Webabstract

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a medium sized company in the Hungarian domestic B2B information-services market: our profile is professional publishing and related advisory services, with almost 15 000 clients, including small and medium-sized enterprises, legal, tax, accounting, HR professionals, and institutions of public service as well. Our annual revenue reached 3 million EUR in 2016.   

I'm the CPO, who’s responsible for the product/content development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Webabstract?

We provide information to more than 8,000 tax and accounting professionals. They are always looking for fast, accurate and credible answers, which means that the best solution for them must be on the web, but not just a kind of content-heavy website. That is why we needed to create a website, which is a 3 in 1 solution: professional database, news feed that reflect the changes of Hungarian tax laws, and online advisory services with highly qualified experts.

Our goal was to reach more new customers in this target group. We had some issues before, concerning how to create our content based website. We had never worked with a UX consultant. We needed to improve the design and the usability of the site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start of the project, we had a detailed feature list, with great plans and expectations. One of our biggest competitors in the tax and accounting information service has a well-known, content-heavy website. We wanted to analyze their strengths and weaknesses, and learn what people do not like in their user interface.

We had a couple of personal and skype meetings with Webabstract’s lead (senior) UX designer, to clarify our feature set and build up a buyer persona, and he showed the results of their desktop research.

Then, we had to organize customer interviews with our clients, because accountants are always busy and not very tech-savvy people. They prefer print publications to digital solutions.

Despite these difficulties, the Webabstract team found the right way to reach our customers: they organized the interviews “on the field” (on tax conferences and accountants’ obligatory training). With the method of card sorting, they helped to find out which features are the most important for our target group.

At the end of the discovery and research phase, we had a clear picture about how we should start the product design from the first ideas and sketches – and we developed the customer journeys and the information architecture together at some workshops. Webabstract’s scheduling was really flexible in this phase, and they delivered almost everything before the deadline, although we changed the agenda several times.    

After they finished all the wireframes, which was the most important milestone of this project, they convinced me that the second round of the usability tests should not be missed before the UI design. We have learned that our customers need more content on the dashboard, like recent news and commentaries of the tax legislation, and they want to send their questions to dedicated experts. 

In the last phase of the project, Webabstract delivered the key parts of the UI, and in addition, they organized design workshops to help our junior designer with mentoring concerning how to iterate the elements and design all the subpages of the website.        

How did you come to work with  Webabstract?

We approached three companies that had UX references: a well-known full-service digital agency, and two smaller UX agencies (one of them was Webabstract). Webabstract reacted fast and were flexible: they called us almost immediately (we had to send several emails to the other two agencies, and there was no real personal contact) and scheduled a meeting with their project manager. The whole Webabstract team was very inspiring at first sight. Their pricing and their services seemed the best value for money.

How much have you invested with Webabstract?

It cost around 10,000 USD. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started with planning in March 2016, and Webabstract completed the design works in July 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First of all: the result of the project is a well-designed, accessible, and user-friendly website, which now supports the sales of our similar print products, and can aggregate all our digital contents for the tax and accounting professionals. More than 4,000 customers (almost 1,500 totally new customers) use this site monthly, to send their professional or legal questions to our experts.

Although our in-house team was unable to develop some important functions in the meantime, Webabstract performed well. They gave us useful advice after the project's hand-off, on how we should reorganize our designers’ and developers’ workflow, to achieve our goals. On the other hand, they showed us clearly that UX is “not like magic”: with deep analysis, using the User Centered Business Canvas and other strategic planning tools, the design process can be more successful, an important part of the product development.

What did you find most impressive about Webabstract?

I have never known any designer team that is so vigorously focused on the business goals (and besides that, was creative also). Webabstract’s service was tailor-made for us, and was supported by experience-based knowledge. They improved our UX strategy by focusing on our customers’ needs.

Are there any areas Webabstract could improve?

I will never separate the UX design process and the software development from each other. Due to this huge mistake, our in-house developer team could not finish all the components of the product. I recommend that Webabstract should hire and train more developers in the upcoming years, to be able to manage much more full-service digital product development simultaneously, from scratch until the launch.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of a for sale by owner real estate site and a real estate agents’ platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Webabstract?

