We have all heard the saying that it is easier/cheaper to upsell to an existing client than it is to find a new client. Nothing new there, but how can you make sure that you’re in a position to actually do this? 

The key – Customer Experience. 

If you deliver a smooth, efficient, and positive customer journey for your clients, then my friend, you are more likely to thrive, and last the course! 

This blog post dives into how you can analyse and optimise your customer journey, focusing specifically on the experience of clients who choose to work with you. 

Step One – Map out the Key Stages of your Client Journey

The first step to optimising your client journey is to understand it thoroughly. It’s only once you have detailed all touchpoints, milestones and communication points within your services delivery, can you then start to identify areas for improvement. 

Here are some key stages to consider:

• Pre-Engagement: How do potential clients discover your agency? What information do they seek before reaching out?
• Onboarding: This includes initial contact, the sales process, and the onboarding and ultimately the kick off processes/timeframe. How easy is it for clients to connect with you? Is your sales process transparent and efficient? Do they know what is happening at each stage, and why?
• Maintenance: This encompasses project delivery, ongoing support, and client retention. Are you keeping clients informed throughout the project? Do you offer multiple channels for support? How often are your communications with clients? Weekly, fortnightly? What channel does this happen on? WhatsApp, Email, Zoom? Get clear!

Step Two – Identify Roadblocks and Opportunities

Clients have a way of feeding back to us on their experience, both directly (in the form of verbal/written feedback) and indirectly (ghosting messages, slow to approve content). Actively look for this feedback, over a period of say a month, making a note of the feedback, when it was delivered and how it was delivered. 

Then analyse the results. You don’t need to have a lot of number data here, don’t worry about that. A lot of the data you’re collecting will be qualitative (think thoughts, feelings and behaviours) rather than quantitative (percentages, ROI etc). But it is important to track the numbers too. 

Look at each stage of the client journey, based on your feedback, can identify areas for improvement. Here are some ways to gather data:

• Lead Generation: Track lead source and behaviour on your website to understand how potential clients find and interact with your content. Track how long it takes for a lead to sign a contract, what can you to do to speed this up?
• Client Deliverables: How often are you asked for edits from client? How many clients reject work? If using freelancers/team – who is responsible for the most revisions/edits? 
• Sales Process: How many sales calls are you booking per month? How many of those convert to paid clients? How long do they usually remain a client? What is your most popular package, and how does this compare to the most profitable? 

Step Three  – Optimise, Refine and Improve

Once you have a good grasp of your client journey, you can start making improvements. Here are some strategies to consider:

• Streamlined Sales Process: Utilise proposal templates, automated follow-up emails, and clear communication to create a smooth sales experience. Using a CRM here would allow to you also gather the data on the workflow on autopilot. 
• Client Onboarding: Develop an onboarding process that standardises the onboarding experience. It could be a checklist, or a series of standard questions you ask each client, or you could take it one step further and develop a bespoke workflow within your CRM that allows the client to onboard themselves with little to no input from you/your team. 
• Project Management Tools: Tools such as Click Up, Asana, Monday and Trello are fantastic tools which can be used both internally during the content creation process, and also give access to clients for approvals.
• Customer Service: Have defined customer service protocols, ensuring a high standard of communications throughout your business. Determining things such as when to message a client (e.g. only within office hours), when to send emails, how to address messages, how to sign off, which email signature to use. The more detailed the better. 
• WOW Moments: Identify areas within your service where you can deliver exceptional customer service standards that really WOW your clients. 

Conclusion: The Journey Never Ends

Optimising the client journey is an ongoing process. By continuously collecting and analysing customer feedback, you can identify areas for improvement and refine your approach over time. 

Remember, a focus on customer experience is an investment in the future of your business, and the easiest way for you to increase your revenue through referrals and upselling of existing clients. 

If you would like to claim your free 20 min Agency Audit with me, Hazel, I’d love to catch up with you over a coffee. Simply click this link and book in for a chat. 

We also recommend checking out Clinics for all thing customer service training for your business.