"Every company desires to create a perfect experience for their customers. However, in the agency ecosystem, few solution partners are willing to make the necessary changes to achieve this. The truth is, most agencies are not even aware of how poor the experience they provide to their customers can be."
What is Customer Experience?
Customer experience is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a service provider over the duration of their relationship. If you want your business to perform above average, you should take this experience seriously and develop tactics to improve it.
If the methods you use to improve customer experience do not reflect any commercial value, or if the project team does not play a complementary role in the workflow with the customer, you may not see the benefits you expect.
I believe that agencies need to better understand their customers at this point. Perhaps the customer is not the actual user of the product, but just the buyer. In any case, people want to see and feel what they have bought. They even want this throughout the process of working together.
Customers do not just buy the final product. An agency client buys your service, or more precisely, the way you provide service. This is often overlooked in our field. Yet, we frequently witness that enchanting the customer with a good communication strategy can sometimes even surpass the work itself. When people are convinced that you have a professional attitude and that you care about them, they will show you the patience you need. In summary, your way of working constitutes an important part of the customer experience.
Another dimension of the matter is that improving your working method will also positively affect the outcomes. The equation is actually quite simple: Right Approach = Good Work = Good Results = Happy Customers = More Customers...
Being a good agency does not mean you have to say yes to everything the customer wants. The agency is the party that needs to provide the quality and functionality the customer needs for the project and the work to be successful. After all, the work comes out of the agency's hands, and people are ready to judge you for every flaw they see. Keep this in mind.
What Can Be Done for a Better Customer Experience?
Over the years, numerous cases have taught us that we need to summarize this process in five main headings to improve customer experience.
- Show value.
- Enhance sharing.
- Set expectations.
- Facilitate collaboration.
- Forget prejudices
Show Value
The customer experience can start even before the customer has made contact with you. You might have pleased the customer without even realizing it. Because a good reputation determines the customer's approach to you before they start working with you.
In the agency world, things usually run from mouth to ear. A lot can be done on the marketing side, but nothing is as effective as a positive reference from a customer you have pleased in the past. There are three things you need to do to get good references; don't shy away from hard work, be pleased with your work, and produce quality work.
Find and Solve Problems
Simple or epic problems can arise in almost any job. No matter how carefully you manage the project, sometimes things you or the customer did not account for occur, and problems arise. Think about these and solve them. Show that you take this as seriously as the customer. I repeat, the attitude you adopt is as important as solving the problem!
Don't Just Say It, Clearly Show It
Customers do not know what is happening on the agency side, how things are progressing. All customers expect to be treated as if they are the only ones you are serving. In your dialogue with the customer, you should explain everything in its simplest form and show them how you are progressing. Depending on the project you are running, you can gain time and involve the customer in the process by taking screenshots, sending small videos, and frequently notifying them, thus softening potential objections.
Be Eager for More
As an agency, do not hesitate to use your experience to advance the customer's business. Being noticed for seeking and striving for better is an extremely positive and even unforgettable experience for a customer. Never outright dismiss a new idea or revision brought to you with great enthusiasm by the customer. First, try it, and then reject it if it really doesn't hold up. There is a delicacy even in rejection. When you do this with tangible reasons, you soften the blow.
Enhance Sharing
Learn about the sensitivities and needs of the customer; ensure that all key stakeholders are aligned throughout the project. Do your homework well and review your schedule, processes, timeline, and roles before starting the project. In this self-audit, flaws are often noticed.
Sharing creates a common understanding. We can argue that teams with a common understanding are more successful in developing a common perception about goals and results in the later stages of the project.
Confirm Almost Everything
If you are on the agency side, you want to blame the other side for the problems you experience. You think that brand employees are not professional and that they squeeze you with an email sent at 6:30 PM after spending all day on social media. Probably, those on the brand side think that agency workers are "a bunch of enthusiastic kids" who spend all day having fun in that very colorful agency world. Therefore, the agency is usually the guilty party!
It's clear that this situation actually stems from communication problems. As the party responsible for fulfilling the job, it is beneficial to confirm almost everything with the customer. This way, you can prevent misunderstandings, miscommunications, and unwillingness to understand.
Things you need to agree upon with the customer through close contact:
- Timeline
- Revision Times
- New Feature Times
- Project Architecture,
- Content,
- Interface Patterns,
- User Actions,
- Permissions, Reports, and other features
Yes, you understood correctly, everything! You should manage everything you do, are doing, and will do by involving the customer in the process.
Set Expectations
If the scope of the project and the final expectations are not completely clear (which is rare), it is beneficial to break the project down into smaller milestones; because everything starts to look clearer when you examine a smaller part of the project. Both sides can easily test whether things are working as expected.
Create a comprehensive timeline and workflow plan and share it with the customer. Stick to this plan no matter what. Indicate the specific days (or weeks) you have allocated for the project in your calendar. Work or be available on those days for the project. When you show a professional stance, your customers will also respect your workflow. This way, you reduce the likelihood of receiving an email with the subject line "URGENT" on days when you are not available.
Always send a status report (even a simple email) to the customer after completing a milestone or before taking a break from the project. In the agency ecosystem, this is usually done just before the end of the day on Friday. I can't say it seems very correct to me. I think it is necessary to give the customer enough time to ask questions and for you to provide a quick response.
Forget Prejudices
There are usually multiple solutions to any problem. The most common problem is when different stakeholders believe their solutions are correct. In such cases, personal preference really loses its importance. Step back a bit from yourself and focus on evaluating things from different angles to offer the best solution.
"Sometimes we need to be someone without opinions or preferences, so we can give the necessary weight to all views and find the best path for everyone." (Abby Covert)
One of the most common mistakes in the agency ecosystem is working according to tastes. However, sciences like marketing, communication, and aesthetics operate with certain mechanisms. Agency workers often focus on the beautiful and the ugly and make mistakes. What should be caught is not Right and Wrong?
In searching for the right thing; beautiful, ugly, good, bad, deep, shallow, and dozens of other things need to be taken into account. This is the difficult part because it requires interdisciplinary thinking. The fact that agencies need to host more people with these characteristics is another topic we can dwell on another day.
Take care,
“Writing is seeing the future.” Paul Valéry