The Best Web Design Agency - We're Onit!
Onit Digital is a premiere provider of digital solutions. As a digital agency and top website design company, our team has created digital solutions for blue chip companies like Yamaha, Nissan, Citibank, Skyy Vodka, Ralph Lauren, Mars and many others.
Onit Digital transforms companies by designing best-in-class experiences, driven by strong technology, data, creative and organizational strategy required for operational excellence. We combine these capabilities into a single solution, creating unified brand experiences that change industries and foster meaningful relationships with users.
Whether you’re a start-up on the verge of something great or a Fortune 500 company looking for a refresh, our full-service capabilities will allow you to reimagine the way you do digital. Our services range from web design and development to digital marketing and branding.
We take pride in delivering and servicing fully-integrated, proven digital marketing solutions for the world’s largest brands and the world’s most influential upstarts.
If you’re looking for better, faster, smarter and more cost-effective digital production, digital creative, digital strategy and digital technology, look no further. We’re Onit!
Focus
Portfolio
Nissan USA:
Mars, Inc
etc...
Skyy Vodka
Trident University
Alliant University
Absolut Vodka
Absolut launched its integrated offline/online program, Absolut Cooling. The program allowed Absolut vodka drinkers to participate in the prevention of global warming and share their personal statements on what inspires them to take action for the planet.
Deliverables
Onit Digital programmed the backend loyalty engine to capture the codes and the responses associated with each code in a manner that allowed future communications and robust reporting. They also set up kiosk terminals for Absolut representatives so that data could be fed in to the centralized system at “Global Cooling Parties” sponsored directly by Absolut.
The site included information on Absolut products along with special Absolut drink recipes to mix up at suggested “Global Cooling Parties”. The “Chill Tactics” section of the site provided a Cooler Planet Party Guide and Cool Tips on how to reduce impact on the environment.
As part of its sponsorship for Live Earth Films, the Global Cooling site hosted three Live Earth Films for viewing, along with the film festival calendar of upcoming events.
Results
The program was a fantastic success for both Absolut and for the planet. Thousands of users registered for the program elevating both Absolut Vodka and awareness for an important global issue.
Alliant University
Alliant University needed an agency with higher education experience to redevelop their website. Specifically, they were seeking a company to create an intuitive architecture to house thousands of pages of content in a manner that would allow prospective students to easily find the information they are seeking. Additionally, they needed a company to bring their site up to date with relevant ADA guidelines.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a new, responsive website design for Alliant University. This included:
- A world-class creative approach and execution
- Audience segmented user experience to allow for fingertip access to content
- Fully ADA compliant site
- Search engine optimization features that gave the site more visibility in natural search
- Enterprise level hosting that allows the site to be accessed quickly from anywhere on the globe
Nissan USA
Nissan needed to scale up its regional marketing program to accommodate incentive offers across 215 DMAs. Specifically, they needed to launch customized offers for each vehicle and each offer type. Without the proper toolset, management on this scale would be expensive if not impossible. A custom technology platform would be necessary in order to manage what would be come tens of thousands of offer combinations.
Deliverables
Onit delivered the initial release of the “Dynamic Integrated Marketing Engine” (DIME) in 2009 and has been improving the platform ever since. This platform drives offers across all regions and across all of Nissan’s critical media distribution points.
Features
- A publishing platform that allows for the creation and management of unlimited promotions
- An assignment engine that assigns promotions to targeted geographic regions
- A measurement API that ties in with Omniture, Webtrends Doubleclick and Google Analytics
- Zip code processing that allows consumers to find their local promotion by entering their zip code
- Direct linking capability that allows consumers to be taken directly to their localized promotion
- Translation of local links that allows for local click through on media campaigns
- IP Intelligence API that allows for tie in to IP based location services for even more rich targeting
Arrowhead Mills
As part of the Hain Celestial Group, Arrowhead Mills required both a full redesign and a new CMS platform. Onit was charged with developing the site scratch while providing recommendations for a scalable architecture that could be used for the rest of the brands within Hain Celestial.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a newly developed creative and technology platform for the brand. We executed a new CMS system in Drupal and delivered a new contest platform that would allow the brand team to consistently deliver new programs for their customers.
Results
The new site launched with accolades from the entire Hain Celestial Group and became a technological and creative example that the group used to develop 80 other brand websites.
