Vonnda

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Michelle Hutaff: My husband and I have a bodyboarding shop in Maui, Hawaii. I’m in charge of the billing.

Jimmy Hutaff: I’m the owner of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vonnda?

MH: We originally worked with someone else to build a website, but the project didn’t go well. The site wasn’t user-friendly, and we spent a lot of time and money working with them without achieving what we were looking for. That engagement hurt our business, so we looked for someone else to help us turn that situation around.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

JH: Vonnda has helped us develop a new website from scratch. Before working with them, our old website used WooCommerce, so they helped us develop the new site on Shopify. One of its core features is a search filtering functionality, where users can narrow down the type of products they’re looking for to help them find them. Additionally, our site has informational pages detailing the materials and sizes of our products. With this information, clients can select a board according to their riding style.

MH: Vonnda has also implemented an about us section and a contact information page within our site, and they’ve linked our Instagram to it. Moreover, we sponsor professional bodyboarders, so they’ve ensured to feature them on our page.

Although the site is now live, Vonnda still helps us with maintenance and continuous improvements per our request. Additionally, they give us feedback on what users are searching for so that we can add products to our catalog.

What is the team composition?

JH: We work directly with Mark (Strategist & Founder), but we don’t know how many people are on their team. Mark is our liaison, and he manages the workload.

How did you come to work with Vonnda?

JH: Mark is a bodyboarder himself, so he came into our store looking for some products. As we were helping him, we began talking, and he mentioned that he worked on web design. Thus, I mentioned the problems we had with our old website. Then, he looked at our site and gave us some suggestions on how to improve it, after which we decided to work together.

How much have you invested with them?

MH: We’ve spent around $10,000. However, the value of the work Vonnda has delivered is worth close to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

MH: We started working together around December 2022, and Vonnda delivered the site in February 2023.

JH: Although it’s been a month since we launched the site, we’re still working together on improving it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

JH: Since launching the site, the quality of our sales has improved. For example, we’ve seen an increase in higher-priced sales, which has improved our revenue. Before working with them, we had $50 sales. Now, a lot of our sales are $300 sales.

Moreover, our new website is a lot more user-friendly, which has been helpful to us as a business, as well as to our clients because they can now easily navigate through it. Our old website was very hard to manage, and it always had problems. However, our new website is very reliable, and it doesn’t feel like it would break.

MH: Vonnda has done an incredible job; we’re very thankful for their work.

How did Vonnda perform from a project management standpoint?

JH: Vonnda has put the site together quickly and professionally, going above and beyond what we had imagined — they’re very good. Although we initially experienced small issues with the site, Mark solved them right away.

MH: Vonnda is very detailed and prompt — it seems as if they were always working. Whenever I send them an email over the weekend, I don’t expect them to respond, but they still do what we request before the end of the weekend. Overall, they go above and beyond their call of duty and are always ahead of the game.

We communicate via Zoom and Loom. Additionally, Mark has put together presentations, educational videos, and PDF guides and emailed them to us to help us learn certain processes. That approach has been amazing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

JH: Vonnda’s biggest strength is their ability to take their client’s vision and bring it to life quickly by using technical solutions. Mark is very passionate about delivering a great end product, and he is very knowledgeable as well. Moreover, he’s great at giving suggestions without pushing us in a certain direction, which is very good because it opens up our eyes to other possibilities that might be better.

On top of that, Mark is great at training us on how to add things to the website ourselves, which is smart. This way, he frees up his mind to focus on the technical side of the site. Moreover, due to the fact that he splits efforts, we save money and know how to control our site, which is great.

MH: Mark is very meticulous at giving us feedback and helping us add things to our website.

Are there any areas they could improve?

JH: Given that Vonnda is still working on our site, there are new improvements every day.

MH: There’s nothing Vonnda could improve on as a company. They’re perfect and have exceeded our expectations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

MH: If you share your vision regarding what you want, Vonnda will go above and beyond to make it happen in a very professional and efficient manner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and CEO of a small consulting firm

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I did some brand work with one company and, based on that, hired a professional designer to overhaul my website. I needed a developer that could bring the vision to life. More specifically, I needed someone to develop a custom website that would deliver the design my designer created along with the functionality I needed. A bit emphasis was put on making sure it didn't look or feel like a squarespace site.

