Case Study · Custom Tool

A free business diagnostic tool with a real interpretation engine behind it.

Mako Digital designed and built the Growth Playbook — a 12-minute business diagnostic with a 47-statement quiz engine, 8 pattern-matched archetypes, a radar chart, gated capture, and a fully automated PDF report pipeline. Hand-coded in WordPress, no quiz plugin.

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growthplaybook.co.uk
Growth Playbook diagnostic tool shown across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
Project Growth Playbook
Type Business Diagnostic Tool
Audience UK Founders & SMEs
Build Type Custom Quiz Engine + PDF Reports
Live Site growthplaybook.co.uk
Year 2026
The Brief

A diagnostic tool that needed genuine depth, not another thin quiz.

The Growth Playbook is a free online business diagnostic at growthplaybook.co.uk. The methodology — nine areas of business health — was developed by a founder who has built, scaled and exited multiple businesses with combined values exceeding £10 million. The job was to turn that methodology into a working tool.

The brief was to build something with genuine depth. Not a five-question lead-magnet, but a proper diagnostic a founder would take seriously: 47 statements across nine chapters, a real interpretation of the results, a business archetype, and a report worth keeping. It had to capture leads without feeling like a signup wall, and run the whole pipeline — scoring, interpretation, PDF, email, logging — automatically.

Everything was hand-coded in WordPress: a custom quiz engine, a 27-reading interpretation library, eight pattern-matched archetypes, a radar chart, mPDF report generation, FluentSMTP dual email delivery, a custom database table, and an admin dashboard. No quiz plugin, no page builder — the whole tool is bespoke PHP.

Build Specifications

The build, decoded.

Every Mako Digital case study includes a complete build specification — the actual technical decisions that made the project what it is.

Build Type Custom WordPress diagnostic tool
Quiz Engine 47 statements across 9 chapters
Scoring 1–5 per statement, live running average
Interpretation 27 readings (9 areas × 3 bands)
Archetype Logic 8 archetypes, pattern-matched
Data Viz Radar chart — 8 business areas
Capture Gated report delivery, not a signup wall
PDF Reports mPDF — cover + interpretation, auto-generated
Email FluentSMTP — dual send (user + admin)
Database Custom wp_gp_diagnostics table
Admin WP dashboard — all submissions logged
Page Builder None — custom PHP throughout
Iconography Font Awesome Pro
Hosting Hostinger (LiteSpeed)
Our Approach

Five build decisions that shaped the Growth Playbook.

Every Mako Digital build follows a documented approach — consistent across every project, calibrated to each client’s industry, brand, and customer journey.

01

A diagnostic, not just a quiz

Most “business quizzes” are thin lead-magnets — five questions and a generic result. The Growth Playbook needed to feel like a genuine diagnostic. We built a 47-statement assessment across nine chapters — strategy, position, pipeline, customer experience, team, numbers, proof, offer, and the founder — each scored 1 to 5 with a live running average. The result is something a founder takes seriously, not something they click through in thirty seconds.

02

An interpretation engine with real depth

The brains of the build is a custom interpretation engine. Twenty-seven written readings — nine business areas across three bands (Strong, Developing, Needs Attention) — plus eight business archetypes (Founder-Led Engine, Stalled Specialist, Scaling Operator, Cashflow Juggler, Concentration Risk, Undefined Brand, Burning Founder, Balanced Builder). Pattern-matching logic reads the shape of someone’s scores and picks the archetype that fits, with personal-wellbeing scores able to override everything else if the founder is running on empty.

03

Results that look like a proper report

On submission the user gets an on-screen results page: a dark hero with their overall score, their archetype with a full reading, a radar chart mapping eight business areas, their top three strengths and top three priorities side by side, and a chapter-by-chapter interpretation with a status badge on every area. It reads like something you’d take into a board meeting — because that’s exactly what it’s designed for.

04

Capture framed as delivery, not a wall

The capture screen appears after the final chapter and is framed honestly: “Where shall we send your interpretation?” — not a signup wall blocking the diagnostic, just a delivery mechanism. Name, email, business name, optional phone, marketing consent. On submit, an AJAX handler saves the record to a custom database table, generates a branded PDF with mPDF, and fires two emails via FluentSMTP — the full report to the user, and a submission summary to the admin.

05

Automated PDF + a back office to match

Every completed diagnostic auto-generates a multi-page A4 PDF — cover page with the score summary table and status badges, interpretation page with the archetype and all nine chapter readings — saved to a protected directory with indexing disabled. Behind the scenes, a WordPress admin dashboard logs every submission with name, email, business, archetype, score, and a direct PDF download link. The whole pipeline runs without anyone touching it.