Ashley Furniture Homestores
Ashley Furniture Homestores required a new creative and technical strategy for digital promotions. Onit digital was to deliver a platform approach that would let them launch customized landing pages for every media execution.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a platform that launched hundreds of monthly offers into market. We executed a new CMS system (ROAD) that allowed for management of creative and offer data.
Results
The platform was an amazing success. Ashley Furniture Homestores reported a vastly increased response rate to their media due custom offers that matched the targeting criteria of their media buys.
Belvedere Vodka
Belevedere Vodka was seeking a new digital presence to engage both home and professional bartenders. The new interface was to provide clean and compelling creative that combined both recipes and mixing techniques.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a CMS platform that supported hundreds of tools, tips and recipes for the brand. The new and cleaner interface was a “headless CMS” that allowed for different components of recipes and tools to be published on the website and beyond.
Results
The platform became the basis for digital communications and remains an enterprise-level component of their digital strategy and distribution of brand messaging.
Become an M&M
M&Ms and their partner agencies were creating a robust gaming experience to launch during the season premier of American Idol. The game included a Character Creator application that was the online equivalent of the classic Mr. Potato Head game. Consumers choose 3d elements from a library and colorize them to create a custom character.
There was pressure to create a groundbreaking experience and to deliver it on a hard deadline. Millions of dollars in media were at stake and tens of millions of people were due to arrive.
Deliverables
As part of the project team, Onit Digital was first in charge of acting as “General Contractor” to all of the creative and technical partners – working in between a highly technical boutique production shop and two global ad agencies.
As the deadline loomed it was clear that many parts of the project were not going to be completed unless extra resources were brought to bear. Specifically, the project needed more 3d parts for the library and a custom application that converted a lo-res custom character to a hi-res/print ready image so that it could be ordered and printed on a t-shirt and other collateral.
Results
Onit completed the project just in time for the launch – having brought in many supplemental resources of its own.
After the deadline, it was clear that there were many fixes to be made to the original application and Onit Digital took over to re-architect much of the original application.
Dove Chocolate
Dove Chocolate was seeking and new and dynamic website that could interact with consumers in a real-time social environment.
Deliverables
Onit Digital executed a flexible, responsive design on the Tumblr platform. This solution provided the real time social interaction that was being sought by the brand.
Results
The new Tumblr platform is a success and allows consumers moderated access to the brand. New social posts are being propagated daily.
ESPN
ESPN wanted to launch a quick “pop-up shop” that allowed them to sell branded merchandise.
Deliverables
Onit Digital provided all ecommerce technology that allowed for a scalable and enterprise level system to be implemented for the network. This included all front end components as well as inventory control.
Results
The platform developed was rock-solid secure technology that supported millions of dollars in sales for ESPN.
Haggar
Haggar was seeking an enterprise level ecommerce system that could house all of its SKUs and stand up to its large volume of traffic.
Deliverables
As part of a larger ecommerce team, Onit Digital delivered all front end technology and middleware that allowed for the site to communicate with the backend.
Results
The site is still supported by the same technology implemented by Onit Digital and supports millions of dollars in sales.
Hyundai
Hyundai needed an executive producer to successfully implement a quick-turnaround launch of HyundaiUSA.com in time for the Superbowl.
Deliverables
Onit was able to mobilize a large distributed team around tens of thousands of disparate assets to ensure the launch of a newly improved and award-winning website. Onit was engaged to be the executive producers of Hyundai’s “Project Break through” – a massive effort to re-launch the Hyundai website against a Super Bowl launch.
As the lead project coordination agency, Onit was tasked with managing the creative, technical, CGI and brand output to ensure that the vision of the creative agency could be met for an aggressive launch.
Over a short and demanding timeline, Onit prepared the software development and creative schedules and coordinated all of the efforts between 5 agencies.
Results
Through hard work and leadership, we also introduced a brand new and fully documented production process into both Hyundai and their lead agency, Innocean.
IGN
IGN was seeking a new and quirky way to get the word out about their brand to an audience of gamers.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a digital postcard platform with “snarky” comments that could break through the clutter, align with gamer mentality and give the audience a few laughs. Significantly, the ecard platform allowed for extensibility and full tracking of all ecard sending habits/patterns.
Results
The concept resonated strongly with the IGN audience. The ecards were widely used and showed up frequently in social channels.
