UPQODE

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a full-service media company that harnesses the talent and reach of the industry’s most influential writers, online specialists, and editorial trendsetters.

We provide magazine-quality content services, digital strategy, editorial talent management, and media influencer programs customized for brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

UPQODE have redesigned and developed the main website and create a partner website for new customer engaged. Our old website was hideously and extremely slow. So we needed high website performance and search engine optimization for both websites.

SOLUTION

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

Professional discussing project details and efficient planning

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

Key details were discussed in the first step of our collaboration.

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

Mostly worked and coordinateed with the Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The designers and developers are true professionals. They understand your vision and make it a reality. Great to work with! Very efficient, precise, and handle the final details with ease. Will work with again.

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

During the effective planning all important points were discussed, further communication included discussion of current issues.

The progress of the project could be tracked using a special program Active Collab, which is very convenient. The project was completed on time and taking into account all requirements

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

They are a highly skilled and professional team.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of brand experience and public affairs for SAA, the Spondylitis Association of America. We’re the leading nonprofit that supports and advocates for a community of people impacted by spondylarthritis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with UPQODE?

When I came into the organization, we used a platform that was too cumbersome and bulk for an organization of our size. It was also subscription-based at a high price point. It also wasn’t a platform that most folks use. We needed to migrate to a more universal platform, specifically WordPress, that better supported our needs as an organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

UPQODE built a completely new WordPress site for us. They completed the design components too, creating the platform’s UX/UI. Their team implemented e-commerce features, which allowed us to receive donations. We’re a membership-based organization. They carried over the e-commerce functionality that enabled users to sign-up and renew memberships.

Previously, we had a static PDF of patient-recommended rheumatologists that we had to manually update. UPQODE created an interactive directory on our website.

What is the team composition?

I mostly worked with Maria (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with UPQODE?

We searched Clutch and found a list of website developers. We sent the RFP to 12–15 organizations. Based on the returned RFPs with bids, we narrowed our list and interviewed four companies. Following their presentation, we selected UPCODE.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off the project in September 2019 and launched the website in March 2020. One of our departments requested additional requirements that led us into a phase two that ended in early July 2020. We also had them work on a form, which was completed later that month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They looked at the project in ways that we hadn’t considered. For example, we engage with parts of the community that may have difficulty accessing content. UPQODE addressed that in their presentation whereas other vendors that bid on the project didn’t.

We have a complex website that has specific needs. They managed all of our requirements and give us a platform that we like.

How did UPQODE perform from a project management standpoint?

They met deadlines and communicated well. Overall, their time management was good. Their development team was in Ukraine, which presented a challenge. If we reviewed a task, it could take an additional day before their team did the same.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very good at what they do. It was a complex project, and there was fear in my organization about trying to navigate off of our original platform. UPQODE gave us what we needed, which was a user-friendly platform in line with our organization’s position.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was a hurdle to work across time zones. We had to spend more time proofreading the content. When working with an international vendor, those hurdles are expected.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I gave them glowing reviews because of the quality of their work. Again, our website was complex. Be specific and understand that you’ll work across different time zones.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a manager for a large company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with UPQODE?

We never had a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

UPQODE built our website from scratch. Their team managed front- and backend development as well as designed the platform’s UX/UI. They used a WordPress template to build the site.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with a project manager but also communicated with an account manager from time to time. Their team included developers who worked behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with UPQODE?

One of our project coordinators researched different web development companies. Among several others, she found UPQODE. We held interviews and talked with their team, which fit our requirements and budget.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a little more than $5,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in late July 2019, and their team completed the development in April 2020. Right now, they’re maintaining the site.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They created a beautiful website that we love. The site functions to advertise a certain medical procedure, so I can’t speak to any traffic metrics. The website’s a place where we access our own referrals from people researching doctors for a specific procedure.

How did UPQODE perform from a project management standpoint?

UPQODE was communicative and patient with us, which was nice. Our project manager effectively kept the project on track. Due to our own delays, the project went longer than expected. There were also times when we made edits that resulted from a language barrier.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness was their most impressive quality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

On occasion, their developers misunderstood our requests. They could confirm that their team received our feedback. We used a couple of different platforms to collaborate, so I can see how the details got lost.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I didn’t have the time needed to direct the project. If another company wants to hire them as a developer, have all the content ready beforehand and make sure there’s a person dedicated to answering their questions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Business Development Specialist at an online school.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire UPQODE?

