Softion

Please describe your company and your position there.

We developed a customized website to sell our products online with delivery service

For what projects/services did your company hire Softion, and what were your goals?

We needed some specific development regarding the prices, dates of purchases, reports and customer experience that we needed support and knowledge

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

We consulted with different people but basically they gave me confidence and I was able to check that they have provided quality products

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

We set some timelines, the information that we needed to provide and the expectatios that we had with the functionalities. And it was really great the way that we did it, they were really supportive and explained us many things that could be done and the amount of time and work that they required

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

Basically two, one of the Directors and they Lead Designer

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

Customers really like the site and it's preety simple to do the purchases, so it's amazing for us.

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

As I said before, we were able to contact them and they were really supportive. They helped us a lot and we were in constant communication

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

Experience in E-Commerce, Development and as I said Trust. They provided us with amazing customer service

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

I believe it was fine because they help us to make our expectations more realistic

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of the company, and we design and manufacture interior design objects such as lamps, home linens, cushions, throws, and more. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Softion?

We had an online store made by a developer here in Spain, and it was completely custom-made for us. Despite that, we faced many limitations in changing some things on our site. After conducting assessments, we sought Softion’s help to fix some of the things that we were working on. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

On a product level, they were responsible for integrating variations in our product. Then, at the design level, we created a new page that we would soon launch after we populate it with content. We also had some accounting issues with the way the platform was displaying invoices to clients so the Softion team worked to repair it. They also enhanced our site’s loading time because it was very painful to navigate through some pages. 

On a specific level, we had a cushion that we sell on the site and that automatically came together with a duck down filling. However, when we surveyed our third-party customers, we reached the conclusion that the value was not cost-effective for them. As a result, Softion allowed our customers to have an option where they didn’t need to have the duck down filling and that decreased the price of our product. 

Our company was also working with a Spanish shipping platform which was an aggregator of different services such as UPS, DHL, and more. Whenever a client would buy two of the same item, the shipping price was surprisingly tripled. It didn’t matter how many items the client bought; there was only a slight difference in their price. That hampered our growth, and we lost many customers because of that. 

To solve that problem, Sotion grouped categories through the information we provided them on the box sizes and other variables that affect the shipping fee. They also analyzed the shipping routes and worked around them to establish standard shipping rates for our customers in Madrid, UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and more. Since most of our products come from artisans, the team suggested that we integrate back-in-stock or preorder icons for our product’s status. That way, our third-party customers could easily choose to buy or wait depending on an item’s status. 

What is the team composition?

I only spoke to Francisco (Co-Founder & CTO) at the beginning of the project. He provided the assessment, budget, and summary of the changes we wanted to make. After that, some people jumped in the engagement including Santiago (Developer). There was also a staff who was in charge of the invoice, and that was essential because we had that tool on our site. 

How did you come to work with Softion?

I told my friend who was very involved in technology about the issues I was having. I mentioned that my previous developers were not responsive at all. We had a virus problem and I couldn’t reach them for three days, and we were not very happy with that.

When I told my friend about the changes we wanted to make, he recommended Softion. When I talked to Softion, they offered a cost-effective solution. Their team also provided many feedback and insights that we considered helpful. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $1,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from January–March 2021.

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

In general, Softion’s work allowed me to see how people navigated on my website. They also helped us understand some of the metrics on Google Analytics. 

After the team was able to integrate the option where customers could opt not to purchase the duck down filling, our sales dramatically increased. It didn’t matter where our external clients were; the team successfully fixed the shipping computation on our site. That gave our customers better and accurate rates. 

Additionally, by having the pre-order status for our products, we were able to improve our cash flow because we didn’t need to constantly finance our operations since we get money from our customers first. The product statuses also helped us understand if our external clients were interested in our new products. 

How did Softion perform from a project management standpoint?

We kept in touch through WhatsApp, and it was also where we discussed our goals at the end of the day. Their process was very fluid, and they were responsive. They clearly explained to us what they were doing and the corresponding timeframes of their deliverables.

Furthermore, they often asked for feedback and we were happy to provide that to the team. Above all, they were able to do things as quickly as possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed that they were able to work on our site despite not having a template as a guide. I understand that it was very difficult for them to push in the way we needed. Overall, the team was confident, and they offered us a reasonable price. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were able to prioritize all our critical requests. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire Softion because they’re a great company to work with. Be clear with your priorities and clearly relay information to them so that they can work better with you. Ask them for a little more and they’ll give you that because they’re nice people.