I wanted to create an attractive, state of the art, conversion-oriented website. I had worked with other UI/UX teams in the past.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve dealt with quite a few UI/UX teams and designers and with one of the managers from Webabstract. They went into the deep dive in creating our customer profiles, identified needs and hot points, and addressed them through a well-designed website.

The main goal was to produce design work for the landing pages of the website, which included coming up with specific flows that impacted what users saw, where they went on the site, and how we could turn them into customers.

Webabstract’s job was to come up with a user-friendly conversion design and to code the pages based on those wireframes. Our backend is in a .NET environment.

How did you come to work with Webabstract?

We have an investor team which introduced us to Webabstract through LinkedIn.

How much have you invested with Webabstract?

The cost of their work was around $6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Webabstract around April 2017. The project ran for 6 weeks ending around June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t yet have any metrics since our developers haven’t yet deployed Webabstract’s pages on our website. We’re still working on the actual programming.

Our developers really like the work, and so do our shareholders. The results are visually outstanding, but I can’t say yet if they will serve as a good conversion website.

How did Webabstract perform from a project management standpoint?

I give them a perfect score in this area. Webabstract delivered on time, as outlined. The only holdup was with me providing whatever they needed at the time.

What did you find most impressive about Webabstract?

They can get into the full reasoning or understanding of our business model and what we’re trying to do. Webabstract has helped us test the actual visuals of the landing pages, and made sure they worked with customers and they have a thorough understanding, which is their biggest differentiator. Webabstract has spent the time and effort to learn what we’re about.

Are there any areas Webabstract could improve?

I don’t think so. They’ve done an outstanding job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and chief marketing officer of a tennis program management and scheduling software provider. We offer a full management solution for tennis programs that enables owners and club directors to schedule lessons, book new clients, allow clients to schedule lessons, deal with the ecosystem, and bring some much-needed structure to a complicated process. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Webabstract?

The tennis industry is complicated in terms of booking lessons. The system is 30 years behind, and everything is done by pencil and paper. Nothing is automated, and it’s hard to reach coaches when trying to book a lesson in a short timeframe. We wanted to remove all of those headaches by building a product for mass-market use.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There are 4 user roles within the platform and 4 different UIs for each of those roles, all of which are connected to each other. What we see as “owner” is completely different to what users see as “director” or “coach” when they log in. Making sense of this process is ridiculous, and it’s challenging to maintain enough flexibility in order for the system to be customized.

We had a couple of Skype conversations with Webabstract’s principal to talk about the product. He was spot-on in his assessments from the beginning. I’ve worked with junior UX people in the past, and I have a few designer friends, but I hadn’t met anyone of his caliber. Typically, designers work within parameters, but we were actually looking to Webabstract to create a functional structure for us.

We had some designs in place before starting the project, but they were basic, consisting of a calendar with some restrictions. I showed these items to Webabstract, and we explained our goals. They recommended that we go through a workshop, so I flew to Budapest for 2 days. I liked the fact that they dug deep into the business issues, and I respected their level of acumen. We were primarily concerned about getting customers to use these functions, but we also wanted to know which features needed to be in place at early stages of the business and which could be built later. They helped us prioritize our goals in a thoughtful manner.

We went through user research and user testing, and Webabstract even involved a former tennis player who now does mobile UX. He leveraged his understanding of both the product side and the game of tennis. We gained several unexpected insights through this process, thanks to Webabstract’s efforts.

Development hasn’t started yet, but I know that Webabstract’s team is looking at using React Native. We have 2 or 3 full-time people now, and I believe that we will have 2 more developers involved later. Like any other agency, people will jump in at different times, as needed.

How did you come to work with Webabstract?

My partner and I talked to an investor and then tried to locate the best UI designer in order to tackle this challenge. I’ve recently moved from Arlington, Virginia to Zurich, Switzerland. My wife is from Budapest, and I considered living there, so I started looking for the best design team from Switzerland to Hungary. I found a few good teams in Switzerland, but compared to Webabstract, they didn’t have the full package.

I looked through Behance and Dribbble for freelancers initially. I contacted a few of them, and I realized that 2 of the 3 people I spoke to were working for Webabstract. I decided to call the company, but they actually reached out to me before I did. We set up a call and went from there.

