You have a lot of responsibilities as a web designer. Your customer is counting on you to make their website user-friendly, accessible, eye-catching, and even excellent enough on the back end to attract the attention of search engines.
What many corporate executives and customers don’t know is that they, too, have a role to play in ensuring that they receive the best outcomes from their site; the client-contractor relationship is more than just an exchange of money.
Today, we’ll look at some of the most typical errors customers make when working with a website designer for the first time. After all, it’s your responsibility to teach a customer how to get back on track if they make a mistake.
Client Mistake No. 1: Providing Insufficient Insight
The designer is primarily responsible for creativity in any web-building project. You are the most knowledgeable about what you can accomplish for a customer.
When discussing a future project with a company owner, you may guide them through topics like dark mode design or digital accessibility methods. However, you must still rely on your customer to inform you of any special requirements.
In most cases, an inadequate brief in a web design project implies that you will spend time on the project since you will have to go back and forth several times to make additions and revisions. Getting a brief right from the start might help to prevent misunderstandings and blunders.
To get your customer started, ask them to provide some information, such as:
Who is the intended audience? Do they have a user persona they’d be willing to share?
What features does the site require? Landing pages, forms, widgets, and so on?
They like the following competitors’ websites: What do people like about the designs?
Colors and assets for the brand: What colours and tones should you use?
Technical specifications: Is it necessary for the site to have its own app, interface with APIs, or have a checkout solution, for example?
Client Error #2: Underestimating Workload
One of the most typical errors that customers make when seeking the assistance of a designer is having no clue how much effort it would take to produce the kind of site they want. They may not have had a chance to see all of the work they’re asking for written down if they didn’t submit a good brief in the first place. Walking your client through the short procedure may assist in this situation.
If, on the other hand, your customer has already supplied a brief as well as an unreasonable timeframe for completion, you may need to address what you need to do with them. Walking your customer through some of the steps involved in developing their website may provide them with an idea of how long it will take to bring their ideas to reality.
Furthermore, ensuring that your consumers completely understand the amount of work you’re taking on may help them comprehend why you’re asking a given fee for your services. That takes us to the next error…
Client Mistake 3: Failure to Have an Appropriate Budget
Web designers may find it difficult to price their design skills. You must ensure that your fees are sufficient to cover the costs of your company’s critical software and gear. At the same time, with so many different designers to choose from, you must guarantee that your prices are competitive.
After you’ve done the hard work of determining what your price structure should be, you must be able to explain that cost to your customer. Many consumers anticipate to be able to receive a whole website, blog, and app for less than a couple of hundred dollars when they deal with a web designer.
To minimise misunderstanding, make sure your customer is aware of your price right away. If feasible, provide a price page on your website or portfolio that details the cost of various packages and exactly what your customers will get.
Customers may be more qualified to establish the correct budget if they can understand the value in your services and even correlate it to an hourly workload or skill set.
4th Client Error: Making Too Many Technology Decisions
During your tenure as a web designer, you may encounter a wide range of clients. People will sometimes come to you without knowing what they want or need. This implies you may need to spend some time talking to them about their expectations and what’s achievable.
On the other side, there’s always the possibility of working with a customer that believes they should make all of the choices. While your customer should have some say over things like the look of their website and the functions it includes, technical choices like what tools you’ll employ are entirely up to you.
If your customer attempts to dictate everything you do and how you do it, it may be tough for you to offer your best work. Explain your procedures in advance to your customer and find out why they want you to adopt certain technologies.
For example, if your customer wants to use a certain kind of website builder because they’ve heard it’s “the greatest,” you may describe what you appreciate most about the product you’re currently using.
Client Mistake 5: Becoming Overly Attached To An Idea
This is a common issue in many creative sectors. A customer goes to another website and discovers something they like. It might be a visually appealing landing page or a customised checkout procedure. They’re so taken with what they see there that they refuse to budge while working with their designer – even if the concept isn’t appropriate.
For example, your customer may want a website that includes dynamic animations and movies. However, if their hosting provider only provides a limited amount of bandwidth, they may wind up with a sluggish site that irritates their consumers.
When this occurs, the greatest thing you can do is convey the problem to your customer in a manner that they can comprehend. For example, if you’re concerned that something may slow down their website, explain how speed is critical to a positive client experience. You might also publish some page performance statistics, such as: if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load, more than half of all visitors will leave.
Seeing the statistics for oneself may lead to your customers changing their thoughts.
Client Mistake No. 6: Choosing the Wrong Designer
Finally, dealing with the incorrect website designer is one of the most common blunders any customer can make. There are many pros out there, each with their own set of abilities to offer in areas such as UX design, ecommerce website construction, and much more. However, as a company owner going online for the first time, it’s not always simple to identify what you need.
The good news for web design clients is that there is a wealth of knowledge available that can be used to become well-informed quickly. The bad news for designers is that you’ll have to work hard to maintain your abilities up to date if you want to attract the largest range of consumers.
Stay up to speed on the newest web design standards and research what’s current in your market to increase your chances of being the perfect designer for your consumers. Webinars, publications, and even TED lectures may help you brush up on your skills and make your portfolio more enticing.
Improve Client/Designer Relationships
Building a strong portfolio of exceptional websites to display your abilities isn’t the only way to succeed as a web designer. While it is true that you must keep your design skills up to date, you must also ensure that you can build strong connections with every customer that comes to you.
Clients, like designers, may make errors, such as not understanding what they want, attempting too much control, or just failing to appreciate the breadth of a project.
Rather of allowing your blunders to hold you back, establish your worth as a designer by assisting your customers in navigating these challenges. As a consequence, project experiences will be more streamlined, consumers will be happier, and your organisation will get positive feedback.