Drupal Portfolio

About Demand Metric

Demand Metric is a marketing research & advisory firm. They support 75,000 members globally with tools & templates, webinars, and consultation. 

Discover more at demandmetric.com

The Challenge

Demand Metric needed a long-term technical partnership with a company that could implement any idea.

They were frustrated with their previous development company telling them they couldn’t implement their ideas. When Demand Metric found us, they were excited to hear that we really could do anything.

The Strategy

Demand Metric wanted to provide their members with a unique social network to add value to them while avoiding exorbitant annual subscription costs of a pre-packaged solution. ClikFocus was able to build one to their exact specifications and needs which includes:

• Members Lounge - a section to find out what's going on in the community.
• Ask an Expert - an area where members can get advice from peers and the expert staff at Demand Metric.
• Product Roadmap - users have direct access to the DM staff and peers propose new ideas and enhance products.
• Helpdesk - much more effective than "contact us", users get peer-generated help and advice from DM staff.

To stay “lean and mean”, the DM staff knew they had to do something to mitigate the rise of manual data entry that would come part and parcel with increased memberships. With a larger-than-average list of external tools, they were having a dreadful time keeping all their data in sync. It had become obvious that improving to a fully automated system that could sync all their tools was now a necessity. These tools included:

• Pardot - a powerful tracking tool. In addition to its tracking capabilities, Demand Metric was using it to handle all of their email subscriptions. Users are automatically updated as they change their subscription, sign up, or downgrade to a free membership. This allows Demand Metric to send relevant email and other forms of communication to users based on their current subscription.
• Highrise - a popular Customer Relationship Management tool. Demand Metric had been manually adding all of their paid users to Highrise. Not only did we eliminate that need for all of this manual data entry, we got the free users in as well. We also tracked user activity on the site, so that Demand Metric would already know what was going on with their customers: without that added manual entry work.
• Recurly - We integrated this tool to make it ultra easy for them to manage subscribers and automatic recurring payments. Their previous tool was a spreadsheet (among other things). Not only did Recurly make things easier for them, but it made it easier for their customers as well. Changing subscription plans was as simple as it should be: just click "upgrade" and you can start taking advantage of your new plan.
• Kashoo - an online bookkeeping tool that Demand Metric was already using. They were manually entering every recurring transaction from their system into Kashoo. A large portion of their members are on monthly subscriptions that had to be manually entered every single month. Going from 10,000 members to 20,000 members would have been a lot less fun if someone had to keep doing all that by hand.

The Results

Demand Metric is confident in our team to take their ideas, bring insight and advice to improve on them, and implement solutions in a way that is scalable and easily modified. We’ve seen them:

• More than double memberships in the first year
• Add 70,000 members over the course of our partnership
• Significant time and money savings through the implementation of business workflow automations that handle their CRM, payments, bookkeeping, and more.
• Roll out a custom-built social network that adds significant value.

Capabilities Utilized

• E-Commerce System
• Recurring Donation System
• Mobile Optimized Site
• Extensive Business Automation
• Custom-built Social Network
• Advanced Search - Smart Filtering, Predictive Search, Direct Menu Linking

About the City

The City of Colorado Springs consistently ranks at the top of a variety of positive lists such as “Best Town”, “Fittest City in America”, and many others. With 300 days of sunshine and scores of active family-friendly activities to choose from, Colorado Springs is the perfect place for those of us who want to live happy.

Discover more at coloradosprings.gov.

The Challenge

Fundamentally, the City’s former site suffered from an inconsistent user experience and navigational issues. Each department in the City Government had their own design, site-structure, and navigation which left the site cluttered and confusing for users.

