WPRiders

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of First Rate Movers Inc

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a higher-end local residential relocation company serving Ottawa since 2003.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire WPRiders to accomplish?

• Create a web form using Gravity Forms to facilitate estimate requests from our customers.

SOLUTION

How did you find WPRiders?

• Online Search
• codeable

Why did you select WPRiders over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from WPRiders were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We hired WPRiders to design a web form using Gravity Forms to facilitate estimate requests from our customers. They created a custom plugin that uses a Google Calendar API to allow for remotely adjusting availability and rates as well as a Google Maps API for showing customer locations and travel routes. Upon submission, the information is added to a database, sent to us in a customized email, and included in daily reports with basic user info as well as a daily recap of the previous 30 days.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They completed the form design, integrsated the APIs, and customized the output exactly as required. Everything works great.

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

Our interaction began with a thorough discovery meeting via Zoom with Marius who provided me with an estimate and timeline. After accepting their estimate, we had a group meeting with Dragos who was the manager for my project. We went over the project requirements in depth and they got to work promptly. They were very efficient and responsive throughout the whole project which was estimated to take 3-4 weeks to complete but was finished in 3 weeks and on budget. I am very happy with the results.

They had an extremely knowledgeable and competent team that I would highly recommend and would definitely hire again.  

What was your primary form of communication with WPRiders?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were very organized in their approach to the project and very responsive to my input and concerns.

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

Short of their company moving to my time zone so we are all operating during the same hours, I really don't think their is much they could have done better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Project Manager of Bitdefender

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Bitdefender provides cybersecurity solutions with leading security efficacy, performance and ease of use to businesses, mid-market enterprises and consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire WPRiders to accomplish?

• transform the support website in order to offer faster and better solution to our customers
• Reduce the operating costs of the support team.

SOLUTION

How did you find WPRiders?

Referral

Why did you select WPRiders over others?

High ratings, Good value for cost, Referred to me, Company values aligned

What was the size of WPRiders’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

I have to mention this is a very complex website with 7 languages and hundreds of articles. Initially, WPRiders worked on strengthening our website foundation, by fixing various issues. This included typography issues, mobile responsive adjustments for multi-language content, implementing custom validations for different forms, improving website navigation and adding translations.

In the second phase, we implemented a completely new website theme with an improved design and structure. The new theme was 100% mobile responsive and it really simplified content editing by our team. We optimized the speed of the website and integrated custom APIs that power some of our live chat functionalities. A new custom contact flow was implemented and we also created a faster and more reliable website search engine.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• 60% improvement on Core Web Vitals, which in turn lead to a 20% increase in pageviews
• Decreasing our support team workload by 12% which in turn lead to a 15% decrease in support costs

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

We are working mainly through Asana, for task management, and with Slack for realtime communication. Our team is able to get timely updates from the WPRiders team as well as very good project management thanks to this arrangement.

What was your primary form of communication with WPRiders?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

We worked with them for more than 3 years on a complex website and these are some of the few things that we loved about them:

• Predictability - this team is very predictable; I knew what to expect from them right off the bat, from the first meeting and throughout the whole 3 years since we’ve been working together.
• Reliability - the team is highly disciplined and methodic thanks to their culture. They have the right people on board as well as the processes that support the service delivery.
• Technical WordPress accumen - their team had the most compelling knowledge about WordPress and about the challenges we were facing with our support website.

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

Nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Paperwork Pros, Inc. (DBA No-Code Developers)

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Paperwork Pros offers two products both related to the no-code software industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire WPRiders to accomplish?

• To help complete the development of our platform marketplace called No-Code Developers (no-codedevelopers.com)
• To help provide critical WordPress and PHP development leadership and skills important to the project.

SOLUTION

How did you find WPRiders?

Online Search

Why did you select WPRiders over others?

Other

What was the size of WPRiders’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

No-Code Developers (no-codedevelopers.com) is a niche platform marketplace site where businesses can find qualified no-code developers to work on projects. The scope of the project was to complete the development of the No-Code Developers custom developed on WordPress so that the first release could go live.

This scope involved a great deal of WordPress custom programming related to functionality of how both Developers and Employers register on the site, how Employers Post projects to the site, how Developers bid on these projects, how Employers select a Developer for their project, a Workroom environment where Employers and Developers can collaborate to deliver the project using the platform, integration to Stripe for handle allowing Employers to put funds in escrow and later release funds, a rating system for both Employers and Developers, and much more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• We were able to launch the No-Code Developers marketplace with a better product than I envisioned for the go-live launch.
• It was a pleasure working with WPRiders as we worked on the project (which to me is very important).

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

WPRiders is an awesome company for many reasons. One of those is that they really know how to successfully work with customers to deliver successful projects. A big part of the success of our project was that we were assigned an amazing WPRiders project manager.

