4 Tips To Streamline Client Feedback

Feedback is the link between website creation and client satisfaction. While it isn’t impossible to create a great website on your own, working with your client is key to building a site that fully matches their vision.

But creating a smooth client feedback collection process can be easier said than done. Without a streamlined process, your clients may contact you using dozens of channels. The time you spend forwarding emails or text threads to the right team members could be better spent fixing the actual issue.

Other times, your clients may not provide feedback or content on time. This could create huge delays in your design and development processes.

Luckily, client feedback issues aren’t an unchangeable status quo. We’ll provide four strategies to avoid setbacks as you collaborate with your clients. Learn how you can use communication tools, feedback tracking software, and more to your advantage.

How to Improve Your Client Feedback Collection Process

1. Set Clear Expectations

The customer isn’t always right. Your web and content teams may be tempted to appease your clients no matter what. But the truth is, bad clients can end up costing you a lot.

Work with your clients to set expectations for both parties before your project even begins. Be clear about:

• How often client or user feedback is expected
• How quickly you’ll respond to feedback
• How feedback should be formatted
• What happens if clients don’t send feedback or content on time

Once your project begins, be specific about what you’re requesting feedback on each time you reach out to your clients. For example, if you direct them to a new web page, should they review the page design as a whole? Or should they focus on the website content or a specific graphic?

Clear expectations can prevent wasted time and miscommunication from both sides. As a result, you can develop better agency-client relationships.

2. Create Communication Channels With Distinct Purposes

One major challenge for clients is knowing who to send feedback to and where. When your feedback processes aren’t streamlined, your clients may not be able to reach you effectively — even when they want to.

An agency with confused clients won’t operate as efficiently as it could. Clients will end up reaching out to you wherever is most convenient. If they’re on their phones while reviewing a landing page, they might shoot you a text. If they’re on their desktop computer, they might send you an email.

You’ll end up darting from one platform to the next and spending a chunk of time directing feedback to the right people and channels.

Simplifying your client feedback processes is all about streamlining your communication channels. If you haven’t already, identify the main points of contact from your team and your client’s team. This will ensure that feedback gets to the right person each time or is forwarded efficiently.

Then, narrow down the channels you need to use. Each channel should serve a unique purpose, so you’re not spreading yourself thin for no reason. For example, you may use video calls for monthly client feedback collection and shared documents for one-off requests. If a client requests a change via text, you can direct them to the shared document so it enters your feedback funnel.

Implementing Customer Communication Management Software

Want to simplify your feedback collection even further? A customer feedback tool can help you collect user feedback in the most convenient place: the website your clients are reviewing.

SimpleStage, for example, allows clients to start conversation threads directly on your staging site. Clients can even mark up directly on designs, adding far more context to user feedback than any other channel.

Using customer communication management software, you can easily see all the feedback you receive on the page it’s referencing. All you need to do is loop in the right team members to each conversation. There’s no need to monitor various channels to stay on top of user feedback.

3. Prioritize the Right Tasks

Once your client reaches out through your feedback tracking software (or another designated channel), it’s time to respond. But you can’t work on a hundred requests at once. To create the best client experience, make it part of your process to:

• Acknowledge client feedback soon after you receive it
• Review their comments or requests
• Set a priority level for each piece of feedback

Your initial acknowledgement can be simple. All you need to do is let your client know that you’ve received their feedback and will be reviewing it shortly. No need to write a formal email — just make your client feel heard. You could simply respond to their conversation thread on your website feedback tool.

Then, as you’re reviewing user feedback, your agency should determine the priority level of each action item. You can consider factors like:

• When the feedback was submitted
• How much the issue impacts usability
• How quickly the issue can be resolved
• The bandwidth of the team that needs to resolve the issue

This will help you set appropriate deadlines, so you can check off each task with ease.

4. Ensure the Completion of Tasks and Feedback

Your customer feedback tool can help you improve client communication, but how can you keep your team members on top of resolutions? Once feedback has been collected, it can be sent to certain team members for updates and changes. Email alerts and in-app notifications make staying on top of tasks and feedback much easier. SimpleStage allows your agency to:

• Manage deadlines
• Add descriptions and internal updates to each task
• Visualize your progress on each action item

With our SimpleStage software, you can get the best of both worlds. SimpleStage combines the must-have features of client communication and task management tools into one unified platform.

Implement Customer Communication Tools and Strategies

Collecting and managing client communication can be a tedious process. But with clear expectations, working with clients becomes much easier. Use SimpleStage as your one-stop shop for task management and feedback tracking, and you’re all set for pro collaboration.