SOLUTION

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

I had spoken with Mark, the founder of Vonnda, during an engagement with a client. My client didn't hire Vonnda (which I had advised them to do), but I left the meeting thinking "This guy really knows his stuff; I should keep him in mind." When it came time to find a developer for my own site, it was a no brainer. Mark is clearly very smart, knowledgable, and curious: he asked lots of questions so he could get clear on what we did and didn't need from him. He's also a very nice guy and was easy to talk to. Nothing salesy about him.

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

Develop a wordpress site that reflected the design of what the designer came up with. The site has ~7 pages, there's animation, and my designer was very specific about how he thought it should look and feel.

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

I interacted with 3 people, though I think there were others in the mix.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Excellent work. Delivered just what I was looking for. Any time there was a question or an ambiguity, they were ready to talk through options and advise on which way to go. My traffic site increased massively afterwards.

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

Great communication, especially from Mark, the founder. Replies to emails were prompt, but even better is that Mark was always ready to jump on a call and answer questions, provide guidance, etc. They were very flexible, honest, and easy to work with.

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

The availability of the owner. For instance, I was on vacation in Grenada with my family when someone on LinkedIn pointed out a typo on my website. I wrote to Mark, telling him I know it's not his job but can he please fix it because I don't have my computer. Five minutes later it was fixed. Really remarkable.

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

I thought the time between scoping and getting a proposal was a little long. Then again, I'm not a patient person...

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run a digital wine brand DTC. I am the Band Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Vonnda to migrate to the Magento Enterprise platform in spring of 2012. Our goal was to get a functional marketplace for selling wines direct to consumer.

SOLUTION

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

Price, reputation, location, and services provided.

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

We work ongoing through platform migrations, core upgrades, extensive customization for our website, state-by-state compliance, custom UX/UI features, custom plugins, API integrations, API customizations, third-party integrations, and ongoing design development for our site's features and functionality.

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

A PM is our main point of contact, but the owner and lead dev are both always available to us via chat or email if they need to be contacted directly. There are an additional 3-4 people supporting our needs from their organization that we speak to roughly once a month depending on needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As it is an ongoing project, it's safe to say all development and digital growth for our company/brand can be attributed to Vonnda in the actual lift and coding to bring our vision to life online.

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

Weekly meetings, 24/7 Slack channel support for emergencies, email replies same day, sometimes within the hour, ability to jump on Zoom, Slack huddles, or calls on the fly as needed.

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

They're a professional team with excellent communication skills and excellent ticket management. They have the ability to meet timelines for necessary projects.

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

N/A - Very satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital marketing for an e-commerce learning platform that provides online education courses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vonnda?

We were trying to get a new website. Our goal was to move out of a very expensive and labor-heavy platform into a lighter and more agile platform that would perform better for our marketing efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had a consultation with Vonnda, where we set out our desired final state and our needs, along with our budgets and technology preference. They collaborated with our designers. 

From there, they built our new website’s framework on WordPress, using API integrations. The team also built and mapped redirects and reverse proxy setups to keep some components separated for thousands of pages. The team has completed the website, and they currently provide us with Magento management, troubleshooting, and maintenance. They’ll also do some additional WordPress and e-commerce development.

What is the team composition?

We interact directly with about three people, including a project manager, a developer, and Mark (Strategist & Founder), who is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Vonnda?

They were referred to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2022. Although they completed the website in May 2022, our engagement is ongoing with another project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They built and mapped all the redirects very quickly and were able to get the website live. Our traffic doubled in the weeks following the launch, thanks to the website’s improved architecture and technical soundness. We’ve had such a good experience with Vonnda that we’ll keep working with them. 

How did Vonnda perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re outstanding. We use Jira for project management and Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and email for communication. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Vonnda’s problem-solving ability is second to none. They’re willing to tackle anything and develop creative solutions to get things done. Additionally, the team can operate at scale, which isn’t something many vendors can offer. Whether it’s a 100-page or 1,000-page website, they can execute the solutions and the procedures to make it happen. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they need to improve; I’m very pleased with everything they’ve done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Your team needs to give Vonnda direction and ask for what you want. Don’t be afraid to have conversations and ask about the possibilities. You should understand your options because it’s likely that they have much larger capabilities than what you’re thinking.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a family owned and operated charter fishing company based out of Homer, Alaska.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vonnda?

