Millennial Web Development

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a boutique photography business. I hired Millennial Web Development to help build my website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Millennial Web Development, and what were your goals?

I needed a visually appealing website to use as a storefront for my boutique photography business that sells cards and prints. I needed a sharp-looking website so the form would follow the function and the site design would add to my user experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select Millennial Web Development and what were the deciding factors?

I heard about Millennial Web Development by word of mouth after they worked on the website for Lime Scooters. I had heard good things and wanted to go with them.

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

We had a lot of emails back and forth about design and features. 

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

I worked with a Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I love the design. Still working on launching. They were able to replicate sleek designs for the website quickly.

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

Very receptive to feedback and able to turn around ideas into web design infrastructure.

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

They are very easy to work with and they allow me to focus on other parts of our business. I leave the web development in their hands after giving them the initial feedback. They were able to run with it from there.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a strategic marketing teammate at Mechdyne. We are a collection of technology companies focused on creating services and solutions that help our clients uncover discoveries faster and more efficiently.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Millennial Web Development, and what were your goals?

We hired Millennial to redesign our website. We had three websites that we were merging into one. We wanted the Mechdyne site to visually represent all that we have to offer while providing each business unit with the ability to create and customize pages and content to meet each of their needs.

SOLUTION

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

We selected this vendor after doing some internet research as well as interviews. We felt Millennial best understood what our objectives were and were confident they could create a design within budget.

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

After a series of kickoff meetings, the project began to take share with a sitemap as well as discussions on functionality needs. As the project progressed, we were presented with mock-ups of each module/page that would be utilized to populate the content on the website.

Once the templates/modules were approved, a staging site was created and the Mechdyne marketing team began creating pages and adding images and content. We used WordPress as our platform and Bugherd as our communication key with Millennial.

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

We only ever worked directly with Jim Clement, the company owner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internal teammates, including our executive staff, love the look and functionality of the new site. The ease of updating or adding content is a huge step forward for the organization. The visual layout and functionality of the site has been well received by clients. The new design better portrays the services and solutions that we offer in a clear and concise way.

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

We communicated over email primarily with meetings on Microsoft Teams as needed. We utilized BugHerd to communicate needed modifications or updates on individual modules or pages. Most updates were completed within a few days.

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

They created a stunning new site that is easy for the marketing team to update and modify. Jim is very responsive when questions arise to provide guidance when we need it.

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

We ran into some issues with our hosting site as we were preparing to launch. More research into the idiosyncrasies with that site may have helped avoid a small delay.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a crypto asset investment firm based in San Francisco, CA. I'm the Director of Operations & Investor Relations and take on occasional marketing and branding projects such as the development of our new website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Millennial Web Development?

Our website was only a simple landing page with our logo and contact information. We wanted to update the look of it to be more in line with our brand, and also add a password protected content section to publish confidential information and research articles for our active and prospective investors.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the new password protected content section to be very simple, sleek and easy to use. The design and layout needed to look good without the use of stock images or any other pictures since we will be publishing mainly research articles and highly technical deep dives in blockchain-based projects and protocols. We also wanted to use an easy CMS such as Wordpress for simple editing and publishing of posts.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found this vendor via Upwork - Jim seemed to be a good fit for this project with a lot of experience in using Wordpress. We liked his work samples and responsiveness. The proposed process and timeline / cost estimate seemed reasonable and we decided to move forward with Millennial Web Development after a brief introductory call.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

He designed, developed and launched our new website from scratch. We moved from Duda to Wordpress on AWS / Cloudflare. Jim also recorded a video to walk us through the backend and how to use it. We made a few adjustments after launch.

What was the team composition?