Strategy & Results

• Consistent Experience - All content is being processed by the same codebase, which guarantees a consistent visual experience throughout the site.
• Engaging Images - We supplied each department with an image library to select engaging images to be displayed on the background of their pages. By doing this, we can ensure high-quality photos are used while still giving the content creators creative freedom. For images embedded in the content, our codebase automatically formats the images to fit in the content beautifully. No more HTML hacking needed on their end — the website does all the heavy lifting and styling for them.
• Categorical Navigation - We decreased the number of menus to avoid distraction and confusion. This allows users to navigate quickly around the site. Whereas previously, users had to understand how the city departments were structured to know where to find information on the site, now the topics are centered around their thought process. We focused on eliminating the clutter to place emphasis on the content and a specific featured items area.
• Create Once, Publish Everywhere - When an employee creates and publishes one piece of information, it gets placed under multiple categories so users can intuitively find information based on their own mental model.
• Advanced Search - With over 50% of users being search-dominant (link is external), we wanted to provide a great experience to help them find things quickly, with multiple ways to perform queries. We implemented a search tool that provides richer results with supporting images and department location. With the Apache Solr search tool, users get a helping hand when finding information:

• • Autocomplete within search box
  • Search suggestions and spelling corrections
  • Narrow results by category from search page
  • Limit search within designated category
    
    
• Content Workflow - Our implementation focused on maintaining content quality while decreasing overhead needed to produce it. The new workflow lets employees complete the entire content process online, further enabling them to maximize the new web system.
• Mobile Site - With 52% of today's users using mobile to perform localized searches, we knew it was important to provide a great experience that gets users relevant information quickly. We carried over the desktop theme and information structure to create a cohesive environment to minimize confusion when switching between devices. We emphasized the use of action-oriented links to reflect the mobile use case scenario for on-the-go information. The additional site does not require any extra administrative work.
• Speed & Performance - To enable a faster search and navigation experience on the website, we placed our focus on better uptime and scalability. The backend server system is designed to handle large spikes or steady traffic increases with no decrease in speed or performance using Varnish caching. With this boost, we have lowered response times to less than half a second.
• Training & Onboarding - With so many employees responsible for the site’s content and upkeep, it was critical that each member receive the relevant and necessary orientation. We provided both hands-on training and tutorial videos to get employees on board faster and producing great content.

About Send Hope

Send Hope is an international outreach based out of Boise, Idaho. They extend HIV and leprosy care, education for at-risk children, disaster relief, and take on many special projects in several developing nations. It was really exciting for us to be able to work with an organization with such a great vision.

Learn more about their cause at sendhopenow.org.

The Challenge

We had a mission to improve site usability and streamline the donations process to help Send Hope further their mission.

Send Hope needed to address a fractured system that required a level of manual administration that prohibited scaling their effectiveness. With a limited administrative staff, they really needed a system that worked for them. They needed a system that could handle a high-level of automation and recurring donation options while also remaining simple from an administrative standpoint for ease of updating.

They also suffered from a lack of accessibility when it came to navigation from mobile devices and a donations process that was cumbersome, leading to users to abandon the process before it was complete. We helped to improve their donor interface, to help cut down on call volume to their support staff.
The Strategy

Send Hope reached out to several different firms. One proposed an amount that was outside of their budget, and the firm didn’t even sound confident that they could complete the project according to specs. ClikFocus was the only firm who provided a clear plan of action. Once partnered, we:

• Built a custom, automated donation system according to specifications that met their needs. This included a notification system to let donors know when their payments were going to be deducted and also when payments failed with a direct link to their payment settings to allow them to update their information. It also supports eCheck payment options in checkout for recurring donations.
• Improved the interface for their current donors. This has helped to cut down on support requests by making it easier for their donors to manage their own donations.
• Donors have a clearer picture of their recurring donations due to an improved “Sponsorship Center” which
• Designed a cleaner, responsive site that allows users to easily navigate on whatever device they use.
• Launched the site before the crucial December donation period when they get the most, and largest, donations of the year. (Timing is everything!)
• Added reports for the Send Hope team so they could reach out to sponsors who were behind on their commitment. This was especially valuable for their donors who pay manually by check. In the past they had been flying blind and hadn't had access to valuable retention information.

The Results

• Donors have a clearer picture of their recurring donations due to an improved “Sponsorship Center” which displays the information about each of their sponsorships at a glance.
• Staff have the ability to quickly update all information on a sponsorship from one location.
• Staff can setup a future donation using the system so they can catch new donors without delay.
• The onboarding process is more automated to alleviate the need for staff to contact donors manually.
• Welcome letters are sent to new sponsors automatically letting them know they can expect a more detailed packet by mail.
• Donors can now use eChecks for direct bank donations. This brings down the cost per transaction for Send Hope to a fixed, per-transaction charge instead of a percentage. This has reduced their operating cost.

