If you’re a service provider, you already know that your clients are the key to everything. And delivering the best experience you can is not only what keeps them coming back for more, but also inspires them to go out and tell the world about the lovely experience they had working with you.
If you’re looking for guidance on how to create an incredible experience for your clients, ways to make the process easier on yourself, and a few tips to help you improve your client experience in the future… you’ll find your answers in this blog post.
Why is client experience important?
Client experience is everything because your business is about more than what you sell—it’s about how you make people feel along the way. If your clients feel taken care of and clear throughout the entire process of working with you, they’ll be so excited to return. But, if they feel stressed and unsure of what’s happening throughout their entire experience, it may leave a bad taste in their mouth, no matter how great the end result was.
Client experience also has an impact on what your clients say to their people about you. And if your clients have an amazing experience working with you and interacting with your brand, they’re far more likely to go out and tell their friends about it, leading to more clients for you!
5 steps for creating the best client experience:
- Get crystal clear about your client process and workflow
A good client experience comes from a clear client process so you’ll want to outline every single step that happens from when a client inquires to the last touch point you have. Don’t forget the small details like when specific emails get sent and what those emails need to include.
For example: client inquires > email sent with link to schedule discovery call > discovery call > proposal > onboarding documents sent in email with link to schedule next call > call > email sent with recap notes > one week for support > farewell email sent with link to feedback form
- Communicate client expectations from start to finish
Once you know each step of your own client process, you’ll want to spell out the things you need from your clients. Be clear and concise, but make sure to repeat yourself as well.
For example, if you tell someone during a meeting that you’ll send them a document that you need back by X date. After the meeting, send an email with that exact information again.
You want to guide your client through your process rather than make them keep track of all the moving parts.
- Depending on your services, create a tangible guide
An easy way to help your client understand your process is to give them a guide that details what they can expect and answers any questions they may have.
Maybe you’re a photographer who has noticed your clients always ask about what to wear on the day of their shoot. In that case, you could create a guide that not only addresses that question (and any others your clients often have), but also outlines the schedule for their photoshoot, or when they can expect to get their photos after the shoot wraps up.
You can give them this guide in the beginning and tell them they can refer to it as you move through the process together.
- Have a place that details all the specifics of your services
Besides having a welcome guide that answers questions and outlines the next steps, it’s also helpful to have a place that details all of the specifics of your service (like process, deliverables, timeline, pricing).
For some service providers, all of these details are included in their proposal. For others, the details may be listed out on their website. For some, they have a welcome guide, proposal, and website that covers the specifics.
You really can’t repeat the details too much. In fact, repeating the details shows your clients that you know what you’re doing and that you’re clear about the next steps that come—and that makes your clients feel confident about their decision of choosing to work with you.
- Say it and then say it again
As you’re working your way through your process with your client, continue to outline what happens next and the expectations for each part of the process. It might feel repetitive, but people are busy and forgetful, and repeating the information helps them not only meet any deadlines you may have but also keeps the process clear for them.
An extra tip: while you may give them all of the information in the beginning, make sure to not overwhelm them with information each time. Tell them exactly what they can expect for the next step in the process and what you need from them to get there. Then when you get there, give them the rest of the information!
2 tips to make your client process easier
- Automation
Once you’ve got your process mapped out, thanks to step 1, you can see if there are any parts of your process you can automate.
Maybe you want to automatically send an email with a link to book a discovery call to anyone who inquires. Or, maybe you want to have a questionnaire or an invoice automatically send after a client moves to the next step. Either way, that’s totally possible with the help of a CRM (client relationship management).
The most popular CRMs are HoneyBook and Dubsado. I use HoneyBook and absolutely love it, and if you want 20% off your first year for HoneyBook, click here.
- Email templates
If you find yourself sending the same emails over and over again, make a template! With
a CRM like HoneyBook, you can even set the email up so that it changes the name field to match whatever client you’re sending it to.
If you don’t want the email to send automatically, you don’t have to, but it’s still worth it to set up an email template so you can just select the template and personalize it to fit the details for your client rather than draft an email from scratch every. single. time.
4 ways to improve your client experience
Once you’ve got your client process and workflow mapped out and have run through it a few times, take the time to assess what’s working and what’s not. Here are four things that can help:
- Keep branding consistent across your different touchpoints
Your branding and brand strategy influence everything that happens in your business, including your client experience. And being consistent about the colors and fonts you use, and the brand voice you write in is a vital part of delivering the best experience possible for your clients.
(It also helps your clients trust you because you’re showing up the same on Instagram as you are when you’re sending a proposal or anything else.)
Take the time to infuse everything with your brand vibe and voice so that every touchpoint a client has with you, and anything you send to them, looks like and feels like your brand and your brand only.
- Ask for feedback
The easiest way to find out how your client experience is, is to ask your clients for their feedback. You can even have sending a feedback form as a part of your client process and ask questions like: “what’s something you loved that I did?” “What’s something I could improve on?”
Feedback forms are different than testimonials because they ask more in-depth questions about the experience your client had, but you can use their answers for a testimonial as well as long as you ask for permission.
- Add in gifts
If you want to go the extra mile, you can make sending a gift a part of your client process! You might send it after your project has wrapped up or just as your journey together begins. Either way, any sort of gift will be a thoughtful surprise for your client.
If you want to send a gift box, look for businesses that offer personalized gift boxes. I love Marigold & Grey, but explore what fits you and your clients the most! Also, don’t feel obligated to send a gift, a handwritten note can be equally as touching to a client. Remember, they’re most likely not expecting to receive anything in the first place so sending anything is a gracious gesture.
- Take note of the questions you keep getting over and over again
If you notice that most of the clients you’re working with get confused about the same step or have the same questions about a specific part of your process, take note! Your clients’ questions show you what is confusing so pay attention to what they ask.
With future clients, you can get ahead of those commonly asked questions by addressing them in one of your meetings or making it a part of your guide.
- Pay attention to any steps your clients are consistently missing
If you notice that clients are missing important deadlines or not following your rules, step back and figure out how you can support them or what may be confusing them.
If they’re missing deadlines, you may want to include extra email reminders that let them know a deadline is approaching. If clients aren’t following your rules, you might want to go back and reword parts of your process that spell out what you need from them.
Keep improving your client process by tweaking this and that, until your clients rave about how easy and clear their experience working with you was!
And if you need help mapping out your client process and improving your client experience I know a gal that I think you’d really like… me! Check out my services page to see a few of the ways we can work together so you can deliver an experience your clients love and that keeps them coming back for more.
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