I believe only Jim from Millennial Web Development worked on this project. If he had anyone else from the company help out or contribute, everything was very well coordinated, seamless and efficient.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are now able to publish proprietary content which we can share with select clients and prospective investors via a password.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I dealt with Jim directly via email - very efficient. I believe I could have called him anytime to discuss the project or give feedback but it wasn't necessary at all. Upon completion of the project, Jim recorded a video for us to show how to use the backend which was very helpful.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Both web design and development in one, with a clear focus on Wordpress sites.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have no suggestions for improvement, we were very happy with the collaboration and outcome of the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Bake Believe is a new brand of no sugar added chocolate that launched nationwide at Walmart in 2019. I'm the Brand Manager, I oversee all brand related endeavors, including marketing, new product development, and I led the creation/founding of the brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Millennial Web Development?

We hired Millennial Web Development to develop and design the web presence of Bake Believe. As a new brand, we supplied our brand guidelines, copy and content, but relied heavily on Millennial to bring the brand's identity to life on the website and develop a website that we could manage moving forward.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for Bake Believe's website was to be a visual and experiential representation of our brand, and we needed the website to be able to be developed in a manner that made updates and managing content simple. From a design standpoint, the website had to match the aesthetics of our packaging and physical assets.

Our brand has unique design characteristics compared to other brands in the category and this required Millennial to incorporate animation as well as capture the personality of the brand. From a development standpoint the website needed to present a pain free user experience by being easy to navigate and made opportunities to convert visitors easy. Additionally, ongoing we wanted to be able to make updates to the website and this meant building out the back-end of the website in a clear and logical manner.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose Millennial Web Development after conducting a broad search for a partner that was able to not only bring their expertise but was also willing to ensure that our needs/goals for the website were met. Among our criteria was the ability to add e-commerce functions and advise on the pros and cons of different platforms, create a desktop and mobile-friendly user experience, create and implement animation, customize contact forms for inbox routing, create and/or install a store locator, build a section for repeatable and searchable posts/content, and build the website in a manner that allowed for easy ongoing updates.

We also wanted a vendor that could assist in the management of DNS and web server based needs. Our initial search resulted in a dozen vendors and ultimately 3 that we considered seriously. The deciding factor was Millennials experience in developing/designing websites for other CPG brands, their ability to communicate and share their capabilities, and their confidence in being able to deliver on our ambitions for our website.

We appreciated that they were patient with us and answered our questions and that they had questions for us that informed their recommendations to help us achieve our goals. Myself, our internal IT team and a couple other brand team members were involved in the selection process and we each agreed on hiring Millennial.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

When the project started, we had purchased the domain and had our DNS and web service solidified. We had also created an outline of the pages we needed and the content and copy blocks we thought were necessary. Copy had also been written. From that stage Millennial Web Development began designing page by page. We intentionally held off on creating custom content until we knew the specifications needed.

As each page was designed, Millennial worked with us to dial in the content blocks and provided recommendations on best practices to improve the user experience. Once design was complete, Millennial began development, and started with the most crucial pages/sections so our internal team could generate the necessary content. When a page near completion, Millennial would provide a test link to our team to test functionality and provide notes. In this aspect, they were very good about making changes based on our feedback and pushing back when their experience knew better.

Once development was complete, Millennial created a quick video tutorial showing how updates could be made on the back-end and helped us publish the website. In the days/months since the website has launched we have made tweaks based off of visitor feedback and when those adjustments are beyond our capabilities we've continued to rely on Millennial to help troubleshoot and make updates.

What was the team composition?

The Millennial Web Development team was led by Jim Clement who is a Project Manager and Developer. He coordinated and relayed all information to the Millennial Web Development team. It was nice to have one point of contact versus having to go to multiple people depending on the question. Depending on the phase or our needs, Jim would task a team member to help but we only had to reach out to him.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the launch of the brand and website (3-months ago) we have had 230,000 page views and 80,000 unique visitors. Our main goal was for visitors to be able to learn about the brand and find a store where they could purchase. Our analytics show that visitors are doing exactly that and they're doing it with ease. We have become the fastest growing brand in the entire category for which we compete and the website is a big part of discovery process for our new brand.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

At the outset, Millennial Web Development provided a timeline for each phase of the design and development. This was effective for us and allowed us to keep track of whether we were on schedule. There were some delays, largely on our side, and the project management style and timeline allowed us to prioritize crucial elements.

