing vice versa for the vendor responses back to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2016, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

They were incredible to work with. They were dealing with physicians and nurses who have very limited technical experience. Nathan and his group walked us through that process and made it possible. Their work was so valuable and crucial to the successful launch of our new and improved system. Since the launch of the platform, the number of enrollments and participating centers have increased substantially.

How did Modern Craft perform from a project management standpoint?

Modern Craft exceeded our expectations. They were reliable and provided ongoing metrics to show where they were in the process. They also included clear and concise metrics for the time they spent on the project, which added accountability. It has been one of the best experiences we've had with any company.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s remarkable how they were able to crystallize the complex needs that we had in a succinct and clear format. They don't have a medical background but they were still able to understand what we needed then we could ourselves.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they've been great. We continue to work with them because of that and I don't know how we survived without them before that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CMO for a Canadian destination marketing company. We work with the tourism industry, providing research and insights. We also do sales and marketing for 10 markets around the world.

What challenge were you trying to address with Modern Craft?

We hired them to help us understand a better strategy for our digital ecosystem.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The biggest project was addressing our digital ecosystem from a strategic point of view. This included design work on our mobile and web platforms. We wanted to make them bright, easy, and quick to use so that the traveler’s interest is quickly pushed to the right segment. The process was strategic development, then design, then they managed the development.

They also worked on our mobile and websites to help us ensure best practices for SEO. They also helped with change management as we moved from subject-matter specific teams to cross-functional teams. They also helped us with project management, setting up support and process to have a more agile culture.

How did you come to work with Modern Craft?

We looked to them for the initial project and then kept them on for additional projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with them from September 2015 onwards.

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

We actually won an award for the design. We also saw user experience scores increase dramatically. Both quantitatively and qualitatively, we could see the improvements we sought.

Also, they’re not on retainer. I do an annual review with them and have kept them on for project after project — the best testament to their work. They’re our ideas and strategic support agency. When they can’t help us, they actually recommend talent and facilitate the process to find people to do the tasks that they can’t.

How did Modern Craft perform from a project management standpoint?

They hit their high watermark when they had their team members provide individual coaching to some of my managers who could use the additional support. They’re great project managers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They only say something when they know they can deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When they say they’ll deliver something, they’ll deliver. They could be more forceful pushing back when we’re not being a good client, although it’s always tough for a vendor to push back against a client.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization is a sales and use tax company that’s based in Seattle with multiple offices all over the world. We help customers calculate sales tax and remit that to the state, county, and federal levels. I’m the director of marketing technology, which means I lead all of the lead generation marketing systems, websites, and any development that supports the growth of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Modern Craft?

We brought in Modern Craft to help with two sets of work. Several years back, it involved conversion rate optimization efforts for a landing page strategy. The next stint with them involved a refresh of our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The engagement started with a three-month effort that involved content analysis over the key website conversion pages. All of the CTAs were evaluated and reviewed. That audit yielded an update to a brand style guide and other web style & treatment visualizations. Then their team provided a content recommendation around redesigning the content around our product sets. The web refresh involved a small taxonomy, navigation work, color schemes, and improving the UI.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account rep, senior strategist, designer, and a content author.

How did you come to work with Modern Craft?

I had experience with some of the employees of Modern Craft at another company. Before they started working with Modern Craft, I had a previous relationship with one or two key people there.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Modern Craft from November 2017–March 2018.

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

We got the listed return we were expecting. Our overall site conversions improved. The current site is yielding the look & feel that Modern Craft defined. The new design left our users with a whole experience instead of a more fragmented one that we had previously. We also experienced an increase in our SEO rankings.

How did Modern Craft perform from a project management standpoint?

They nailed the project management. We used Slack and Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their key strategy led by Peter (Managing Partner, Modern Craft) was very articulate. A good portion of our business strategy for the site was figured out by them. We received positive results because of their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were pretty reliant on email-based communications to keep everything moving. When there were more than 20 people on the project that became difficult, I think we would’ve benefitted with some form of communications & project management tool to ease the process. Email was tough because it had to be frequently checked, and if people replied, sometimes others wouldn’t get it.