Unleaded Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a direct-to-consumer glasses company that focuses on reading and blue light glasses. I’m the senior manager of digital growth. I’m responsible for our site and other digital operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Unleaded Group?

We were migrating our site from Magento to Shopify.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did an extensive requirements gathering and put together a design template. We then went through the development phase to launch the site.

We had several rounds of design iterations. It was very collaborative. They would share mockups with us, and we would come back with feedback.

What is the team composition?

We were working with Jarod (Founder & President) and Ian (Lead Developer).

How did you come to work with Unleaded Group?

One of our VPs had worked with them previously.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $110,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in August 2019, and the engagement wrapped up in January 2021. Our site was launched in December 2019, but we worked with them on a retainer basis after.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their team had a strong impact on us. They built creative tactics to enable our site, which improved our conversion rate, site performance, and site experience.

Our customers were very receptive to our new website.

They’re a smaller organization that’s incredibly prompt. They’re nice to work with.

How did Unleaded Group perform from a project management standpoint?

We handled a lot of the work through Google Sheets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of service is very high. It’s easy to work with them daily because of their size. We were able to get a fast turnaround on projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their team could improve on the design side. We took that role initially, but they could’ve pushed back on us a little harder.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would suggest working with them if you’re a Shopify business. They’re pleasant to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company helps businesses polish their brands to connect with ideal clients through purposeful marketing and unforgettable customer experience.

What is your role at the company?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleaded Group?

The challenge was to create tangible branding for the concept I had envisioned.

What were your company's business goals for the project?

I wanted to establish my brand online.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The logo, landing page, and mobile responsive website were all created, developed, and launched by Unleaded based on my input, vision, and their creative expertise.

How did you come to work with Unleaded Group?

It was through searching online, plus peer review research of multiple companies.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was between $5,000 and $6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It ended in August of 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The mobile responsive website has been launched. They also helped to establish my company's digital presence.

How did Unleaded Group perform?

Outstanding. I often receive compliments on all components of my website and visual branding.

What distinguishes Unleaded Group from other providers?

They were incredibly responsive. They even gave me cellphone numbers in case I needed to reach someone urgently. There is a high level of customer engagement and attention to detail.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

No. They couldn't have been more attentive and on task. Unleaded took exactly what I had in my mind for my company and visually birthed it. They were truly a pleasure to work with and exceeded my expectations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is Ace Cutting Equipment, and we're in Novi, Michigan. We sell construction equipment, primarily concrete cutting equipment.

What is your position and responsibilities?

My father is the owner, he started about 20 years ago, and I work here for him. We're a small, 15-employee company, so I have a variety of responsibilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleaded Group?

The goal was to build and set up our e-commerce website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We already had a functioning site, but they were going in to improve it, to make it better overall, and use a different platform – update pretty much our whole website. That's what they did, and they did it in a great fashion and timely manner. They're very professional people there. Everything for an estimated timing, the cost was accurate, and it worked out very well for us.

How did you come to work with Unleaded Group?

We had limited options for a company that was able to do what they did. Overall, I didn't have many people to compare or shop around with for doing that. It was pretty much one other company, and it was clear that Unleaded was much better established and had their things put together a lot better than the other company. Not to get into too much detail, but what we were looking for – it was an update, but not a very expensive addition to the platform we're using.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was about $25,000 to build the website. We've probably spent about $30,000 to $35,000 overall so far. We've contracted them for another six months.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think it was November 2014, and we're currently still working with them. We're all finalized with the website and what they originally set up to do for us. We're now using them for digital marketing and search engine optimization.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Unleaded Group perform from a project management standpoint?

It's clear that they're busy. Overall, every question I had for them was answered. At times, it may not have been as quick as I was hoping for; I had Jarod [Clark, Unleaded Group founder] as maintenance and project manager for me, so asking somebody with a lot on their plate for things like that. Like I said, within three days they'd get to the bottom of my questions and get an answer for me. At times, it would be a little bit of waiting for minor things, but that would really be the only downfall.

What distinguishes Unleaded Group from other providers?

The best part of working with Unleaded Group is that they have a lot of good people there. They did what they said they would do. They delivered a professional product that we're happy and satisfied with. The best thing about it is that they did what they said they would.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

Overall, it was a great experience working with them. I did go through a couple different project managers. Jarod was in charge overall, and he still is, and there were two people prior to him. That was one fairly difficult part for me because there's a lot of communication between the project manager and myself, and that meant restarting two different times. That was fairly difficult and was somewhat aggravating for a time period there. If I could have changed something, it would have been to stick with one project manager.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I own a company called Trade Show Emporium in Denver, Colorado. I started it about eight years ago in July 2007. We manufacture and design exhibits for trade shows, conventions, outdoor events, and things of that nature. We've always had a website since the beginning, which has been our main storefront, even though we have a local showroom here in Denver.

What is your position?

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with the Unleaded Group?