Our website was originally done by ourselves, and we have no experience or knowledge of website design, SEO, etc. We hired Vonnda to revamp our website, build out a webshop and optimize our site for ranking.

SOLUTION

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

We know the owner and have seen his work over the years. We know how much time, energy and effort he puts in for his clients. We knew when we were ready to overhaul our website they were the only option for us.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We met via zoom several times during the planning process and we were given multiple different design options until we found one that suited our preferences and was user friendly. Our client base tends to be middle aged and older so streamlined and simple was a big part of the design.

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

We also dealt directly with the owner and his design team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The design of the site is amazing, we’re very happy with how things turned out. We regularly receive compliments from customers and other local businesses on it. It’s easy to book our trips and the streamlined look makes it easier for our older clientele. Our call volume increased and our online visibility has gone up.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Always easy to reach out and get help, answers, and quick fixes.

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

The level and depth of knowledge of how the behind the scenes of website ranking, seo and layout to equal higher ranking was phenomenal. All the computer technology stuff is way out of our league so everything from start to finish was impressive and they made it look easy and were always quick.

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

Fine tuning the webshop took a little longer than expected but figuring out shipping out of Alaska to be cost effective is difficult and takes time, so they worked as hard as they could to get it done and in the end it’s all looking and working great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Style for Substance, a small company providing a platform for personal styling services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vonnda?

I was looking for a skilled web developer to fix the ongoing problems I had with my website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vonnda has helped me improve my Magento website. Their work has been mostly focused on web development. Still, we’ve also discussed some excellent ideas they’ve brought to the table to improve its ease of use and appearance, which they’ve implemented on the site using pre-built designs.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked mainly with Mark (Strategist & Founder).

How did you come to work with Vonnda?

I found Vonnda on Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around November 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I wanted to leave this review because Vonnda’s involvement has been very helpful to me. Before working with them, I wasn’t able to market my services because my site didn’t work. Now, I have an active business, and my site is better because of them; they’ve made fundamental improvements to it.

How did Vonnda perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve been impressed by how Vonnda has managed my project. Mark has shown great dedication and brought great ideas to the table, and he has been amazingly willing to work around my budget. They’ve felt like a partner instead of a vendor. We communicate via email and have video calls occasionally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been very impressed by Vonnda’s expertise. Before working with them, I worked with two other highly rated and expensive developers, and neither could get my site up and running. Vonnda, on the other hand, has been able to fix a very messy and complex code in a very timely manner and within my budget. Additionally, the customer service I’ve gotten along the way has been top-notch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think this has been the case.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend working with Vonnda — it has been a wonderful experience. They have a very diverse team, and they’re very good at what they do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Principle and Creative Director for OmnSight Interactive. We provide professional consultation and the production of interactive 360 Virtual Tours, 3D Rendering and Animations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Most recently we engaged the team at Vonnda to redesign our website. Whereas functionally and operationally the site was fine, we felt the design was a little stale and we were in search for a strategic refresh.

SOLUTION

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

OmniSight has been a Vonnda client for over 13+ years. We've entrusted them with our website management, server hosting and reporting over the years. Therefore they were a natural choice for us to continue in this role.

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

We were provided a detailed SOW and a call to discuss. We made some adjustments based on a few email strategy sessions and then we were off and running for the project. Website develop requires a series of stages and thresholds which were met successfully and timely on all fronts.

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

We directly worked with 3 team Vonnda members. One project lead with two support individuals focusing on specific tasks of design and implementation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ours was an interesting project since we did not require a full re-branding, but rather a creative refresh. We were very happy with Vonnda's ability to retain the parts of our site's design/functionality that were working while blending in modern design and best practices that the site was lacking due to it's age.

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

Vonnda was always responsive to our questions and needs, either by phone or web meetings when needed. Mark and his team are very client focused.

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

They articulate design visions and execute them, setting this agency apart from other groups we've worked with.

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

Honestly no...I cannot think of any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing for Kyo, a provider of ABA therapy for children with autism.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vonnda?

