Have you found yourself replying to WhatsApp messages the whole day to update clients? Or your client suddenly asks for a change that’s not been included in the scope of work (SOW)? Even worse, they start questioning your service charges?
Well, those questions are the result of poor client communication. So, explain the deliverables, payment terms, timelines, and communication channels clearly. Then you can expect appreciation instead of questions.
With that thought, we’ll clarify the core of client interaction. You’ll see why agencies fail, steps to improve, and the best practices to apply. So, keep reading!
What is Client Communication?
Client communication is the exchange of information between an agency and its client in a systematic way. It can happen during onboarding, project delivery, billing, and support. Basically, it’s the process of maintaining consistent communication through fixed channels.
So, there is no confusion for either party.
However, it takes time and effort to improve client communication skills. Plus, an agency should be aware of its shortcomings, work to improve them, and apply best practices.
What are the Risks of Poor Client Communication for Agencies?
When you ask for the risks of poor client communication, here are the noteworthy ones —
- Loss of Trust: Inconsistent or weak communication often creates confusion and doubt in clients. In return, it leads to distrust in you.
- Scope of Work: Due to unclear conversations, agencies often fail to explain the SOW, deliverables, and timeline. So, there is a misunderstanding between the two parties.
- Late Payment: When clients don’t receive timely updates or attention, they’ll likely withhold payment. Even worse, even after the payment agreement, the clients will ask questions about the charges.
- Increased Support Tickets: Another risk is that clients will often raise tickets asking for manual support when you fail to offer updates, fix issues, or show progress.
- Client Churn: If clients lose trust, don’t have clear ideas about the deliverables, and open tickets to solve each issue, they’ll abandon your service.
Why Most Agencies Fail in Client Communication?
Communicating and updating aren’t the same thing. In reality, skilled team members of your agency are spending 88% of their week on different channels just to inform (Source: Grammarly)
Well, that’s not communication. That said, here are the primary reasons why your agency might fail —
Unclear SOW
The inability or failure to explain the scope of work to the client is a major reason why agencies fail. A project may include modules or components that don’t align with your service. And your clients need to know that.
If you fail to explain the deliverables, inclusions, and exclusions, the client might expect the unexpected. In the end, it’ll create conflict, and you might even lose the project.
Lack of Centralized System
Another reason is that most agencies are still not inclined to use a centralized communication system. To this day, they use, for example —
- Email to collect brand assets, documents, images, and guides
- WhatsApp for quick chats
- Zoom for video calls.
See, using too many tools to correspond with clients can lead to problems. You can miss important information, and misunderstandings can occur.
Irregular Updates
Agencies kind of procrastinate in providing regular updates right after client onboarding. They provide one update this week and go silent for the whole month. At this point, clients begin to lose confidence in your service and feel confused.
Overdependence on Manual Process
Agencies that rely on manual processes rather than client communication software are at greater risk of failure.
When you do things manually, you need to keep all data and information in a spreadsheet, and even worse, in your mind. And that often leads to missing information.
If the project manager forgets to provide an update, falls ill, or takes leave, communication stops. As a result, both the team and the client are left in the dark.
Lack of Documentation
Another key reason for failing is a lack of documentation. It could be a record of conversation, detailed notes, etc.
And a few things can happen due to missing documentation, like —
- You can miss working on client feedback.
- Teams can end up doing repeated work.
- Clients may forget their own requests
- Misunderstanding can arise regarding payment terms and more
Even after a verbal interaction, make sure to document it and cross-check with your client.
How Agencies Can Improve Client Communication?
Agencies can improve client communication style by following the given steps
Use Client Portal
A client portal gives clients access to a holistic view of work progress without asking for updates via messages.
For instance, Agency Handy’s client portal gives clients the ability to visually see the work progress through kanban boards. Plus, clients can share feedback, highlight comments, leave notes, and even draw for better communication.
Also, clients can even pay the agency from the portal without using an extra tool.
Establish Communication Plan
Ask your clients what their preferred ways of communication are. That’s because even with a client portal, it’s best to create and share a solid plan for effective communication with clients.
In this case, you can create a weekly, monthly, and even a quarterly plan. In the plan, you’ll clearly state the time for regular check-ins and review meetings with your client.
This way, clients will know exactly when they’ll get the updates, the next steps, and have confidence in you.
Set Communication Channel
52% of customers demand a quick reply to their requirements, problems, or recommendations, says the CMO Council survey. To meet expectations, you must define effective communication channels for clients.
Explain where the day-to-day conversation will take place, like Slack, email, or the built-in chat tool. Hence, it’ll keep communication organized and remove any uncertainty.
Ensure Collaborative Space for Feedback
Feedback is also another key part of client communication. And it’s obvious!
Ensure clients can share feedback on your team’s work. They should be able to open a file and leave comments or share notes as needed.
That way, clients can skip taking dozens of screenshots and share them on WhatsApp to highlight something. Additionally, it reduces the risk of misinterpretation.
Implement Suggestions from Client
See, there is always room for improvement in almost anything. That’s why, directly ask the client if they’ve been facing any challenges and what can be improved.
You can also create a questionnaire and send it to clients. For example —
- Do you have any recommendations for smooth communication?
- Is there any communication method we should use?
- What are the top 3 things we need to improve regarding client communication?
- What are your suggestions for communicating with our internal team?
But the questions will vary depending on your business model.
And based on their feedback, try to improve the way of conversation with your clients. Besides, it also shows that you care about your clients. In return, it also increases customer loyalty.
