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CLIENT DELIGHT INITIATIVESINTRODUCTION

How far are you willing to go to delight a client?

95% of management teams claim to be customer focused, according to a survey of 362 firms from Bain & Company.

And while 80% reported that they believed they delivered a “superior experience” to their customers, a mere 8% of

clients agreed.

Talk about a disconnect.

True customer-focused client delight is about delivering value. It’s about exceeding expectations, empowering

businesses, and keeping your promises. Considering the customer satisfaction gap demonstrated by the statistic

above, it’s very clear that saying you’re going to do something and actually doing it are two very different things.

But giving people more than what they expect isn’t easy. For agencies juggling dozens clients across many different

verticals, finding the time to go above and beyond comes as a challenge. A challenge worth accepting.

You might be thinking, “But, but ... I’ve already won their business.”

Yes, you have, but the real question is: Do you want to keep it?

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Most agencies know how to leverage their own email marketing skills to attract and nurture new business. However, they often overlook email as a communication channel post-sale.

Email can be used to delight your customers in a scalable way, as it provides the means necessary to continuously deliver added value over the course of your relationship. While many would argue that no one is looking forward to more email -- certainly we all already receive our fair share -- delight emails should be thoughtfully considered to ensure they don’t pile on.

When creating delight emails, be sure to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Set aside what you’d like them to know, and focus solely on what they really need to be successful. If you’re using marketing automation software, dig into their contact profile to uncover what pages they’ve visited on your site, what ebooks they’ve downloaded, or emails they’ve interacted with in the past. Use these insights to gauge which topics they are most interested in, and send them content that is relevant to that area of focus.

STRATEGY #1: SEND HELPFUL EMAILS

“After the welcome email, we send our clients an email with some best practices, resources, and tutorial videos on how to get started with

the software we’ll be using to manage their marketing efforts. We also include a customer-focused ebook which reviews the basic ‘getting

started’ guide and answers common questions.”Erica Dube

IMPACT Branding & Design@ericandube

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These days, technology connects us in a way that we could have never imagined. And while this increased connectivity makes it easy for us to stay in touch, it’s important that we don’t let it stand in the way of real, personal engagements with clients.

Think about a time when you called into a customer service line. You probably sat through a series of long, drawn out automated messages, pressed a couple buttons, and after much frustration, breathed a sigh of relief when you were finally connected with an actual representative, right?

At the end of the day, people want to do business with other people -- not machines and emails. By making a conscious effort to infuse more human interactions into your day-to-day communication with clients, it will be easier to build trust and deepen the relationship.

STRATEGY #2: BE HUMAN

“Do some recon and figure out when your client’s important dates are -- their business anniversary, their birthday, their daughters birthday, etc. -- and send them something on that special date to show that you care about them. We are all here for business, but showing your client

that you care about them on a personal level can go a long way.”Remington BeggImpulse Creative@remingtonbegg

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STRATEGY #2: BE HUMAN

Matt SunshineThe Center for Sales Strategy

@mattsunshine

“This strategy may seem a little old school, but I think it stands the test of time: Send handwritten thank you notes. Not after a deal is done, but rather, just to show your clients that you

appreciated their business.”

“We love dogs. A lot of our (best) clients love dogs too. So we’ll occasionally put our wet noses to the ole grindstone and create custom dog illustrations of our clients’ pups. It’s just our way of

saying: You’re one of our favorite humans. Margaret Faintich

New Honor Society@NewHonorSociety

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Reports serve as one of the greatest opportunities for your agency to interact with your client, and compiling these reports is beneficial to you both.

In terms of your success, knowing where you stand, what’s working, and what’s not will help you to remain agile and offer up solutions in a timely manner. For your clients, reports tied directly to ROI help to demonstrate exactly where their money is going, which contributes to a more mutual understanding of budget allocation, as well as piece of mind.

While almost any agency can whip up an automated report and shoot it over via email, agencies focused on delight are more thoughtful in their approach. Small considerations such as simplifying the language to make it easier to understand, highlighting key metrics, and proactively providing clarification for any questionable numbers won’t go unnoticed.

STRATEGY #3: MASTER REPORTING

“By keeping our clients 100% in the loop on all that we’re doing, we’re able to build trust, create strong alignment, allow our clients

to choose which activities they’d like to assist in, and report on what activities are being done to help the company achieve their goals.

The way we see it, knowledge is power in both client and customer relationships.”Jeff Coon

Stream Creative@streamcreative

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STRATEGY #3: MASTER REPORTING

“For every client relationship, we set the expectation up front that we will be reporting weekly on activities, monthly on results, and quarterly on the

return on their investment.

One thing we keep at the forefront of thinking is that reports alone are just assets with data on them. Our job as an agency is to translate that data

into meaning and to help the client understand how these numbers impact their business. Regular reporting expectations, added context, and on-

going education during our reporting sessions is a delightful formula that clients love and appreciate.”

Ben ButlerGuavaBox

@BenButlerPR

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Anytime you bring together two professional parties -- each with their own style and opinions -- finding common ground can be a challenge. While communicating your vision clearly is often easier said than done, you have to find a way to convey your ideas in a way that makes sense to everyone.

