Never Settle

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of VP Health Systems, Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Never Settle?

We have a platform that networks small family pharmacies, and we allow them to use the existing infrastructure to provide nonprescription products through a consumer portal.

We had hired another local firm to do the project for us. When we were more than two-thirds through paying the project costs, we realized that most of the work hadn’t been done. Never Settle came in and picked up the project midstream.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The majority of their time was spent cleaning up and figuring out what had been done so far by evaluating previous work to determine how much remained. They developed a WordPress consumer-facing site. On the backend, they built a file configurator that compiles orders and codes them into a .DAT file format that’s then sent to individual pharmacies so the file is readable by their equipment and software.

Their team also built a custom assessment tool that goes through our products and determines which ones to recommend to customers. They also set up payment processing, integrated tools, and handled other logistics including email notifications.

What is the team composition?

Kenn (CEO) and Andrew (CTO) are my two main points of contact. They manage the rest of their team. There are about 8–10 other individuals involved that I know of.

How did you come to work with Never Settle?

I found them on Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $45,000 to the entire project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Communication is really important to me, and they’ve been amazing at that. They answer phone calls on the weekends and emails late at night. They’re great about finding different tools to help explain things. Their team uses video snippets to explain things I don’t understand. They go out of their way to make sure we’re comfortable and understand exactly where the status of the project is.

How did Never Settle perform from a project management standpoint?

They use a custom project management tool but they also use Airtable, Loom, Metorik, and a snippet tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand WordPress extremely well. There’s no doubt they know what’s going on with WordPress’ capabilities and incapabilities. What’s more, they’re more than capable of coding out custom solutions to make something do exactly what we need it to do.

Andrew in particular is a machine, he’s phenomenal. They do everything so quickly. I’ve worked with a dozen other firms, and Never Settle is at the top of the list when it comes to their ability to build custom code tools from scratch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. We’ve had a really good experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more specific you are with your requirements and specifications, the better. Never Settle is good at taking layman’s terms and turning it into something real. They have people working around the clock.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Iris Global as a manager of Stop for the One, our child sponsorship program. We’re an international mission non-profit organization. We do humanitarian aid and missions work all over of the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Never Settle?

We were using a monthly service to manage our website with another marketing company and Never Settle acquired that company. They reached out to us about marketing opportunities and we went along with them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They offer both monthly service and one-off projects. Currently, they manage our website and do a lot of our advertising on social media. They also do SEO and manage various blog postings and content.

How did you come to work with Never Settle?

We were with JCI Marketing, who’d built our website, and then Never Settle acquired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $9,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Never Settle since May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did a full update of our website that we were very satisfied with, especially regarding the design. They’ve also improved a lot of our SEO on the website that has driven an increase in monthly sign-ups for sponsorship, our key metric. Social media traffic and newsletter signups have also both increased.

How did Never Settle perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent. We’ve loved working with their team. They’re efficient, down to earth, personable, and understanding. They genuinely believe in what we’re doing as a mission, and that support comes through as they manage our projects. They’re always on time and creative in thinking ahead on things we haven’t considered. Solutions come before we’ve thought of the problems.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ken (CEO) has gone above and beyond to show that he believes in our mission. Their entire team is just very gracious and wonderful to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. We’ve loved their services, from the tools they use to meet with us to the monthly reviews they do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Really let them explore all the options for improvement. We didn’t know a lot about non-profit SEO, and they had a lot of knowledge.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder & director of iEmpathize. We focus on human rights issues by using media to communicate our message and program. We fight crimes against children, specifically work on issues of exploitation and trafficking.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Never Settle?

Our programs require a lot of online support and technology to be able to get them into the audiences we’re trying to reach. We have several kinds of relationship assets that come out of our partnership with Never Settle. We wanted the public to have a stronger understanding of what we do.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team helps with our general web presence and design. In getting the public to understand our mission, we needed to dig deeper through educational platforms and showcases for our potential clients. We also have a lot of sensitive information from our program, so we have to ensure any data within our site is secure.

The site is on WordPress because we want to manage a lot of the backend ourselves. Within that, we use a lot of tools that their team has brought to us in the form of a widget or other customization. We have to report the data that we receive to board members and donors, and their team aggregates it in a way that makes sense. The most important step is our educational learning platform content with the different quiz features, designs, and tools that we need to customize our content. They’ve built all of that for us.

What is the team composition?

Kenn (CEO) and I work together, but depending on our needs, there are other primary people that we work with. One helps with the design and technology, and the other assists with our learning platforms.

How did you come to work with Never Settle?

I launched our NGO out of Denver, and Kenn was working there. Through multiple relationships, I knew about Kenn and his heart for philanthropy. After a few conversations, we brought them in for other client work before investing them in our organization.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement has been growing since 2009.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve done multiple sites for me. Their knowledge of WordPress helps us accomplish our goals. I’ve also referred Never Settle to a lot of others. We’re consistently receiving great and unsolicited feedback from our audience. They appreciate the functionality, storytelling, and design accessibility. The creativity of the site stands out as well. If we hear that something can be better, Never Settle improves it.

