Web Design Monthly Packages vs. Full-Time Web Designers
Let’s consider the market size for web design and hiring solutions, which can potentially hit $100B+ in value. As it grows, many more methods exist to solve a complex technical or business problem than ever, whether by hiring talents, outsourcing hiring, or outsourcing services.
But having more options doesn’t mean that everything will become simpler. Now, you have to consider the drawbacks or benefits of each choice, which can turn into a complex decision. This may make us default to the method we feel most comfortable with without considering its efficiency due to loss aversion and biases.
In this article, we’ll explore the 5 most essential aspects you must consider when choosing between monthly web design packages and full-time web designers and how to choose between either based on your company’s needs and maturity.
We’ll also briefly review other options, such as TaaS (Talent-as-a-Service), that may be simpler and make more sense for you.
Analyze the upfront and ongoing costs
Now, cost analysis is one of the easiest comparison points since it’s the most straightforward way to understand the impact of a decision—or is it?
Many people put too much importance on the upfront investment when considering options and forget about ongoing expenses that may result from their decision. Cost is one of the most significant aspects of decision-making, especially if the quality is similar for both choices.
Upfront investments
- Full-time web designers: The upfront costs are very straightforward for full-time web designers. However, there are aspects to consider that may escape you. For instance, the cost of hiring a full-time web designer is not only about their salary but also the recruiting budget, benefits, training, onboarding, and time investment.
- Monthly Packages: Web design monthly packages offer more transparency in upfront investments. You pay a monthly fee and get the exact services you’re paying for. The issue can come when you suddenly need more services, a faster delivery time, or additional revisions to the work.
Ongoing expenses
- Full-time web designers: If you’re hiring web designers, you’ll also have other expenses, such as overtime, software, and even hardware. That’s not to mention you’ll also have to spend money to keep them engaged with the company through continuous professional development and bonuses for performance.
- Monthly packages: As for ongoing expenses, you need to keep a lookout for the software tooling they work with since if it’s not a match, you’ll likely need to migrate and how many revisions and additional services you’ll need. For instance, a complete website design may need graphic design, branding, and animations to deliver a unique output.
Cost Analysis: An overview
Let’s explore the numbers. Full-time hires cost, on average, about $4,700 in the U.S., and it can cost up to three or four times the individual’s salary. We can get to the cost per hire with a simple formula: Cost per hire (CPH) = (internal recruitment costs + external recruitment costs) / Total number of hires.
The idea is that the costs vary from company to company. Still, once you include the onboarding time, during which the hire is not as productive, the software, and the paid hours spent by your talent acquisition team, we can have a clearer picture of how much a new hire costs you.
As for monthly packages, what you see is what you get. Taking one of Awesomic’s plans as an example, our Pro Plan includes web design. By signing up for it and requesting a web design task, you’ll be matched to a designer with industry expertise ready to hit the ground running. You invest in a monthly fee of $1995, and that’s it.
The drawbacks are also evident, such as only having one task active at a time with any of the talent at your disposal. Getting more tasks active simultaneously would need the inclusion of another Pro Plan. You could also explore 1-1 plans or even outsource your hiring cost by paying a fee to Awesomic.
Ensure flexibility and scalability
To ease the decision between monthly packages and full-time web designers, you must consider flexibility and scalability potential.
- Flexibility: Web design monthly packages can offer more flexibility when scaling your team and accessing diverse skill sets and industry expertise. For a full-time hire, you’ll need to hire one person and multiple to cover the same knowledge.
- Scalability: To ensure the scalability of a web design team and project, you must understand your company’s current growth stage. While a web design monthly package’s scalability can be as simple as a button push, you need to be able to take advantage of that.
But the good news is that this is not an “OR” proposition. When we think of scalability and flexibility, we must consider how to make the most of the tools available. For instance, it’s very common for technical startup founders to go straight to packages since they know strictly what to do and for non-technical founders to have a full-time hire.
But the beauty of these options is that you can have both active simultaneously. You can have a full-time web developer there to troubleshoot, create requirements, and maintain the website while you get a monthly package to create new pages, optimize UI/UX, and more.