Client Communication Best Practices for Agencies
Agencies must follow the best practices for client correspondence. It helps to reduce the risk and increase client retention. In this case, ensure that you apply the following to your agency.
Provide Client Self-service Access
You should offer clients self-service access via a client portal. That way, your client will be able to see the work progress without sending you the “What’s the update?” message.
A client portal also allows for sharing feedback, version control, annotation, leaving notes, and even drawings. Hence, clients can skip scheduling a video call just to show the fixes they require.
On top of that, Agency Handy gives you access to attachments directly within the platform. Overall, that’s how a single portal simplifies client communication without needing your assistance.
Centralize All Client Conversations
It often happens that you spend hours scrolling through chats, emails, and jump between Slack and WhatsApp to find a conversation. That’s a bad practice! And this is why you must centralize all the conversations.
Here, an agency management software can help. It links every interaction from uploads, support tickets, to invoices with a single client profile.
This way, conversations stay in one place. Plus, it reduces miscommunication and the need to ask clients unnecessary questions.
Define Response Timelines
Give your clients a specific time for when they’ll get your response. They shouldn’t ask questions and spend hours waiting for your answer. It’ll make them anxious and confused about your service.
For instance, you can set a specific time, like 10:00 AM, in the morning to inform the whole day’s planning. Then, you set a time in the afternoon to answer any queries from your clients. It’s just a surface-level example; you should redefine the timeline based on your business.
Automate Routine Updates
You should know how many updates and details your clients want from you regularly. With that information, select software to automate project updates. It should also generate reports and send payment reminders to clients.
Thus, your team members don’t need to rely on their memory to offer key updates. Likewise, a client portal plays a fantastic role here by giving the space to view project progress, dues, pendings, and invoices.
This way, clients feel satisfied as they get critical information without the constant “check-in” calls.
Gather Feedback and Improve
Remember, client communication is an ongoing process, and you can always improve your skills. And the best way to do that is by gathering feedback from the clients.
You can ask —
- How fast do you get answers when you contact us?
- Do you get proper information about your project?
- Are we able to provide you with clear updates?
- Would you suggest any other channel of communication?
- What’s the one thing we should improve in communicating with you?
Further Read:
10 Client Communication Skills That You Need for Success.
What are the Different Stages of Client Communication for the Agencies?
Communication is one of the major client interaction skills. In fact, you’ll interact with the client in different phases. So, the communication approaches will be different from time to time
With that said, the most important stages are —
Onboarding
When onboarding a client, it’s the first key step in communicating and establishing trust. This is where your clients get to understand your agency through how you —
- Explain the scope of work, timelines, budgets, and exclusions
- Establish interaction channels
- Offer client-portal self-service access
If you fail to resolve it now, project-specific consequences may follow. Later, it’ll be difficult to correct issues like delayed payments or misunderstandings.
Again, if handled properly, clients receive the transparency they need. It helps to keep project discussions efficient and progressing.
Project Management
It’s logically the core part of client communication. Here, you offer structured updates of the project’s deliverables, milestones, bottlenecks, and achievements.
Without transparent project updates, they can’t track the goals and don’t get real value. It makes them curious, anxious, and in doubt during this stage. So, make sure to keep up with your clients regularly.
Feedback and Revisions
When offering a service or product, there will be feedback loops and revisions. Thus, your clients should have access to leave their inputs, attach references, leave notes, etc.
Meanwhile, you properly get in touch to explain what’s feasible based on their needs and what the next steps will be.
Right there, Agency Handy comes with an exceptional solution. Clients can open images, PDFs, and videos to comment, draw, and share perspectives on live websites. Plus, it brings version control for ease of tracking and gets back to the previous version as well.
Billing
Billing is an extremely sensitive stage. So here, you must communicate transparently to explain the costs, terms of payment, and invoice details. That way, clients get clarity on what they’re paying for and what they’re getting in return.
Plus, it helps the clients to measure the value they’re getting from your service. With this clarification, you can increase the likelihood of renewals.
Support
Support is a major part of the client experience. You can offer support through different channels, like mobile, text message, video calls, or even emails. It basically depends on your client’s preference.
The key is that they receive solid support from you if they encounter any issues. For example, a client might find it hard to track projects, pay invoices, share feedback, etc.
Also, they might want to hear the overall work progress from you.
Thus, make sure to establish a proper support system. And don’t forget to show empathy, as now 68% of customers want the brands to show compassion in every communication (Source: Salesforce).
Final Words
In client communication, set clear expectations. Also, define the deliverables, timeline, payment terms, communication channels, and response times upfront. And avoid using multiple tools as they create more friction rather than improving interaction.
In this case, Agency Handy can simplify the whole process for your agency. It offers a self-service client portal to centralize the communication to manage projects, feedback, ticket support, and payments.
Thus, your clients will get real-time updates and have confidence in your service.
FAQs
Why is client communication important?
Client communication is important as it helps to clarify expectations, deliverables, timelines, and budgets transparently. Meanwhile, it allows the clients to express their goals, challenges, visions, and feedback.
What are three types of communication you can have with a client?
The three types of communication you can have with a client are
- Verbal, including meetings, phone calls, and video calls.
- Written, including messages, emails, contracts, and reports.
- Visual, including dashboards, presentations, charts, and whiteboards.
How often should agencies communicate with clients?
Agencies should communicate with clients depending on the project’s requirements and the client’s needs. However, it’s a good rule of thumb to update key milestones, bottlenecks, or achievements daily. Then, host a monthly meeting to provide a holistic view of the work and ensure a 24/7, reliable support system.