How did Never Settle perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily do conference calls and emails. They also send video tutorials to us. While development is happening, they have project management tools that we get to interact with and collaborate with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their understanding of the content that their clients want. They do a great job of wrapping their mind around the goals, not just the technology aspect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As any company grows, there are growing pains. But Never Settle is on the path where I want to keep working with them. I could’ve shifted anytime over the last ten years, but I wouldn’t want to do that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them the information you need and connect with them on your vision. Let them process that for you and bring their perspective. Never Settle’s approach is solid. If you’re looking for people who care about what you care about, they’re amazing people that look beyond making money.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the outreach coordinator at Children’s Hospital Colorado. I work in the Pediatric Mental Health Institute.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Never Settle?

We were looking for a partner to support us with a web development project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started off by building out our full site, starting with the landing page. Never Settle also worked on an LMS and CRM to be integrated along with the website. We’re still working with them currently.

What is the team composition?

We typically worked with two or three people from their team.

How did you come to work with Never Settle?

They were recommended to us. We interviewed several other potential partners, but we really liked Never Settle’s customer service, passion, and feedback loop. They also offered great rates.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2019 and the project is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My colleagues are all very happy with the work Never Settle has done. Along the way, they’ve been flexible, provided excellent customer service, and it’s clear they’re very passionate about the work they do. They dive into the project completely, and that shows in the product they produce. 

How did Never Settle perform from a project management standpoint?

Never Settle has been great. When we first started, we had weekly calls, which we then moved to twice a month. We can also keep in touch through the backend of the system. We often screen share during our meetings, which is helpful when the team provides recommendations for tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their passion sets them apart from other providers. Also, the level of attention they give us as a client is noteworthy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, our engagement has been great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want great quality for a great price and phenomenal customer service, Never Settles is the way to go.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We specialize in developing green battery technology. At the moment, we’re an R&D company. However, we’ll transition into a manufacturing and sales company in the near future.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Never Settle?

We don’t have any in-house experience with branding, e-commerce, web development, or logos. They were hired to help us develop these components.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done web design, logo development, brand style guidelines, and strategic marketing planning. That’s helped us determine how we’ll market our products, gain pre-sales traction with customers, and how to position ourselves most effectively. They used WordPress to deliver the site. The platform is still pretty basic because we’ve yet to launch our product. However, we plan on having a long-term engagement as we make our offerings more robust. They’ll scale our web design and presences in accordance with what we’re able to handle as a business. 

The business strategy was collaborative and immersive. Kenn (CEO) and Brad (COO) spent several days at our headquarters to understand our vision, mission, and process. From there, they put together a comprehensive launch package that addressed what we needed. 

What is the team composition?

I worked mostly with Kenn and Brad. There are designers and developers that we’ve also worked with on their end. 

How did you come to work with Never Settle?

I’d known the CEO of their company for many years. We didn’t do an exhaustive search because we’re under the radar. So, we were looking for a trustworthy partner that could help us launch. I ran into Ken at a seminar. He gave me his card, and we decided to engage later.  

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2020, and our engagement will be long-term.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered on our initial deliverables, which were our logos and brand style guide. Their team also put together an effective marketing roadmap that can operate parallel to our development plan. 

We were impressed and pleased with the website design and their process for creating designs. They prioritized iterations, interactions, and relational collaboration. Their clear process and ability to deliver on requirements indicate that the relationship has been successful. The deliverables exceeded our expectations and helped us conceptualize our marketing plan in a whole new way.   

How did Never Settle perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through email, text, phone calls, and video calls. They were very open to feedback, oftentimes asking us for candid feedback. We built a strong relationship and were always comfortable providing feedback to each other. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

From the beginning, it was clear that they would prioritize our relationship over logistics. We appreciated that because we wanted someone to truly understand our process. Their design work is incredible, but their relational customer experience model is the best thing they do. They make us feel valued and treat our mission like it was very significant. They’ve focused on relationships, truly partnering alongside our team to understand us. We consider them to be very a close strategic ally, not just our marketing vendor. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always opportunities for improvement, but they did a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Invite their team to come in and understand your processes. That will help you build a strong, long-term partnership. They have the capacity to do much more than merely deliver marketing products. Their model is comprehensive, thorough, and robust. When engaging them, I’d recommend enlarging your goals and making them more holistic. They can certainly ramp up to that level.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a youth leadership organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Never Settle?

We had a website that was originally developed in 1996. While there were a lot of changes, updates, and redesigns over that time, the basic structure remained the same and it was becoming increasingly difficult for our techs to be able to deal with it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the end, we decided it was time to rebuild the website from scratch. We had an initial conversation to establish some requirements and a basic roadmap to kick off the project.

They set up the basic framework and then transferred all of our existing data over to the new site. Design folks from both teams were involved throughout the process, and every month or so they would update us on the progress they had made.

What is the team composition?