In the event that a deadline was going to be missed we knew in advance because communication was consistent and clear. We mostly communicated via email but also relied on phone calls and screen sharing at times. We used Zoom and Google Hangouts if we needed to share screens.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

In my opinion, Millennial Web Development's key strength is that they are skilled in creating a website that is able to be managed by the client after development is complete. Having worked with other agencies and vendors, some refuse to make the website user friendly to the client so they can hold the keys and continue to bill for the simplest of updates and others simply aren't capable of making a back-end that is intuitive.

Given that we drive traffic to our brand by producing content and we want to be able to reflect that content on our website - it was really important to us that we be able to manage simple ongoing tasks. Another strength is Millennial's willingness to problem solve. In the months since launch, we have added new features and plug-ins to the website and incorporating new tools usually requires testing. They are willing and able to problem solve to make sure features are working correctly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

One area for improvement would be someone that is on call during the weekends/after hours - especially immediately following the launch of a website. In our case, we had a good problem in that we had incredible traffic immediately when we launched. This caused some issues with the store locator plug-in and that functionality went down.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product marketing at Code Climate. We provide engineering intelligence to software teams.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Millennial Web Development?

Recently, we completed a major redesign of the website for an upcoming launch and had neglected blogs. We had a design partner but not one for development. We needed an agency to fill in the gap.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Millennial Web Development was our development partner, building a blog on WordPress to not be technically challenging for marketers to navigate. First of all, their team had to match all the design guidelines. We provided them with the designs of four different pages. Second of all, their team had to reflect the header and footer of our main site. They made sure the platform was accessible and integrated all the forms with Drip—an e-mail marketing service. Finally, their team set-up a reverse proxy, enabling the blog to remain a sub-directory despite being hosted on a different platform.

What is the team composition?

I worked with one person named Jim (Founder and Project Manager, Millennial Web Development).

How did you come to work with Millennial Web Development?

I found them on Upwork where our problem and deliverables were posted exactly. We looked at the people who were best-reviewed and had familiarity with our tech-stack.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $5,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in early August and finished just a couple of weeks ago in October 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Millennial Web Development finished the project entirely and on time. Mainly, I looked for the blog to pass accessibility checks. After being run through several websites, the platform was found to be 100% accessible. Also, I wanted to make sure the blog wouldn’t hurt our SEO. We didn’t want the platform to diminish our domain authority or create broken backlinks. While not a factor I can assess after one month, the blog hasn't damaged our credibility so far.

How did Millennial Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Mostly, I was in contact with Jim through a chatroom on Upwork or via e-mail for last-minute QA features. He was super easy to communicate with, responsive, and receptive to feedback. Their team addressed my nit-picky comments about the design. Millennial Web Development got everything done as quickly as we expected them to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we hired their team, we didn’t have an introduction or know anything about them. But they delivered what our group wanted precisely. Working with Millennial Web Development was a frictionless experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront and explicit about the deliverables you want. Have a conversation to kick things off to make sure Millennial Web Development heads in the right direction.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior marketing strategy for a digital health platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Millennial Web Development?

Our in-house development team needed help building a website with nested pages. We wanted a two-week turnaround on the project to launch a new product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using wireframes and sketches created by our in-house design team, Millennial Web Development built a website using HubSpot.

The site had a lot of customizations and features that we requested at the last minute. One of our big requests was for a community event page that someone with limited CMS knowledge could manage and update. Millennial Web Development built the module and page so that we can consistently update it with minimal hassle. 

Another important component was building forms. As we enter an important season where lots of clients are registering on our site, we needed forms that could process a user’s selections and take the user to a specific page branded to their selections. It involved a lot of details and connecting data to things we needed to map, but Millennial Web Development turned it around quickly.

What is the team composition?

Jim (Founder, Millennial Web Development) is our project manager and my primary point of contact. We relay information through each other to our respective teams.

How did you come to work with Millennial Web Development?