This will allow access to a more diverse set of tools since we know that a modern website has to be well-crafted, perform well in SEO, and offer a unique user experience that fits with your brand on all devices through responsive design.
Those are hard skills to master, and it’s unlikely that a single designer will handle them all with excellence and speed. And even if they do, time will always be a limiting factor. Instead of hiring multiple people to each perform a role, you can go for a web design package or a talent-sourcing solution to amplify your team skills with a better budget and master the future of hiring.
Maintain your website with control and support
We kept the cost of maintenance and support out of the cost analysis for simplicity’s sake, but it’s a point you must consider. As for this one, we have to consider how much
- Full-time web designer: With a full-time web designer, the support, maintenance, and control over the website are less of an issue. But you must manage working hours, overtime, morale, and the web designer’s skill sets. Otherwise, you’ll be in trouble.
- Web design monthly package: Monthly packages can have ups and downs regarding support, control, and maintenance. This is mainly because there can be misunderstandings between parties. For instance, instant support may be an additional cost to the package, or reviews may be hidden costs. In this case, ensure everything is aligned beforehand.
You’ll also need to understand how much oversight you need in a web design monthly package. Do you trust their work, or are you more of a micro-manager? Do you usually not require many reviews, or are you more of a perfectionist? If you’re in the second group for both questions, you’ll experience discomfort letting other people in to work on your product and website.
At Awesomic, we disclose the terms of the deal upfront, during our demos, and on our pricing page. We found that open communication is key. For instance, if you’re a micro-manager, we have a customer support team, rematches, and different plans with different levels of oversight and active tasks. This leads us to the next aspect to consider.
Communicate to collaborate: your next successful project
Communication and collaboration are among the main fears that prevent people from going into alternate hiring solutions and opting for a full-time hire. If you need to send a message, you’ll know they’ll be there to answer. They’ll be around if you need to schedule a call or change priorities. Collaboration is crucial for project success, as pointed out by Delloite: “Collaboration hinges on team scheduling—how, where, when, how often and in what format people interact.”.
- Web design packages: Communication and collaboration aren’t always apparent in web design packages. You’ll usually have access to talk with the person working on your project, a project manager, and a customer support team. However, you must align with how often and when communication can happen to collaborate effectively.
- Full-time web designer: With a full-time website designer, you’ll get the most clear-cut communication since they’ll use your company’s systems to contact you and vice-versa.
Collaboration depends heavily on communication, too. So, how you unite high-level skills in communication and a collaborative environment will dictate how likely your project is to succeed.
Collaboration and communication for a project must start with a clear vision or goal and an openness to modifying each based on one’s limitations and requirements. Companies like Awesomic and design agencies can help you define these if you don’t already have them.
Vetting communication: monthly web design companies
If you’re looking at web design packages, you need to trust the company you’re going for.
So, check how their communication process was to get you there, how their other clients talk about them in review aggregators such as Trustpilot, and if their case studies mention how their collaboration process impacted the success of their projects.
Develop a high-quality web design process
We didn’t mention one last aspect of how successful your project will be, but it’s the quality of the design itself. This is because delivering high-quality assets should be considered the bare minimum for a web designer or a company offering design services.
The best way to get to the point of beautifully crafted web design is to unify all other aspects explored until now. The mix of great cost-benefit analysis for the project, fast and streamlined communication, top-tier design skills, industry expertise, support, and vision will determine the quality of the output.
This is true for companies that have opted for web design packages and companies working with full-time talent. We’ve explored some pros and cons and gave you an overview of how each option can help your company. The reality is there is no one-shoe-fits-all solution for all companies.
You’re the one who must decide between what aspects you give more weight to and what’s more important for the growth of your business at this point.
Build an extension of your web design team
Awesomic has helped over 4,000 companies complete 14,000+ creative tasks by matching them with vetted talent worldwide with industry expertise. Less than 1% of all applicants make it to the final stages and work with our awesome clients.
We invite you to check out some of our projects, such as our web design work with Denario and Kinship or our graphic design work with Yerbaé, to see how our talent collaborates with clients to bring their vision to life. You can also book a demo, and we’ll walk you through the best options for your needs.