There were about 2–3 members of their team working on the project with us.

How did you come to work with Never Settle?

I knew some folks on their team and was familiar with their expertise and track record, so I decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started about two years ago, running from March 2018–January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website isn’t used to measure traffic, but everything on it looks great and works great. People have given us really positive comments and feedback on how good it looks and how easy it is to use, which we are really pleased with.

It’s also much easier to use on our end than the previous system had been. Never Settle’s philosophy is to create something that we can update and improve on our own as needed where we would have needed a development partner before.

How did Never Settle perform from a project management standpoint?

They worked really well with our team, touched base frequently, and always hit the deadlines that we requested from them. It was a very enjoyable experience because of how easy they made it to manage the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is definitely excellent at what they do. We don’t have a lot to compare them to, but in terms of most other agencies, they are extraordinarily professional, easy to work with, and good at coming up with creative ideas and solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At no time was I surprised by something that didn’t go the way I expected. Everyone can improve, but I can’t think of anything specific that they should be doing differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to let their team provide feedback at the beginning of the project rather than just asking them to execute on something concrete. They really know what they’re doing, so their input will significantly improve the quality of solutions in your final product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a skincare brand. I am the digital marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Never Settle?

We hired Never Settle to transition our website to a e-commerce site with a very quick turn around time.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to build and implement a WooCommerce site with several custom features and we needed it quickly.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered many developers but Kenn and his team were by far the best. They were confident, quick, and easy to work with.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Never Settle provided a full and complete site redo.

What was the team composition?

The team is comprised of many different members but we always had contact with Kenn. We felt we could contact him at any time and get a response, either over the phone or via email.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our site is live and doing great! They built several impressive custom pieces for us and were able to meet our deadline. The site has impacted our business in a very big way.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Kenn and his team used a main Google Sheet to organize and keep us on track.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They really care about the outcome for their customers. When we had questions, Kenn would really think about his answers and provide us with feedback on if he thought implementing it would be beneficial for us and our consumers or not. We can't say enough good things about Never Settle. They did an amazing job for us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No! We had a great experience with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a mattress company with three components.

1. Local mattress stores with needs for a POS and inventory management system.
2. A Franchise company with franchisees needing independent websites in their local markets.
3. A mattress manufacturing company needing a B2B direct ordering website. I am the General Manager of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Never Settle?

We hired Never Settle to build out POS site, our websites, and our B2B site.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to streamline our systems to create efficiency and custom systems for our needs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Never Settle is small enough that they are able to be flexible and adaptable to our needs, as the customer but sophisticated enough to deliver top-notch products.

Describe the project in detail.

They built out our websites to our specifications, including an e-commerce cart and review integration. They built us a fully customized POS system to be able to serve the needs of all of our locations. The POS system is fully functional and meets our needs. They built us a B2B ordering site for our franchises to order product through with a direct EDI to our factories ordering system. It all works great.

What was the team composition?

They had three or four people working on the projects and helping work out the bugs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The products are good. They have been very responsive when there have been issues.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. We are typically able to solve issues within the day they occur.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their flexibility and competency in building great IT.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Pricing for monthly use has changed a few times. That could have been better communicated on the front end.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CMO of a retail company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Retail

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Never Settle to accomplish?

• Website Ease and Aesthetic

SOLUTION

How did you find Never Settle?

Referral

Why did you select Never Settle over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Website Build

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Beautiful Website, Great Easy to use back end, well-functioning

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes everything was prompt and proffessional

What was your primary form of communication with Never Settle?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were impressed with their beautiful, high-quality work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Never Settle could have done differently?

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Creative Director of a credit union.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a credit union providing financial products and services to our members in the Pacific Northwest.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Never Settle to accomplish?

• Rebuild our existing WordPress website with clean code and a new web builder.

SOLUTION

How did you find Never Settle?

Referral

Why did you select Never Settle over others?

High ratings, Pricing first our budget, Great culture fit, Good value for cost, Referred to me

What was the size of Never Settle’s team?

2-5 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with Never Settle?

Virtual Meeting

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Never Settle was contracted to:

1. Leverage existing design and user interfaces and rebuild on a custom WordPress site.
2. Optimize site to rank highly in performance metrics and Google site speed algorithms.
3. Optimizing on-site content to maintain and increase the SEO performance and overall domain authority while ensuring that all SEO previously invested into is not lost on migration.
4. Develop custom solutions and integrate with third party solutions. 
5. Provide staged page designs to test for QA before going live, training for self management, and post go live support

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Improved site speed by 24%
• Reduced plugin usage by 70%
• Improved our overall ADA rating by 30%

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Never Settle consistently communicated status, timing, and delivery. Each phase of the project was clearly understood and actions items were execution quickly. There were times that Never Settle went above and beyond to work through unforeseen issues.

We were thoroughly impressed with how well they managed and completed the entire project.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They partnered with us in a way that made us feel they had our best interests and goals in mind.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Never Settle could have done differently?

There was nothing they needed to improve on.