To avoid misunderstandings, it’s up to you to tailor your approach to your audience. This might mean incorporating visual resources for those who prefer more tangible concepts or clear, documented explanations for others.

Whether you’re onboarding a new client or mapping out a big campaign launch for a long-standing one, going above and beyond to ensure that everyone is on the same page works to delight them by conveying your dedication to the success of your partnership.

STRATEGY #4: GET ON THE SAME PAGE

“For our client’s kick off meeting, we usually convert a room to be filled with visual mood boards and ideas centered around their business to create a personal immersive experience. This

demonstrates thought, creativity, and insight into their brand. I think making the extra effort to see their world from their perspective

is an excellent place to start a new relationship.”Bryan AdamsPh.Creative@bryan_phc

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When you’re agreeing on deliverables, it’s easy to get stuck in a x-blog-posts-a-week mentality. But when said blog posts aren’t turning up the results you need, you’ll need to think outside the box if you want to keep your clients happy.

In an effort to over deliver, consider the benefits of investing some extra time and resources into developing an interactive piece of content with a greater shelf life than a tweet. Or propose a series of A/B tests to identify optimization opportunities that have the potential to change the course of a particular campaign or initiative.

Shaking up your routine will pay off in ways you never anticipated.

STRATEGY #5: THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

“Go into every client call with two things: A new idea and something you optimized without them asking. While reporting, status updates,

and check-ins are essential, so is showing the client that you’re thinking of them beyond the day-to-day. Even if you don’t implement the

idea or only show minor improvements from an adjustment, the acts themselves go a long way to solidify the relationship and build trust for

even grander marketing ideas in the future.”Dan StasiewskiKuno Creative

@danstasiewski

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STRATEGY #5: THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

“Clients often come to you wanting XYZ, but we like to give them more than what they expect us to deliver. To do so, we’ll often build user-centric

web applications that attract attention and help users build deeper engagement with a brand. These web applications will live inside client

websites and provide a ‘wow’ moment that garners links, social shares, and generally delights users. Examples of such apps could include calculators,

gamification tools, product browsing modules, and interactive filters.”

Johnathan FranchellIronpaper

@ironpaper_inc

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“Time is money.”

To avoid inconveniencing your clients, don’t ballpark the time it will take to deliver on certain tasks. If you’re unsure, refer back to the timeline of a similar project that you completed in the past to come up with a more realistic schedule before making a commitment.

Using relevant projects to inform timelines demonstrates that you respect their investment -- in terms of both time and funds. It also helps to ensure that you aren’t putting off clients, which could potentially lead to dissatisfaction or worse, -- a loss of trust.

STRATEGY #6: BE TIMELY

“It is really important to hit deadlines and be accountable for what you tell your clients. We always tell them a date, and always

deliver days before our deadline.”

Lindsey FramerResponsive Inbound Marketing

@RspnsvInbndMktg

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Let’s say that you just had a super productive meeting with one of your clients. Blog topics were flying, offer ideas were nailed down, and you agreed upon budget allocation for your latest campaign. Before you chalk it up as a success, get it down on paper.

Remember: Saying you’re going to take action on certain items and actually doing so could be the difference between a client lost and a client delighted. After every meeting you have, take the time to follow up with them over email to share your notes, attach any necessary documents, and define a timeline.

Taking accountability after every meeting signals to your client that you’re organized and committed to keeping your word.

STRATEGY #7: ALWAYS FOLLOW UP

“Show them you listened. Follow up every conversation with a nice, concise email summarizing everything you discussed. And when appropriate, pair it with a link to a blog post or ebook that gives

them more insight into the strategy we will be implementing.”Michael Gabriel

Envision Creative Group@MichaelRGabriel

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“Customers who are ‘satisfied’ don’t go around telling their friends about you. Customers who are ‘satisfied’ aren’t going to be great references for your company. And they’re certainly not going to go

out of their way to help you. You don’t want satisfied customers. You want delighted customers.”

- Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot Founder & CTO

Bottom line: There’s more to your client relationships than meets the eye. Aside from investing their time and money into partnering with you, your clients have the ability to refer new business, generate brand awareness, and provide social proof to increase your credibility ... but only if they’re happy.

In a competitive marketplace, agencies that master the art of client delight by building a loyal customer base are the ones who are going to get ahead. That said, don’t hesitate to surprise them with solutions, serve up something that goes above and beyond their expected deliverables, or simply send them an unsolicited thank you note. Oftentimes, it’s the little things that mean the most.

So next time you’re waist-deep in client calls and reports and it feels like you don’t have time to think -- let alone delight -- take a deep breath and recall the advice in this ebook. Remember: The sooner you start taking steps towards improving your client relationships, the less competition you’ll have to deal with.

CONCLUSION: RETHINKING CLIENT DELIGHT

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CARLY STEC

As a staff writer at HubSpot, Carly creates content and resources to help marketers and agency partners grow their businesses.

She is a contributor to both Agency Post and the HubSpot Marketing Blog.

INTERACT WITH ME ON TWITTER@CARLYSTEC

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