When I first started my design business, I have to admit – creating some sort of impressive client experience wasn’t super at the top of my goal list. Yes, I wanted my clients to enjoy working with me, but when you’re first starting your business, you’re more worried about finding work, the client liking what you create, and getting paid. But that’s the obvious part of running a business.
After a year or two went by I started thinking more about how to streamline my clients’ experience of working with me and making it more branded and such. I’ve talked on the podcast about how I used to manually create invoices and contracts in Illustrator in an effort to make sure all of my touch points were branded, but (and this is me being super blunt) that’s a waste of time.
There are so many ways you can improve your clients’ experience of working with you without investing even more time (the same time we don’t have enough of already) into your business. However, you may be thinking: “Why does it really matter? Isn’t it just important that the client says I’m fun to work with and likes what I design?” That’s true, but there are a few key reasons you want to take an extra second to consider refining the client experience, and I’m going to share a few with you today!
You’ll save time during your projects
Have you ever found yourself flying by the seat of your pants when it comes to one (or more) part of your process during a client project? You’re just getting ready to send over logo concepts, and wait… did you share your feedback guidelines with the client already? Or you’re sending over final files, but right before you hit send you realize you forgot to include your project wrap up pdf.
Regardless of the situation, when you don’t have a streamlined process for your projects, it creates chaos behind the scenes. This can make your client experience suffer if you have to keep going back and forth to provide your clients with things you forgot the first time. Having a streamlined experience means you know exactly what steps to take every step of the way during your projects with clients, which allows you to feel more organized and save time. Who doesn’t want more time to focus on your business instead of just working for your business? Not to mention actually living your life.
You’ll know how to market yourself
One of the hardest things as a designer is marketing yourself. It’s so easy compared to some fields because part of marketing is showing off the beautiful work you’ve created for your clients. But when you’re asking people to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars into working with you, it takes more than just a pretty design to get them to book you for their project.
When you’re not sure what makes you stand out from other designers, you have no clue how to market yourself successfully. This causes frustration, desperation, and even feelings of self-doubt when you struggle to book clients. Taking the time to refine your client experience literally shows you what makes you such an amazing pick for your potential clients. For example, the fact that I focus on strategy for my branding clients is a major selling point for me! I love knowing exactly what to talk about in my copy and promotional posts on Instagram.
You’ll finally be able to raise your rates
For the longest time, I felt so stuck with my prices. I knew I should be charging more, everyone kept saying to charge more, but I had no idea how to target the right people for my services so that I’d even be able to raise my rates. Not to mention, it was even more frustrating to get inquiries from people who ended up saying I was charging too much. What!?
As obvious as it is, when you’re more focused on where the next project is coming from than wowing your current clients, you’re missing out on the money that’s waiting for you. Now listen, I’m no money coach, but hear me out: when you have a signature process nailed down and your clients have an amazing experience working with you, then your projects are literally worth more money to your clients. That’s not even including the level of design work you’re creating (based on experience, education, etc) or the results that you’re getting them after leveling up their branding or website design.
So, are you ready to focus on your client experience?
When you read about all of those amazing benefits, isn’t it a no-brainer to take the time to refine your client experience? I don’t know about you, but those definitely make me want to revisit this side of my business regularly!
P.s. If you’re a designer and you’re thinking, “Yes, I need help with this!” Then I have an exciting workshop coming up for you! Check back next week for all of the fun details.