Subtext

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I co-founded The Renewal Workshop. We refurbish damaged clothes and returned items, providing solutions to apparel and textile companies to help them become circular businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subtext?

We hired Subtext to replace our e-commerce platform with Shopify. The marketplace needed to handle unique items—rather than traditional retailing—per our business model.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our team provided the content and Subtext led the development process.

What is the team composition?

About 5 – dedicated pm and dev, as well as a designer that we interacted with a lot

How did you come to work with Subtext?

One of our in-house project managers referred Subtext. The team’s problem-solving skills, insight, and general demeanor impressed us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 and the partnership ended in June 2018. Subtext is now on a retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were incredibly impactful. Subtext aligned with our values and created a great partnership experience. The site received positive internal feedback, especially from a marketing and conversions perspective.

How did Subtext perform from a project management standpoint?

Subtext provided timely notifications when anything went off the timeline. Another vendor involved in the project did not deliver, but this team was flexible and patient throughout the engagement. We used Teamwork and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated that Subtext was a B Corps company. They were value-based and put a high priority on service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’ve been a good partner for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The teams should spend time at the beginning of the project to get to know one another.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of marketing for CutureIQ. We help organizations align their culture with their business goals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subtext?

At the time of the engagement, our company was going through a merger. A private equity firm purchased CultureIQ and a portion of a third-party consulting practice and combined them, which required a change to our value proposition and the story we were trying to tell. One part of the business had several high-end clients, while the other worked with smaller startup companies. We needed to revamp our online presence so that we could still appeal to both audiences. We engaged Subtext to help us coordinate a full redesign of our website so that we could present our content in the best way and continue driving leads.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Subtext helped us determine the best strategy for the website—a process that included a review of our competitors and discussions about our offerings. Our teams took a collaborative approach to the design. We each presented wireframes and worked to combine the best ideas of each. Subtext then developed a WordPress website that is easy for our staff to maintain and manage.

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with Neil (Senior Strategist, Subtext) and Jeremy (Project Manager, Subtext), though there were other designers and specialists when necessary.

How did you come to work with Subtext?

Subtext was already doing a small amount of maintenance work for us on the previous website. They provided excellent customer service, so we decided to expand our partnership with them.

How much have you invested with them?

I budgeted about $100,000 for the project, but I’m unsure if we spent all of that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2018–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our CEO is incredibly reserved, but he expressed emotion like I had never seen before once he saw our redesigned website. We’re very proud of the site and how it allows people to engage with our content, and so far, our engagement numbers are much improved. Before the relaunch, we had about 3% of visitors completing some sort of goal on the site, but that’s now up to 11%. In the past, our website was also not mobile-friendly, but our new model has helped boost our mobile traffic 160%.

How did Subtext perform from a project management standpoint?

Subtext is the only developer I’ve worked with that has delivered a website on time. We easily managed to hit our goal for this project. We had no technical issues to speak of, and we used Teamwork to manage the project. Everything was seamless.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I acknowledged that Subtext knows how to build a website better than I do, and I rarely want a developer to agree with me on every point. In that regard, I appreciated Subtext’s willingness to challenge us during the development process and help us refine our thinking.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our company was in a bit of a transition, so this may have been difficult in this instance, but I generally like for companies to get to know the business a bit more before they present wireframes.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As with any development partner, it’s best to be clear about what you’re trying to achieve and how you’ll measure success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior manager of marketing for a nonprofit organization. We promote programs and services that improve energy efficiency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subtext?

We engaged Subtext to build an online assessment tool for several of our energy efficiency programs. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Subtext first built an online tool for our strategic energy management program. It allows utility program implementors to assess industrial and commercial facilities through questions. Their answers inform a logic flow that guides users down specific paths. The tool will then generate an evaluation of how well the facility manages energy use. It creates visualizations, reports, and custom recommendations to help users understand how efficient their current approach is and where they can improve going forward.

The Subtext team also built a WordPress website for us. They utilized Craft to develop other sites of ours, and they demonstrated expertise in AWS and Bitbucket among other developer tools. Their team strategically evaluated our existing websites and proposed designs to improve them, working alongside their original developers in some cases. They also rebuilt one site for our commercial lighting program

Subtext won an additional RFP for our IT department to help out our developers and hosting partners. They’ve recommended ways to improve stability, security operations, and management across the board. They excel at blending design and development while demonstrating best practices for a website’s front- and backend.