Capabilities Utilized

• E-Commerce System
• Recurring Donation System
• Mobile Optimized Site
• Business Automation

About Music Mind Games

Music Mind Games, founded by author and Suzuki piano teacher Michiko Yurko, offers innovative curriculum, interactive materials, and exciting games that empower parents and educators to teach music theory and create music literacy like never before! We had a lot of fun working on this one.

Discover more at musicmindgames.com. 
 
The Challenge

Music Mind Games educational offerings, (games, materials, curriculum, etc.) are are at their best when approached holistically, but their former Drupal 5 site failed to connect the dots in a user-friendly way. It was apparent that a suggestive and streamlined shopping experience that directly connected with selected activities was a critical need.

Furthermore, effectively constructing an easy-to-use membership-based site with access to premium content through recurring membership fees under the same roof as a robust commerce system was not a customary undertaking for most development companies.

Strategy & Results

Once Music Mind Games partnered with ClikFocus, we set out to find solutions to the presented challenges while honoring a modest budget. Through advanced discovery & architectural collaboration, the Client and Provider decided upon a Phase 1 iteration that would take business to another level. Implemented strategies included:

• Full system architecture/rebuild
• Responsive design based off of Google’s material designs
• Recurring Payment System
• Members-only access to materials and content
• Training and content strategy
• Business process automation including order fulfillment, logistics, and reconciliation.

Capabilities Utilized

• E-Commerce System
• Recurring Payment System
• Membership Subscription System
• Mobile Optimized Site
• Business Automation

About Peace First

For over twenty-five years, non-profit organization Peace First has encouraged youth to become peacemakers and address the social injustices within their communities to make the world a better place. We were thrilled to help this organization grow this admirable vision!

Discover more at peacefirst.org.

The Challenge

While Peace First initially transitioned into the digital landscape through WordPress, the platform was not robust enough to support their goals of unifying the peacemaking community and expanding their outreach. 

As a result, Peace First elected to consolidate their existing sites into one Drupal site that could better provide young people access to the resources, networks, and capital necessary for challenging social injustices.

Strategies

• Functionality that matters - While many features could have met Peace First’s needs, it was critical to find the features that would most effectively support a heavy-content load and online community. Our interest in contributing to Peace First’s vision allowed us to recommend the appropriate technical solutions and integrate features with the functionality necessary for reaching their overarching goals. 
• Unified users via a unified platform - To provide Peace First with a scalable solution for a content-heavy site, we migrated the content from four WordPress sites into one Drupal site. During this process, we maintained relationships with existing users, project memberships, categorization, and more to preserve the existing community and create a one-stop resource for peacemakers.
• A user experience to encourage peacemaking - With Peace First’s four essentials of peacemaking in mind, we sought to enhance the user experience by better meeting the peacemakers’ needs. Not only did we make content more easily accessible and personal profiles available, but we ensured that a mobile version of the site was available to enrich the peacemakers’ sense of community.
• Build a foundation for growing the vision - Peace First desires to encourage conversation among peacemakers and continue growing that community. To meet these goals, we implemented several comment types, easily navigable threads, and voting capabilities to drive user interaction, while the improved organization and accessibility prepared the site to sustain future growth.  
• Maximize the reach of donor funding - To achieve their vision, Peace First needed to maximize their allocation of donor funding: In other words, we needed to offer a cost-effective solution that would help them to grow their mission. By blending their design ideas with their vision and budget goals, we proposed a system with a stronger architecture and platform that would support their desire to reach youth worldwide and sustain long-term growth.

Results

By leveraging the social features Peace First desired, we created an environment for users that is both fun and easy to use. We also followed standard coding conventions to make it simple for Peace First’s in-house developer to perform site maintenance. With the platform’s launch, Peace First found that:

• User traffic increased five-fold
• Their user base grew to 48 states
• Their user base went global (89 countries)

We are enthusiastic to have provided Peace First with a platform that is already growing the peacemaking community and mission. We loved working with this organization and look forward to seeing how they continue to make an impact.