Re-design & development of a WordPress site with an online store, website speed optimization.

What were your goals for this project?

We hired UPQODE for a complete redesign of our WordPress website, adding shop pages (WooCommerce development, implementation, and customization). Also, we wanted to increase website speed.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them online. We chose UPQODE because they gave a quick response to our request.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Nick and the team were extremely helpful in website re-design and developing an online store with a nice, professional look. They improved UI/UX design, configured our online store, provided technical SEO, and optimized our website speed. The team got to the bottom of what exactly I wanted to develop and his team finished the product in a timely manner. I would recommend using it again!

What was the team composition?

We worked with 3 persons: project manager, back-end and front-end developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to the user-friendly design and e-commerce implementation, we have the opportunity to market our products and interact with customers online, which has boosted our sales for the first month.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

UPQODE provided very clear and transparent working process through to use special program software Active Collab

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Quick response and professionality

Are there any areas for improvement?

Did not notice

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Project Control Coordinator at GameStop

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire UPQODE?

UI/UX improvements for WordPress website

What were your goals for this project?

The website speed is slow, so we need to optimize our website UX including systems/products as a utility that needs to be usable and efficient at the same time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Saw UPQODE`s projects on Behance and decided to use their services.

Describe the project in detail.

They are committed to their words, professional in their behavior. i.e. My job took them more than double of what they initially expected and proposed me in terms of timing and cost, but they completed to the End, maintaining the high level of quality, without asking additional for that. I strongly recommend them.

What was the team composition?

Personally I communicated only with the Project Manager because there was no reason to involve anyone else in discussing our project. All tasks were performed clearly and in accordance with our wishes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team fulfilled all requirements and provided high-quality services with extremely responsive.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very transparent working process. I had the opportunity to see what tasks are currently active and who is working on them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

UPQODE provided great work in an efficient time. Very professionally!

Are there any areas for improvement?

All good! I have no negative remarks!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an officer at the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire UPQODE?

Update website.

What were your goals for this project?

Update website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Worked with them before.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They updated features and added functionality to our website.

What was the team composition?

Two people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did a fantastic job.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Kept us up to date, and we had a constant feedback loop - A+.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Speed and communication along the way.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Digital Project Director at b2b company that provide IT Services enable mid-sized businesses to quickly expand while keeping your IT current and secure. From safeguarding data, increasing productivity, and offering 24/7/365 support, we protect, manage, and connect the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire UPQODE?

Website design and development

What were your goals for this project?

Creating designs based on simple mock-ups, integrating forms and CTAs with Hubspot

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them on Upwork

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project wasn’t easy since it involved creating designs based on simple mock-ups, integrating forms and CTAs with Hubspot, and at the same time, a tight deadline and a lot of pressure coming from all sides.

What was the team composition?

Mostly we communicated with Project Manager. But some questions we also discuss with 2 web developers and 1 web designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the end, the outcome was extremely positive and we highly recommend Upqode to anyone who wants to create a Wordpress website from scratch, or even to anyone who just wants to make some small improvements.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The agency is organised and allocated designers, developers and project managers to different phases of the project to ensure an excellent end result.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The clarity and transparency of their workflow stood out.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not found shortcomings

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Working on behalf of a company providing equipment for international travel

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire UPQODE?

We needed development skills, innovative thinking and project management

What were your goals for this project?

Adapt the site functionality to be able to used offline and create a simple user experience for customers

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Recommendation from a colleague

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We needed to create an offline version of our website, so customers could access it and get key info, even when there was no internet available.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a project manager and a team of developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team did an Excellent job and create a superb offline version of the site that people could access anywhere in the world

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We were assigned a Project Manager. We communicated by phone, skype, email, and project management tools.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Fast turnaround, easy to work with and great communication.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No - great service

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of a digital education company with the mission of helping women trying to conceive to optimize their natural fertility potentials through online digital courses that focus on a variety of lifestyle factors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with UPQODE?

We were initially reaching out to find somebody who could develop a custom WordPress site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I started out by asking them to take a stab at redesigning one or two pages to give me a feel for whether they would be able to truly enhance the designs we already had. From there, they moved into the full design and development of the site from the ground up. They used the previous design as a framework for everything they needed to include but created a completely new face for the website besides that.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager and worked fairly closely with one of their co-founders as well.

