What are the key criteria for selecting a web agency?
When selecting a web agency what do you look for and what is most important to you?
Good Answers (2)
Jason A.
Director of Products at digital-telepathy
Best Answers in: Internet Marketing (3), Branding (1)
Hi Kees
I think the answer will really vary based on what you're hiring them for - is it a B2C online campaign, or a new web app? Maybe something in-between?
Depending on what you're looking for help with, the relative importance of all the following attributes will shift around, with some being more important than others - I think you'll find that all are applicable, though:
Experience
It's important to know how long the agency has been working together - not just their staff's individual career experience. This is not to say you shouldn't hire a younger agency, just that the longer the staff has worked together, the more likely they are to have established smooth processes for rolling out projects.
Skillset & Core Competencies
Before you hire a web agency, do a little independent research on the skills that you need for your project or web needs. Just because your candidate agency has decades of experience with, say, ASP websites, and says they can do it, doesn't mean that that's the best technology for the job. If anything, look for an agency with a wide range of tech skillsets (aka 'technology agnostic') - this way, they're more likely to approach the job using the right tools, instead of figuring out how to do the work with the tools they know best.
Creativity
Like with any agency, the work should stand out, either for its ease of use, its user experience, its innovative use of the medium, etc. Does their work excite or impress you?
Pricing Structure
Take a good look at the pricing structure of their proposal - does it make reasonable assumptions? Proceed with caution if you're quoted a fixed cost for your job. Although it may seem like a bargain, what happens if your requirements change? Or if the job is bigger than they expected? Notice how I didn't say "cost" here - good tech work is costly, and for good reason. If you cut corners, things are more likely to go wrong, and be expensive to fix. If given the choice, pay more and get it done right first time.
Documentation & Maintenance
Ask about the transition process when a project is finished, and try to see an example of the documentation or training they provide - this is especially important for more complex web-apps, since you don't want to run up the tab with conference calls to ask about this or that icon/function/menu setting. What's the arrangement after handover? Will your internal resources take on the day-to-day management, or will the agency remain involved in some way? Make sure to clarify this.
Communication & Availability
Personally, I think this is one of the most important traits. Does the agency speak to you in terms that you understand? A good web agency will partner with you not only to do the work, but to help guide you through the process and anticipate (to a reasonable extent) needs or issues you didn't even think to ask about. They're the experts, so you're depending on them for guidance, not blind execution. As for availability, it's not always reasonable to expect them to answer on the first ring 24/7/365, but just be sure to clarify what the process is when, say the website goes down, or something goes wrong.
Data Ownership
This is the other biggie. Make sure any customer/application data is hosted with a reliable third party and accessible to you. The last thing you want is for there to be a falling-out for whatever reason, and for your priceless data to be held hostage, or encoded in a proprietary format, making it near impossible to move to another agency, if necessary.
Hope that's helpful!
Due diligence in the vendor selection process can make or break the project, so knowing what to look for is paramount. Here are some suggestions:
Experience
You can tell a great deal about a web firm by how long they’ve been in business. A track record of proven success will demonstrate their expertise, reliability, character and integrity. Web technology is a constantly evolving medium; an established firm continuously adapts to the ever-changing industry landscape. A good design and development shop will demonstrate their know-how and guide you through the myriad of variables.
Moreover, evaluate a company’s clientele. High-power names are impressive, but investigate the length of those relationships. Ask for references and follow-up accordingly. Any reputable firm will provide this information without delay.
Design Ability, Artistry and Creativity
It’s somewhat obvious, but make certain the firms’ designers can actually design. First, evaluate a company’s website: if the look and feel of their own site is not attractive and engaging how can they provide something of real quality for you? Next, move on to their portfolio: it should display a good selection of design alternatives and industry types. As with any art form web design preferences are subjective, but a good portfolio should demonstrate certain principles. Most importantly, the artistic value and style should be to your liking.
Methodology
Gain a comfort level with the specifics of the design and development process. Make certain you understand the exact nature of the deliverables, and the milestones that are associated with every aspect of the project. Web design and development can be highly technical, but have the vernacular distilled down into simple and understandable terminology. Be wary of any firm that won’t take the time to explain their process, or attempts to confuse you with computer-gobble-de-gook and geek-speak. Most importantly, don't be afraid to ask questions.
Customer Service and On-Going Support
A web project can take as little as a few weeks, or it can last for several months – a good working relationship is a must. A good design and development shop should have a humanistic attitude towards their clients and be willing to work together. This attribute is just as important as ability and experience. A firm that’s worth your time makes customer service a priority and values honesty, availability and professionalism
Of course the relationship shouldn’t end when your project is complete. What is the vendor’s process for on-going site maintenance, support and consulting? Again, technology is very fluid: new products and services are developed every day. Your chosen firm should have a commitment to their current clients, and be an invaluable resource for straight and honest advice.
