Client experience matters a lot when you’re running an agency. Communication is a critical part of their experience. How proactively you communicate with your customers shows them how much you care about the relationship you have.
Cultivating such relationships is a tricky task, especially when the churn rate is between 30 to 50% for project-based agencies. For retainer-based agencies, the churn is anywhere closer to 20%.
You need to consistently and consciously work to retain and attract new clients. In this article, we’ll cover ways to grow your client base and methods to improve the client experience through streamlined communication.
What is client communication?
Client communication includes all interactions between the client and your team. It helps you nurture relationships, making your clients feel supported.
This translates into a good experience for them, inspiring your client to give you positive word-of-mouth on the market. This word-of-mouth brings referrals and adds new potential clients to your pipeline.
However, this doesn’t happen involuntarily. To make client communication effective, you need to be proactive and address issues with appropriate context. This involves avoiding communication gaps while documenting interactions for better clarity across the team.
Importance of tracking client communication
Tracking communications helps you interact with clients in the proper context. CRM tools keep conversations with clients and your team in the same place, regardless of the channel on which they occur.
This way, you don’t miss out on anything. Whenever you interact, you have all communication in front of you, keeping your conversations relevant. You can see messages that clients sent or what was discussed on the previous phone call.
If you use WhatsApp for client communication, you can still track it on your CRM, regardless of whether you use a personal or office WhatsApp number. Cooby integrates with CRM software to sync all WhatsApp chats and activity, helping you maintain your CRM as the single source of truth.
To summarize, tracking client communication helps you:
- Become proactive in responding to customer queries with context.
- Maintain a single source of truth for all client communication.
- Avoid communication gaps and analyze your teams' performance
- Coach team members to make conversations more effective.
5 ways to improve client communication
Here are some client communication best practices that are a must for any type of agency.
1. Have a structured process
Whether you are a team or a single person, a well-defined process ensures clarity and efficiency. A clear communication channel is essential, whether it's through email, WhatsApp, phone, video meetings, or in-person meetings.
Ensure you have one of them and create guidelines for all types of communications, including response time expectations, escalation procedures, and other necessary protocols.
You can discuss every detail and record it in a document, which will serve as a reference point for future interactions and help maintain consistency. Next, share all the details with your teammates and ensure internal team meet-ups are held to keep a check if you, your team, and the client are on the same page.
2. Act proactively on client feedback
When you fail to implement client feedback, clients might misunderstand you as someone who is not a professional, which can impact your relationship with them. Act proactively and let your clients know that you value their feedback. Always provide opportunities for client feedback through open communication channels or feedback forms.
Show your appreciation and thank them for their feedback, whether it's positive or negative. This will demonstrate that you care. It's not just about listening to feedback, arranging meetings, and giving assurances; taking action is important. Establish a system for addressing client feedback and scheduling time for it.
Tip: If you’re operating as a one-person agency, such feedback is prone to enter the backburner when you’re consistently delivering on new projects for different clients. In such situations, schedule some time on your calendar to implement feedback and set expectations accordingly with clients.
3. Conduct regular check-ins
Regular check-ins help you ensure that you’re on the same page with the clients. They also allow you to avoid unnecessary interpretations, helping you keep things as planned. Make sure the check-ins happen through sync meetings on any video-conferencing application.
In these meetings, you’ll notice many things that seemed like a grey area when conversing on instant messaging or other communication channels would come up.
Make it a practice to quickly document the discussion with significant action items and send it to the client for better clarity. If you WhatsApp these details to them, you can add tasks for your team to follow up with after a set timeline. Cooby will let you assign tasks on CRM through your WhatsApp.
4. Be an active listener
Maintaining communication not only means speaking but also requires active listening.
A good listener has an attentive mind and an open heart. It requires attention over talent.
Listen actively when your client explains their requirements, suggestions, needs, and expectations. Pay close attention to what they are saying, first listen, and then ask clarifying questions for deeper understanding.
In the end, recap the main points of the conversation to confirm that you completely understood the client's message. Acknowledging the client's perspective and feelings shows empathy, which builds rapport and trust.
5. Use relevant communication tools
Appropriate communication tools that align with your needs are essential to communicate effectively. Here are some popular tools for communication with clients and customers.
Apps
Features
How to use
What to look out for
Multi-media messaging, broadcasts, CRM integrations
Use messaging to reach out and follow up with the customers
Look out for WhatsApp Business API and avoid it if you’re using WhatsApp for sales
Slack
Channels, direct messages, file sharing, integration with other tools
Create channels for projects, message team members, share files
Video calls with several participants
Zoom
Video calls, webinars, screen sharing, recording, and chat.
Host video meetings, share your screen, record sessions
Limited real-time teamwork and does not effectively handle task management.
Trello
Boards, lists, cards, due dates, attachments, labels, comments
Organize tasks on boards, use cards for details, add comments
Cannot do video calls.
Google Workspace
Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Calendar
Gmail for email, Drive for files, Google Docs for editing, Google Meet for video calls, Calendar for meeting scheduling
Not a project manager.
Asana
Task assignments, due dates, project timelines, team collaboration
Create tasks, set deadlines, track progress, comment on tasks
No video calls; not a replacement for email.
Most of these tools offer access to basic features, but you might need a premium or paid version to access advanced features.
Toward improving communication
Communicating with clients provides a valuable opportunity to understand each other's goals, motives, and, most importantly, needs. You need these conversations to be helpful and practical for the client rather than monotonous or repetitive.
Start tracking your conversations on CRM to keep the context alive. It empowers all team members to communicate confidently while avoiding repetition.
If you don’t have a CRM, go with HubSpot or Salesforce. These are popular and reliable tools that offer integrations with different business applications. Once you set it, make it the source of truth for all client communication by syncing all channels.
Do you use WhatsApp are the primary channel for client communication?
Integrate WhatsApp with your CRM and maintain one source of truth for all client interactions.