They did a great job delivering items on time and they always responded to our needs. What I really appreciate about our assigned WPRiders project manager is that he was a former WordPress developer. His experience as a WordPress developer and a project manager made him very effective in managing our project.

What was your primary form of communication with WPRiders?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The vendor really cared about our company and the success of our project. WPRiders is also unique in that they have more than just talented developers, they have skilled project managers and follow a disciplined approach to delivering projects.

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

I am so pleased with WPRiders that I can't think of anything they need to improve. This isn't an area for improvement but I really liked the people that I worked with at WPRiders and we built good relationships during the course of the project. On a more personal side, I would some day enjoy meeting the WPRiders people face to face since we did everything through online meetings and electronic communications. They seem like great people to spend time with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

StruSoft is an innovative Swedish company with more than 40 years of experience developing specialist Structural Design Software. I'm an executive.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired WP Riders to support the development of a new company website. The old website although functional and designed well on the front end has a custom CSS which made it almost impossible for us to update plug-ins and integrate with other marketing technologies.

The goal was to create a new company website that the look/feel was similar to the old website but the backend was Word Press but to do that we needed a web developer to bring more functionality/features than currently in standard WP.

SOLUTION

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

We were recommended WP Riders but a marketing consultant we are were working with in Romania. The CEO was very impressed with a website they had done for a company in Denmark which gave them a good reference too. They seem quite flexible and more than capable of developing the functionality we required and in the timeframe.

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

There's too much detail to describe and also confidential so won't go into detail. But will say the Project Manager from WP Riders was fantastic and we used Trello to define the work and keep us all organised.

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

Project Manager, Quality Control and few developers,

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's confidential but we are very happy with the work done by WP Riders in a timely and professional manner. The quality of the development and on-going support/advice is fantastic.

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

Open, flexible. They used Google hangouts or something for online meetings.

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

The speed of their development is very impressive.

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

Not on the work we requested them to do, can't fault it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Daniel, and I manage one SaaS in Digital Marketing niche. Outreach. Buzz‘s purpose is to help people connect with influencers and bloggers to publish and promote their content, increase their traffic, and reach the highest ranks in search engines.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WPRiders?

Our previous developers team left us at the end of 2019 with an almost dried up budget and a buggy app part done in Laravel part in WordPress. The user and billing was done in Wordpress while the list management and outreach system was done in Laravel. We hired WPRiders to check the code already done, and find a cost effective solution to have a functional app in Wordpress by porting the functionality done in Laravel.

SOLUTION

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

I was checking Clutch for reliable and cost-effective development teams with special attention to developers that can get very technical. Checking the case studies of WPRiders I was impressed with the custom solutions they've created. I decided they can help me find a cost-effective solution to my problem.

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

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project. I contacted the WPRiders team through their project details form explaining to them what I need to be done. The next day I was contacted by Mr. Marius Vetrici which is by my understanding, the company owner and the tech lead and we established a quick call. During the call, I've explained once again my problem with more details pointing out exactly my goals.

Mr. Vetrici said they have an IT consulting service that is designated exactly for people like me that are looking for the best and cost-effective setup with WordPress. I've ordered the service and after filling the project details brief they started working. Next week they came back with the results. WPRiders outlined exactly what the issues are with the current Laravel App. They also confirmed that the best way to continue the project is to port it on WordPress.

Also, they explained to me what plugins they recommend and what custom work needs to be done. I was thrilled to see they found cost-effective solutions. Besides that, they showed me how they used the plugins on past implementations and what the results look like.

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

Their CEO, Mr. Marius Vetrici was our main point of contact.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On the project completion, I was able to have a complete picture of how the project looks like, what are the best resources to use, the time frame for completion, and the budget required. Using the report they provided I've acquired the recommended plugins and with my internal team, I was able to complete the project at a fraction of the cost asked by WordPress development teams.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was completed on time. The calls and meetings were always taken on time, too.

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

I appreciated their expertise and experience in developing platforms and marketplaces on WordPress.

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

Nothing I can think of at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At any given moment, there is $70M of excess raw material ingredients in the approximately 300 cosmetic and personal care contract manufacturers in the US. This is caused by high minimum order quantities, changes in demand or uncontrollable macro-economic factors.

These chemicals eventually are thrown out harming not only a manufacturers profits, but also the environment. I am the CEO and co-founder of BuyByeSupply. We provide an online b2b marketplace that facilitates the buying and selling of these raw material remnants.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WPRiders?

Currently, there are only a couple avenues to offload remnants before destroying them. They include convincing the OEM to take a return of the unused remnants, convincing the distributor to take them back or cold calling other manufacturers to see if they had a need for the product.

