KOTA project discovery phase: our recipe for your success

Introduction

Bringing brands to life digitally is what we take pride in here at Kota. Whatever project we undertake, whether it’s to create your new branding or design a website, our team of digital experts know how important it is to get a full understanding of our clients, their businesses and needs of their customers. We’re all about digging deeper than beautiful design and ensuring that the final product is both achieving your business goals and reaching the right audience.

 

Discovery – Starting off on the right foot

In order to achieve that, our discovery phase is a fundamental part of all our projects. It allows us to kick off the project with the right understanding and clear definition of what exactly needs to be achieved, as well as properly scope and plan all deliverables.

It all starts with what we call a Kick-Off Meeting, during which we have a chance to bring together all stakeholders involved in the project, gather the information and set objectives for delivery. Needless to say, our Kick-Off Meeting is the most important cornerstone of our projects – this is when we assemble as much information about your business as possible.

Followed by internal research, discovery allows our team to fully dive into your goals and internal expectations, target audience, key problems and pain points, existing solutions and areas for improvement. We evaluate your brand and all its aspects – be it technical, strategic or creative, and arrive at a clear plan of the project.

 

Questions we like to ask (and answer!) during our discovery process:

You and your business:

• What is your business and offering?
• What is your history, corporate culture and the who is the team behind?
• What are your main values and how do you communicate them?
• Who are your competitors?

Your brand & communication:

• What is your existing branding and communication channels?
• What inspires you?
• What, in your opinion, is working and what needs improvement?

Your audience:

• What is your current target market?
• Who are the users and how you reach them digitally?
• Is there an audience you would like to reach but don’t at the moment?

Your goal:

• What metrics will determine the success of this project?
• What is classified as a successful conversion?
• Where do you aspire to be vs. where you are now?

The KOTA factor

What’s special about our process and discovery phase? The same thing that always keeps standing out from the crowd – we’re pretty damn approachable. Here at KOTA, you are part of the process, from the beginning until the end. We make sure all our projects are collaborative so you have plenty of opportunities to give your feedback and be heard.

 

How it’s done: our recipe for your success

These steps help us get the bigger picture and all the nitty-gritty:

1. Kick-Off Meeting
This face-to-face meeting between our and your teams normally lasts anywhere from one to three hours and allows us to get from you all the information we need to start off our process. To give you a feeling of our vibe, we normally invite to our studio but if this proves to be logistically difficult, our team is always happy to visit you in your office or even schedule a video conference.

2. Competitor Review
A competitive analysis of your market allows us to fully understand your drivers and the positioning of your brand so that we can make sure you stand out.

3. Target Audience & User Journeys
Who are your users and how do they use your website? Where do you want them to get or what goals do you want them to achieve? Having a deep understanding of your audience helps us make sure their interaction with your website is successful and generates conversion.

4. Hierarchy of Content & Information Architecture
Now that we’ve defined user journeys, it’s time to decide what information you want to get to them. Understanding and structuring content is a necessary foundation for the design and must be completed before our creative team can start doing their magic.

5. Data Capture & Conversion Review
Assessing your existing data capture forms and their performance allows us to plan and advice on any possible improvements. Don’t have any data capture on your website yet? No problem, we’ll help you set it up!

6. Functionality Requirements & Technical Discovery
Hosting, multilingual infrastructure, third-party integrations and APIs, security and databases… these are only some of the points our experienced technical team will research before we dive into the project. Having an overview of all functional specifications is crucial for us right from the start so we can plan ahead – in the end, we want to make sure that the final product will not only look nice but most of all work well in the existing framework.

7. Brand, Creative Discovery & Inspirations
Whether you’re looking to refresh your branding as part of the project or not, our creative team will make sure we have a full overview of any design requirements. We’ll ask you to share with us any existing assets, logos and fonts, photos or videography so that we can make sure your future website will be the best extent of it.

We pride ourselves on some of the best creative design in the industry and will always take your likes and dislikes into consideration. You’ll be asked to share any personal inspirations with us before we kick off design, so that our designers can take them into consideration during the process.

8. SEO Audit & Analytics Review
Technical SEO is an integral part of all our projects but that’s not enough – this is when our experienced marketing experts come in. Evaluating your existing SEO strategy including keywords and analytics data helps us make sure the value is not lost in the process and recommend areas for improvement.

9. Site Map Creation
A document that helps us sum up our discovery process and is used as a solid base for every new project: the Site Map. This is where we summarise the agreed pages of your website, user journeys and information architecture. It explains the structure of the site and shows how many templates should be designed and built to achieve a complete structure.

10. Deliverables & Timetable
Last but definitely not least, a clear definition of project deliverables and a detailed roadmap are prepared by our Project Manager and signed off by your team. We’re all set up and ready to start off your next project together.