Johannesburg, February 12th, 2020

Based in Johannesburg, Launch Digital (Pty) Ltd is a digital marketing agency founded by Chris Schutte, a self-taught marketer. The agency’s main concern is how much revenue and profit its clients can make when using its services, which include web design and development, PPC advertising, SEO, social media management and strategy development.

In an interview with TIA, Schutte, who also worked at two digital agency start-ups and was a freelancer, described the main features of the agency and its design process. He also explained the engagement style with the agency’s clients and looked at his career and the progress of the agency.

Can you describe a typical day for you at Launch Digital?

Level 10 Meetings (only on Mondays). Who wants coffee? Whiteboard scribbles. Arguing about whose turn it is to control the playlist. Another round of coffee guys? Someone having a EUREKA moment. A fight to the death for the aircon remote. More coffee? Actually, I will have tea this time. Shh, I am on a zoom call. Some website shaming. And finally, some more coffee… wait, we are out of milk!

Oh, and in between, we do some work. General office hilarity aside, we use Level 10 Meetings (developed by Gino Wickman) to plan our projects & deliverables for the week and to stay focused. Part of our culture, and one of our core values, is to “get it done” – so it’s not uncommon for people to stay late or get in early.

What differentiates Launch Digital from other agencies?

In short, 3 things: Attitude, accountability and hunger. We see digital marketing as an investment. Good digital marketing turns $1 into $5, $10, $20 consistently. Therefore, our attitude to digital marketing is ROI driven. So, our approach to building strategies, or even reporting to clients, all revolves around the concept of ROI.

The next differentiator is our accountability. Let me first say that “lack of accountability” is a disease that plagues many digital agencies. It’s so easy to produce complicated analytics reports that hide poor performance in plain sight. No one is taking responsibility for the results of their clients – it’s always because of this CTR or that conversion rate. On the other hand, we are accountable – we understand that a client has put their faith in us to get the results. And if that is not happening, they expect us to be accountable and to bring solutions to the table that can make it happen.

Finally, there is a Ukranian proverb that goes “A hungry wolf is stronger than a satisfied dog.” There are many larger & more established agencies out there – but they are expensive, overstaffed and generally complacent. We are a small agency, and this makes us hungry. Hungry for clients. Hungry for results. It means we work harder; we go the extra mile.

How do you define UX design?

For us, User Experience Design is defined as the process of aligning the user’s visual experience with the intended goals & objectives of the app or website.

Our clients come to us because they need leads and sales, so the websites & apps we build are very goal orientated – they need to convert visitors into customers. User Experience Design plays a huge part in making that happen. And for us it is not just about the visual design & layout, but also creating content hierarchies which expedites the user journey.

Good User Experience Design understands exactly what the goals are, makes it clear to the user, and makes it happen.

Please describe what methods you follow when designing

Discovery – This is the most important step, because here we learn about the client, their services, industry and objectives. Most importantly we get an understanding of their customer – because ultimately, we are designing the website not for them, but their customer.

Strategy – This involves user journey mapping and creating a strategy to convert visitors into leads.

Wireframing & content hierarchy – Often clients will give us company profiles or documents of unorganized content about their business. We sift through this content, simplify it to distil the core message and then wireframe a design around this.

Design – This is where the magic happens. It is where we bring the entire strategy, wireframes and content hierarchy to life in an impressive visual design.

AB Split Testing – We know that we don’t know everything. Many of our designs are based on hypothesis and what has worked previously. So, if we doubt any element of the design, we will AB split test it to see which gets the better conversion.

How do you prioritize which product features to keep or discard?

We spend a lot of time understanding the needs & wants of a user. What are their motives for buying – is it emotional, rational or operational? Once we have a clear picture of who the customer is, it is easy to see which features speak to them.

What would you say will be the next big trend in the UX Design industry?

Two trends I see popping up are a desire to be more human, and simplicity.
There is a global trend of brands wanting to be more “human”. They want to be more relatable, more attainable. So, their designs are becoming more & more copy focused. Copy is often an after-thought when it comes to UX Design. But it is such an integral part of a good User Experience for us. So, I see a lot more brands focusing on humanizing their copy and making it a feature.

The next thing is simplicity. I see many brands opting for much simpler designs. They are using large copy with ample white space. The designs are often not very exciting, but they do a damn good job at converting.
Mailchimp is a great example of both these trends. Their website is not visually exciting, but the copy is emotional, human and it’s the focus. The user experience simplifies a complicated CRM technology by focusing on what matters to the user, and THAT is good UX Design.

When thinking of customers, what is the best way to earn trust?

Case studies & particularly video case studies. Gone are the days of having plain written “reviews” – at the very least you need verified reviews through Google or Yelp. People want to see real success stories from real people you have helped. And the best way to do that is through a video case study.

Please describe the communication style with your team

I am in and out of the office most days – so normally it’s through our project management software, Hive. We are a close-knit team, we are all friends, so the style is very informal and often includes lots of memes.

How do you motivate other members of the team to achieve more?

We don’t have incentive schemes because no amount of extrinsic motivation can help someone who is not intrinsically motivated. If people are passionate about what they do, they will do it well.
So, we really try to foster a culture of passion for digital marketing so that people want to learn, improve and perform.

Yes, a big part of it comes down to hiring the right people that fit this culture. But we also try to align our company goals with the goals of our staff so that they understand that there is an interdependent relationship between the two.

What are the next steps and projects for Launch Digital that you are looking forward to?

We have just acquired larger offices, so the team is very excited about moving in and making it our own. In terms of projects, we are pitching for a Digital Advertising Retainer for a popular radio station here in South Africa. It will be a big feather in our cap and definitely a steppingstone to similar size clients.

In this industry or in life, have you had any particularly influential mentors?

My last 3 bosses before I started Launch Digital were all mentors to me – John, Dan & Sean. They ran 3 very different businesses, and each had their own style of management. Working for and with them taught me invaluable lessons about running an ethical, profitable business. Often when I have a tricky decision to make, I try to visualize how each of them would handle the situation. It has served me well thus far!

Thanks Chris!

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Chris Schuttefoundermanaging directorUser ExperienceUX Design