Maranatha
As part of the Hain Celestial Group, Maranatha Nut Butters required both a full redesign and a new CMS platform. Onit was charged with developing the site scratch while providing recommendations for a scalable architecture that could be used for the rest of the brands within Hain Celestial.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a newly developed creative and technology platform for the brand. We executed a new CMS system in Drupal and delivered a new contest platform that would allow the brand team to consistently deliver new programs for their customers.
Results
The new site launched with accolades from the entire Hain Celestial Group and became a technological and creative example that the group used to develop 80 other brand websites.
M&Ms
M&Ms was seeking a cost-effective partner that could build and maintain their current site in partnership with their brand agency.
Deliverables
Onit Digital has been maintaining the M&Ms website for many years. Both planned and last minute updates are made on an as-needed basis. Onit provides all infrastructure and development resources in order to maintain the web presence of this massive brand.
Results
We’ve never missed a hitch. All web development is done on-time, on budget and within parameters that are dictated by the brand and the agency.
Montenegro Amaro
Amaro Montenegro was seeking a new website that could elevate the brand in the United States. The new site was to provide cocktail recipes, mixing tips and lifestyle articles. Additionally, they wanted a new CMS that would allow brand managers to update the site in line with current market trends.
Deliverables
Onit Digital created a new and beautiful responsive design for Amaro Montenegro. The site sits on a WordPress backend and allows the brand managers to make continual updates as required by market dynamics. Recipes, lifestyle content, mixing tips and more are regularly published to the platform.
Results
The new website remains a successful part of the Amaro Montenegro marketing mix. Consumers are thrilled with the intuitive interface. Feedback from the public and the brand has been extremely positive.
Pepboys
Pepboys was seeking new and innovative ways to digitally advertise their offers. Onit was brought on board to help with the landing pages.
Deliverables
Onit implemented its ROAD landing page platform to deliver both image based and video based landing pages for the brand.
Results
Onit was able to provide efficient delivery of Pepboys landing pages. Just in time for rapid-fire media deployments.
Quiznos
Quiznos was seeking a new digital presence to engage their loyal customer base. The new interface was to provide clean and compelling creative that allowed for branding and offers.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a CMS platform and compelling creative that supported the new website.
Results
The Quiznos client was extremely happy with both the quality of the delivery and also the extremely efficient process brought forth by Onit.
Ralph Lauren
Onit was invited to perform as the lead organization for all back-end and front-end development for the entire GSI Ecommerce solution across multiple retail brands. This arrangement resulted in a 2-year partnership up to the point when eBay purchased GSI Commerce.
Key Engagement Features
- Engaged as the lead development organization
- Provided a proven turnkey solution for GSI to launch nationally and internationally
- Developed sophisticated Java based (Spring/Hibernate) code
- Simultaneously, effectively supported multiple brands’ ecommerce sites
- Provided faster and more efficient releases of enterprise level ecommerce for GSI clients.
Results
GSI is a stellar example of Onit’s ability to jump in and get the job done. We provided excellent code in a turnkey process. Significantly, Onit was not only a development team tasked with getting the nuts and bolts ecommerce work finished; but we were also a business partner that helped them identify methods and areas where costs could be cut while increasing production. Over our 2-year tenure with the company, we helped them shrink their overall budget by millions while increasing speed to market and overall client satisfaction.
Red Stripe Beer
Redstripe Beer was seeking new and innovate creative work that engaged their consumers.
Deliverables
Onit Digital created “Chillville” as a concept for Redstripe that included many interactive features designed for fun and viral passalong.
Results
The concept work was commented on by Redstripe brand managers as some of the most innovative and fun creative they had seen. Many of these elements were used as a basis for future concepts and executions.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street was seeking a partner that could bring its video player to life while integrating with their enterprise level data asset management system (DAM).
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a robust video player integrated with their DAM API. The tool worked seamlessly with their publishing platform.
Results
The platform became the basis for all video deployment at Sesame Street and was heralded as a resounding success by internal stakeholders at Children’s Television Workshop.
Skyy Vodka
Skyy Vodka was seeking a new digital presence to engage both home and professional bartenders. The new interface was to provide clean and compelling creative that combined both recipes and mixing techniques.
Deliverables
Onit Digital delivered a CMS platform that supported hundreds of tools, tips and recipes for the brand. The new and cleaner interface was a “headless CMS” that allowed for different components of recipes and tools to be published on the website and beyond.
Results
The platform became the basis for digital communications and remains an enterprise-level component of their digital strategy and distribution of brand messaging.
Snickers Website
Snickers was seeking and new and dynamic website that could interact with consumers in a real-time social environment.