How much have you invested with Webabstract?

The cost of their design work will be around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Webabstract in April of 2017. The project is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any metrics yet. Webabstract provided valuable insights that helped clarify some business assumptions we’d made. From a user behavior standpoint, our focus was shifted elsewhere. Users wouldn’t be spending the time to edit all their information while they were on the court, so we needed to make the process easier for them. Webabstract made it easy to answer these questions and shifted our focus to the mobile platform. We were originally going to design a web app with different interfaces, but instead we will start both versions at the same time.

How did Webabstract perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re extremely organized, detailed, clear, and responsive. From my experience, it’s hard to find designers who are experienced in their work but don’t have a huge ego. Webabstract’s team is friendly and humble. They’re customer-service-oriented, but they won’t just say what we want to hear. They posed some tough questions during the workshop, which made me reconsider how I was handling my business. We discussed the issue and figured out a sensible solution. They challenge us, but great results come from our interactions.

What did you find most impressive about Webabstract?

We especially appreciate their customer service and responsiveness. The price is also outstanding, from a US standpoint. I needed to build 4 different UIs across 4 different roles for web and mobile platforms. Doing all of this for $20,000, at the level we achieved, was incredible. I have a friend who worked on a similar platform using an agency in DC, and he paid a ridiculous amount for the work.

Are there any areas Webabstract could improve?

The biggest challenge for Webabstract is that even though they’re great at working remotely, we have to be in the same location in order to work together at certain points. It would be great if Webabstract had a presence in at least 3 other countries, but I think they’ll get there in time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a telecommunications company in Hungary. I work in the HR department as an acquisition lead. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Webabstract?

The main challenge we faced is that we used a tool that was not 100% covering all of our requirements within recruitment processes and activities. For that tool, we were required to use spreadsheets instead of any other tool, creating a massive amount of administration and lots of wasted hours. We were looking for a solution to optimize administration tasks and minimize the time that we spend on it. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided the development and building of the tool that we imagined. It’s a candidate tracking system for internal use. This is a tool where we keep all candidate data that we have about our candidates, such as technical test results, personality test results, previous applications, current applications, manager comments, and recruiter comments. Our recruitment team brainstormed together with their team, building the whole tool based on our requirements. The technicality behind the tool and its framework was discussed between Webabstract and one of our IT specialists. We came up with an idea of what we would require and what the tool would be needed for. Together, we developed from scratch the features, colors, columns, and necessary actions; we also determined what is and isn’t automated and which field can be added manually or using built-in features. The most important thing for us is that it contains a live status of the candidate where we have various status examples that we can use, and we can track and even filter answers back on those statuses. We had the imagination, and they had the information. It was really great.

They gave us designers, developers, and a project manager. The greatest thing was that we always had one person who was our contact, and it was really important and really smart of them to keep that. I think it’s really important for everybody to know the key person to turn to within that company since that person would know it’s the designer or the developer who has to fix something or make the changes.

In the development phase, our key contact person was the developer. We had the chance to meet face-to-face with the person who we are actually working with or the person who is working on our tool at that phase. We were able to see adjustments and discuss right away what changes are required, and they conveyed back how is it possible or not possible and what they can do. In the designing phase, the designer came with our main contact person and had the chance to meet and talk to the person who is doing that phase. We were always kept up to date and informed with who is working on the tools and what phase are we in.

How did you come to work with Webabstract?

HR is a pretty small community. In HR events, we are meeting with other recruiters, recruitment agencies, and companies. Webabstract came up in a personal relationship. We had a partner and a friend who was using a similar tool designed for them and recommended Webabstract to us. We had meetings with other companies as well, but the flexibility and creativity from Webabstract really differentiated them from the others. This is why we chose them. Also, their price was reasonable.

How much have you invested with Webabstract?

It was under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our discussions and meetings in the first quarter of 2016. The whole tool launched in April 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There have been four big lasting benefits that we have received since using the tool. The first is the work time that we saved. It’s a faster registration, faster tracking of candidate status, easier access to candidate data and contact information, and easier search of candidate history. We also have a built-in reporting function; apart from keeping the candidate data, it does live reporting with one click. We are able to create reports and presentations much faster than it was previously done when manually added. It is obviously saving us time.

