Pt4 Setting Client Expectations

For the Designer Musings

It’s a Team Effort. Be a Good Leader.

When you take on a client, you are essentially partnering with the client by forming a team with them. It’s important to remember that you both now have the same goals and are working together to achieve them. Setting the client’s expectations is the most important factor in ensuring that the protect goes smoothly.

It’s your responsibility as the designer—and ultimately project leader—to lay out a game plan that covers what is going to happen when and who is going to take care of it. When everyone is on the same page and knows how things are going to go down, they can more effectively focus on the items assigned to them.

Having everyone on the same page will result in a better final product and keep things going smoothly.

Most Problems Arise from Unmet Expectations

If you analyze the projects you’ve had in the past were something went wrong, more often than not you’ll discover that the issue arose from misconstrued ideas of how things were going to pan out. Unmet expectations can very quickly turn nasty and no where else does the phrase “an ounce of prevention…” ring truer.

The solution is, of course, to set realistic expectations up front. You really can’t be too clear in this stage. Clarify every step beyond a shadow of a doubt. Make sure the client understands the order of events for this particular project.

You should have two layers outlining your process to establish client expectations:

Your General Process
- This is a generic process that is (ideally) displayed on your website that covers a basic step-by-step process for most of your common projects. We covered generic processes in our previous article, Establishing a Process.
A Project-Specific Process
- In addition to your General Process, you should also construct a similar list for each project. Tailor it to your client and their project and provide as an additional reference.

This 2-layered approach is a very efficient way to cover your bases and ensure that the client has a good idea of how things will work.

Ask The Client

It’s so simple it can easily be overlooked. Ask your client if they have any questions regarding the project or process. Assure them that you’d be happy to answer any questions they have regarding communication, concepts, approval, etc. Even if they have no questions they will take note of your efforts to communicate with them.

Project-Specific Milestones

Aside from establishing initial expectations, Milestones are by far the most helpful in ensuring that everyone knows what to expect.

We highly recommend Apollo as a Project Management System as it has an excellent Milestone feature. You can still inform a client of project Milestones via email, but a PMS makes it much easier.

Setting an initial Milestone is the very first thing you should do after starting a project with a new client. Immediately put them at ease by patiently letting them know exactly what to expect. If your first order of business is to wireframe and design a layout comp and this stage takes 2 weeks, set a Milestone for 2 weeks from now that lets the client know to expect a concept for their approval on this date.

As soon as a Milestone has been met establish the next Milestone. By providing the very next step, you reassure the client of what is to come without overwhelming them with the remaining 10 Milestones. By providing 1 Milestone at a time, it also allows you more flexibility if there are any unforseen delays in the project. The client will always have the original Project-Specific Outline that you provided them to refer to if they want to look ahead.

Conclusion

Smooth projects start with clear expectations and good communication. Remember, your client is a new-comer to your team. It’s your job to fill them in on everything they need to know. Invest in the relationship and you will be rewarded.