Deliverables
Onit Digital executed a flexible, responsive design on the Tumblr platform. This solution provided the real time social interaction that was being sought by the brand.
Results
The new Tumblr platform is a success and allows consumers moderated access to the brand. New social posts are being propagated daily.
Snickers
Snickers was seeking a new and interesting way to interact with consumers in a social, fun and engaging enviornment.
Deliverables
Onit Digital executed SnickersMeme where users could upload their photo in any given meme and then share their content with their friends.
Results
The program has been an overwhelming success – generating thousands of memes and social interactions since its inception.
Trident University
Trident University was seeking a wholesale redesign of their website. Included in this challenging assignment was the re-architecture of thousands of pages, integration of ADA compliance, new SEO and complex media tracking tools.
Deliverables
Onit delivered on all of Trident’s goals and has continued to manage their web presence for many years. The website not only contains all front end features requested, but also contains back end tools that allow for multiple team members to manage a complex publishing workflow.
Results
Trident’s website and CMS platform continue to be a resounding success for the university. The university has increased year over year engagement with potential students. Additionally, the internal team is able to publish to the platform with frictionless CMS technology.
Twix
Twix was seeking and new and dynamic website that could interact with consumers in a real-time social environment.
Deliverables
Onit Digital executed a flexible, responsive design on the Tumblr platform. This solution provided the real time social interaction that was being sought by the brand.
Results
The new Tumblr platform is a success and allows consumers moderated access to the brand. New social posts are being propagated daily.
Yamaha Motor Sports
Yamaha Motor Sports wanted to drive more bike sales by having better landing pages to convert their media into leads. Significantly, Yamaha didn’t have a mechanism for driving offers through their media, and they didn’t have landing pages to match the effort.
Key Features
- Configure and implement the ROAD Enterprise SaaS solution
- Implement landing pages
- Enable APIs
- Deliver enhanced metrics
- Develop a fully encompassing strategy that delivered offers through the entire sales funnel, that delivered responsive design for mobile views, and that captured data throughout the entire process
Results
Onit continued to work as a partner to both Yamaha and its agency of record, maintaining assets and supporting both ROAD and the new landing pages. Onit continued to work as a partner to both Yamaha and its agency as a partner. We maintained all assets, continued support of the ROAD Enterprise SaaS solution and delivered metrics/analysis against the landing pages.
Summary of Benefits
- Agency of record reported back astonishing metrics
- In just the first 4 months, Yamaha was able to attribute higher sales to the landing page leads
- Lightning fast initial launch
- Increased speed-to-market and scalability for offers shown on Landing Pages and beyond
- Improved accuracy of offers, avoiding previous errors
Reviews
the project
Wordpress Dev for Global Advertising Agency
“They care about the details and do their best to make a superb product.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m senior vice president of innovation for North America for Momentum Worldwide, a company that helps clients create meaning and connections for their brand.
What challenge were you trying to address with Onit Digital, Inc.?
We needed help building WordPress site for two of our clients.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We worked together to build the fully responsive websites on a WordPress platform. It was built on a content management system (CMS) in the background, which is normal for global brands. The sites were also multi-language for different regions.
One client’s site was large and complex; plus, we had to coordinate with an Italian IT team.
What is the team composition?
There’s probably around 10–15 people on the team, although we don’t interface with many of them.
How did you come to work with Onit Digital, Inc.?
I know the owner; we worked at a different company together. Onit had done projects for us before, so I knew we could trust them. They do quality work, are great communicators, and aim to exceed expectations, so I decided to hire them again for this project.
What is the status of this engagement?
This project lasted from 2016–2017.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our client was happy with the final product. We delivered a platform that they could grow on their end, which was the goal. The CMS made it so they didn’t need to rely on us to make updates or changes.
How did Onit Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
We used project management tools, and Onit’s communication was crystal clear. They were proactive and solved potential risks before they even happened. They worked alongside our own producers and project managers here at the agency. They put us in a position to be well-versed, manage our own clients, and stay on time and budget.
What did you find most impressive about them?
From the very beginning, they asked smart and intuitive questions that showed they were invested in our project. They care about the details and do their best to make a superb product. As a business partner, they make great recommendations that better the project.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No.
the project
WordPress Web Design for Educational Institution
"They offered value."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the senior director of marketing technology at a university.
What challenge were you trying to address with OnIt Digital?