How did you come to work with UPQODE?

I found them from searching for WordPress developers and found them on a couple of sites, including Clutch and decided to work with them based on that.

How much have you invested with them?

The design work was around $5,000 and the development cost about $12,000, so in total, we spent around $18,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their initial proposal came in in October 2019 and our work together is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched the website just yet, but when we’ve provided our style guides to other subcontractors in different spaces, they all compliment the branding work very highly. I’ve worked with 3–4 other marketing firms on a variety of projects, and this group was far and away the most professional.

How did UPQODE perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, their communication was phenomenal, and everything went very smoothly. We worked directly with their designers and developers, and their project manager helped to make sure nothing fell through the cracks.

As long as we gave them feedback in a timely manner, they kept moving and stayed exactly on track. There was never a case where they missed a deadline aside from when we asked them for additional things.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is incredibly upfront and honest about what their skills and capabilities are. At a couple of points, they told us that particular things weren’t realistic for the time or scope of our project, or were outside their skillset, and we really appreciated that honesty. They really take their project management seriously.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything they need to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think the thing that made our partnership as successful as it was is the fact that our communication truly flowed both ways. As much as they were honest with us, I tried to be as clear as possible with the price point and goals that I was looking to accomplish, and that allowed us to be on the same page at all times.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company offers education to individuals who are interested in trading in the stock market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire UPQODE?

We hired Upqode to re-design and develop our website.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to have a website that was fully optimized, and easy to navigate through. In the end, we wanted to be able to edit the site ourselves in case we ever needed to.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them on Upwork.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed and developed our website in about 3 months. We provided the full structure, where we wanted everything, how we wanted it etc.

What was the team composition?

We were in communication with mainly the project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information on how the project went wrong?

The website was poorly optimized and we had constant complaints from prospects and customers on how slow it was. When notifying Upqode, they would not pay any attention to it, but instead, try to feed us some other false things on how its not their fault.

We did NOT want the website to be on a lousy theme which is exactly what they did.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Major issues with time differences. Our website crashed during launch and we weren't able to get in contact with anyone to fix it. It was 5:00 pm EST for us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Major time zone differences - they're located in Ukraine so EST is way off, almost 6-8 hours I believe. The website is poorly optimized. Speed time was slow. Constantly increasing the prices for things like changing an image, or re-directing a page, or changing the product showcased. Ridiculous.

Company Responses

This review was updated by the client on March 23, 2020. The original star ratings were: Overall - 0.5, Quality - 0.5, Schedule - 2, Cost - 2, NPS - 0.5. New content is below:

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Stock Market Lab offers online education services for individuals who are looking to get started in the stock market. It is offered to people all around the world and a large community has been built out of it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Upqode?

We were trying to design and develop a completely new website since we were re-branding.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with Upqode?

We had found them and then interviewed them on Upwork. We also checked out their website and testimonials before proceeding which all seemed good to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested about 2-3 months and $5,000+ on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had a bit of miscommunication which tends to happen, but, after clearing everything up, I can say that they were well engaged on the project and did what they could to make it run successfully.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

Due to some miscommunication we had some mishaps but we were able to move past them and work together to find a positive solution past the conflicts.

How did Upqode address the challenges that arose?

They reached out and attempted to understand why our company felt the way we felt and what they could do to improve our experience, which was a very positive response and a professional way to go about things. We were able to understand each other's perspectives and move forward.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

We were able to improve the optimization of the website and just come to a mutual and positive understanding on how to move together in the future.

How was project management handled?

We were assigned a project manager, Mariia, who had been very helpful to us and ensured a positive project outcome.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

I believe their team is structured very well. I was happy to hear in the beginning that I would have a project manager who would make sure everything was running smoothly, and then several other individuals who were working on the task at hand.

Not only that, it didn’t have to be a back and forth through email. We were able to communicate on this online software which was helpful for better communication.

Also, the design of the site is something we constantly receive compliments on. The designer, Olga, was well skilled and did a great job.

In what specific areas can they improve?

I would just say that we had a bit of miscommunication when speaking through emails which caused conflicts. But other than that, that would be the only key thing.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

I would tell you to go with Upqode. They’re well structured and better than working with a freelancer trying to do 100 things on their own. Upqode will make the process easier for you.