In this interview, Stephen Herz, CEO of Moonstone Interactive, shares how digital agencies are moving beyond design-led websites toward data-driven digital experiences that elevate brands, optimize user experience, and deliver measurable business results while leveraging AI, consolidated platforms, and strategic partnerships to reduce total cost of ownership and drive higher conversions.
What makes Moonstone Interactive different from other digital agencies?
Companies hire Moonstone to elevate the brand, increase visitors & optimize User Experience to drive website conversions and business results. Our clients typically recognize that their website needs improvement. But they seldom know how to achieve dramatic results. We carefully & strategically analyze various data with proprietary tools. We assess visitors’ behavior, how competitors win, how Google ranks you, and why visitors are likely to convert. We remove the mystery by providing data-driven recommendations and the latest digital experience tools to deliver significant results.
Moonstone offers both enterprise-level WordPress and Experience by Kentico, a Digital Experience Platform (DXP), solutions that enable us to support a wide breadth of business and marketing strategy requirements.
What type of client or project are you best known for?
Moonstone Interactive is best known for working with companies that are frustrated by underperforming digital channels and are ready to elevate their website to the next level. These are typically organizations with multiple online touchpoints such as websites, microsites, mobile apps, and SaaS platforms that want to consolidate content management, simplify workflows, and reduce the total cost of website ownership while improving overall performance and results.
What is the biggest mistake companies make with their websites today?
The biggest mistake companies make is failing to measure the total cost of ownership and the true business and marketing performance of their online presence. Market leaders take a different approach by creating competitive, multichannel user experiences that build brand trust and increase conversion rates, while also integrating website management into a consolidated content hub with an efficient, unified architecture to deliver seamless digital experiences.
What is one simple thing businesses can do now to improve conversions?
Businesses can start by measuring the cost and business results of each marketing campaign and channel, then reallocating their existing budgets toward higher-ROI initiatives while revising or eliminating efforts that are underperforming.
What metrics do you focus on most to measure success?
Success is measured by closely tracking engagement rates and conversion rates across each channel and campaign, while also analyzing the behavior of new versus returning visitors to understand how different audiences interact with the digital experience.
How do you see digital experiences evolving in the next few years?
Digital experiences will continue to evolve toward much higher expectations for personalization and relevance. As AI matures, it will enable brands to deliver the specific information and services individual users want more quickly and accurately, while also advancing omnichannel experiences that recognize and reward loyal customers across touchpoints. In the coming years, advanced, seamless digital experiences will no longer be a differentiator but an expectation for both online customers and businesses.
How do business-development networks like Zeroik help agencies find new opportunities?
Business-development networks like Zeroik help agencies uncover new opportunities by connecting specialized partners whose services naturally complement one another, such as branding, advertising, social media, SEO, website development, mobile apps, and marketing campaigns. Through Zeroik, agencies can collaborate to combine their expertise, simplify project management for clients, and deliver more cohesive business outcomes. For example, a company looking to elevate its brand can work with a branding agency to define its identity, then seamlessly engage a website partner to implement that brand online, followed by coordinated social and content marketing efforts. This collaborative model allows clients to benefit from deeper expertise and more efficient delivery compared to managing multiple vendors independently, while remaining more cost-effective than hiring a large, full-service agency. At the same time, agencies within the Zeroik network support one another by sharing opportunities and extending their reach, effectively expanding each partner’s sales and growth potential.
What types of partnerships have helped you grow the most?
The partnerships that have helped us grow the most are with branding, design, and online marketing agencies, where complementary expertise allows us to deliver stronger, more integrated digital experiences and greater value to clients.
