Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients is at the core of every successful digital marketing agency. So in honor of Get to Know Your Customers Day, we asked successful digital marketing agency owners what questions they always make sure to ask their new web design clients - and here’s what they had to say…
This may sound like an obvious question to ask any new web design client. But if you’re a new agency or freelancer on the block and you’re not asking this question, you are likely making decisions on what the client’s needs are based on your own biases and assumptions - missing out on valuable and maybe surprising insight from your client about their business, their industry, and their audience.
This question helps you establish how your clients view themselves and their business, their products or services, and their accomplishments. This not only helps you get to know them on a professional level but also helps you discover essential content ideas for the site itself.
The answer you hear to this question could inspire more detailed, interesting, and unique pages or blog posts, and can completely change the trajectory of the site’s overall content strategy.
In conjunction with the previous question, this question helps you learn about your client’s mindset when it comes to growth. Where do they see themselves a year, two years, or five years from now? Use this valuable information to influence your content and SEO strategy, and to set goals and benchmarks over the course of your project’s timeline.
When it comes to what your ideas of success are and what your client’s ideas of success are, you two could very well be on different planets. Use this question to get a better understanding of what your client values and attributes as an achievement.
If you find that you have different ideas for success, then you now know that you need to get them on the same page as you. Together, use this question to outline what goals you want to achieve, the requirements needed to achieve them, and to set realistic expectations and timeframes.
The intent of this question isn’t to copy what the competitors have done on their websites, but to get a sense of what your client thinks is important for their own website.
Knowing who your client’s competitors are also helps you get a better understanding of their industry and audience. Use competitor information to create content for the website that differentiates your client from the pack.
Building upon the previous question, get to know your client’s UI/UX design pet peeves so you can further understand what’s important to them and avoid pitfalls early on in the design/development process.
Also, it’s quite possible that the things they find annoying about their competitors’ sites are actually web design best practices, which will signal to you that your client will need some data and education in this space.
Ask your client about both their happy and unhappy customers. What are some of the best and the worst reviews they’ve received? This will help inform the content plan you create around social proof points, testimonials, and FAQs.
The positive reviews will serve as
social proof points, which are especially important for SMBs as it provides validation and reassurance to potential customers who may be unfamiliar with them. On the flip side, information from any negative reviews can help inform an FAQ section where common concerns can be addressed right off the bat.
When you’re trying to get to know your client, it’s easy to forget that they need to get to know you too. Every solid relationship is a two-way street, so encourage your client to ask you questions about your experience, your process, etc. And if they can’t think of any, go ahead and answer the question for them.
Communicate with your client what makes you, your experience, and your business special. This reiterates that they’re making a great decision moving forward with you.
Get to know your client as a person. Yes, you’re building a business relationship but it’s still a relationship. See what common ground you two have outside of this project. Whatever you can do to help your client feel a sense of ease will also bring about a sense of loyalty.
If you’re not comfortable coming right out and asking a more personal question, then think about something you can say that will help make your client feel comfortable. It could be anything from a silly dad joke to something personal about yourself. This not only helps build rapport but also sets the tone for your relationship going forward.
Leave your client feeling like you’ve left no stone unturned. Close out your discovery conversation by allowing them the space to ask any lingering questions they may have forgotten to ask in the shuffle.
We’d love to thank the following agency professionals for giving us their real-world insight:
Barbara Carneiro, Word Revolution
Byron McCartney, Archmark
Shane Hodge, The Camel
Paul Lancieri, Smashmouth Digital Media
Aj, Cr8 My Site
Want some inspiration for your next web design project? Check out these top 10 website trends for 2022 and 5 beautiful sites made with Duda.