We wanted to take our current platform and make it robust enough to handle more products. We also wanted to deal with some glitches we were having, some security issues, and just general maintenance and upgrading. The company that built it wasn't able to provide that level of service, so we found Unleaded, and they were able to step in and take over at that point. We actually are in the negotiation stages right now for maybe doing a complete redesign with Unleaded.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with the Unleaded Group?

They're one of the bigger Web development companies here in Denver and certainly not the cheapest. I had gone with a firm that was a little bit less expensive with that redesign and learned the hard way quickly that the most inexpensive isn't necessarily the best because they didn't have the capacity to keep up with the level of service that my website needed. I searched out some of the bigger firms, firms that were more reputable, and that could handle that amount of constant requests for maintenance and things of that nature that we needed. We met with a few firms and we got the best feeling with Unleaded. We checked a couple of their references, and it looked like they have done some good work in the past.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

In the past six months, we've probably spent $3,000 to $5,000 working with the Unleaded Group. Since our relationship started, the total is probably around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I've been working with them for the last two or three years. The collaboration is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of their work?

They fixed a lot of the glitches and made the website more SEO [search engine optimization] friendly, getting it to the point where it functions correctly and has good security measures.

What distinguishes the Unleaded Group from other providers?

I definitely enjoy working with the Unleaded Group. I think one of the unique things they do is provide a nice overall approach when suggesting options for issues with the website or possible upgrades. For example, they might understand that this is something I wanted to do but, in order to do that they would suggest incorporating that into a redesign later down the road, rather than spending a bunch of money on the old website, which would be cost-prohibitive.

What I like about them is that they'll do anything you want, but when it comes down to figuring out what I really need and where my money is best spent, that's where they really have impressed me. It doesn't look like they just want you to spend your money. They really want you to spend it wisely, where it's probably going to go the furthest, whether that means Band-Aiding the old website and getting it to a point where it functions, or waiting a little bit and investing the bigger dollars into a full redesign.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

Not at this point. They're really responsive. I've been pretty happy so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We're a full specialty fly fishing retailer in the Rocky Mountain West with a physical location in the heart of Denver, Colorado, as well as an online website.

What is your role in your company?

I'm the e-commerce manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal in working with Unleaded Group?

We've been working together for a number of years. Our owner has a family relationship with one of their principals, so I think as long as the company has had a website, we [will continue to work] with Unleaded. We began working with them eight or 10 years ago, starting back when Java and Flash were the big things that you had to have, [all the way] to today's new realm of responsive mobile, focused on the user experience.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They've worked on website design, Web development and some branding as well. Through the years, Unleaded Group and their design team have worked with us from a brand perspective, whether it was the logo or business cards and fliers. They have supported us in both print media and online.

What was your process in selecting Unleaded Group?

I can't really speak to the original selection process, but when we made the decision to redesign the website in 2014, we actually did go through a full request for proposal process. We went out and looked for a number of different people that are definitely leaders in the industry, and people that were going above and beyond the norm. We sent out request for proposals to places in California, Chicago, and New York. Unleaded was an existing partner at the time here in Denver, and we included them in the RFP [request for proposal].

When we got all the proposals back, some people said they weren't interested. But, Unleaded presented an appealing proposal in regards to the elements and features of the website. Also, the consistent support that they could offer on a daily basis for our website was appealing and definitely something that we looked at in-depth and decided to move forward with.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?

In 2014, we probably spent somewhere between $35,000 and $50,000 with them. About $10,000 to $20,000 would probably now be an average year.

When was the project completed?

We started collaborating about eight years ago [2007], and we're still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

Because we have a dedicated account manager at Unleaded Group, we've always had a single point of contact, someone we could reach out to and ask questions. Collaboration is the major thing that we're focusing on in 2015 and in the future. Having someone, such as myself, in the position that I'm in, I definitely am on the frontline. I hit the ground running every day, and I use our website, always looking for innovative ways to push the needle, whether it's improving page speed or a specific functionality like a lead capture pop-up. We're always collaborating with Unleaded on what the next thing will be that is going to move the needle.

We just were approved yesterday as a Google Trusted Store, and Unleaded really led the process. They said that we might not be quite ready for Google, but let's get them involved in the new website design because we definitely will be at that point eventually. During the last 10 months – —typically it doesn't take that long, but the program itself actually changed during that time, so I think there was a little bit of a delay there – we've gotten the code the way it needs to be, we've optimized our checkout, and we're now hitting the thresholds needed to be a part of Google's program, all thanks to Unleaded Group's help.

What differentiates Unleaded Group from other agencies?

As a company, they have all of the moving pieces. Whether it's the development aspect or we're looking for some collaboration on a specific SEO [search engine optimization] element, Unleaded Group has a diverse team that is ready to work with us and figure out a solution when we come across a problem.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

I think business is always changing and evolving and, to succeed today from a marketing perspective, you want to be nimble and be able to make changes on the fly. I think Unleaded definitely does a great job in providing a great solution. As change happens, being on the forefront and continuing to stay on the forefront of change is definitely something we all strive to improve upon.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

Don't be afraid to ask questions. They're always willing to collaborate and help where they can. If you don't really let them know where your pain points or your problems are, they're not able to help solve them to the best of their ability.