Your web design client lets you know his requirements - a sleek website, muted color tone, and a responsive mobile version. Do you have everything you need? You may think so but a month down the line, when you have multiple feedback meetings with your client, you may realize that there’s more to designer-client relationships than getting a basic requirement of what they want from you. Here are 5 common mistakes web design clients often make and how you can help resolve those mistakes for them.
Not providing a detailed brief
It’s the job of the web designer to come up with a website that gives the desired result to the client. But is it possible without knowing what the client’s goal is? Or what design features or elements he has in mind for the final outcome? Not having a detailed brief can mean a lot of rework happening at the later stage of the project. It will come along with a lot of back-and-forth discussion and frustration for both your client and the team.
To avoid this, walk your clients through the process you follow. Ask them questions. These questions could be something like:
- What are you trying to achieve with your website? Just awareness or conversions? Or something else?
- Who will be the target audience? Do you have a user persona for the same?
- Are there any competitor sites you like? What do you think we should follow from them?
- Do you have any design elements or features that you want us to incorporate?
- What shades or color tones are preferable for the brand?
- Are there any technical requirements like the site should load fast or have a checkout solution?
Setting an incorrect deadline
Your client may set a deadline without knowing how much time you will require for each phase of the web design project. If they haven’t provided a detailed brief in the first place, they may not have any idea at all about the kind of work that will go into the project. In both of these cases, you need to have a discussion with the client and walk them through the detailed steps you will undertake for their project and how much time it usually takes to complete each phase satisfactorily. You can even provide examples of your earlier design clients and the time it took your team to achieve the outcome. Ensuring that your customers fully understand the amount of work you’ll be undertaking will also help them grasp why you’re charging a certain amount for the project.
Being inflexible with their opinions
Do you know who Jeff Bezos considers to be smart? Those who are actually wrong a lot. Surprising, isn’t it? He has observed that, “The smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem that they’ve already solved. They’re open to new points of view, new information, ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.”
When it comes to web design clients, they might have certain ideas in mind. For example, they must have seen a site where content is little but they use a lot of animation and graphic elements. Instead of opposing the idea, have an open discussion. Let him know why this might be a bad idea. For example, it may hamper the site’s loading speed. Back it up with relevant stats that support your argument. Also ensure that you don’t stay rigid with your perspectives as well.
Making too many technical decisions
There are two scenarios when a client comes to you (a) they know every facet of web designing or (b) they don’t really know what they want or need and you’ll have to spend time to discuss the many outcomes of web design and what each would bring to their brand. When it comes to client A, they might think that because they know everything, they should make all the decisions. While it’s the client’s website after all, they should be deciding the major factors like the color tone, features the website must have, and so on but it should be up to your team to decide things like the kind of tools and inspiration models you would be using.
If your client tries to make every decision for you, it will be tough for the team to come up with great work. So, ask your client questions on why they need something to work in a particular way and tell them your processes in advance.
Not making use of a feedback tool
Web designing is a field where there needs to be ongoing feedback. Instead of having it all on email and using screenshots, ask your clients to give their feedback on the tool that you are using. With a tool like Ruttl, this process can become easier. You can just send them a shareability link and they can quickly give their feedback on different versions of the website without having to go through the hassling process of signing up and logging in every time they need to leave a comment. This makes sure every feedback point is at one place and nothing goes out of sight.
Now that you know how important having a feedback tool is, sign up to Ruttl today and make sure your web design projects and your client relationships run smoothly.
Start your free trial here: ruttl - visual feedback tool