What is the team composition?

I work mainly with Katie (Senior Project Manager, Subtext) who is my day-to-day account manager and my primary point of contact. She handles most project management. Amanda (Director of Technology) serves as the lead developer and our go-to-person for in-depth technical expertise. I’ve also worked with their digital strategist.

How did you come to work with Subtext?

I learned about Subtext when they responded to our RFQ.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2017, and it is an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Subtext delivered a reliable and functional assessment tool that satisfied every stakeholder. I use it as a highlight of our work to people within and outside our organization. Subtext offers an exceptionally responsive team. Any downtime the project experienced came from our side

How did Subtext perform from a project management standpoint?

I enjoy Katie’s project management style. The team balances between being flexible and accommodating while keeping work on track and highlighting a request that falls outside our scope or budget. We coordinate using Teamwork to keep track of progress and manage our communications between multiple team members. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We value their well-rounded skill set. Subtext offers expertise in design, front- and backend development, and a variety of technical fields. Their team is fun to work with and located close to our offices, which we find helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some miscommunication early around our requests and our business model. However, our side was mostly responsible for this, and we have since addressed these issues. Subtext is now proactive about clarifying tasks before starting work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As a small shop, Subtext is nimble, responsive, and keeps costs reasonable. However, around holidays, their resources are more limited, which is something to keep in mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We run a device operations management software platform. I’m the senior content strategist and am responsible for maintaining and managing our marketing website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subtext?

We were acquired by a large telecommunications company. Our existing site was unmanageable and unwieldy, and we needed to start over from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a new WordPress site for us. After we discussed our challenges and our needs, they took the lead on wireframes and development. Our resources section was very important to us, so they paid special attention to that and to other sections. Since we work with various industries, they created landing pages that speak to each target audience.

What is the team composition?

We worked most consistently with a project manager, but also collaborated with a wireframing specialist and a developer.

How did you come to work with Subtext?

Our former marketing director worked with another client company of theirs. That company recommended them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Some awesome things have happened since the site went live. Our president gave a keynote address at the CES tradeshow in Las Vegas in January 2019. The website gave potential clients a wonderful place to go and view our offerings. It’s very professional and legitimate looking, and we were able to build leads from it as a result.

How did Subtext perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager was awesome throughout the project. She’s the most organized project manager I’ve ever worked with. We used a couple of project management tools and a milestone tool to keep track of our progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their organization is top-notch. There were a lot of people involved, but they all knew what we wanted. They asked good questions and never made assumptions. We had a lot of turnover during the summer we worked together, but they never lost patience with us and always did their due diligence whenever we caused a delay.

Are there any areas they could improve?

None of my team could think of any areas of improvement for them. If all of our vendors were like Subtext, all of our problems would disappear.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I give them my highest endorsements. I’ve worked with several web agencies, but none of them follow through with their promises the way Subtext does.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Gerber Gear is the category leader in personal knives, multi-tools, and equipment. We service all channels of trade. Mass retailers like Amazon and Walmart offer our products. We also sell to direct with the government and supporting retailers like Cabela’s, as well as independent specialty retailers. We’re a global brand and a leader in the space.

I am the director of marketing communications and I oversee all aspects of the brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subtext Digital?

Gerber didn’t have any email marketing activity when I came to this company. Our first interaction with Subtext Digital was related to CRM development and email marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we needed them to help us formalize and create segmented databases inside of our new CRM platform, Salesforce. Subtext Digital guided overall strategy, built email marketing templates, and helped orchestrate campaigns related to business objectives like dealer signups and consumer engagements. They created a half dozen landing pages that were AB tested for user experience and optimized for our site. That was a successful campaign that we followed up with large development projects. They’ve led user experience and site development projects, from header navigation to site mapping, to landing pages and category campaign pages. They helped us introduce a marquis product 2 years ago called the Gator Premium, which was a new premium knife that had a targeted audience. They led the development of the landing page, the email marketing campaign, and guided some of the communication aspects through social media.