The university hired them to build a new website and update branding. The engagement started three months before I joined the school.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They built a customized WordPress site with the Shrinkwrap theme. The team also created a port of legacy content for the new site. We discussed SEO, but used another primary vendor for those services. OnIt Digital included some features to achieve those goals.
What is the team composition?
We interacted with a project manager and a technical specialist at least once a week. I served as our team’s project manager.
How did you come to work with OnIt Digital?
We found them through a referral. Price was a big factor.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked with them between February–August 2016.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They improved the UX design and increased engagement levels. From a branding and aesthetic perspective, they delivered for those metrics.
How did OnIt Digital perform from a project management standpoint?
We weren’t happy with the project manager. The technical specialist acted as supplemental support to complete outstanding issues; we enjoyed working with him.
Delays occurred because they didn’t use firm schedules or milestones. The technical specialist had to work remotely while he was abroad or on vacation.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They get the job done for high-value projects.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Project management skills, clean timelines, and milestones are important for any project. I don’t know how they would fare on projects with several moving parts.
the project
Digital Marketing Campaign & Landing Page Dev for Startup
“We ended up with the ROI that we needed.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the former CMO for ZINIO.
What challenge were you trying to address with Onit Digital, Inc.?
We were looking to launch some paid media programs to increase our demand generation sales, as well as help to build our brand. We needed a digital partner for that.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We had a kickoff meeting to share our business goals. The team came back with an approach that we spent some time going back and forth validating and customizing. We identified a timeline, KPIs, and a project roadmap, then started to implement a pilot or testing plan, expanding from there.
We’re a startup so funds were very tight. We collaborated closely to make sure our board and our investors were happy with the results. We worked very closely together to build a strategic digital marketing plan to increase sales for our startup. We were focused on maintaining brand language and making sure that it appealed to key stakeholders’ visions.
They undertook a number of initiatives, from media planning and execution for online media to landing page optimization and website consultation. They had a comprehensive strategy that looked at placements of call to action, integration around elements, and affiliation with our top buyer data that we had from our analytics and insights.
What is the team composition?
There were five or six people on the team. It was a comprehensive team from support, client services, and planning, down to strategy implementation and executive representation. They assigned a project manager and worked in our offices.
How did you come to work with Onit Digital, Inc.?
I had worked with their founder when I was with another company. I was very aware of his level of skill and capability. Our president had also worked with him a few times before with very good results. We were looking for a vendor that we could trust from a strategic standpoint and who had proven results.
We’d done testing with a number of smaller partners that were more channel specific in the past. They all claimed to be able to expand into the other areas where we needed help. However, we weren’t seeing the level of results that we needed to make an impact. We knew Onit Digital would be able to come through comprehensively.
How much have you invested with them?
Over $200,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from December 2014 until January 2016.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
As it was the first time that we brought in a comprehensive media agency, the early days involved a lot of learning opportunities and optimization. The results weren’t incredible in the beginning of the project. However, their support, focused service, and in-person collaboration over the next few months enabled us to test and learn what made sense. We ended up with the ROI that we needed. They quality of the deliverables got up to par.
How did Onit Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
They performed very well. The project manager was based in our offices.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re committed to success.
Are there any areas they could improve?
It was a tough assignment for them because we’re unlike most media companies. Being a startup, the funds were minimal. In many large B2C brands, you can afford to put forward cash and because the brand is well known, there is a baseline ROI that can be optimized. We were unfortunately not in a luxurious position to be able to take advantage of something like that. That caught the team off guard a little bit when they didn’t see the results right away.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Invest a significant amount of time and work upfront to clearly define deliverables, goals, and workflow. A vendor’s plan might look really great until you try and operationalize it. Based on different challenges within the organization, the plans may need adapting. It’s always good to know that before the launch, rather than after going live and having to adjust expectations.
the project
Frontend Java based E-Commerce Dev for Digital Agency
“They were dedicated to getting things done, tracked their work closely to the plans, and provided good estimates.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I was CTO for True Action, a digital agency that’s part of GSI Commerce.
What challenge were you trying to address with Onit Digital?
We needed to develop the frontends of various e-commerce sites. Each of the sites had to represent its brand while ensuring a quality user experience within the platform from product display and content through to checkout. For one site, the product display needed a dynamic search wherein users could add search terms to limit the number of products displayed.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Onit improved the design and user experience of the multiple platforms. They provided mockup stylesheets and JavaScript code for a proprietary Java-based platform we used.