I was charged with finding a development company that could turn out a website quickly at reasonable prices. I found Millennial Web Development on Upwork where they had really high ratings and great testimonials. After considering multiple options, it boiled down to Millennial Web Development’s level of communication and ability to quickly understand our project with little direction. That has made it easy for us to push forward our site’s development.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $15,000 so far and anticipate spending up to $25,000 by the project’s end.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in August 2019 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website was a two-week project, but we had multiple add-ons that Millennial Web Development is still building out. Their turnaround on those projects is about a couple of days. We wouldn't have a website up and running and generating traffic if it wasn't for their team. We already have lead generation and people filling out our forms thanks to their efforts. Once we start advertising the community events, that page will be a huge asset—we anticipate a lot of tractions.

This will be an evolving project as we figure out what the site needs. We anticipate a long partnership with Millennial Web Development.

How did Millennial Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

I can’t think any part of their business that Millennial Web Development has done better. The team stays on top of our many requests that trickle in. They give great turnaround on detailed feedback, and we always receive reasons and other options when they can’t update something. 

We have a great relationship from a project management perspective. We always know when a project will be completed and what went into its completion. Millennial Web Development works with our team in Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Millennial Web Development can take our vague results and formulate them into solutions. They then break down the complexities into terms that I can understand even though I’m not a developer. I really appreciate that because this is a difficult topic. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We ran into some communication issues when the site first went live. As a result, Millennial Web Development’s team was making edits on the live site itself. Since then, we haven’t had any issues.

Any advice for potential customers?

Millennial Web Development is eager to communicate. Don’t let days or weeks pass when you’re going back-and-forth with feedback. They want to help you get your work done within your timeline.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of marketing for CVEDIA, which creates synthetic datasets to train machine learning and AI systems. Some of the world’s largest organizations use our services for developing their AI.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Millennial Web Development?

Our website was poorly constructed and didn't do anything for converting leads. We needed someone with a strong grasp of design to build a new website from the ground up because we were all over the place in terms of branding and media.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the new website was to accomplish two things: communicate our services thoroughly, and convert website visitors into email contacts and leads.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose Jim (Founder and Project Manager, Millennial Web Development) because he had a strong grasp of design fundamentals, and his code was written clearly in comparison to most developers.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed, developed, and set up the new website. I worked alongside Jim to define the website design and sent him copy for the pages. I wrote copy for the web pages based on how the information would best flow, and they transformed that information into attractive layouts.

What was the team composition?

Jim worked with a team, but he was my only point of contact.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to get our site live before a huge conference we were presenting at, which was a hard deadline for me and my team. They delivered everything on time and within budget, even accommodating a last-minute switch from static to WordPress implementation.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Jim communicated in clear bullet points through email and got on the phone at critical junctions to discuss important decisions. He also gave me effective timelines for the work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Developers usually aren't the best communicators, but Jim made everything simple to follow. He kept me in the loop and involved me in every part of the process.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I’m completely satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the strategic account director of IfNotNow Inc. We provide strategic and creative marketing solutions for clients across a wide array of businesses including brand strategy and identity development, social media planning and execution, website design, content creation, and advertising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Millennial Web Development?

Our client engaged us to redesign their existing consumer-facing website to optimize the UX, UI, and brand image. We worked collaboratively with Millennial Web Development from the outset to conceptualize, design, and build an updated website.

What were your goals for this project?

We had to optimize the brand’s existing website content and flow and integrate new content without disrupting functionality or brand personality. The backend also needed to be very user-friendly so our client’s customers could easily access and update content on their own.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We're a small agency that loves partnering with other small shops that have similar values and processes as we do. Someone recommended Millennial Web Development to us and we were impressed by their portfolio and overall knowledge and professionalism in our first meeting. We evaluated a few other potential partners, but MWD felt like the best fit for this particular project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They consulted our team on overall website flow and design at the outset of the project, ensuring the site followed best practices from a development standpoint. We then turned over approved design files, which MWD built into a fully functional site we could tweak and provide input on. They also built the backend interface, creating a straightforward experience for anyone to update content post-build.