How did you come to work with Subtext Digital?

We had an RFP out for landing pages and had responses from a couple of different agencies. Subtext delivered the best comprehensive story from a user experience perspective, which we view as a high priority in website development. There’s a lot of people that can create a website in HTML. However, having a strong sense of user experience—understanding how the consumer engages with the brand through all touchpoints—is something that gets lost. Subtext can not only tell a great story about the importance of UX, but they also deliver on their promise.

How much have you invested with Subtext Digital?

Our total engagement for the entire relationship has been $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in early 2013 and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw a very substantial conversion rate in our holiday campaign a year ago. That was probably the project that had the biggest single ROI. They quoted us at 90% to 95% increase in sales on the direct commerce site for the holiday season. Because we had no email marketing sales before this initiative, we doubled our holiday period sales in 2015.

How did Subtext Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is a strength for them. They’ve had some transition over the years where we had a few different project managers. However, they seemed to maintain the same level of professionalism. They use Basecamp to manage the projects and are highly responsive.

What did you find most impressive about Subtext Digital?

A lot of agency partners are quick to submit input on the overall brand campaign and messaging strategy. That input is usually invited but oftentimes creates a few too many heads working on one of many problems. Subtext is really disciplined at knowing what they need to own and execute really well, which has been user experience and website development. I would commend them on their ability to maintain focus and execute on their area of responsibility.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Subtext Digital?

I would suggest that while they’re exceptional at user experience, email marketing, and CRM development, actual brand campaign creation is probably not a strength. Not that they’re not capable or good at it. For us, we’ve been more successful when we let them work in their space and not engage them too much too soon with the overall campaign planning.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the corporate communications manager of Clark Public Utilities. It is a public electric utility with 195,000 meters for Clark County in southwest Washington. We also provide water to a portion of our customers who are in unincorporated areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subtext Digital?

Our public website had not been updated in over a decade, so we needed to rebuild it. We were looking for technical expertise and support as well as content strategy and strategic planning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a limited scope where Subtext Digital audited our website. It had 600 pages of content. They looked at it from a cultural communications standpoint as well as the functionality. Then, they provided design comps and proposed content organization for the entire site. Subtext Digital rebuilt the website in WordPress. While they didn’t produce most of the copy on the website, they connected us with 2 copywriters that helped execute content based on Subtext Digital’s brand plan for the website. Subtext also helped streamline the process of communication. They collaborated with our internal IS department and some of our other contractors that work on our work management system internally. They are now working on our intranet project.

How did you come to work with Subtext Digital?

Subtext came highly recommended by a lot of my colleagues in the field. When I met with them in person, I found out that we had worked together in previous positions I had held. That inspired a level of confidence because I understood their expertise and credibility, having seen it firsthand. We liked the flexibility with which they approached the project.

How much have you invested with Subtext Digital?

We’ve spent between $200,000 to $300,000 over the course of our relationship with Subtext Digital.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in the spring of 2014 and launched the website in April 2015. We continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They scoped smaller pieces of the project and were a very nimble team, which allowed us to accomplish a lot with our budget. We get great feedback from our customers. They say that it’s aesthetically pleasing and very user-friendly. The content is based on user stories, which is more engaging than the previous site. Subtext Digital had proposed and implemented tools that didn’t exist before. Now, our customers are able to report outages online and view an outage map with more detailed information.

How did Subtext Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve met my high expectations by being responsive, patient, and willing to help on every level. We used Basecamp in the beginning but are now using a platform called Teamwork, which works very well. They recommended the employees who needed to be involved in the project so information can be shared freely among each other.  We also have weekly calls.

What did you find most impressive about Subtext Digital?

One of the things I was most impressed with Subtext Digital was that they took the time to understand our brand. In the tech space, sometimes there’s a push to look a certain way. But as a utility company, our customers need us to be steady and credible. Subtext Digital’s goal is to create a product that works the best for the client and the client’s customers and I feel like that’s exactly what we received.

Whenever you work with a new agency, it’s important to have the right people on the right team. I feel like we’re in a good place now. Subtext Digital was very sensitive to use the right people to move the project forward efficiently. I don’t feel like this is something they can improve now, but I think they’re always looking for ways to make the relationship more efficient.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup sustainable seafood company, selling retail and online products. I was the director of marketing and communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subtext Digital?