Let’s consider the market size for web design and hiring solutions, which can potentially hit $100B+ in value. As it grows, many more methods exist to solve a complex technical or business problem than ever, whether by hiring talents, outsourcing hiring, or outsourcing services.
But having more options doesn’t mean that everything will become simpler. Now, you have to consider the drawbacks or benefits of each choice, which can turn into a complex decision. This may make us default to the method we feel most comfortable with without considering its efficiency due to loss aversion and biases.
In this article, we’ll explore the 5 most essential aspects you must consider when choosing between monthly web design packages and full-time web designers and how to choose between either based on your company’s needs and maturity.
We’ll also briefly review other options, such as TaaS (Talent-as-a-Service), that may be simpler and make more sense for you.
Analyze the upfront and ongoing costs
Now, cost analysis is one of the easiest comparison points since it’s the most straightforward way to understand the impact of a decision—or is it?
Many people put too much importance on the upfront investment when considering options and forget about ongoing expenses that may result from their decision. Cost is one of the most significant aspects of decision-making, especially if the quality is similar for both choices.
Upfront investments
- Full-time web designers: The upfront costs are very straightforward for full-time web designers. However, there are aspects to consider that may escape you. For instance, the cost of hiring a full-time web designer is not only about their salary but also the recruiting budget, benefits, training, onboarding, and time investment.
- Monthly Packages: Web design monthly packages offer more transparency in upfront investments. You pay a monthly fee and get the exact services you’re paying for. The issue can come when you suddenly need more services, a faster delivery time, or additional revisions to the work.
Ongoing expenses
- Full-time web designers: If you’re hiring web designers, you’ll also have other expenses, such as overtime, software, and even hardware. That’s not to mention you’ll also have to spend money to keep them engaged with the company through continuous professional development and bonuses for performance.
- Monthly packages: As for ongoing expenses, you need to keep a lookout for the software tooling they work with since if it’s not a match, you’ll likely need to migrate and how many revisions and additional services you’ll need. For instance, a complete website design may need graphic design, branding, and animations to deliver a unique output.
Cost Analysis: An overview
Let’s explore the numbers. Full-time hires cost, on average, about $4,700 in the U.S., and it can cost up to three or four times the individual’s salary. We can get to the cost per hire with a simple formula: Cost per hire (CPH) = (internal recruitment costs + external recruitment costs) / Total number of hires.
The idea is that the costs vary from company to company. Still, once you include the onboarding time, during which the hire is not as productive, the software, and the paid hours spent by your talent acquisition team, we can have a clearer picture of how much a new hire costs you.
As for monthly packages, what you see is what you get. Taking one of Awesomic’s plans as an example, our Pro Plan includes web design. By signing up for it and requesting a web design task, you’ll be matched to a designer with industry expertise ready to hit the ground running. You invest in a monthly fee of $1995, and that’s it.
The drawbacks are also evident, such as only having one task active at a time with any of the talent at your disposal. Getting more tasks active simultaneously would need the inclusion of another Pro Plan. You could also explore 1-1 plans or even outsource your hiring cost by paying a fee to Awesomic.
Ensure flexibility and scalability
To ease the decision between monthly packages and full-time web designers, you must consider flexibility and scalability potential.
- Flexibility: Web design monthly packages can offer more flexibility when scaling your team and accessing diverse skill sets and industry expertise. For a full-time hire, you’ll need to hire one person and multiple to cover the same knowledge.
- Scalability: To ensure the scalability of a web design team and project, you must understand your company’s current growth stage. While a web design monthly package’s scalability can be as simple as a button push, you need to be able to take advantage of that.
But the good news is that this is not an “OR” proposition. When we think of scalability and flexibility, we must consider how to make the most of the tools available. For instance, it’s very common for technical startup founders to go straight to packages since they know strictly what to do and for non-technical founders to have a full-time hire.
But the beauty of these options is that you can have both active simultaneously. You can have a full-time web developer there to troubleshoot, create requirements, and maintain the website while you get a monthly package to create new pages, optimize UI/UX, and more.
