TemplateMonster's customer base includes not only freelancers and solopreneurs. We also work with web design studios, whom ready-made website templates help to optimize the workflow and provide end users with designs that match their needs ideally. One of such web design companies from Austria has agreed to give us an interview about their experience of working with website templates. Oliver Papakoca with IXSOL is ready to speak up.
Why did we decide to reach these guys, you will ask? Well, during the last year they have acquired more than 25 themes for multiple purposes. IXSOL work with Magento themes mostly, so the experience that they share will appeal to those of you who work with eCommerce projects.
Occupation: project management & graphic design
Audience: SMB and bigger companies
Site: http://www.ixsol.at
Location: Austria
TemplateMonster: Tell us a couple of words about yourself/ your company. Where are you located? How big is your team? For how many years have you been into web design?
Oliver: With over nine years experience IXSOL is specialized in developing websites, online stores, apps, and e-marketing tools. Our Team consists of 6 people - IT technicians, project managers, web programmers and graphic design. We are located in the heart of Vienna (Austria) in the in the 6. district in a side street of the world famous Mariahilfer Street - known for its various trendy shopping locations.
TemplateMonster: What is your audience? What niche do you target? Do you target foreign markets or prefer working with customers from your country only?
Oliver: We don’t have a special type of audience – we are offering our services to SMB and also bigger companies. Due to our long existence on the market, we did a lot of business in the hotel sector but also industry companies are very satisfied with our services. Our current customer portfolio can be reviewed on our website https://www.ixsol.at/unsere-kunden/. The main business is located in Austria, but we also had projects in central Europe. We are always interested in gaining experience in new projects and customers all over the world.
TemplateMonster: Do you commonly use ready-made website templates in your work or create custom designs as well? (In case you develop custom themes, in what cases do you opt for ready-made solutions?) How much time does is normally take you to create a website based on a theme? How fast do custom-made projects launch?
Oliver: As time management is always an important point, it really depends on the customers' wishes and financial possibilities. We have the graphical skills for both –> creating totally custom designs and using templates which we customize. The time it takes to create a website is also very individual to the visions of the customers. Sometimes the design customization phase with a template only takes some hours, but we also had designs that took weeks till we got a final approval. The technical part usually takes 4 to 6 weeks – then we have a website beta state which is ready to get filled with content from the customer.
TemplateMonster: What's an average bill for a theme-based website creation? How much does it cost to launch a custom-made site?
Oliver: That is also very different – depending on the requirements of the customer and the time it takes to finish the project. Often people forget that project management is also a challenging task, which takes a lot of time on a website/webshop project. Price range starts from € 3.000,- and goes up to a few thousand depending on the extensions and customization.
TemplateMonster: What are the main features that you/your clients pay attention to when selecting a theme?
Oliver Papakoca: The main features the customers pay attention to are design and functionality. But responsive design is a big issue as well. As the customers are using many different devices the website has to look good everywhere – PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet.
TemplateMonster: What aspect of the themes' customization requires most of your time to be agreed upon with a client?
Oliver: The key for a good customization process is a detailed briefing from the customer. To get this, it takes some good organized meetings and brainstorming sessions. Sometimes during the customization process the customer gets new ideas. If the project is already in an advanced state, then it takes a lot of time to make further changes.
TemplateMonster: How do you attract new customers and keep them coming back?
Oliver: Our range in advertisement goes from classic print to social media and SEO. Customer service is also very important for us and therefore word-of-mouth is one of our key points in attracting new customers. After finishing a website or webshop the client gets a free user training for the backend usage. But also after the launch of the website, we are always available for our clients. This after sales service is very appreciated and helps us keeping up the business with our customers for a long time.
TemplateMonster: How long have you been with TemplateMonster? How can you evaluate the results of our collaboration? What do you enjoy the most? What should be changed/enhanced?
Oliver: We are using your services for 10 years and are very satisfied with your big range of website and webshop templates. We hope that you will increase your range of magento 2.0 templates soon. Some Typo3 templates would also be very useful for us, as our main CMS for websites is Typo3.
Do you run your own design company? Do you use ready-made themes in your work? Do you want to share your own story with the MonsterPost readers? Please email marketing@templatemonster.com and we will reach you for an interview.