About The ADA Legacy Project

The ADA Legacy Project works to preserve the history of the disability rights movement, celebrates its milestones, and educates the public and future generations of advocates for a world in which every citizen is accepted for who they are. We were really fortunate to work with an organization with such a positive platform.

You can learn more about their cause at adalegacy.com.

The Challenge

When we first started working with The ADA Legacy Project, they were without a website. With many events happening nationwide, they wanted to provide news, updates, and information to their users.

After a successful launch, we've continued to work with them and support them as they've sought to expand their reach. We've helped them to launch new initiatives and to spread their message.

We've also helped them to navigate ongoing changes, increased traffic, security threats, and changes to the organizational vision as they sustain growth.

The Strategy

To increase awareness and participation for events hosted across the country thus furthering the cause:

• All information and designs fully ADA compliant.
• Users can control text size and preferences with easy UI.
• Downloadable Media Kit for promoting ADA25 Anniversary Celebration events.
• Interactive map and calendar to highlight events in various regions and states.

The Results

In 2015, The ADA Legacy tour celebrating 25 years of disability rights was a huge triumph. They have become a central hub for ADA events, information, and awareness.

Most recently, in late 2015 and through 2016, they've been raising awareness through their DisBeat initiative. It's been a great success so far, and we're excited to see what the rest of the year holds as they further their message.

About the Tobacco Merchants Association

Established in 1915, the Tobacco Merchants Association (TMA) is the oldest non-profit Tobacco Trade Association. As a leading source for educating those in the industry or related fields, TMA empowers its members to develop, discuss, and debate their thoughts on tobacco and nicotine matters.

Discover more at tma.org.

The Challenge

After just over a decade of using the same site, TMA felt it was time for a revamp. However, with the largest collection of searchable online information for their industry, and as a leading forum for its industry’s issues, TMA struggled to find a team with the skills needed to migrate such a substantial amount of content, as well as preserve its ever-growing online community. 

That’s when TMA connected with us. Their goal was to not only preserve their existing community and its plethora of content but acquire a new and improved Drupal web system that offered the support and scalability needed to accommodate future growth.

Strategies

• More than an upgrade: a total refresh - TMA’s website hadn’t changed since its creation in 2001 and, as such, was ready for a major upgrade. In this way, we moved TMA’s existing site content onto the Drupal CMS, which would allow them to continue expanding their resources and community for those in the tobacco and nicotine industry.
• A membership system that serves its users - As noted, TMA hopes to continue growing as its online community for those in its industry. With this in mind, we developed a membership system that puts their members first by making it simple for users to find, access, and save content. From the new Site Search tool to the subscription feature, this upgraded system provides users with quick and easy access to the latest site updates and content, supporting TMA’s goal to remain a relevant source of information for their industry.
• A bigger & better eCommerce system - In addition to acquiring more members, TMA strives to continue acquiring funding to offer a greater number of resources, events, and more for its members. As a result, we provided TMA with an enhanced ecommerce system that would not only simplify managing the site, invoices, and more, but generate an increase in memberships and membership upgrades.  
• Preserved status as a leading resource - During TMA’s site migration, TMA desired to maintain its relationships with its existing members, as well as remain the go-to online resource for those in the tobacco and nicotine industry. As such, we smoothly transferred over 15 years worth of publications (~1 million pieces of content), along with their user base of ~3,000 users, to the new platform. 
• A foundation designed with the future in mind - TMA wanted a software solution that would last into the future. Switching to Drupal was the most crucial step in developing a site prepared to handle TMA’s abundance of publications and its ever-growing user base. Additionally, we followed standard coding conventions to make site maintenance possible for TMA’s in-house developer.

The Results

While TMA initially faced the challenge of finding a team that could get the job done, we were able to step in and bring this project to a close. Through our migration of thousands of pieces of content onto a stronger CMS, along with our development of stronger ecommerce and membership systems, TMA has now acquired a fully refreshed site. 

Since its launch, TMA has seen a two-fold increase in membership, and now with a bigger and better platform, the organization is ready to see more growth in the future. We’ve enjoyed working with TMA and hope that this new platform allows them to continue acting as a leading source and platform for dialogue for their industry.