This will allow access to a more diverse set of tools since we know that a modern website has to be well-crafted, perform well in SEO, and offer a unique user experience that fits with your brand on all devices through responsive design.
Those are hard skills to master, and it’s unlikely that a single designer will handle them all with excellence and speed. And even if they do, time will always be a limiting factor. Instead of hiring multiple people to each perform a role, you can go for a web design package or a talent-sourcing solution to amplify your team skills with a better budget and master the future of hiring.
Maintain your website with control and support
We kept the cost of maintenance and support out of the cost analysis for simplicity’s sake, but it’s a point you must consider. As for this one, we have to consider how much
- Full-time web designer: With a full-time web designer, the support, maintenance, and control over the website are less of an issue. But you must manage working hours, overtime, morale, and the web designer’s skill sets. Otherwise, you’ll be in trouble.
- Web design monthly package: Monthly packages can have ups and downs regarding support, control, and maintenance. This is mainly because there can be misunderstandings between parties. For instance, instant support may be an additional cost to the package, or reviews may be hidden costs. In this case, ensure everything is aligned beforehand.
You’ll also need to understand how much oversight you need in a web design monthly package. Do you trust their work, or are you more of a micro-manager? Do you usually not require many reviews, or are you more of a perfectionist? If you’re in the second group for both questions, you’ll experience discomfort letting other people in to work on your product and website.
At Awesomic, we disclose the terms of the deal upfront, during our demos, and on our pricing page. We found that open communication is key. For instance, if you’re a micro-manager, we have a customer support team, rematches, and different plans with different levels of oversight and active tasks. This leads us to the next aspect to consider.
Communicate to collaborate: your next successful project
Communication and collaboration are among the main fears that prevent people from going into alternate hiring solutions and opting for a full-time hire. If you need to send a message, you’ll know they’ll be there to answer. They’ll be around if you need to schedule a call or change priorities. Collaboration is crucial for project success, as pointed out by Delloite: “Collaboration hinges on team scheduling—how, where, when, how often and in what format people interact.”.
- Web design packages: Communication and collaboration aren’t always apparent in web design packages. You’ll usually have access to talk with the person working on your project, a project manager, and a customer support team. However, you must align with how often and when communication can happen to collaborate effectively.
- Full-time web designer: With a full-time website designer, you’ll get the most clear-cut communication since they’ll use your company’s systems to contact you and vice-versa.
Collaboration depends heavily on communication, too. So, how you unite high-level skills in communication and a collaborative environment will dictate how likely your project is to succeed.
Collaboration and communication for a project must start with a clear vision or goal and an openness to modifying each based on one’s limitations and requirements. Companies like Awesomic and design agencies can help you define these if you don’t already have them.
Vetting communication: monthly web design companies
If you’re looking at web design packages, you need to trust the company you’re going for.
So, check how their communication process was to get you there, how their other clients talk about them in review aggregators such as Trustpilot, and if their case studies mention how their collaboration process impacted the success of their projects.
Develop a high-quality web design process
We didn’t mention one last aspect of how successful your project will be, but it’s the quality of the design itself. This is because delivering high-quality assets should be considered the bare minimum for a web designer or a company offering design services.
The best way to get to the point of beautifully crafted web design is to unify all other aspects explored until now. The mix of great cost-benefit analysis for the project, fast and streamlined communication, top-tier design skills, industry expertise, support, and vision will determine the quality of the output.
This is true for companies that have opted for web design packages and companies working with full-time talent. We’ve explored some pros and cons and gave you an overview of how each option can help your company. The reality is there is no one-shoe-fits-all solution for all companies.
You’re the one who must decide between what aspects you give more weight to and what’s more important for the growth of your business at this point.
Build an extension of your web design team
Awesomic has helped over 4,000 companies complete 14,000+ creative tasks by matching them with vetted talent worldwide with industry expertise. Less than 1% of all applicants make it to the final stages and work with our awesome clients.
We invite you to check out some of our projects, such as our web design work with Denario and Kinship or our graphic design work with Yerbaé, to see how our talent collaborates with clients to bring their vision to life. You can also book a demo, and we’ll walk you through the best options for your needs.
