Setting Client Expectations

Client Expectations. Whether you are a web designer, SEO, or any other person in a service industry, each new client you acquire is going to have their own set of individual expectations. Many of these expectations will be standard, but varied, depending upon your industry. If you are a web designer, well your clients are going to want a great looking site. If you’re an SEO, well your clients are going to want results. If you’re a lawyer, your client wants to win and not end up owing you their left hand and right leg for the trouble.

The point is there is always going to be generic standard expectations that you should come to expect with each new client. However, it’s those other “expectations” and even the potential “demands” that come up that you need to work to mitigate prior to work even beginning.

Here are some examples and how you can avoid running into these scenarios:

The Setting / Expectation:
Currently in home page mockup stage – delivered new mockup for review 10:50am
Client returns with changes at 5:45pm via email
Client repeatedly calls and emails starting at 10am the next day looking for next mockup.

The Solution:
Now if you’re a web designer, with any kind of experience, than you know this scenario like the back of your hand; it’s all too common. This client has VERY unrealistic expectations and demands. You can try to explain to your client that you are working on the file, you can even put it back on them, in a way, and explain that you received the new information after hours (if it was after hours) and that you, or the designer, have just started working on the site itself. This may quell some clients, others not so much. So what can you do to mitigate this from the get go?

Within your contract simply outline time frames for every stage of the design process. For example:

For Revisions (which cover mockups)
“Revisions Received Prior to 12pm on any business day will not be made available prior to such time as 48 business hours from the time that client revisions were received and confirmed in house.”

You just gave yourself 48 hours. Will every client read all of this? No, but this is where your sales team, whether that’s you or someone else, should take the opportunity to go over that section and highlight these terms in a positive way. For example a lot of clients always ask us “How long will the design process take?” and our response is always the same, “However long it takes for you to get revisions back to us” and we kind of say it with a little smile, but honestly that is the scenario nine times out of ten. Clients are busy with their businesses and can take days or even weeks to get back to you. When they finally do, because now the “process” has taken so long they expect you to jump through hoops to get their changes made.

Pointing out time frames of revisions to clients, before you start work, saves you from having to use those terms as almost a defensive weapon such as “well it says in the contract”. Using lines like that is NEVER a good place to be, and should only be used as an absolute last response to an overly abrasive client that just doesn’t get it.

YOU need to set the expectations ahead of time. If you give unrealistic expectations that you can’t deliver on, then you leave only yourself to blame. If you let the client dictate those expectations, again you leave only yourself to blame. However, be conscious of your client and their needs. Two weeks for revisions of 5 changes to a mockup is NOT realistic.

The Setting:
New client comes on board. Client knows enough about SEO to really rank a website, in 1997…
Contract started 1st of the month. Client has a 100 page website, you made client aware that off page optimization (link building) would not start until the onsite optimization was complete. Client also knows to expect 30 days (22 business days) until onsite optimization is complete.

The Expectation / Demand:
Day 31: Client asks why they cannot see more links in Google when they check the link: command. They also want to know why their site isn’t already ranking #1 for all of their keywords.

The Solution:
Ah yes, I think we SEO’s have it worst of all when it comes to dealing with unrealistic expectations. First most clients have NO CLUE as to the value proposition of your services. Sure, you can explain and explain, you can even try to relate your hourly rates to what they charge their own clients, but you will never, or rarely ever, be deemed worthy of that, or almost any, dollar amount to that kind of client.

So what can you do to mitigate this kind of unrealistic expectation?

Education.

As an SEO you should be educating your clients to the generality of what you will be doing, time frames to complete them, and to the simple fact that you do not own the search engines. While you are confident in your long term ability to achieve top search engine ranking (I hope you’re confident in it if you’re charging people for it) time estimates to achieve noticeable positions are just that, estimates. You’re going to run into stubborn keywords. You’re going to get that one keyword that the client really wants that you, no matter what you try, appear destined to forever hold the #11 position. That’s why instilling realistic expectations is critical prior to starting any optimization campaign.

There is also something to be said about how you “choose” your clients. I know it’s hard to imagine, (shock and awe) but you can say no to a perspective client. If you’ve been doing this long enough you’ve experienced exactly what we have found; Clients that push the hardest for a “deal” are often the clients with the most unrealistic expectations. They want Lamborghini performance on a Yugo budget and my apologies to anyone still driving a Yugo, but let’s be realistic here even the Pinto had Mustang parts…

This is also another area to bring your contract and sales people into play. Put in all of the provisos that help to cover you on the SEO end, but make sure your client is fully aware. One of the things that we are constantly running into is business owners who have been burned over and over again by so called “SEO companies” that promise the world, but deliver nothing more than a bill. Most clients appreciate honesty more than you will ever know and when you can deliver honesty, service, and results you can mitigate just about any unrealistic expectations.

In Closing
In closing if you set the expectations through verbal and written communication and make sure that the client, at each step where it is critical, knows ETA’s and what to expect, you can keep the client, and just as importantly, YOU, happy.