We have been using Vonnda for years for website design and development. The biggest project we've worked on with Vonnda thus far was a complete rebrand/rebuild of our website, when we were completely changing our company name and brand. While Vonnda does have design capabilities as well, we did our design in-house and they built the website for us in Wordpress. They built it so that we could easily edit and build our own pages in the future. We work with Vonnda on an ongoing basis for website maintenance, new pages, etc.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My company was already working with them when I joined.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Complete rebuild of our company website - started out with scoping it out, agreeing upon a direction and signing a contract for the specific rebrand project, then working with them to review as the built each new page. The website initially had around 20-25 pages.

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

I'm not 100% sure, but we work closely with our account representative who handles project management, and the company founder. Our account rep handles communication with their developers, but we have spoken from them as well from time to time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website can be found at kyocare.com and it was received with very positive feedback, from the company's leadership, to the board of directors, to professionals in our field, to our clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. They are responsive and clear in their communication.

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

They are very easy to work with, they identify good solutions and present alternatives when requested. These include decreasing the scope or level of effort.

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

Their work is great and I wouldn't identify anything they could have done differently!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering for  a direct-to-consumer food company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vonnda?

Vonnda is helping us move from our existing e-commerce platform to a new Magento platform. They worked on the backend to set the platform up for our specific business needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We created a statement of work and listed a series of activities we needed them to perform. They worked with us to gather core requirements and learn about our system. Then they implemented the core business logic on the backend. That included how we handle subscriptions, credit card processing, user account subscriptions, and B2B business cases. We’re still collaborating with them to verify all of their work.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with three people: Mark (CEO), the project manager, and their main technical lead. Then they communicated what we needed to the rest of the team.

How did you come to work with Vonnda?

Magento gave us a few recommendations. We interviewed a bunch of Magento partners, but Vonnda won the bid because they instilled our confidence in them. They also offered reasonable prices. We received a wide range of quotes, and Vonnda’s prices were in the middle.  

How much have you invested with them?

I can’t share the project cost, but we pay them a percentage of the contract at various stages of the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2020 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have some really complex business logic in our core systems, but Vonnda has delivered what we need.  Now that we’ve been able to test their solution, we can say that Vonnda knocked it out of the park. They delivered high-quality work with almost no issues. We will likely engage with them on a second contract.

How did Vonnda perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a really good partnership. Even though we’re not working in the same space, or even in the same city, we felt pretty connected.

We used Slack and Jira to stay on the same page. So as their developers began to work, we were able to review the stories. By sharing their Jira instances with our team, we could watch their progress, ask questions, and ensure an effective workflow. It also helped us gain confidence that they were delivering requirements to our specifications.

We have some verification left to do on our statement of work, but Vonnda is still available to help us. We meet with them on a weekly basis to check in with them.

They’ve been really good about sticking to the timelines. They only ever missed deadlines when we change our requirements.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They delivered what we wanted within the timelines that we needed. They’ve provided excellent customer service, are always available, and are easy to get ahold of.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m struggling to come up with constructive feedback at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d tell anybody looking to work with an outside vendor to make sure they have their requirements well-defined and the internal resources needed to support the project. If you’re building a partnership, you need to realize it’s two-sided and you need to be involved as well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The Conservatory of Flowers is home to nearly 2,000 rare and unusual tropical plants. It is a national landmark.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Vonnda currently maintains and supports us on our website development. Our website is a hub of information for locals and tourists. It is also the biggest purchasing point of contact for many of our programs so it was really important for us to work with a partner that has experience in commerce, speed, and design.

SOLUTION

How did you select Vonnda and what were the deciding factors?

When I spoke with Vonnda, I could tell that the team instantly understood our pain points and challenges. They take a partnership approach and help set up their clients for success. Many of their clients are much larger with complex backends so I felt we would be in good hands with Vonnda.

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

I received a statement of work which includes the number of hours we are allotted. Vonnda is very flexible and willing to reallocate hours if they're not spent within a quarter. For a nonprofit of our size, this is greatly appreciated and helps out on quieter months.

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

A project manager is our main point of contact and our day-to-day support. When a request gets technical or requires more investigation a developer or engineer is brought in. This helps so that simpler requests can be handled quickly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our page speed has doubled. Refreshed pages are easier to digest and we are seeing more users spend time on the site. Lastly, working with the Vonnda team is a pleasure. They work extremely efficiently!

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

I have a weekly check-in with the project manager. Most of our communications are over email and sometimes Slack.

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

They are passionate about the quality of their work and we can tell they care about keeping their clients happy.