Sparkfactor

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President & Founding Director of Green 3 Homes

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

As a 501(c)3 Charitable nonprofit, we build green starter homes for those who may have had challenges qualifying for a mortgage previously, and after renting from us for 3 years and utilizing the energy savings, we offer them the home at a discount.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sparkfactor to accomplish?

• Website
• Domain
• Email

SOLUTION

How did you find Sparkfactor?

Online Search

Why did you select Sparkfactor over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• 20+ years of experience

How many teammates from Sparkfactor were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

Designer (partner w/ Wix) was given detailed website draft design that nonprofit Board of Directors requested. George created 6 pages, 2 submission forms, some images, blog, donation link to 3rd-Party processor, and ordered business cards, etc.)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The should have been working in late February. The website was finally finished by the client & 800+ Wix agents, many Tier 3.

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

First, the initial design was nothing like the specific design we had submitted and explained over the phone. George had submitted (transitions, butterflies, photos of specific strangers, etc.) He wrote content without our permission that I had to keep telling him to remove (e.g. changing our green homes to "smart" homes) Nothing could be found easily by a user.

Corrections to remove/delete everything took about 1 wasted month over the phone and video. During the 2nd month, we started fresh. Spoke about once/twice a week. Business cards were not legible. George reordered with 2nd batch being great. Email set-up had to be completed by Apple Store Genius bar...took them 2 hours. Not something "easy" as George had stated.

Simple email bullet list of things to fix were difficult for him. He would just respond, having typed "DONE" after each one, when in fact they were not corrected. He understands much more if it is during a phone call and both parties are looking at the same screen.

In the 3rd month, the website looked ready to go...except for the last 2 errors.

1. Data from our submission forms was being correctly uploaded to WiX, but the data was not displaying correcting in the submission tables (e.g. 12 columns of data submitted, but only 5 columns displaying).
2. The other error he refused to address was that he had designed one of the columns to upload images, instead of pdf/docs.

Both of these issues he refused to acknowledge. So, every day during the last 2 weeks of February, I called or emailed him explaining exactly what these 2 errors were and stating that the website was not working yet. Sent screenshots, specific descriptions, left voicemails. He was adamant that everything was working, complained about how I was wasting his time, sent me additional invoices for his extra "work".

(Late February - Early June) I went above his head and spent the next 4 months contacting WiX myself - 1,000 hours of my time, 850+ WiX agents (many at the Tier 3 level - in order to fix his 2 mistakes. George locked me out of the account twice. Couldn't accept responsibility for anything. Denied there was anything to fix.Still claimed the site was working back in February, etc.

WiX agents couldn't believe how unprofessional he was and they did their best to help get the site working. In early June, Wix and I had finally fixed everything and I asked George @ Sparkfactor to initiate the transfer. Because the nonprofit had to use our credit card number for him to transfer, we immediately closed the account right afterward, so he couldn't retaliate or sabotage the website, as his angry & emails unprofessional had lead us to believe he could be capable of.

He screwed up the 1st transfer, which expired. During the second attempt to transfer, we realized he neglected to apply the Domain Voucher for our nonprofit discount, and entered the wrong date for our Premium Plan renewal, so we were paying annually, but was charged again 6-months later because of his typo. This $300 mistake and the small nonprofit discount for the domain we will never recover, nor the 1,000+ hours of my time I spent correcting his mistakes and doing his job for him.

Today, June 8th, almost 8 months after we originally contacted George @ Sparkfactor, we now have ownership of a working website. Hours ago, the transfer of ownership was successful. Green 3 Homes retained supporting documentation for all of the issues described above. Wix also has records of the 4 months I spent working with them to fix George's errors.

What was your primary form of communication with Sparkfactor?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Nothing

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

As you can imagine, as Founding Director & President of this nonprofit, I can only stress the importance of you not choosing to work with George, the owner of Sparkfactor. Save yourself a world of trouble and time.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on July 6, 2023.

Sparkfactor has been in business for over 25 years, in response to the review - "I can only stress the importance of you not choosing to work with George, the owner of Sparkfactor." - I would say in 25 years, we have never had to fire a client, however, after working with Brenda Azamian, we ended up refusing to work with her after the website was completed. 

