Orqid Design.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of a B2B white-labeled design agency built for companies in need of design support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orqid Design.?

We hired Orqid Design. to support us with our design and development needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Orqid Design. helps us offer a complete package to our customers. They offer design solutions, whether it’s building additional wireframes, creating motion graphics, and more. For design projects, they usually use Figma if our customers want to be a little bit more collaborative.

They also use Sketch and prototype their work through InVision. On top of that, for many of the projects we’ve had with them, we’ve been able to convince customers to do development with us, too.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact, but I’m not sure how many resources we have from their side. We collaborate with their motion graphics editor, developers, and designers.

How did you come to work with Orqid Design.?

Back when I was working on a project with my previous company, we were looking for a company that specialized in social network building. Orqid Design. was working in that space. After trying their services, our relationship had been so good, which led me to refer them multiple times. For example, at another company, they helped build our corporate identity website. Overall, we did quite a few projects together so I knew their capabilities.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $75,000. Whatever business they get outside of the design projects normally goes directly through the customers I have.

What is the status of this engagement?

For my design agency, we began working with them in June 2016, and it’s ongoing. Personally, I’ve been working with them since November 2011 when I was working for other companies.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The majority of our projects with Orqid Design. have gone very well. We appreciate that they’re not afraid to add more resources to the projects in order to meet our deadlines and to ensure that our customers are happy. Things don’t necessarily work the way we expect all the time, but they quickly solve things through their strong customer service skills.

How did Orqid Design. perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management process is top-notch; they hit their deadlines, which is probably the reason why our relationship lasted so long. On top of that, they’re willing to extend their working hours if we have tight deadlines. They’re also available anytime, and they can accommodate last-minute changes. For example, whenever our customers want to launch their platform on weekends, they make themselves available.

On the communication side, they have a very good way of communicating with engineering and business-minded people. We use Hangout, Zoom, Skype, Slack, and pretty much any platform that we can utilize.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A lot of times they go above and beyond what they’re paid for. Their dedication to creating good products is one of their best traits. They offer a lot of inputs and most of the time, they help us evolve our ideas into something better and valuable for our customers. Overall, they don’t charge enough for all of the things they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve only had one incident where our customer wasn’t necessarily confident with the technology Orqid Design. used for development. However, 90%–95% of the time, our clients are happy with the technology they’re using.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Openly communicate with Orqid Design.; let them know your business goals and deadlines. As long as you’re honest with them about what you need, they'll be able to give you a realistic turnaround time and create a good plan.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the principal designer and design manager for a health benefits platform for startups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orqid Design.?

We had a bunch of new initiatives that we needed to highlight on our marketing site in addition to a brand refresh in general. Our site had gone through three redesigns in the last five years, so we hired Orqid Design. to help us with the latest version.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Orqid Design. developed a custom CMS, moving us over from our original WordPress integration. This was a necessary switch because a lot of our marketing and content leads were having difficulty with our original WordPress integration. It required a lot of custom plug-ins, which always went out of date. 

The new solution looked and felt like our platform. One of the larger additions was the integration of an API for KnoweldgeOwl to our main navigation. We also fixed a call-to-action button for getting a demo at the top of our navigation so that it wouldn’t disappear while scrolling.

Finally, they added a benefits benchmarking tool at the bottom of the footer that allowed users to see how they could pay for their benefits and how much we could save them. The tool served as the internal analytics that we’d share with clients, and they created a specific landing page for it, too.

Once our internal team was up to par on the new CMS, we started to focus on the redesign itself. We provided the initial designs, and they facilitated the responsive designs as well as some of the frontend code. The custom CMS also allowed for motion graphics, which was the bulk of their design work. Again, we gave them the assets (e.g., illustrations, vectors), and they were able to put together motion graphics that livened the site.

What is the team composition? 

Our main lead is the owner, but we’ve also worked with a frontend developer and a motion graphics specialist. Internally, we’ve had three other designers working on the site.

How did you come to work with Orqid Design.?

They were a referral from one of our past marketing leads. I believe they worked on a project with us from before my time. When I joined in 2017, we were with another vendor on our site design, but it wasn’t working out. As a result, we turned to Orqid Design.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the last two years, we’ve spent a little north of $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since January 2019. The project is ongoing but not to the extent of the original phases. They’ve built out some additions to our site architecture, which included a couple of new pages within the last two years. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Integrating the KnowledgeOwl API into our main navigation has helped us reduce the number of customer support calls we receive by 15%. That, of course, has freed up our support staff a bit. As for the request-a-demo button, inquiries have increased by about 35%–40%. The demo serves as a sales tie-in to our platform and broker tools for benefits.

How did Orqid Design. perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been quite a while since we’ve been in the weeds with their work, but I can say that I’ve never had any real issues with communication. We communicate through Asana, Google Meet, and calls.

During the main development, their owner was good at being on top of my schedule. I didn’t have to follow up on a deliverable that was past its due date — it was actually always the other way around. We came to an agreement about when certain elements would be done on the site or when I could test something on the staging site, and we were pretty much always on time. 

I liked that part of the project planning. If there were a bug, I’d send an email or make a quick phone call, and they would take care of it relatively quickly. I never had to wait for more than a day. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

It just goes back to communication. Usually, with any sort of marketing project that’s consumer-facing, timelines are a really big focus, and there can be a lot of pressure. Our leads might communicate that they’ll have new features highlighted on our site by a certain time frame, so it’s paramount to stick to the schedule and make sure that the project is executed well. 

From a technical level, I can tell that they’re doing good work. They look at elements like site speed and efficiency as well as making sure that code isn’t being bogged down.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any criticism. They’ve really hit all of their promises and fix things pretty quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve worked with a lot of bigger vendors that have charged $300,000 for a website, which, to me, doesn’t seem like the best way to spend our money for a project like this. Sometimes, using a smaller vendor is better.

You have to be comfortable working with a very small, tight team and know that you’re always going to be talking to one person instead of a giant group. All of our team meetings are about 3–5 people maximum. You’re also not going to have a 24/7 backend developer necessarily, which is something I’ve never asked for nor needed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an administrator for a sports club based in Southern Ontario.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Orqid Design.?

Our club had a stagnant website that had outdated information and was not visually appealing. We needed a team who would modernize our site. We were hoping for increased awareness in our community through site traffic.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We researched a few web designers and were referred to Orqid Design through a contact who was impressed with the personable service and website performance. After meeting with the team and reviewing their proposal we felt they were the best fit for what I was searching for.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The first few meetings were to clarify what we wanted the site to convey and information that was relevant. A proposal was presented with options for various templates and costs. We are currently in the process of selecting a template and design theme.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One amazing team member worked with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So far our website is easier to navigate.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

All requests and questions were answered within a short timeframe.

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

We were impressed by the enthusiasm and knowledge that was shared with us.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We are quite pleased at this stage and are looking forward to more collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Productfy is a banking as a service solution and I am the head of commercial.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Orqid Design., and what were your goals?

We were looking for a responsive, modern website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Gus was THE factor - his work is impeccable and he is highly responsive.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

website wireframes to HTML, CSS, with an eye towards an eventual content management system build out.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Gus Mumby - main POC

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Website delivered on spec, on time with a few last minute updates thrown in.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The most impressive thing about them is that they are highly responsive to calls and emails.

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

Highly responsive, calls and emails.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None