What was the team composition?

Jim (Founder, Millennial Web Development) was our primary contact throughout the entire process. He was extremely well versed in the project from the outset and was our go-to person for quick answers to questions. He also managed a development team that actually built the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client was impressed with the design and development of the site. When they had questions, concerns, or last-minute changes, Jim's team was nimble in providing answers or solutions. Our client had a great experience and is so confident in MWD’s vision that they’re pursuing a second phase to add more content and functionality.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was outstanding, especially compared to other vendors and partners we work with regularly. They were quick to solve problems and always did so with enthusiasm and a positive attitude.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They felt like an extension of our team and collaborated with us to find the best route to success. We hit every deadline, and they were flexible and accommodating when our client surprised us with last minute changes.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There’s very little they could improve. We had a great experience with MWD and are looking forward to working with them again.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a web advertising firm. We’re in the website design and development space, mainly focused on advertising for our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Millennial Web Development?

For us, it was a bandwidth issue and finding the quality of design that we needed for some of our higher-end sites. We’ve been in the legal space and are getting into the home investment space, so the sites needed to be clean, functioning, and not necessarily templated.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve outsourced five of our projects so far to them, with another two that I’ll probably send their way. The design and development are done on a project-by-project basis. As I bring in a new client that I think will fit their business model, I present them with the project, and they give me a quote on the scope.

We have a project manager on our side and together we wireframe the sitemaps, the homepage, and what we think the structure should be. For the other pages of the site, they do the work. The work primarily uses Oxygen for WordPress.

What is the team composition?

Jim (Principal, Millennial Web Development) has been my main point of contact since day one. I know that he works with a few other people, but I haven’t spoken to them.

How did you come to work with Millennial Web Development?

I found them through Upwork where they had a link to their website. I scrolled through their portfolio and liked their previous work, so initiated a discussion.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve invested around $25,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2018, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve all been very happy. One of the projects we worked on was for a bigger client, involving a 10-page website that was done in about four weeks. They did a really good job of turning it around quickly. There’s been a lot of traffic through the site and that gets them leads.

How did Millennial Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

I know I can be very picky, and they’ve been very good at working with me to make sure they deliver everything I expect. In the beginning, we had a lot of phone calls. Now that we’re used to the workflow, it’s a bit easier and we usually communicate through emails and some phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think they’re excellent. They’re very responsive which is important for me personally, and they hit the deadlines which is excellent too.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give the collaboration a little time. Working with someone new is always a challenge in terms of figuring out the relationship and what is important as far as certain design elements go. There needs to be a lot of communication upfront but then that goes away once you start to build that working relationship—they will pick up on your style and deliver on your expectations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a marketing and e-commerce manager at Arcade Belts, an apparel company. I oversee the e-commerce elements of our website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Millennial Web Development?

We hired another web design firm to rebuilt our site, and their work was subpar. I reached out to Millennial Web Development to fix the issues in our platform and provide ongoing updates and maintenance.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to resolve the problems created by our previous development team and produce a website with better UX, especially on mobile devices.  

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

A friend suggested that I reach out to Jim (Founder, Millennial Web Development).

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We’ve completed a variety of projects with Millennial Web Development. Recently, they’ve started working on updating our website so that we can accept orders from Canada. Their team implemented a currency conversion tool and custom fields for warehouse inventory management.

What was the team composition?

I work primarily with Jim, who serves as our project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have an improved path to purchase, and the overall UI and UX of our site is far superior to our previous version. We’re seeing sales increase on our website daily.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Originally, we only communicated via email, but after adding several more projects, we started using project management software. This has led to a higher degree of organization and simpler communication, which has upped our efficiency.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Jim is highly knowledgeable about our platform and extremely professional and realistic with timelines and budgets. Also, his time management is top-notch. I’ve never had to wait for his team to finish work after their set deadlines. I feel lucky to have met Jim and his team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly no, I can’t identify any areas for improvement. Their work has been fantastic.