Our business challenge was that we had a product that could be seen as a commodity—seafood—combined with customers who are not very educated about seafood at all. We had just created a new website with another agency based on an e-commerce platform. We loved the great creative strategy that they put into the website. But after it was built, we discovered that there were some functional elements that weren’t going to work for us in the long run. We needed help with optimizing the new website for brand and content. We wanted to improve our e-commerce and how we were telling our brand story. We wanted to present our brand to the world without making it so selling-heavy. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Subtext Digital helped us go through the site and understand where we needed to make some updates or changes. They did a thorough audit and gave us recommendations for how we could make it work better and be searchable while having a good place to put content. It was definitely a site optimization but it was even more than that—it made the website a lot more powerful.

After this initial engagement, we had a couple of projects with Subtext Digital. They set up our email marketing program, which didn’t really exist prior to their efforts. They helped us create a template for a monthly e-newsletter and set up an email welcome series for us. Whenever a customer orders on our website, they got a series of follow-up emails encouraging them to engage with our content or purchase again.

After that, they helped us with the “Fear no Fish” campaign. For this project, the Subtext team was engaged with us on a strategic and creative level. We developed a consumer engagement campaign about how to make good choices when purchasing seafood. Subtext Digital brainstormed with us to help develop the campaign strategy. Then, they built everything for us. It was a pretty fun project that we’re all pretty proud of.

Subtext Digital also helped us with our content strategy, which was another program that we didn’t have. They participated in a workshop with me to help brainstorm content and help develop the strategy out of that. After we built the strategy, they helped us execute certain components of that strategy. If we needed to get something built or needed to tweak our email program, then they helped us with all of that.                                              

How did you come to work with Subtext Digital?

I had worked with Subtext in my previous job so I knew the quality of their work firsthand. I made sure they were part of the field that we were looking at. I think we interviewed 3 or 4 agencies. I conducted the search together with one of our founders. When Subtext came in, they talked about their approach. They wanted to lead with empathy and really understand the consumer experience. From my past experience, that’s something that I knew to be true about them. Their presentation resonated with my co-founder. We ended up selecting them and have worked with them ever since.

How much have you invested with Subtext Digital?

We paid $50,000 to $100,000 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2015. We have an ongoing contract where they help us with website maintenance and updates.  

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 a before and after with them because they’ve been with me since the very beginning. The number of complaints that we don’t get regarding our website and our digital content is remarkable. Subtext Digital helped us set up a strong framework for everything, and everything works.

We have a newsletter that has evolved over the year and a half we’ve been working together. They’ve helped us understand what works, what doesn’t, and how we can do it better. Our click-through and engagement rates on our email newsletter have improved. The welcome email series that they set up helps drive sales and clicks back to our website. Everything they’ve done has performed well, but I can’t say they’ve performed better than what we had before because there wasn’t anything.

When we started working together, we gave them very clear metrics that we wanted to hit by the end of the year. Those goals were primarily related to our e-commerce. After about 4 or 5 months into the partnership, our company strategy shifted away from e-commerce. Subtext was very flexible and adaptable since we were a startup company. Subtext Digital was definitely got hired to do one thing and then it turned into a completely different thing. They adjusted the strategy. They were great.

How did Subtext Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They have an awesome project manager named Katie. She works with us most of the time. They use project management tools, which is a lifesaver. I really respect their project management and the tools that they use to do it successfully. Project management is an area where I think they excel.

What did you find most impressive about Subtext Digital?

It seems like digital agencies are either really good developers or really good designers. I haven't found an agency that excels in both areas. Subtext is extremely strong on the developing side, which is actually where I want their strength to be because I’ve got in-house designers and a style guide. They build things that work and are well thought through. I don’t have to worry about things breaking. They’re always willing to help whenever we need them. The Subtext team is very good at taking a crazy idea and turning it into something that makes sense to both the developer and the end user."

Are there any areas Subtext Digital could improve?

They’ve gone through a few different designers in the time that I’ve worked with them. I don’t know that they’ve found their sweet spot on the design side, but I was happy with their work in that respect.