Our creative designers produced mockups from which Onit Digital created live pages. They conducted QA testing, making sure that the designs and functionalities met our expectations. Our QA team performed the same checks after the handoff and if they found any discrepancies, they sent the work back to Onit’s team. On some occasions, we also realized that our initial specs no longer met our needs and required changes.
What is the team composition?
The team varied across the multiyear engagement and was modified based on our needs. On average, we worked with 8–10 people to a maximum of 15. I had regular contact with the CEO, an account manager, and their developers.
How did you come to work with Onit Digital?
We were growing fast and couldn’t hire quickly enough. We started looking for a partner with availability to provide quality work at reasonable costs.
Onit Digital was introduced by a colleague. They showed us previous work and we interviewed their past clients. The team demonstrated strong skills and made us comfortable with our choice.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent between $500,000 and $1 million overall on their services.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Onit Digital in 2010. The collaboration was ongoing when I left the company two years later.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
At the time, all the e-commerce platforms we deployed were designed as required. From a business perspective, all the sites were successful and we were benefiting from the revenue associated with those activities.
How did Onit Digital perform from a project management standpoint?
We had daily check-ins with the development team. They were dedicated to getting things done, tracked their work closely to the plans, and provided good estimates.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The most valuable trait from our point of view was Onit Digital’s flexibility. From month to month, different projects demanded different degrees of resources. The fact that people could be applied or backed off the work as needed was extremely helpful for us.
Are there any areas they could improve?
At times, quality suffered in the name of hitting schedules. There were no major defects but the work was rushed. I respect their effort to meet time commitments but, in hindsight, I would have preferred to hear that the work would take longer but would be done right. We ended up spending extra time cleaning things up.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
The key is to give Onit Digital clear requirements and allow them to own the project. On some occasions, our internal people worked with their team. While this model worked, Onit Digital was more effective when they owned bigger pieces of the project.
the project
Branding, Digital Marketing, & E-Commerce for Publishing Company
“Onit Digital’s creativity was clearly apparent from their first design submission.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the former VP of e-commerce for Cenveo, a $2-billion-in-sales multiregional organization.
What challenge were you trying to address with Onit Digital?
We needed to increase our client engagement and popularize our products and services. Customers had been dropping off inexplicably as they browsed our online store. Our previous e-commerce site had been built internally. It required significant frontend and backend improvements. Our strategy focused on professionalizing the design and improving the scalability, aesthetic, and workflow.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Onit Digital executed a complete redesign of our substantial e-commerce platform. We used a collaborative in-depth process to define the scope. They considered our requirements from both a design and functionality perspective. The designers created different skin options and used wireframes to simulate and refine the product’s flow. After finalizing the layout, we progressed to the technical parts of the site. The team also executes all of our digital marketing. They built five additional websites and several landing pages. SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) efforts included email campaigns for three of our four distinct brands.
What is the team composition?
Marc [CEO, Onit Digital] was our primary contact on a daily basis. I’ve also worked with the development team and 10 additional resources.
How did you come to work with Onit Digital?
My highly-respected former business partner gave me a referral and I trust her judgment. I interviewed 12 firms during my search. We requested work samples from each candidate. Onit Digital’s creativity was clearly apparent from their first design submission. Their effort and talent went well beyond any other firm in consideration. I was impressed by their CEO’s business acumen. He clearly understood our technical and digital marketing needs. They had strong references and offered a full breadth of services.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent over $3 million on their services.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Onit Digital in 2012. The engagement continued after I left the company in 2015. Since then, Cenveo has brought much of that work in-house.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Onit Digital improved our workflow tremendously. An effective SEO strategy significantly bolstered site traffic. Retention rates improved across all our digital marketing campaigns. The new e-commerce site effectively links our specific products with the inventory. This critical attribution indicates which items are available for purchase. A significantly improved shopping cart and checkout process drastically increased click-through rates. The streamlined search feature lets users easily locate what they’re looking for. Products are clearly organized and easy to sort.
How did Onit Digital perform from a project management standpoint?