These solutions are time consuming and seldom delivered any results. As a startup with no web development expertise among our founders, we needed a partner to create a marketplace website with some specific differences from the average c2c or b2c marketplaces.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a minimally viable product (MVP) that could prove out our idea with real customers for as little money as possible. The solution had to be a frictionless conduit between companies who are, in many cases, competitors. It needed to be simple, anonymous and easy to use. We anticipate large transaction so there also had to be an escrow component that protected all parties against fraud.

The biggest hurdle was to create something that users, who are not accustomed to using the internet to buy and sell products for work, could feel comfortable using and one that did not take much time away from their everyday tasks.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

WPRiders were selected after an extensive search that was narrowed down to 3 firms. We needed an agency who communicated well, had a track record of delivering results, understood business needs as well as web development, appeared eager for our business and was able to deliver everything on budget.

Clear and honest communication during the development process was also a very important factor in our decision. I enjoyed speaking to Marius and could sense that he understood our needs.

His agency also had received excellent reviews from past projects and we felt that, while his wasn't the lowest bid, we would get more for our money.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

WPRiders worked with me to establish a scope of work including a process flow that we all agreed on before development began. This gave a framework for the work to be done and also set expectations for what I would receive and when. Once we agreed, the development and testing teams took over and began work.

I was updated via email throughout the process and had a standing meeting via video call every Wednesday. On this call, I was given a progress report on what had been accomplished and we walked through any questions they had. It was during this time that I had an opportunity to provide feedback on what had been done and what was about to be done.

This prevented any surprises or unexpected disconnects between us. When the site was completed and tested on the developers end, I was given an opportunity to test the site.

Anything I found that was not what I expected or that didn't work the way I had intended, they quickly fixed. Once complete, the team trained me as if I was a user as well as a detailed training on how to administer the site.

What was the team composition?

My contact throughout the process was Andrei Oprea, the Customer Success Manager for WPRiders. He had a team of developers and testers who turned my vision into a reality.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're still very early in the process. We have our first training on using the site with our early adopter companies scheduled for next week. They will be taught how to list their remnants and how the entire process works from end-to-end.

Despite our early state, we have very high hopes based on the feedback we've received. Each of our customers are excited to begin using the site and most of them have offered to provide their expertise and even invest in our business pre-revenue.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was a dream. As mentioned, we had a very clear roadmap that clearly defined the scope of work and when each step was to be completed. The communication was consistent and, when there was a hiccup, we were able to tackle them before it delayed our launch.

We communicated via email for most small things but I had access to their calendars and could set up a Google Meet or Skype any time I needed. WPRiders is based in Bucharest, Romania and English is a second language for most or all of the team.

However, there was absolutely never a language barrier or an accent that made our communication difficult in any way.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive strengths are organization, communication, business acumen and technical expertise.

I felt they knew exactly what I expected each step of the way, we communicated easily to prevent double work and avoid mistakes, they understood what I needed and, in many cases, made changes knowing that it's what I would want and created a very robust MVP website that has more functionality than I had even hoped.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only problem I had is a geographical one. Because I'm in California and they are in Romania, we had a smaller window with which to communicate. If I sent an email in the afternoon my time, it was the middle of the night there.

Fortunately, I never had a problem that could't wait a few hours for an answer that was always waiting for me on my email when I woke up the next morning.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Revive Social is a website dedicated to help people get the most out of social media, we blog on everything social media as well as having a Product called "Revive Old Posts" which is a social media marketing plugin for WordPress. I do product management and software development for Revive Old Posts

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WPRiders?

We hired WP Riders to help with Software Development as we didn't have enough hands on deck for the features we were trying to push out in the timeframe we were trying to do so.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a simpler process of connecting social media accounts to Revive Old Posts as well as a custom remote cron system which would ping websites to ensure their scheduled social media posts are going out

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Heard about them from a colleague who knew about the company

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Software development and QA testing, specifically in WordPress/PHP

What was the team composition?

There were 4 team members during our early weekly meetings, consisting of the CEO himself, a project manager who oversaw the meetings, a QA tester and the Developer. At the later stages, when the project was nearly done it became 3 team members: Project manager, QA tester and Developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development help from WP riders has really helped push Revive Old Posts forward. We've seen an increase in positive ratings for the product as one of our goals were making the plugin more user friendly by fixing little bugs that would affect user's experience. They've helped tremendously when it comes to implementing big and small features for the plugin as an extra pair of coding hands!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

No project management was needed really, we mostly needed the development assistance. We did have a project manager from WP Riders at the weekly meetings but his job was mostly to keep time and issue the invoices to us and ensure everything matches up. We created a Project on Github where we created some boards for tasks such as "scheduled for this week", "working on", "testing", "in review"

