Client story
When websites “WOW”,
but design requests pile up
R5 Website Management builds websites for small and medium businesses, and builds them well. Led by Keelie Reason, the company focuses on development and client relationships. But design requests kept piling up: social media graphics, PDFs, PowerPoints. Without an in-house designer, they couldn’t keep up.
- Web development agency
- No designer in-house
- Design now sells the deal
★★★★★
“Deer Designer has allowed us to confidently take a client’s design inspiration and create a beautiful website that represents their brand.”
By the numbers
294
Requests delivered
100%
Positive rating across requests
1,200 hours
Design hours their team did not spend
$17,000
Estimated saving against the same hours done in-house
How it went
From a design gap
to a sales advantage
The challenge
The gap was never in what R5 could build. It was in what clients could see.
Potential clients liked R5’s solid tech, but the visuals didn’t show its real value, making it harder to sell higher-value projects.
“We are not skilled in graphic design, so our websites looked amateur, even though we are skilled at building websites. Also, our social media graphics were not high quality either.”
Why Deer Designer
Keelie heard about Deer Designer from another developer at a networking event — someone already using it, who said it made web development easier.
The selling point was reliability. She got a design team that’s actually there when she needs them, not just when they can fit her in.
“We need a designer who would be available to us every day during the work week. One issue with contractors is that their availability is not great for running a larger business.”
The solution
R5 now has a Deer Designer team supporting its design work across:
- Landing pages
- Social media graphics
- Website mockups
- Custom illustrations
And they don’t wait until a deal closes. Showing polished mockups upfront helps clients visualise the result before they commit — and has helped R5 close more website projects.
“We’ve had more people close on websites than in previous years because we have been able to show them potential website designs in the offer phase.”
Impact
- Websites that look as good as they’re built
- More deals closed, at bigger numbers
- New revenue from design and social services
- More design output without building an in-house design team
“Clients are willing to pay more for our services, because the design work is high-quality. We’ve been able to produce more websites, offer graphic design work, and social media that we did not previously have the opportunity to offer.”
Standout project
Premier Health and Wellness,
rebuilt to match the practice.
An established aesthetics practice with a site that hadn’t kept up. Keelie sat with the client, listened to his design inspiration, and worked it through with the designer.
That project didn’t just impress the client; it raised the bar for what R5 could deliver going forward.
“To date, it’s one of our favourite designs.”
Your clients should see the website before they buy it.
R5 stopped selling websites people had to imagine. See how a Deer Designer team can give your agency the same design capacity without building one in-house.