Wayfinder Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Quantum DSP

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

IP led AI deep technology company developing next generation guitar amplifier plugins and audio solutions. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Wayfinder Agency to accomplish?

• Scale B2C revenue from an established 1.0 ROAS baseline
• Broaden awareness and generate more sessions to our Shopify store.

SOLUTION

How did you find Wayfinder Agency?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site
• LinkedIn

Why did you select Wayfinder Agency over others?

Perceived Market Alignment

How many teammates from Wayfinder Agency were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

To acquire as many customers profitability as possible, targeting 3x ROAS or higher. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project did not meet expectations and ultimately failed to deliver acceptable results. While underperformance can be an understood outcome in paid media testing, our experience with Wayfinder fell short due to execution issues and a lack of rigor relative to what we expect from a professional marketing agency.

Despite operating on an established pixel and agreed strategy, campaign performance materially underperformed our internal benchmarks, and basic execution errors further undermined confidence. As a result, we made the decision to discontinue the engagement.

Following termination, we also experienced difficulty obtaining timely communication from senior management regarding close-out matters, which added unnecessary friction to an already challenging engagement.

1/5 stars.

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

Project management did not meet our expectations. While timelines were generally adhered to, execution quality and responsiveness did not reflect the level of rigor we expect from a professional agency.

We experienced avoidable execution errors, limited visibility into campaign performance (i.e. we did not get access to their real-time dashboard) and slower-than-expected response to concerns once issues were identified. Following termination, communication around close-out and resolution also lacked timeliness, which further impacted our confidence in the overall engagement.

1/5 stars.

What was your primary form of communication with Wayfinder Agency?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We did not find anything meaningfully unique or impressive during the engagement. Performance, execution, and process all underperformed relative to our internal benchmarks, and the agency did not demonstrate differentiated expertise or capabilities that justified continued investment.

1/5 stars

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

Greater discipline around execution, transparency, and responsiveness would have materially improved the engagement. Specifically, access to the promised real-time performance dashboard, cleaner campaign execution, and more proactive communication would have helped address issues earlier.

In addition, closer alignment with client input, particularly around pricing thresholds and testing strategy and more conservative, data-driven use of advertising funds would have been critical given the performance observed.

1 / 5 stars

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Director of Marketing at an online gaming company, which enables users to play tabletop role-playing games like "Dungeons & Dragons" in their web browser.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wayfinder Agency?

We needed a quantitative marketing agency to help with digital advertising, including ad creation, campaign optimization, analytics, etc.

SOLUTION

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

They came highly recommended by a current employee, and had good testimonials from within our industry.

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

We had a kick-off meeting in early 2021 where we shared our goals, budget, and target customer/demographic data with Wayfinder. Since then we've had weekly meetings where our company shares short-term results and objectives, and Wayfinder designs ad campaigns to support them.

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

Two directly – Adam (head of the agency) and Hyacinth (an analyst specializing in paid search). They have tapped a few illustrators and developers in their network as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our goal was to acquire new players at a specific CAC, and Wayfinder steadily improved our campaigns and suggested new approaches to get us to that point – and help us scale new player volume responsibly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet on Tuesdays typically, but Wayfinder has been extremely flexible with scheduling, even across multiple time zones. We also have a shared slack channel and their responses to questions and comments there are prompt and in-depth.

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

We are continually impressed by how Wayfinder Agency goes "above and beyond" and functions more like an extension of our in-house team. They've pitched in to build landing pages, troubleshoot tracking/ad tech issues in GTM, and so much more. They also built and maintain a Data Studio dashboard that lets our team self-serve to answer simpler analytics questions.

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

Not much. I would always like more proactive idea generation for how to further scale our ad plans, but our shrinking budgets have made that difficult, and that's not something they could control.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the head of marketing for a global payments software company. I lead a team of seven people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wayfinder Agency?

We needed someone to get our paid social and Google Ads off the ground when our organization was just getting started with digital advertising. Wayfinder helped us with ad spend, defining our media mix, creative and reporting.

SOLUTION

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

I wanted to work with an agency who was priced accordingly for our spend and with whom we could collaborate and meet regularly. I knew Adam from a previous role and his reputation preceded him.

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

Adam and his team helped us define the best audiences to target and the best keyword opportunities to pursue on both Facebook and Google. They also helped us branch out into different types of advertising, like Quora and LinkedIn. We worked with them regularly and Adam and team met with us on a weekly basis. They helped us get our digital engine started and ran it for over a year and a half.

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

We worked with Adam who is the founder of Wayfinder, as well as various members of his team who handle ad spend, creative development and reporting.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was our first foray into digital advertising with our growing marketing organization. Adam and team helped us build sustainable sources of leads from both Facebook and Google, helping us hone some of our best-performing campaigns and helping us define our audience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was effective and communication was good between our two teams. I never had to worry if something would be done on time.

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

Adam's team was communicative and collaborative. I find there are many paid social agencies who want to just "set it and forget it" and his team was really focused on helping our business thrive and gave good feedback to help us help them.

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

None that come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Axwell Wallet.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wayfinder Agency?

We had started our business in Amazon, and we then switched over to Shopify. Thus, we needed to partner with a trustworthy vendor who could help us drive more traffic to our website and get more conversions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wayfinder provides us with digital marketing and PPC services for our Shopify business. They create and manage ads for us, and they’re in charge of copywriting as well. Their efforts are focused on Google and social media advertising, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people from Wayfinder: Adam (Owner & Performance Marketing Expert) and Hyacinth (Google Ads Expert).

How did you come to work with Wayfinder Agency?

I used to work with Adam at another company, but he ended up starting his own company. When I needed help with mine, we got in talks and started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around September 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of our biggest results is that we now have an average of 4X ROAS, which is great. So far, Wayfinder is responsible for generating over $1 million in revenue for us.

How did Wayfinder Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Wayfinder’s communication is great. I talk with them daily, and they always show up to all of our meetings. We create campaigns for special dates around the year, such as Father’s Day, Christmas, and Black Friday, so we have constant deadlines to meet. Still, Wayfinder is always ahead of schedule, keeping everything on time.

Initially, Wayfinder used Basecamp to manage the project, but we then moved to Google Drive for this purpose. We now use spreadsheets to manage the project, and we communicate via WhatsApp and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the best things that Wayfinder does is that they never overspend; they would rather underspend to avoid losing money. Their processes are always calm and planned, so they don’t rush through things and spend a lot of money hoping it will work.

Part of the reason behind their planned approach is that they offer a model that no other advertisement company offers: they only make money when their clients make money. Initially, they charge a flat fee to cover their costs, but from there on, they charge for the conversions they achieve. This encourages them to work harder, write better copy, and generate better leads because the more money we make, the more money they make.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. Sometimes, Wayfinder seems like they’re too careful, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Both parties need to put in the effort. You can’t expect Wayfinder to do their best if you don’t bring your A-game into the engagement, so keep the communication open and provide them with as much information as possible.