Solo Media Group

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO at PerioSciences, a manufacturer and distributor of premium oral care products.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group, and what were your goals?

We had multiple disparate commerce tech platforms and hired Solo Media Group to build out a single direct-to-consumer (D2C) instance with a focus on UX/UI and a straightforward path to conversion.

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

We found the team at SMG on Upwork. After an interview it was clear that Johnathan and his team were more than capable, excellent communicators, and fairly priced. We stopped searching for dev partners when we met Johnathan.

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

SMG was present with through all phases of wireframing, design, programming, implementation, QA and launch of the new site. They helped with data migration from woo and wordpress to shopify and are currently handling the day-to-day management of our site.

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

We have had consistent contact with one primary account lead and a project manager as well as several developers behind the scenes.

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

The primary win for our brand was ease of access to our data. This in addition to an increase in conversion rate and increased site speed.

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

Very accommodating communication style. Open to joining slack and extremely communicative.

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

They work really fast and are really responsive. Sort of unprecedented in their space.

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

There are always little things that slip through the cracks but nothing that would impact this sterling review of SMG.

Please describe your company and your position there.

AMZ Pathfinder is an Amazon Advertising Management Agency serving ecommerce brands in over 7+ marketplaces all around the world. I'm the CMO.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group, and what were your goals?

Our website had some site speed issues that needed to get fixed so we partnered with Solo Media Group for site speed optimization. We wanted to see how close to 100% mobile and desktop friendly our website can be in terms of load speed.

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

We heard about Solo Media Group from another partnered company as well as meeting the founder who impressed us with their solutions and experience. We have worked with other site optimizers in the past but with the recommendation and personal interactions, we decided to try Solo Media Group's Site Optimization Services.

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

Steps and communication was very smooth. Easy setup and we only needed to provided a few account access requests to get the ball rolling. It was mostly a 'give access and step back to let the professionals do the work' kind of service. Communication was solid throughout. We had a bit of a hiccup on the server side but Thank Johnathan and Antonio for the quick turn around and help.

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

We had two people helping us out: Johnathan and Antonio.

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

The most impactful result we received from the team is our mobile site speed. It went from 47/100 to 99/100!! Really impressive work. Other notable improves is the overall gains of speed and site optimization. From 3 separate web speed test sites, there has been improvements across the board.

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

They were very communicative, especially being from different parts of the world, they managed to get back to me in less than 12 hours. We used a client portal for communication. They provided images, videos, and text to explain the service. What went well, what they were currently working on, and a final report that sums up the results.

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

They were very straight forward with the work. No fluff which is awesome. They are professionals and they truly demonstrated expert knowledge in working with a website like ours.

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

Nope! Very friendly, professional, and performance driven service. Can't recommend enough.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Boat-Load-Mate is a product that is used by boaters to make life easy when launching or loading. Our automatic boat latching system is truly a game changer for anyone who trailers their boat. I am a co-owner of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group, and what were your goals?

We hired Solo Media to design and build our Shopify store. We relied on them heavily to come up with our visual layout. Our goal was to have our website live in a timely matter, which we accomplished.

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

We reached out to ecommerce people within our network. Solo Media was recommended by a trusted friend. We decided to move forward with Solo Media because of this referral.

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

The scope of work was purely to design and build out our Shopify store from scratch. We first worked with their design team to pin down a layout that we liked. Once that was complete the project moved into development. After the code was built out we were handed over the store. They followed up with a thorough walk through and explained how to navigate the website.

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

We worked with John to come to an agreement on the scope of work, then we worked with their design team, then the development team. John was accessible throughout the entire process.

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

We didn't have a website when we started. Now we have a fully functioning store that has converted traffic into sales.

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

We were able to book time to meet via Calandly when ever we needed to speak. Everybody was responsive to emails. We were provided detailed videos when the store was handed over to us. The entire team was very accessible and easy to work with.

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

They gave us a very professional website and walked us through how to navigate it. Our team did not have much experience with website buildouts. Their team took the time to walk us through the process and provided a detailed webinar of how to use the tools.

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

Overall we have no complaints. We recommend they perhaps nail down the scope of work a bit more thoroughly.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of a retail toy store pushing to go omnichannel.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group, and what were your goals?

To facilitate online ordering for pick up in store or curbside, we hired Solo Media Group to build a modal that would let customers know which locations have which product in stock.

