Wild Spirit Development

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wild Spirit Development?

We needed help with branding and web development to increase our online presence and enable clients to feel our brand and what we offer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wild Spirit Development created our site on WordPress from scratch and developed our company’s logo.

What is the team composition?

I only worked with Lauren (Owner).

How did you come to work with Wild Spirit Development?

I found them through Facebook.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $3,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I got a drastic increase in leads after I started using the website they created for us.

How did Wild Spirit Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Lauren was fantastic in terms of communicating and sticking to schedules. She was also able to guide me and answer my questions effectively in a way that I felt comfortable — it was great. In terms of tools, we used email.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Lauren was incredibly innovative and could take my ideas and put them in a digital form that was visually appealing, which was an ability that no one had. Overall, her skill to think out of the box was outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an online business selling craft patterns for digital cutters.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wild Spirit Development?

I had an old website that was on a ColdFusion and Cartweaver platform, and that setup was no longer being supported. My entire site halted at the beginning of 2020, so I had to move over to a more functional platform to avert an emergency.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I chose to go with WordPress and WooCommerce since it is the most used setup in the industry. Wild Spirit Development had to move an enormous database of customer information that I’d gathered from sending out weekly freebies for years. They made sure I maintained all my customers records, allowing them to look at and access past purchases. Wild Spirit also design the look of the site and it’s setup.

Wild Spirit also developed a vendor platform where other designers that sell through my site can load their products and track their sales. I used to have to go back through PayPal to determine royalties, but I no longer have to do that chore thanks to this feature.

Lauren (Owner) has also walked me through how to use the backend of the site. Currently, she provides maintenance and updates my plugins, in addition to making one-off tweaks. Several months ago, I had her to rearrange a few parts on the cart page. She created tags that allowed people to click on certain types of products to help with browsing. She did this in a single day. Wild Spirit has also helped me find good hosting. After trying to use Nexcess, we switched to CloudWave because of several issues I was having.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with Lauren and one other developer. Additionally, Lauren hired another company do the actual database migration because of how tricky it was.

How did you come to work with Wild Spirit Development?

Three different people recommended Wild Spirit to me in a women’s business Facebook group that I’m a part of. After looking at her site, I thought she was what I was looking for.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $9,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This new setup has saved me so much time, and my sales have doubled. When we first transitioned the database, there were some serious hiccups, but even during that first year in 2020, my sales increased beyond multiple years previous. 2021 saw my sales double from 2020.

This is the first time I can honestly say that a vendor was worth my investment. I’ve very cost-effective, but Wild Spirit has changed my outlook and mentality. I no longer hesitate to pay for conveniences. They are professional.

How did Wild Spirit Development perform from a project management standpoint?

We originally communicated over email, telephone, and text, though she signed me up for Slack for our most recent tagging project. I really liked Slack, as it eliminated the need to send hundreds of emails back and forth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lauren added a lot of input on what the site would need, including accessibility and GDPR-related features. She also has a strong eye for design.

When I hired a vendor, I have to give them access to everything, and I really trust Wild Spirit.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only way to improve would be to be available 24/7.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate quickly but be clear and concise. Providing as much information as possible surrounding your issues will help people understand what specifically isn’t working, and how to help.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own AOU Creative Group where we specialize in data-driven content marketing but often have clients who need website design.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wild Spirit Development, and what were your goals?

Wild Spirit is my go-to source for great website design. Lauren creates sites that are not only beautiful but highly functional. For our company and our clients, they were the best designer I've worked with over the past 7 years.

SOLUTION

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

I met Lauren online, reviewed her work and was immediately impressed.

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

Lauren is involved in the design process from start to finish. She meets with me to discuss my or clients' needs, creates wireframes, and delivers great websites.

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

I've worked with Lauren Russell, designer and owner of Wild Spirit.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I get great feedback on the quality of the sites Lauren designs for AOU and for my clients.

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

We use Slack to communicate and this has been highly effective.

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

Lauren's eye for design and skill in creating websites that are functional and fast.

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

n/a