By the Numbers

The build at a glance.

47 Diagnostic
statements
9 Business areas
assessed
8 Archetypes in the
interpretation engine
27 Written category
readings
12 min Average time
to complete
100% Automated PDF
+ email pipeline
A diagnostic that ignores the founder’s capacity is missing the point — so the Burning Founder archetype overrides everything else.
A build decision — the Growth Playbook interpretation engine

Growth Playbook Case Study: Mako Digital designed and built the Growth Playbook, a free business diagnostic tool at growthplaybook.co.uk. The build delivered a custom 47-statement quiz engine, an interpretation engine with 27 written readings and 8 business archetypes, a radar chart, gated lead capture, automated PDF report generation via mPDF, dual email delivery through FluentSMTP, and a WordPress admin dashboard — all hand-coded with no quiz plugin or page builder.

The Growth Playbook sits within Mako Digital’s portfolio of bespoke WordPress applications — the same approach behind builds like Resolve Recruitment, RefAssure and the Compliance360 suite. See our Custom CRM Development UK page for the full breakdown, or visit the case study archive for more examples.

FAQs

Common questions about the Growth Playbook build.

What is the Growth Playbook?

The Growth Playbook is a free 12-minute business diagnostic that scores a business across nine critical areas — strategy, position, pipeline, customer experience, team, numbers, proof, offer and the founder. It identifies strengths, surfaces weak spots, and tells the user exactly where to focus next. Mako Digital designed and built the tool at growthplaybook.co.uk.

What did Mako Digital actually build?

The full tool from the ground up: a 47-statement quiz engine across nine chapters with live scoring, a custom interpretation engine with 27 written readings and 8 pattern-matched business archetypes, an on-screen results page with a radar chart, a gated capture form, automated PDF report generation via mPDF, dual email delivery through FluentSMTP, a custom database table, and a WordPress admin dashboard logging every submission. All hand-coded — no quiz plugin, no page builder.

How does the interpretation engine work?

Each of the nine business areas is scored and banded as Strong, Developing or Needs Attention, with a tailored written reading for each band — 27 readings in total. On top of that, pattern-matching logic reads the overall shape of the scores and assigns one of eight business archetypes, such as Founder-Led Engine or Scaling Operator. If the founder’s personal-wellbeing scores are low, a Burning Founder archetype overrides the rest — because a business diagnostic that ignores the founder’s capacity is missing the point.

Is the capture form a signup wall?

No — and that was a deliberate design decision. The diagnostic runs free with no wall blocking it. The capture screen only appears after the final chapter and is framed as report delivery: “Where shall we send your interpretation?” The user gets their full on-screen results either way; the email simply delivers the downloadable PDF and lets them return to their results later.

How is the PDF report generated?

Automatically, the moment a diagnostic is completed. We used mPDF to generate a multi-page A4 report — a cover page with the full score summary table and status badges, and an interpretation page carrying the archetype reading and all nine chapter breakdowns. Reports are saved to a protected server directory with indexing disabled, then emailed to the user and copied to the admin inbox via FluentSMTP.

Can Mako Digital build a tool like this for my business?

Yes. The Growth Playbook is the worked example of how we approach interactive lead-generation tools and custom WordPress applications — quiz engines, scoring logic, automated reports, gated capture, and back-office dashboards. If you want a diagnostic, calculator, assessment or scorecard tool built into your site, get in touch to talk it through.

Does Mako Digital build custom WordPress applications, not just websites?

Yes. Alongside standard websites, Mako Digital builds bespoke WordPress applications — CRMs, portals, booking systems, diagnostic tools and SaaS platforms. The Growth Playbook sits alongside builds like Resolve Recruitment, RefAssure and the Compliance360 suite. See our custom development page for the full picture.

Where can I try the Growth Playbook?

The live tool is at growthplaybook.co.uk — take the diagnostic to see the quiz engine, archetype logic, radar chart and PDF report in action. It takes around 12 minutes and is completely free.

More Like This

Other Mako Digital custom application builds.

If the Growth Playbook is the kind of work that fits your business, these are the closest peers in our portfolio — bespoke WordPress applications, not just websites.

Resolve Recruitment case study

Resolve Recruitment

Recruitment SaaS
RefAssure case study

RefAssure

Reference-Checking SaaS
SafetyHub360 case study

SafetyHub360

Compliance Platform
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