How did you select Solo Media Group and what were the deciding factors?

Value. We chose Solo Media Group because they were able to present a clear solution for the challenge that was creating a positive customer experience for customers wanting to know which locations have their desired products in stock.

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

We gave Solo Media Group the documentation to the service serving the inventory information as well as access to our Shopify site. We discussed the solution to make sure we agreed about what would meet our goals. Solo Media Group then created a modal and created an easy way for us to update parameters as needed.

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

1: Founder

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

We discovered, initially, that customers were regularly shopping without using the modal but we attributed that to OUR poor choice in wording on the product pages. After our fix, the modal has contributed significantly to the in-store pickup process and has reduced the frequency of customers having the wrong expectations.

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

We tried to keep the communication in writing via Upwork.com but they still let us talk by phone to facilitate discussing certain details about the project.

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

We appreciate their understanding in our point of view. We tried to return the favor and to be easy to work with as clients by stating our goals up front but Solo Media Group was understanding of a few additional needs that we didn't anticipate.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.

Please describe your company and your position there.

i am the Executive Director of a synagogue and a day-school.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

Our website went down and disabled due to memory, spam, and security reasons.

What were your goals for this project?

We had to make sure the website is operable and functional very quickly because it was at the same time school started and our parents couldn't access our information.

How did you select Solo Media Group?

We looked for website design and repair companies in Miami that could do the job asap; Solo Media had great reviews, accommodated our timeline, and it was a pleasure talking to them and going thru the process with them.

Describe the project in detail.

We had several meetings to discuss our problems, timeline, etc. The representative acknowledge our needs and went to work.

What was the team composition?

I dealt with Jonathan who was very professional, knowledgeable and reliable.

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

Our website was back on after one day with a better server, better performance, more memory, and easier access for our parents. We were thrilled that they were able to fix our problem so quickly because a business with no website, is not in existence...especially because the sensitive timing that it went down (in the beginning of the school year).

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Jonathan was so professional and knowledgeable; It was absolute pleasure to work with him; Trustworthy and reliable.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

THe accommodations made to work with our deadlines; the recommendations made to ensure a similar problem will not repeat itself; the accessibility of the team throughout the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied by the services we received.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing operations manager a company that provides tax filing services for American's living abroad.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group, and what were your goals?

We hired Solo Media Group to overhaul our website. It was very dated and built on old framework, leading the website to be slow and clunky and we wanted Solo Media Group to essentially rebuild our entire site.

How did you select Solo Media Group and what were the deciding factors?

We were recommended them by our SEO consultant and loved Johnathan's communication. That really helped because he breaks down what's needed in a way that's totally understandable (not just developer speak).

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

The website overhaul was rebuilding our wordpress website on a new framework to bring up the speed of the website, incorporate new designs, and make the backend easier to make adjustments on.

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

We mainly worked with Johnathan who has a team of developers he manages.

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

Johnathan and his team did an amazing job and exceeded our expectations! We are thrilled about our new website, and have seen 90% increase in site-speed as a result.

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

Communication tools - email, SMG's support portal. They worked inside of our communication tool, Podio for a majority of the project. We also used Bugherd to identify any bugs on the website during launch.

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

Johnathan did an amazing job at communicating with us. We had a few snafu's with the project manager and Johnathan took back over and delivered on-time.

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

Nope- we love the SMG team. They are super quick at fixing bugs and implementing any changes that we ask them for.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the IT Director. We are a manufacturer of hair, skin and body products made specifically for tweens.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

We hired Solo Media Group because we need an experienced and efficient developer group to help us migrate from a WooCommerce e-comm site platform to Shopify.

What were your goals for this project?

Our primary goal of this project was to have Solo develop a stable and integrated e-comm website on the Shopify platform that was mobile responsive and support complex coupon promotional elements and an integrated rewards program.

How did you select this vendor?

We posted this job on UpWork and Solo Media responded to the job posting. We vetted over 20 companies for this job and Solo was who we decided to go with because they had amazing reviews from previous customers and had vast experience in the development and platform that we were needing for this specific project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We hired Solo Media Group to help us migrate our existing site from a WooCommerce e-comm engine framework to Shopify. They initially recreated a mirror of our existing website that was on Woo on Shopify and the help us by developing multiple custom functions on the Shopify framework to support or site and system needs to promotions and our rewards program. Then we decided to redesign our website before launching it on Shopify and Solo coded in an entirely new website front-end for our final launch.