We went above and beyond to help her on a low-budget project. We set up emails for her and she could not set up Gmail or the new email that we set up for her and spent hours on the phone with her trying to walk her through it. Her written communication skills were terrible, in regards to the Wix forms, I personally had called and asked her to call me at least 4 times. 

We also had asked her to send an email with written instructions on any changes, but she would only give changes over the phone, which literally took hours. The fact that she mentions that she spent over 1000 hours with Wix is absurd, that would mean that she was on support for over 40 24-hour days. In any case, we tried to make everything right and we only wish Green 3 Homes the best of luck in the future.

George Lowe

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of the Chicago Maritime Arts Center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sparkfactor?

I’m a boater, but I’m not very strong with the technical side or modern techniques for running a business so I brought George on to help with managing that side of our operations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

George handles everything to do with social media or the internet, as some of our more traditional marketing as well. His team has prepared brochures, he provides advertising and various kinds of signage at fundraising events.

He’s also helping us prepare for the annual Chicago boat show in January and managing Eventbrite links for an event with Lagunitas. Anything to do with reaching a greater audience, he has a role in.

What is the team composition?

George has a number of other employees, but my relationship is entirely with him.

How did you come to work with Sparkfactor?

We met through our mutual interest in boating, and he offered to help out with a lot of the challenges that we were having at the time. Our relationship has continued from there.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent a few thousand dollars with him in total, probably in the $3,000–$4,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement around October 2017 and are continuing to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main evidence from the project is that we are growing. We don’t have the kind of sophisticated metrics that we probably ought to have since we’re still getting our legs under us organizationally, but there’s no question that we’re reaching more people. We’re hoping to have 250–300 people at our upcoming fundraiser and I think that’s a big sign of our success.

How did Sparkfactor perform from a project management standpoint?

We are not by any means one of his larger projects, but we have always felt very cared about by their team. I think George is a very efficient guy, and he’s been able to introduce us to some people who have been very helpful as well. I’ve worked closely with him for the better part of two years now interacting on a weekly basis, and he is always able to get things done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think the timeliness of his responses is the most impressive aspect of our relationship. We’re not an important part of his business portfolio, but I never, ever feel like that’s the case. I always have his full attention.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m sure there’s some way they could improve, but I don’t know of anything in particular that I’ve ever thought about before.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think his business is particularly well suited to provide effective support for medium-sized businesses. Other than that, I would only encourage anyone thinking about working with him to give it a try.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a manufacturer and seller of fragrance products. I’ve been the president of the company for the last 15 years. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sparkfactor?

We first engaged Sparkfactor around 10–15 years ago, so I don’t remember the exact need. Over the years, they’ve done a number of different things. We had opened a website for which we needed help. We were new at ecommerce, and we wanted to have an online store. We also have an internal phone system they monitor for us. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The website was already functional when our engagement began, and Sparkfactor has been taking care of the maintenance. They’ve done various upgrades to our site, including a mobile accessibility update. They also help us collect transactional data on the site and have grown into assisting us with some marketing as well. They do some graphic updates and post weekly specials for us.

Sparkfactor also provides our email marketing, sending out e-blasts 4 times a month. We create the content, and they do the programming, development, and the creative work for it. We give them the promotion and copy materials, and they create it visually. They also handle our Google Analytics.

How did you come to work with Sparkfactor?

One of the partners at Sparkfactor was also our accountant. We had previously worked with a different agency, but we were dissatisfied with their service. We were looking for someone who knew more than we did about our own systems.

How much have you invested with Sparkfactor?

We probably spend between $30,000 and $40,000 a year with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began around 2004, and the relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

We do not aggressively grow our online business because we sell to people who have websites. Sparkfactor has been instrumental in helping us continue to grow our business without interfering with those customers. Our online sales have continued to grow quarterly. It’s not our main market, as we deal mostly in mass merchandising. However, in the time that we’ve been with Sparkfactor, we have increased our online sales quite a bit.

We have access to information about our open rates and conversions for the email marketing, and we meet quarterly to review that. We’re satisfied with the numbers we’re seeing in this area. We’re completely satisfied with what Sparkfactor is doing and the level of achievement. Before we had Sparkfactor, we weren’t getting enough from our vendor. When we got Sparkfactor, however, we were satisfied with the level of service and cooperation.