Cenvo has multiple operational sites. The sales, e-commerce, manufacturing and IT teams are all located in different offices. Onit Digital mastered the difficult task of coordination. They gathered technical and user requirements from each department and disseminated information as needed. The team managed the entire process, including user testing and the eventual product launch. Our company’s sheer size made it challenging to reach a consensus. Nonetheless, they did an outstanding job.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Onit Digital fostered a deep understanding of our company, industry, and objectives. Their involvement went beyond simply providing technical deliverables. Business-minded digital agencies are few and far between. They’re highly proficient in both fields. We’ve hired them for countless projects, and I’ve referred them to several new clients.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I wouldn’t continue hiring and recommending Onit Digital to new clients if I wasn’t completely satisfied.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
My advice to potential clients would be to go for it. I’ve never had a bad experience with Onit Digital. They’re thoughtful and willing to go the extra mile. Those are important qualities to look for in a business partner.
the project
Creative Partnership for Digital Strategy Consultant
“They delivered on time, within budget, and to specifications.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the former chief strategy officer of IPG Beauty Village.
What challenge were you trying to address with Onit Digital, Inc.?
We were working on a corporate communications project that’s purpose was to inspire young girls to pursue careers centered on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). We had a team of brand creatives in-house but lacked a robust digital production department. Onit Digital worked collaboratively with our existing creative team to produce digital assets for the campaign.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Before bringing in Onit Digital, we conducted market research to discover what motivated the target demographic and I created a strategy document based on the findings. Marc (CEO, Onit Digital, Inc.) was involved early in the ideation process and helped with content strategy. We collaborated to come up with experience ideas that could feasibly be implemented from a utility and technology point of view. Marc had input into what was involved from a labor, cost, and even an infrastructure perspective. He also advised best practices for producing designs and gave feedback on information architecture. Working alongside our creative team, Onit designed the campaign’s destination website and created advertising materials to drive traffic. They utilized advanced technology to streamline processes whenever possible. For example, they automatically resized creative designs for various purposes. This was much more efficient than having to resize everything manually.
What is the team composition?
I worked directly with Marc and a lead executive producer. Once the project went into the development stage, I didn’t interact with Onit’s project managers or designers.
How did you come to work with Onit Digital, Inc.?
I considered an internal agency and one other outside vendor. However, I hired Onit Digital because of my familiarity with Marc. I’ve known Marc since 2000 when I interviewed and hired him for another company. I knew he’d deliver results and reflect well on me.
What is the status of this engagement?
This project took place from January 2013–December 2015.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I left the agency before the project was complete, so I wasn’t involved in post-launch analytics. Onit Digital strategically developed assets to inspire and be positively attributed to the brand. Marc provided significant input on creating utility components that would constitute success. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to see everything fully executed.
How did Onit Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
Marc was very involved and really cared about the success of the project. He efficiently utilizes forms and templates to facilitate smooth processes. Our team has never seen such a multitude of templates be employed effectively. The amount we communicated varied relative to the needs of the project as most of my oversight involved strategy. Sometimes we spoke every day while other times he’d work directly with our team. They were always available for troubleshooting.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We had team members that weren’t as experienced in technology and digital production, but Marc never made anyone feel stupid. He’s very easy to work with and has a positive attitude. Optimistic perhaps to a fault, he wouldn’t let barriers hold him back from contributing ideas.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, they performed excellently.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Don’t treat them like a vendor. That’s not the best way to optimize working with Marc because he’s got an array of expertise at his disposal. He’s solutions-oriented and can be a valuable contributor.
the project
WordPress Web Redesign, SEO, & Ongoing Hosting for University
"Investing $1,000 in Onit Digital is worth $10,000 to our company."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the senior director of digital marketing for an online regionally accredited university. We offer degrees at the bachelor’s, master's, and Ph.D. levels.
What challenge were you trying to address with Onit Digital?
We wanted to modernize our standard HTML site. It wasn’t mobile optimized and the outdated layout was below current standards. It required a dedicated technical resource for support and maintenance. Our previous agency used a laborious process that hampered our efficiency. We’d been paying them for countless hours of work we could handle internally. Onit Digital was a flexible and affordable alternative. We knew it was time for a change so we hired them to execute a complete redesign.
What was the scope of their involvement?
During our interview, Onit Digital assessed our existing site in the context of the current education industry. Our five-year plan necessitated an easily modifiable platform. They built an autonomous, mobile responsive site that lets us independently add plugins. We considered a variety of platforms like Drupal but decided WordPress was the best option. The redesign streamlined cumbersome navigation and improved the overall aesthetic. A flexible new backend system replaced the old site’s ineffective CMS. The developers also built independent microsites for our partnership agreements. These contracts provide education services to corporate employees.