What was the team composition?

Our main point of contact was with John at Solo but there were multiple resources involved on their end but I was not directly in contact with them through the project.

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

The overall impact that this project will have on our business will be shown more over time but the biggest obvious impact is this project resulted in a more stable website and online shopping experience for our customers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was seamless and effective. John managed his team of resources perfectly and it was easy for me to add tasks and feedback to the project through the development process. We used Google Hangout calls to discuss progress and share our screens. Also John used and would share tasks lists via Google Docs to make it easy for me to see what was being worked on and what was completed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The communication and ability to be flexible with ongoing project changes and shifts was what I found most impressive with Solo Media and John and his team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No areas of improvement that I could think of from my end.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own a small online retail business where we private label our own health & wellness products for sale on Amazon. We wanted our own website for our new brand and went to SMG to get set up.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

I did know the first thing about web dev, design, infrastructure, nor what tools or apps I needed.

What were your goals for this project?

I needed someone who was well versed in constructing a platform based on my needs and preferences.

How did you select this vendor?

A good friend referred me over and spoke highly of John. After one phone call he was the winner against the 4 others that I vetted.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They created a wordpress site, connecting it to Shopify and designed the shopify site. I provided images and listings to borrow content from in order to design the website that would be ready to convert traffic.

John used the images, content, and pricing to make a clean website that was viable to generate sales. John connected apps in order to fulfill orders through Amazon's fulfillment where we store our inventory, and fine-tuned preferences like free shipping on all orders.

What was the team composition?

John and 2 others were on the project while I interacted with John the most.

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

The turnaround time was very fast, and his response time was as well. I felt like I was taken seriously, and that the project was a priority. Everything was done timely with professionalism, and came along with consultative recommendations which is what I love.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Slack and Email for communication, we used a shared google doc for content storage and milestones/project timelines

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They provide incredible insight into how a site should be constructed and why. There were very helpful tips along the way and incredible communication which is important on a timeline

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at all, this was incredible!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a regenerative medicine company that distributes stem cell recruitment products throughout the country. This includes products from placental tissue and other regenerative products that cover medical specialties like wound care, orthopedics, podiatry, dental, cosmetic, and pain management. I am the CEO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Solo Media Group?

We wanted to create an online ordering platform that allowed our customers to easily access our products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built and customized our online ordering platform in WordPress and WooCommerce. The platform required a lot of customizations for our complex invoicing process. They integrated a lot of that with our accounting and sales rep commission software. The backend allows us to provide certain customers with unique features, and the whole project encompassed a lot of elements.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Solo Media Group?

Our marketing lead referred them to us. He felt they'd be a great fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in August 2019 and was completed in mid-October. We added a few additional features after that.

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

We already had a large customer base, and we had to onboard those existing customers onto the new portal right after we built it. It was a complex process, and they did very well. They provided great quality work, and we already have another project in mind for them. We'll start production on that soon. The platform is an absolute game-changer for us, and we're much more efficient and streamlined than before. It eliminates a lot of human error, and our customers are very happy.

How did Solo Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Our main contact replied to all our inquiries. There were some bugs and other issues initially, but they communicated well through text, email, or phone. We also uploaded any bugs or fixes to our shared Google Drive. They were always available, which made the process much less stressful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The fact that they're a smaller company really helps. They're much better than any larger firm I've worked with. They made sure that all the functionality was air-tight.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have provided more realistic expectations. Some things ran longer than we expected, and some of the features had a few bugs to work out. Knowing that upfront would have been helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a line of communication set up with them and be sure to clarify all the expectations at the beginning.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a luxury women's wear fashion brand. I am the President & founder.

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group ?

Website design and development.

What were your goals for this project?

To improve our website.

How did you select this vendor?

Referral.

Describe the project in detail.

Updating our website located at www.layo-g.com

What was the team composition?

2 of us.

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

I loved all the work they did for us. They understood what we wanted and delivered it!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They knew exactly what I wanted and implemented it exactly how I needed it. Loved working with them. They understood our company and executed upon what we needed very well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None, they exceeded my expectations. They went above and beyond and helped me fix all our issues on our website.