How did Sparkfactor perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well. We are satisfied with the level of their production for us. They have met every expectation that we had. Last year, we were more ahead of the ballgame. About 6 months in advance, we started planning the e-blasts and everything. This year, we’re working more month-to-month. Generally, that’s on my end. Sparkfactor produces their work in a timely manner, and they’ve hit all the deadlines. We haven’t had any issues. We use email and phone calls to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about Sparkfactor?

They provide us with excellent service, and we’re happy month-to-month. We don’t have many things to compare to otherwise.

They do offer us services that we decline from time to time. They’re more full-service than our total requirements. It’s not that we don’t like what they’re offering us; it’s that we don’t find a need for various services they provide. They are proactive and are constantly telling us about projects they’re accomplishing for customers. We’re satisfied, and we’re not looking around. We’ve got our nose to the grindstone, and they’re doing what we want them to do.

Are there any areas Sparkfactor could improve?

There’s a comfort level with the success we’ve been receiving, so a lot of the creative work tends to fall into a similar pattern. If you’re doing something well, you don’t necessarily want to shy away from it too far. However, I think sometimes we do struggle a bit with getting outside of that creative box and finding new content and ideas. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a biotechnology company that makes healing contact lenses for ocular surface conditions and disease as well as a lid cleanser product for lid hygiene and lid margin diseases. I'm the marketing and communications director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sparkfactor?

We brought HubSpot into our marketing communications initiatives, and we were inexperienced in operating the backend and wanted to make sure that we were using it appropriately. We brought Sparkfactor on board to help us with developing and utilizing the various tools, including blogging and emailing capabilities. They have also helped us with a number of things in terms of our communications and educational efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The primary goal in engaging Sparkfactor was for them to help us implement the backend of HubSpot.

How did you come to work with Sparkfactor?

We had a personal relationship with Sparkfactor's CEO, George Lowe, because several people from our team had worked with him at previous companies.

How much have you invested with Sparkfactor?

We have a retainer for management through the year [2016] at $3,000 a month. During the course of our relationship, we've spent $50,000 to $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Sparkfactor for two years, and we have an ongoing working relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Some of our goals were to increase organic search, number of page views, and number of social media hits, and all of those are growing steadily.

How did Sparkfactor perform from a project management standpoint?

They complete their assignments on time and on budget.

What did you find most impressive about Sparkfactor?

We had trust in them because of working with them on other projects previously.

Are there any areas Sparkfactor could improve?

Something positive is that they are always looking for ways to help us with other projects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a nonprofit organization that does community development. We work with business owners and are membership-based. We organize several events throughout the year. I am the marketing and events manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sparkfactor?

We had a website that was not fulfilling our needs, so we needed a new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The website was done in HTML. They met with us several times to see what our goals were, who the audience was, and what the needs of the website were. Because we're member-based and work with business owners, we also needed a very strong component for our members. We had a contract with a CRM [customer relationship management] software company, and they needed to get the ChamberMaster into our website. They were able to do everything seamlessly. We are very happy. They did both the front-end and the backend.

How did you come to work with Sparkfactor?

We had an RFP [request for proposal] out, and theirs was the most competitive. We had worked with them in the past for branding for a commercial corridor. The person who was working on that project was very happy with the content and the results.

How much have you invested with Sparkfactor?

The project was $10,000 to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in February 2016 and ended in October 2016. Anytime I have questions about updating the website or SEO [search engine optimization], I email my contact, and she responds promptly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I don't have any metrics since it's been less than a month since we launched it. We had an event to unveil the site and the ChamberMaster for our members. Many of them are very happy about how easy it is to enter information and how great it looks. So far, we have had really good feedback.

How did Sparkfactor perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. My contact kept me on track. We met several times, and she was always available for questions and concerns. It took longer than we thought it would because we didn't realize how content heavy our website was.

What did you find most impressive about Sparkfactor?

They had experience working with ChamberMaster, so that was a plus. We had visited other sites they created, and we liked many of them. We had also made phone calls to other people who used them to see how easy they were to work with. All of those things came together to make them a great choice.

Are there any areas Sparkfactor could improve?

I don't have anything to compare it to. They did the best they could with the help we had.