We crafted the proposal using ADA compliance as our development baseline. Using a research perspective, they pinpointed potential liabilities. It involved significantly more factors than general maintenance. Many organizations and schools never really consider ADA policy. Education is a highly regulated environment in terms of accessibility. This significant scrutiny made it critical to develop a strategy to preempt lawsuits. We needed to have numerous controls in place to react quickly to change.
As a small university with limited resources, many of our competitors have much larger budgets. Bolstering web traffic and visibility is one of our primary objectives. A targeted campaign used impactful keywords to expand our reach and become more Google-friendly. The copywriters had a challenging task. Writing sophisticated copy for a university is quite different than automotive site content. The team’s SEO services included link building, writing articles, and managing several landing and partner support pages. They host our site on their multiple servers with redundancies for backup purposes. Multiple microsites are driving our current goal to improve our .edu site's Google ranking.
What is the team composition?
We've worked with a talented primary project manager for several years, and our technical lead is extremely skilled. They give clients invaluable access to their executive leadership. Mark (CEO, Onit Digital) is a jack of all trades who can accomplish virtually anything. It's not uncommon for me to call him on a Sunday about pressing issues. He'll immediately turn on his computer and fix them.
We started off with a large development team. It’s much smaller now that we've taken most web efforts in-house. They work directly with our user experience and copywriting staff. More resources are dedicated to SEO because it's a sophisticated, important, and demanding daily effort. That team of 5-6 members includes copywriters and overarching management that provide strategic perspective. Using a relatively streamlined team keeps the cost down and maximizes our efficiency.
How did you come to work with Onit Digital?
Onit Digital had built websites, developed digital strategies, and consulted for three companies where I'd previously worked. We sent out an RFP to several agencies, held interviews, and requested quotes. Ultimately, we selected them based on cost, background, history, and ability.
How much have you invested with them?
We've spent a little under $100,000 on their services.
What is the status of this engagement?
We've been working together for four years and have an ongoing web support and maintenance agreement.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Investing $1,000 in Onit Digital is worth $10,000 to our company. The value they offer goes above and beyond just delivering a product. With a different agency, that same $1,000 might only yield a $1,200 value. They've come up with daring ideas most people would turn down. Taking those risks helped us achieve major success.
The new site keeps our costs stabilized. We can make changes quickly and easily, which used to take weeks of effort and incremental hourly fees. Mobile optimization has improved the uptime, visit length, and lead conversion rates. Our SEO strategy bolstered organic traffic and doubled our visibility scores in several categories, notably the military demographic.
How did Onit Digital perform from a project management standpoint?
The beauty of working with Onit Digital is their strong baseline of support. I can rely on them 24 hours a day. The process was fantastic. Mark and I develop new strategies and statements of work, and he takes an active role in our long-term strategy discussions. We've had the same two project managers since we've launched the new site, which is a sign of success. I work with them both daily. The entire team is highly responsive and has built a great relationship with our staff. The quality of their service means they never get questioned like our other vendors.
Our technical lead has been on our account for four years now. I recently turned site management over to an internal team member. She works with him on a regular basis and has never had any complaints. Our vice president of IT actually relies on Onit Digital's team to support our backend.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their speed is definitely their best asset. They rapidly isolate and resolve problems. Onit Digital is reliable, responsive, and communicates positively. When a project requires additional hours, they’ll often move things around to accommodate our budget. We rarely see unexpected charges. Working with their decision makers and leadership has been excellent. Both Mark and his partner are extremely knowledgeable and supportive. They excelled at their main task, making me and my team look great for our clients. The team’s flexibility, knowledge, and quality of service are second to none. That's why I’ve brought them in to work with three different companies.
Are there any areas they could improve?
As with most agencies, there's always the opportunity for more micromanagement and ideas. I'd love for them to pitch new items to improve the mobile site's look and feel. Since we do much design internally now, they often focus exclusively on the technical aspect. It's always nice to have another set of eyes, so I welcome their creative input.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Onit Digital is highly communicative and never sells me smoke and mirrors. They speak the truth and live by their word. There’s a trickle-down effect from their amazing leadership. Avoid second-guessing their recommendations for your site rebuild. I rarely need to adjust their direction. The team is a talented and well-oiled machine that excels at their job.
Onit was proactive and dedicated, resolving concerns before they caused problems. They listened and asked questions to understand the project’s scope, showing genuine interest. Any recommendations were well-thought-out and made for a better end product.