From Dev Shop Rescue to Full Rebrand. A Multi-Year Partnership.
What started as rescuing a broken internal platform became a complete brand transformation, website rebuild, and a custom PWA that drove 75% more panelist engagement.
A Research Firm That Needed More Than Code
Accelerant Research is a premium qualitative and quantitative research firm managing a panelist community of thousands. Their operations run on Alchemer as a core platform, extended by a custom-built application for capabilities outside Alchemer’s scope — custom survey design, bulletin board-style interactions, threaded follow-up questions, and community-driven research workflows.
Vertice Labs first engaged with Accelerant to rescue their internal platform from a failing development shop. That work built trust. Two years later, Accelerant came back for a complete transformation: brand strategy, professional photography, a full website rebuild, and a panelist engagement app.
The prior dev shop’s work felt like whack-a-mole — every fix introduced new problems. Deadlines slipped, there was no test coverage, and the architecture was deteriorating.
Two engagements, two years apart — both rooted in the same problem: the wrong partner had been doing the work.
A Platform in Crisis
Accelerant’s internal platform extended their core Alchemer instance with custom surveys, community interactions, and follow-up workflows. A prior dev shop had been maintaining it, but every bug fix broke something else. Pages froze under high response volumes. There was no test coverage. Confidence in the platform was eroding.
A Brand Stuck 15 Years in the Past
Accelerant’s website was roughly 15 years old. It had minimal brand work, no real content, and didn’t reflect who they had become — a firm with deep expertise and premium positioning in the research space. Panelist engagement relied entirely on email blasts with declining effectiveness.
Vertice Labs treated this as a long-term relationship, not a transaction. Each engagement delivered value before the next began.
Eating the Elephant
Rather than proposing a risky full rewrite of the internal platform, the team refactored incrementally — improving each area of the codebase as they worked through it. Page load times improved. The freezing issue under high response volumes was resolved. Test coverage was introduced across the application.
Brand Strategy First
Before touching design or code, Vertice Labs worked with Emily (Project Manager) and Christa (VP of Operations) to understand Accelerant’s positioning, culture, and the companies they serve. The insight: they had the expertise of a premium research firm, but nothing in their public presence communicated it.
Content, Photography & Design
Vertice hired a professional writer to develop site content from scratch and a photographer for team headshots and a full team shoot. A clean background plate was shot proactively so Accelerant could composite new hires as they grew — without booking another photoshoot.
Website + PWA in Parallel
The full website was rebuilt to reflect the new brand, while a Next.js Progressive Web App was developed to replace email blasts with a direct, always-available panelist engagement channel.
Internal Platform Rescue
Accelerant’s custom research platform — the extension of their core Alchemer instance — was falling apart under a prior dev shop. Vertice Labs took over maintenance and incrementally rebuilt confidence in the system.
Incremental Refactoring
Eating-the-elephant approach: refactored and improved code in each area as the team worked through it, avoiding the risk of a full rewrite.
Performance Fixes
Resolved page load issues and a critical freezing bug that occurred when surveys had high response volumes.
Test Coverage
Introduced automated testing across the application where none existed before.
Every fix introduced new problems. No test coverage. Pages froze under load. The team described it as whack-a-mole.
Stable platform with test coverage, improved performance, and a codebase the team could build on with confidence.
Complete Brand Transformation & Website Rebuild
Two years after the platform rescue, Accelerant returned for a full rebrand. Vertice Labs led brand strategy, hired a writer and photographer, and built the entire website — transforming a 15-year-old site into a presence that matched Accelerant’s premium positioning.
Brand Strategy & Positioning
Worked directly with leadership to define positioning as a premium research services firm — differentiated clearly from cheaper alternatives.
Professional Content
Hired a writer to create all site content from scratch. Accelerant had none.
Professional Photography
Team photoshoot and individual headshots. A background plate was shot proactively so new hires could be composited onto the site without another shoot.
Full Website Build
Designed, iterated, and built the complete site with close collaboration and revisions throughout.
Panelist Engagement Progressive Web App
A Next.js PWA that replaced email blasts as the primary channel for reaching thousands of panelists. Push notifications, streamlined survey participation, and real-time communication — all in a single, direct touchpoint.
Push Notifications
Direct, immediate reach to panelists — replacing one-directional email blasts with declining open rates.
Survey Participation Flows
Streamlined experience for panelists to participate in research directly from their phone.
Real-Time Communication
Two-way channel between Accelerant and their panelist community.
Email blasts to thousands of panelists. One-directional. Declining effectiveness.
A dedicated PWA with push notifications and real-time communication. 75% increase in engagement rates.
75% increase in panelist engagement rates after launching the PWA, replacing email blasts as the primary outreach channel.
Complete brand transformation from a 15-year-old site with no content to a modern presence reflecting Accelerant’s premium positioning.
Professional photography with future-proofing — background plate shot so new hires can be added without rebooking a photographer.
Stabilized internal platform went from constant firefighting to reliable infrastructure with test coverage.
Website and PWA still live in production at accelerantresearch.com.
In Bill's Words
“Vertice Labs transformed our digital product strategy, driving significant business growth. Their expert team is second to none.”
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