How Dobby Ads 5X’d Productivity Using Retainia
- Mohammad Mamoon
- Jun 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 17
Dobby Ads, a fast-growing creative agency, used to juggle project briefs, revisions, and delivery across disconnected tools — slowing down execution and overloading project managers. After adopting Retainia as their single source of truth, the team now handles 5x more orders, reduced turnaround time by 40%, and seamlessly manages a 40+ member remote team, all without increasing operational headcount.
The Growing Pains of Scaling Without the Right Tools
Dobby Ads started as a nimble creative agency focused on Amazon sellers. But rapid success led to growing pains.
With remote team members across India and clients in the US, the agency was running on:
Trello boards
Slack threads
Google Drive folders
Email chains for feedback and orders
Every project involved manual inputs, tool-switching, and duplicated work. The global operation was growing, but the systems couldn’t keep up.
“When you’re managing dozens of clients and a fully remote team, visibility and clarity are everything. We were losing time to confusion.”
SG, Dobby Ads
One centralized platform to manage clients, projects, and delivery — without the chaos
As operational challenges mounted, Dobby Ads knew they needed more than just another project management tool. They needed an integrated system that could support high-volume creative output, distributed teams, and ongoing client revisions.
Instead of relying on off-the-shelf software, Dobby Ads decided to build their own solution: Retainia — a creative agency management system designed for digital agencies.
After running their entire agency on Retainia for over a year, the results were clear. The platform now powers every part of their business, thanks to these core features:
Branded Client Portal: Clients use custom portal to submit orders, track progress, and download files, streamlining communication and reducing manual follow-ups.
Visual Workflows for Teams: Creative-first workflows and Boards ensure clear task assignments, live status tracking, and accountability across Dobby Ads’ remote team.
Integrated Invoicing & Payments: Stripe integration automates invoicing and enables clients to pay directly within the portal, improving cash flow and reducing admin work.
Built-In CRM: A centralized client database within Retainia allows Dobby Ads to manage relationships, view histories, and retain their clients.
Branded Client Portals That Eliminate Friction and Speed Up Intake
With all client communication, order submissions, and file delivery happening inside Retainia, Dobby Ads finally had a single point of contact for every project.
Clients now place orders through their white labelled client portal, removing the need for scattered forms, email threads, or repeated instructions. Each service, whether it's an Amazon PI, A+ content, or video, comes with a smart, guided intake form, tailored to exactly what the team needs.
Best of all, the portal allows clients to track progress, request revisions, and download deliverables independently, without needing to follow up or wait for manual responses.
Retainia gave clients clarity—and gave the Dobby team time back to focus on execution.
Visual Workflows That Align Remote Teams and Drive Accountability
With 40+ creatives working remotely across India, Dobby Ads needed more than task checklists, they needed real accountability.
Retainia’s flexible, creative-first workflows made it easy to assign work based on roles, track task status at every phase through boards, and highlight bottlenecks in real time. Each project moves through clearly defined stages. From brief intake to production, reviews, and final delivery.
Team members trust what’s in the system, because everyone sees the same live updates, status changes, deadlines, and responsibilities. And if something stalls, the team knows exactly who to speak with—no confusion, no delays.
This level of visibility turned a remote team into a fully aligned production machine.
Seamless Invoicing & Payments with Stripe Integration
Invoicing used to be a manual, disconnected process for Dobby Ads — spreadsheets, email follow-ups, and late payments were common.
With Retainia’s built-in Stripe integration, invoicing is now fully automated and embedded directly into the client experience. Here's how it works:
Invoices are created inside an order
Clients receive invoices on client portal, where they also track project progress
Payments can be made instantly and securely via Stripe. No need to leave the platform
The finance team has full visibility into paid, pending, and overdue invoices
This tight integration ensures projects and payments stay in sync, removes manual billing work, and speeds up cash flow.
“Clients love the simplicity. They place an order, track progress, and pay — all from the same place.”
Finance Lead, Dobby Ads
Built-In CRM to Strengthen Client Relationships and Centralize History
Managing dozens of brand relationships across various services used to mean digging through email chains and spreadsheets to find basic information.
With Retainia’s lightweight built-in CRM, Dobby Ads now has a clear, centralized view of every client relationship—all within the same platform where projects and payments are managed.
Inside Retainia, the team can:
Send client portal invites
Instantly access each client’s full order and payment history
Store internal notes for future projects
Get overview of all the brands created by the clients
This has enabled Dobby Ads to build stronger relationships, onboard clients faster, and deliver consistently high-touch service—no matter how many brands they manage.
“It’s like having an account manager’s memory, built into the system.”
Client Success Manager, Dobby Ads
Eyes on Retainia Growth Across Creative Teams
Implementing Retainia has been a game-changer for Dobby Ads. So much so that the company now plans to onboard more departments into the platform to create a fully connected creative ecosystem.
With Retainia already powering day-to-day production, the next focus is on tapping deeper into features like email marketing, automation, and integration with other tools to reduce repetitive work and free up even more creative time.
What started as an internal fix has now become a core part of Dobby Ads’ competitive edge. Allowing the team to spend less time managing logistics and more time crafting exceptional content.
From scattered tools and operational chaos to a streamlined, scalable system, Retainia has helped Dobby Ads confidently deliver on its promise of fast, high-quality creative on time, every time.
Comments