These simple guidelines will be a tremendous asset when sorting through your short-list of vendor candidates. Still, there isn’t one hard and fast rule that’s set in stone; intuition and instinct can often be important deciding factors as well.
Best of luck,
Rich
DC Web Designers
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KC K.
Product Executive
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Effective solution that results in my company's sales, at a reasonable cost.
Christine H.
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Demonstrated results with other websites that speak to my audience.
Great post from Jason,
I would also add:
- references from customers of that agency. It is important to hear what clients say;
- size. For some tasks and some clients smaller agencies may be better, while for others the bigger partners are preferred;
- delivery model. It is neither good or bad, but you often need to know, where your agency developers are situated. From one hand, if they are offshore, it may explain the lower price, suspicious otherwise. From the other hand, If your project may require on-site job, you will need an agency with local specialists.
Jacqui C.
Marketing & SEO | Book Writer & Product Creator | Marketing & Writing Workshops
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There's not a lot to add to the good answers above.
However, there are two types of web design agency - those who make purely pretty sites, and those who know something about marketing. make sure you go for the latter.
Fahed B.
Entrepreneur, Advisor, Writer & Speaker
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Results as proven through case studies.
Jason F.
Social media speaker, consultant and resource
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It depends on what you want them for. You can have a company that takes your ideas and builds them or you can have a partner that builds ideas that help your company. Too many clients I work with have a web agency that "does our website." But they only take the client's direction and ideas and implement them. A good web agency helps you define what your website should do and proactively works for you to make it do just that.
Links:
If you ask me, the capacity to have direct communication with the designer and not working through a middle man
Vijay V.
Founder at Internet Markettiing Company
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good question, web agencies have really changed but key crieteria not so much. Its comes down to the quality of who is working there. Simple. the better the quality of web centric people in the agency - the better the agency and the better the solution that you will be getting. I agree with Alan Schulman.
Back in the early Web 1.0 days of the "Interactive Agency," it was pretty safe to say that you only had to know how to do a couple things really well-- build websites and create banner ad campaigns. Then, throw in some shotgun email marketing and a few extranets and you could build a business. To give props to the early pioneers -- Organic, Agency.com, Sapient, US Web/CKS, APL Digital, iXL, Red Sky, and others -- they were the few, the proud, the digital natives.
These days, as digital platforms, widgets and technologies multiply, that which defines what an "interactive agency" is has become a sum of many moving parts. Say you're considering changing interactive agencies. The list of services you might require alone can be daunting, and can involve…
Strategy:
Do they offer digital branding capabilities?
Do they offer online research or do they outsource it?
Do they have online brand strategists?
Tactic-- do they have expertise in:
Search (SEO/SEM)
Behavioral Targeting
Creative Optimization
Site Building and Maintenance?
Technology:
What are their technology capabilities?
Do they author in all programs?
Do they have expertise in targeted email marketing?
Viral applications?
Broadband video?
Do they work in Mobile/Wireless?
On Demand?
Digital Out of Home?
Start with your objectives and goals.
You get the point-- this interactive media stuff is hard. And there's a lot to consider in choosing a partner.
My advice is to start with your customer segments and brand objectives and then work outward from there. The digital marketing continuum is growing by the day, so if you can start by focusing on your specific goals -- be it brand awareness, trial, lead generation, purchase, word of mouth, et cetera… the list of specific capabilities you need in the near term will likely steer you to the right partners to get off on the right foot.
Remember, no interactive agency, ours included, is best of breed in every digital discipline. The trick is to identify the capabilities you really need instead of overpaying for infrastructure or a name that's 10 miles wide but only a few inches deep in each capability.
Might you need more than one interactive agency?
It depends.
If the name of your game is integration and simplicity, then you're likely to buy a bigger, full service shop and fall somewhere on their client roster. The question is to identify where they really excel. If rich, luxurious brand sites is what you're seeking, then go where the gold awards for site development are. Whereas, if you're looking to move beyond the banner and create campaigns that leverage broadband video through custom short and long form video spots and contextual pre-rolls, you might also need a more specialized kind of interactive creative partner.
There's much more to measure.
Once you get past the interactive media and creative partners, you've got to consider how you'll measure your new agencies' success:
In ideas?
In service?
In process?
In business results?
In cost?
In collaboration with your other agency partners?
There's a lot to measuring success in choosing today's Interactive Agency because there are so many moving parts. But if you're crystal clear about your goals going in, then the right capabilities, creativity and chemistry are just a short list away.
hope this helps
Vijay
www.gunshotdigital.com
