TouchZen Media

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an innovation strategist and I’m part of the Innovation Studio team at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

What challenge were you trying to address with TouchZen Media?

We were trying to build a mobile app that our patients’ families could use to connect with social services. Our goal was to provide a platform that is slightly improved from what our competitors offer, so we turned to TouchZen Media.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start of the engagement, we had already designed a paper model for the mobile app. We handed this over to TouchZen Media who then engineered it into existence. We collaborated on the creative process. Their team built out the wireframes from the comprehensive outline that we had. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with around four people from TouchZen Media. On a daily basis, our go-to person was Cyrus (Founder). He brought other people in as needed. 

How did you come to work with TouchZen Media?

They were onboarded before I got involved in the project. I picked up after the previous person when they were at the 95-yard line. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started late in 2019 and ended last February 2021.

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

Unfortunately, we haven’t yet launched the app. Upon discovering that we needed to do some adjustments and reframing, TouchZen Media informed us that this would entail an expansion of the scope or a new contract. We decided to take over the code ourselves with our internal development team.

The app that was handed over to us, however, was built exactly the way we wanted. The quality of their code was great and everything functioned internally. TouchZen Media did a great job of bringing our vision to life. They helped us with the handoff process and offered to troubleshoot any errors or bugs during that period. 

How did TouchZen Media perform from a project management standpoint?

In the time I interacted with the team, they were very communicative and constantly available. It surprised me how quickly they would respond to my emails. They were also good at projecting timelines and giving rough estimations of how long things would take. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I appreciated about TouchZen Media was how they communicated. They were very generous with their patience especially when things got caught up on our side. Things tend to move very slowly in a large healthcare organization like ours, but they were very gracious through it all. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there was nothing specifically unprofessional that I noticed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define your goals and state them very clearly. Be involved with the team especially during the iterative process to make sure your product meets your conceptual goals. Make sure that everything is lined up on your side as well because the team moves very quickly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of Differenz System. We are a mobile application development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with TouchZen Media?

We’re based in India and our biggest challenge is communicating with our clients in the US. We’re not experts in design, so we teamed up with TouchZen Media to help us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re experts in design and project management, so they do design work for us and also speak to the clients on our behalf. They provide design for both apps and websites. 

In the last project, they provided mobile app design and project management, and we took care of development. They spoke with the client and passed on the requirements to us. They handled the design on Figma and we do the development for both iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

I work with the founder.

How did you come to work with TouchZen Media?

I was searching for a partner and I found them through one of the portals.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $18,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020 and we’re now almost done with the work.

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

They’re very good. The overall project has turned out great and the client is very happy. We’re looking forward to working on a lot more projects with TouchZen Media.

How did TouchZen Media perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication has been very clear between our teams. The founder is very particular about everything and he’s helped us with the small details, like where to put labels. With their designs, they are clear and are detailed in their requirements from the client. They provide a very professional service.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re perfect — all of our communication is 100% clear. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there is anything for them to improve right now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend working with them — they’re very professional.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a holistic doctor and I have an app, a published book, online programs, and offer services. It’s my secondary business, as I’m also a rancher. 

What challenge were you trying to address with TouchZen Media?

They helped me build my wellness app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I gave them the information that I wanted on the app and TouchZen Media put it together for me, including the design and development. I wanted the app to be developed in the form of a challenge for people who want to detox. It has six wellness guides and 21 days of recipes.

I provided him with the pictures and recipes, and he placed everything within the platform. Cyrus (Founder) makes updates to it, and the mobile app is available in the App Store and iTunes. 

What is the team composition?

Cyrus is the only person I worked with directly. 

How did you come to work with TouchZen Media?

I’m really into the raw, vegan lifestyle and love apps, so I happened to review someone else’s app and it made me think that I’d really love to have one for wellness. I’d just published my book, so I was going in this lifestyle direction, too. At the bottom of that person's page, I saw TouchZen Media, got in touch with Cyrus, told him my idea, and he was happy to do it.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was close to $10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–October 2018. 

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

He did a phenomenal job. I’d recommend TouchZen Media to anyone — they’re amazing. I love the work they did. I’m very pleased with the app itself, too. 

How did TouchZen Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They were perfect at managing the project — I’d give them a 10 out of 10. Cyrus was super responsive any time I needed to get in contact with him. He was on top of everything, including updating social media handles and managing glitches.

If I was late in getting something to him because it's my secondary business, he was really understanding about it. Within 24 hours, anything was resolved. He was just very easy to contact. We mainly communicated through email and phone calls, including quick text messages. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cyrus was just really friendly and understanding. I never had any problem calling him and letting him know my thoughts. If something didn’t look like how I wanted, he was happy to change anything and never charged extra for it. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t have any feedback for him to improve. Everything Cyrus did was perfect. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to stay on schedule because I know it makes it easier for Cyrus. If I was late on the project, it put him behind a little bit, so try to stay on schedule. Use high-quality pictures, too. Some of the images I started out with weren’t the highest quality, and he let me change them. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own a health company under which I've published multiple books, created an app, and coach clients to get healthier.

For what projects/services did your company hire TouchZen Media?

I hired TouchZen to build a mobile app for me.

What were your goals for this project?

My goals were to have someone that was reasonable priced, that understood the market and could design what I wanted. My tangible outcomes were to take the photoshop drawings I had done and turn them into the app pages.

How did you select this vendor?

I selected TouchZen because of their work with other leaders in my industry and seeing the results that came. I was impressed with the quality of work, being in the same location to go over everything and the price point.

Describe the project in detail.

