How To Build Client Loyalty
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🕓 5 Minute Read
TL;DR
Building true client loyalty is all about intentional repetition of a few universal customer service disciplines. We make raving fans out of our clients with stellar communication, transparency, structure, and a people-first approach.
Key Takeaways ⭢
4 of the most effective practices to build client loyalty, all for free:
Develop the habit to communicate clearly, early, and frequently
Build honesty and transparency into every phase of your process
Intentionally plan for your clients before and during an engagement
Prioritize and preserve a people > product mindset
Loyalty is defined as a strong feeling of support or allegiance. But in the context of client relationships, it is the result of consistent expectations being set and met that lead to mutual value exchanges.
The challenge?
We live in a world full of manufactured 'loyalty' programs all vying for our trust and repeated product devotion. So how do service-led businesses compete in the race for loyalty without leaning on points or discounts?
You're in luck.
We've distilled 4 of the most effective practices to build client loyalty, all for free. Let's dig in.
1. Communication
One of the guiding principles of our agency is, 'Communicate until it hurts: with clients and each other.' And trust us, sometimes communication can indeed inflict pain. But we've come to lean on this maxim for the simple reason that clear, early, and frequent communication can mean the difference between success and failure in a project engagement.
Of the adjectives above describing communication, by far the most important is 'early' — the sooner you begin setting expectations for your clients around timeline, check-ins, deliverables, points of contact, project tools, and your overall process, the sooner you begin investing in their long-term loyalty to you and your team.
One of the ways we automate early and frequent communication is by providing weekly written 'retros' (short for retrospective) to each client in their own project portal. These updates list the things we've worked on, potential blockers, what will be worked on the following week, and a general status of either 'on track, at risk, or off track'. This kind of crystal clear, early, and frequent communication builds trust and prevents avoidable conflicts by simply getting both teams on the same page, week after week.
2. Transparency
Any decent relationship “expert” out there will tell you that honesty with your significant other is crucial for a successful, rewarding and healthy relationship. For many of us, the idea of transparency sounds great in theory, but a little unnerving to put into practice. The thing is, transparency requires honesty and honesty often requires vulnerability.
The same principle applies to client relationships. Our clients expect us to be transparent with them and this often requires a level of vulnerability that many agencies and freelancers just aren’t comfortable with.
"We're ok with a little discomfort if it means more value for our clients."
Beyond including the nitty-gritty details of your weekly work effort as we mentioned in the section above, another way to build true transparency into your process is through the tools you use. For example, our team uses a collaborative interface design tool called Figma when tackling any kind of web or product design projects. Figma makes the design process transparent, which means everyone gets aligned fast—and stays aligned. With the ability to co-design with others in real-time and run global design critiques, clients can follow along with Observation Mode and never get lost.
Sound uncomfortable to give the client that much visibility? It should.
But we're ok with a little discomfort if it means more value for our customers. Our experience has shown that the more transparent we are, the more loyal our clients become.
3. Structure
Now let's talk about how to design operational infrastructure that naturally bakes loyalty into the process from the start.
Rewind back to the definition that kicked us off in the first place — loyalty is defined as a strong feeling of support — and nothing says support like carbon steel rebar.
Kidding.
But in the context of relationships, clients feel supported when they can tell that they've been intentionally planned for during an engagement. This can look like the following:
A simple client welcome guide (a 1-page PDF or a simple Google Slide Deck) to kick off the project and set expectations
Sharing project glossary definitions early on to help them speak your creative language and avoid getting lost
Impromptu calls during the week or scheduled monthly surveys to gauge their overall project experience thus far
An organized client portal that helps both teams visualize the project as a whole (i.e. schedule and key dates, weekly updates, tasks and deliverables, contact info, frequent files, etc.)
Milestone celebrations every time you complete a major phase of the project (i.e. send a congratulatory email or if you're fancy, even a small gift)
The big idea is to show pre-thought and planning. Not only do the items above establish rapport but they communicate a level of maturity and professionalism that helps client believe you have ‘been there, done that’ as a proven partner for the job.
“Organizational structure leads to a sense of support and support precedes loyalty.”
4. People > Products Mindset
Arguably, the most important pillar of this 4-part guide to building healthy, long lasting client relationships is prioritizing people's needs over the products you're building for them.
You've heard the saying, 'You get more bees with honey' — well, it turns out that you also get (and keep) more clients with kindness, delightful customer experiences, and an intimate understanding that your service business needs to do just that: serve.
Earlier, we referenced one of the guiding principles of our agency. There's more where that came from.
Guiding principles, core values, maxims to live by — call them what you want, but when you articulate specific beliefs that your company will exercise through your work, it's crucial to ensure that your client is one of the primary benefactors of such statements.
The truth is, no amount of communication, transparency, or structure can out perform the age old power of an unconditional positive regard for the people you call client partners.
Parting Thought
Whether you're a solopreneur or part of a growing team, you have to understand the direct impact that communication, transparency, structure, and a people > products mentality has on yielding the coveted prize of client loyalty.
For creative service-providers, we can’t forget that consistency and quality are extremely hard to come by in this hyper-transactional internet marketplace. When you transition from transaction to stewardship, true client loyalty is closer than you think.
Your Next Step
“Organizational structure leads to a sense of support and support precedes loyalty.”
For the freelancer or agency who has never quite enjoyed the popular project management tools out there, we’ve built a lean, highly customizable solution for both external and internal use.
Made up of databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars and reminders, this Notion-based client portal template leverages your data to generate a simple yet powerful dashboard that you and your clients will love.