It is now a simplified workflow because a lot of statuses and other information is automated in the tool. If we answer one data point, it brings another with it, which saves time. Within our internal organization, anybody can access data when HR provides access. Managers can access the tool and have their information. It is obviously so much faster for everybody to check that than to go and find someone in HR or recruitment, ask for the data, and wait for their replies.

We can say that the candidates’ and hiring managers’ experience has developed since we started using the tool because everything is so much faster; the faster it can go back to the candidate, the faster we can fill the position. These are the main results from using the tool.

How did Webabstract perform from a project management standpoint?

They are smart, accurate, and up to date. We always had access to the information when we needed it. Our contact person was always fast on replies. We have kept our regular meetings to keep things going smoothly. If there were any miscommunications or misunderstandings about what we had requested, or if we didn’t give the information accurately enough, they were fast at correcting small or even big changes. It was really smart of them not to bring everybody but just the person who is responsible for that phase during the development of the tool.

What did you find most impressive about Webabstract?

What’s unique is they build the tool around the customers instead of having one product that they would like to sell. They personalize it for the need and for the purpose that’s required. That was the thing that really stood out when we were doing our research.

Are there any areas Webabstract could improve?

This is not a fault but a fact that’s currently happening which they can look into—namely, developing relationships or incorporating with bigger companies. As a client, we work with bigger, global tools that cannot be changed easily. It would be nice if we had the option to link our tool to that. That was the only thing that we couldn’t find a solution for. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an app development company that creates entertainment apps for Android. Our flagship app has more than 60 million downloads. My role is project manager, so I’m managing the portfolio of our apps.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Webabstract?

The original goal was to update the UX [user experience] and UI [user interface] of the application. I was hired about a year ago to manage this project, and in the two-and-a-half years before that it wasn’t really updated or managed at all. We wanted a more modern look and feel for the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had four or five milestones set up, which we had to modify during the project. We went at a much quicker rate than originally expected. Webabstract was pretty flexible on this, and they were a perfect partner through that process. We reconsidered the original goal of the application and how it fits into the user’s life. We looked at the most common use cases and performed all the necessary analyzing in advance.

Webabstract provided us a couple of versions of their ideas from a UX perspective. We agreed which one to take further, and then they submitted a couple of versions of UI designs. We chose one, and the implementation was very well executed.

The app was built for Android only. We had planned to release an iOS version, but that’s been postponed for now due to limited resources. The application is written in C++.

How did you come to work with Webabstract?

Initially, two of their partners reached out to us. Although it didn’t work out at the time, we’ve since worked with Webabstract on multiple projects.

How much have you invested with Webabstract?

We’ve spent under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first project together was about 18 months ago. The most recent project started in September of 2016 and was completed in November. We are still collaborating with Webabstract to address some small issues and updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The time spent in the application has increased by 8-10%. That’s an important metric for us, as we are monetizing via ads. Our average daily active user statistic has grown 220% since the beginning. Our application is the only customer-facing app that has ever achieved the top 500 in any market from Hungary. Currently, we are in the top 150, so we’re pretty huge.

How did Webabstract perform from a project management standpoint?

Webabstract was very flexible on different issues, questions, and goals that we addressed with them. We received their deliverables via email and using Invision. Everything went very smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about Webabstract?

Webabstract was super precise. The design that Webabstract delivered was nicely organized, which I’ve not experienced before when working with independent contractors.

Are there any areas Webabstract could improve?

They should've been more pushy with their opinions and be less respectful with ours. The amount of their contribution was really outstanding.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a project manager at KBOSS Kft., a fintech company. We introduced our cloud-based invoicing application 13 years ago, and now have more than 64,000 accounts.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Webabstract?

We needed to update our registration and payment processes.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to make the above processes simpler and more affective, as well as clear up our design.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We invited UI/UX applicants to work on the project, and Webabstract won the tender.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Our registration and payment modules didn’t meet current requirements, and they were complicated to use on a mobile device.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two developers from Webabstract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

A fresh and clean design, as well as transparent registration and payment processes, made our services measurably more effective and easier to use.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We worked quickly, without running into dead-ends.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were efficient and dynamic.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There’s nothing that I can think of.