I provided screen shots I had created in photoshop of what i wanted each page to look like. It was to be a mobile app that had 5 different sections, prompts, calendar/timers that went off. I.E. A quite engaging app. We agreed on the time frame which was stuck to and everything flowed exactly as agreed. The app was developed for both iOS and android, and has been maintained over the years. They also created a landing page for me for the app.

What was the team composition?

The team comprised of me and my business manager only.

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

The app reached #1 in 6 countries within 24 hours which was astounding. I received great feedback from people telling me how much they loved it and how effective it was. The results of the engagement are on par with what I expected, and actually there was an over delivery. The app has small bugs that we fix, as normal with any app.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was top notch, incredible communication and feedback. Made the project easy to work on!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quickness of delivery and getting things done, the price point, and the eye to detail.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I'd like to see the app being redone fully, but I also know much resides on me for this.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an influencer, so I motivate and inspire others to lead healthier lives through my content on social media.

What challenge were you trying to address with TouchZen Media?

My goal was to create a lifestyle application for my audience, but I didn’t know how to go about that process. I hired TouchZen Media to help me develop the app from scratch.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked together with me all the way from creative brainstorming to developing and publishing the app in English and Spanish on both the App Store and Google Play Store on iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

Throughout the project, I worked directly with their owner, but he had several other people working on the project with him.

How did you come to work with TouchZen Media?

I came into contact with them through social media, and the relationship felt like a good fit, so I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The first app was split 50/50 between me and TouchZen Media and the second was 70/30 with a small fee for the extra ownership over the app. In total, I’ve spent under $5,000 for the whole project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started our work at the beginning of 2014, and the project is ongoing.

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

The app has over two hundred reviews with more than 4 stars on iTunes, which to me really speaks to the quality of the experience that we’re giving our users.

How did TouchZen Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They have always been incredibly available, whether for scheduling meetings or just answering questions over the phone. I have been really pleased with their communication over the years.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think they deliver a really good service for their price. It can be really difficult to find someone who knows what they’re doing and isn’t going to overcharge you, but I really trust TouchZen Media to be fair when it comes to pricing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any suggestions for improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just give them a try. If you start out small, you can see how the engagement goes, and I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of FullyRaw Media. We focus on online education and teaching people how to live a healthier lifestyle through veganism.

What challenge were you trying to address with TouchZen Media?

I needed someone to develop my mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped foster the process from beginning to end. I had hundreds of recipes online that were just in the form of YouTube videos, and they approached me wanting to create a recipe app for iOS/Android that would also include challenges and videos. I wanted it to be more of an educational platform that people could have on their mobile devices. They did all of the backend programming and came up with great ideas. It ended up being a great partnership for both of us.

What is the team composition?

I had one main point of contact that was patient, kind, and made sure my brand had everything it needed.

How did you come to work with TouchZen Media?

I met my main point of contact at a vegan festival.  We connected afterward and he approached me about creating the app.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested $150,000 – $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in June 2017 and wrapped things up in January 2019.

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

The end result was amazing and it's comparable to any top app out there. It's a very classy app that functions great. I know they have big commercial apps out there, so my app was probably easy to make for them. The quality is amazing and it's highly functional. We usually don't have any problems whatsoever with it.

The app now has over 300 recipes that we've been able to put on there and we've had tons and tons of downloads. If I ever needed something, they were there to fix them and their ideas were amazing. There have been no bumps in the road, and I'd say it's been a smooth and successful partnership.

How did TouchZen Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very organized and on time with meetings. They were very organized with the team as well and would schedule calls with me to make sure we went over our details when needed to go through things or ask questions about how we want things done. If I needed something completed quickly, they get back to me in 48 hours. They were just very conscientious of how I wanted things to be. They really wanted me to be happy with the final product. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very innovative. Even when I thought it would be just a recipe app, they wanted to include more components to keep people active and coming back. I also loved how they followed my content, and they were creative when it came to making the buttons be pieces of fruit and things like that. They made it fun, and I could tell they enjoyed the process with me. It felt like they cared about this just as much as I did. They understood that they were representing my brand. They were awesome and we were a team. It's been one of the best partnerships I've ever had in my life.

I've worked with so many companies that leave you high and dry and just want your money, and end up doing a horrible job.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I honestly have no feedback for them right now. They've done a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

TouchZen has literally taken the reigns and handled everything. They covered every step so I don't feel like they missed anything so potential customers can rest assured they're in good hands.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Product, we have several products in the market across hardware and software.

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

We had a large user base existing and we wanted to create a monetized/subscription version of our product that focused on value for our users.

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

We utilized a referral. Also, we have seen TouchZen's work through some previous engagements. We needed a trusted, reliable, and professional team to help us achieve our aggressive targets and goals.

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

The project was ~8-12 months in length. It required a complete overhaul of the existing app from the ground up. We utilize Flutter Mobile App with Google Cloud as the primary tech stack. However, we incorporated Contentful CMS for content delivery, utilized Video Delivery platforms, and incorporated several SDKs to help bring specific features to the market. This was an extremely complex and elaborate project.

How many people from theTouchZen Media team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1 designer. 1 Senior Product Member. With a team of developers.

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

The project was an alarming success. Subscribers are coming inconsistently. CTR, CVR, Retention stats are all growing. We will exceed the first two Quarters' targets.

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

The team utilized AGILE and value-based delivery. We utilized small micro teams to deliver key features in the market. We utilized tools like Slack, Jira, Confluence, Github, Bitrise, google studio to name a few.

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

The ability to simplify complex problems and deliver elegant and highly functional experiences are impressive.

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

No, the work was top-notch.