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Weekly meetings always happened on the times they needed to as well as how long they needed to. Also, the development help from a knowledgeable, experienced programmer and easy-going developer was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I'd gotten so used to the CEO being at the weekly meetings that when we got closer to the end of the project and he stopped attending(which is understandable) that I thought some better communicating could have been done to inform me of that. But weekly meetings continued as normal and I just got used to the fact that since the project is nearly done theres no reason for him to sit-in anymore

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and creative director of The Bureau of Small Projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

We worked with WPRiders on a high-end bathroom site for configuring bathroom accessories in London. It’s a chic company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company focuses on design and branding—this particular project required sophisticated website coding. There was a custom product bathroom builder that we had to build, which involved complex customizations. It was built for WooCommerce, but they had to create the custom plugin and code the entire site.

We started with a discovery call with the client. After that, WPRiders put together user stories and flow charts for everything that needed to be done.

What is the team composition?

From their side, it was about five people. I interfaced originally with Marius (CEO & Founder), and Andrei (Director of Operations) was the project manager. There were a few developers behind them.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

We’re involved with Codeable.io. It’s a platform for the best WordPress developers. We worked with them through there.

How much have you invested with them?

In the end, we spent $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2019–February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

WPRiders grasped the project in the beginning and executed it almost flawlessly. The quality of the code was spectacular. It was very clean. We audit all of the code that comes through our company. This was as good as anything we’ve seen.

The end product went very smoothly, and it corresponded very closely with the flow charts that were created in discovery. There were not a lot of adjustments that needed to be made.

The client is going to be doing marketing services with us. The best metric we have with any client is them ordering repeat work with us.

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the best things about WPRiders is that they take everything off our plate. Their project manager takes care of all the details and takes all of the meetings.

We have a great communication flow. They meet deadlines. When something goes wrong, they work around the clock to make sure it goes smoothly. I don’t have anything bad to say about them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The one thing that distinguishes them is the ability to understand the project’s scope. The discovery phase of the project was great. They also know how to make complex projects simple, which is hard to find with developers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I couldn’t say anything. They’re pretty flawless.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring them in early on in the project. Their expertise is great in understanding the full scope of a complex project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the publisher of an online media platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

We had previously spent a lot of money on web development for this platform with another company. We had an audit done in the summer and were told there were some major flaws and problems with our site. The company that did all of the work didn’t seem to understand how to be strategic when thinking about the big picture of a website as complex as ours. We hired WPRiders to retool, improve, and fix the problems we had.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re currently working on the web development process and have completed 2–3 tasks so far. I didn’t give them wireframes but I gave them a lot of documentation. They’re working through a WordPress site. So far, they’ve gone through the plug-ins and recommended that we delete some of them. At some point, they’ll be recoding some of them into simpler, more efficient plug-ins.

What is the team composition?

Marius (CEO, WPRiders) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

Several people recommended them to us and they were also highly rated on Codeable, which is a WordPress vetting site.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $5,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019 and the work is currently ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We ran our site through several metrics before and after their work so far and there’s already a considerable amount of improvement. 

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the best agency developer I’ve ever worked with in that sense. Everything is organized and on target. They have great communication skills.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very smart and have the ability to offer strategic thinking, insight, and are able to see how the whole project fits together. Especially a site like ours being built by someone else, a lot of good developers didn’t even want to take it on because of that, but Marius just jumped right in and he’s doing a great job. He’s not just doing web development; he’s trying to see how the development of this website will contribute to my business objectives and how we can make it sustainable and functional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a managing partner for an HR startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

We hired WPRiders to help define a couple of aspects on our website before we made our first presentation in front of some investors. We needed someone with WordPress expertise to make these changes to the features.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

To start, we briefly discussed our functional needs but didn’t go into much technical detail. Our platform allows companies to create profiles to meet with potential clients and essentially serves as a marketplace for recruitment services. WPRiders worked to implement the features we needed to improve the site according to our requirements. 

What is the team composition?

We first interacted with Marius (General Manager & Founder, WPRiders). When the development started, we worked with a technical teammate from WPRiders.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

We looked in our own network and used Upwork, but we didn’t have any results. We got in contact with a few developers and, through some of my partner’s connections, he found WPRiders. He contacted them and briefly informed them about our project. We then started to discuss the requirements with Marius.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $1,800 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August–September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

WPRiders implemented all the features we wanted and we were thrilled with the results.

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team stayed within the framework we agreed upon. We mostly communicated via email and Skype calls. There were additional small adjustments we asked for and they completed it without any additional cost, which was great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

WPRiders was very helpful in understanding our feedback and implementing all the changes we needed. Their willingness to do it after the initial development phase was impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since they’re based in the same city as us, it would have been nice to have a face-to-face meeting.