Creating Happy Loyal Clients – Grow Repeat Business and Word of Mouth

On average, a loyal customer is worth 10x as much as their first purchase. What’s even better, is that it usually costs 5x less to get repeat business than it does to get new business. As you grow your creative business and your network, there are plenty of opportunities to win new business from past and existing clients.

If you think about it from a client’s perspective, it makes a lot of sense. Why hire someone new when you can work with someone who knows you and your business already? 

However, just because it’s more likely doesn’t mean that return business is guaranteed. You’ll need to keep your clients happy and proactively identify work opportunities.

Keep reading to see how to grow a strong network and keep your clients coming back. If you’re looking to make your business official and have new clients find you, learn more about our Website in a Week course for freelancers and creative entrepreneurs.

Create Frictionless onboarding and processes

Have you ever signed up for an app and then been faced with a 12-step program to even sign-in? Or what about purchasing a service and the set-up is unorganized and takes forever? That’s called friction.

Any disorganization or unnecessary steps in your process create friction for your client. And friction takes them from excited to annoyed real fast. 

The first step in keeping your clients happy is creating smooth sailing the whole way through. If you’re using a freelance website that handles client communication, this helps a lot. 

Otherwise, you need to make sure that there are no unexpected delays or obstacles while working with you. Make sure to avoid:

• Payment methods that are time-consuming or unreliable
• File-sharing systems that are hard to use
• Sending files that are incompatible with your client’s needs
• Invoices that don’t deliver

Always make sure to do a user test on any software you’re asking your clients to use. If you send invoices via Quickbooks, send yourself a test. If you use dropbox or another file-sharing tool, guess what? Send yourself a test first.

You don’t need to test every time, but you do need to test anything new at least once. 

 

Request Feedback (throughout the process) 

Asking for feedback is not a comfortable thing to do. But, it will set you apart from other freelancers. When you ask for feedback, you show that you care about the quality of your work and your client’s satisfaction. 

It’s always good to ask for feedback after you have delivered a final project, but, you can do better by asking for quick early feedback. 

For example, if you’re working with a new client, send over mockups or early drafts, in the beginning, to make sure you’ve understood what they want. This is a great strategy for almost any type of freelance service. And, as a bonus, you can save yourself hours of time later on when you course-correct early. 

Once again, this tells your clients that you’re willing to listen and make sure that you get it right the first time. Since time is a valuable resource, don’t go overboard here. Don’t check every tiny detail along the way, just enough to verify your assumptions.

Most importantly, whenever you ask for feedback, listen to it. If you ask and fail to adjust, your client still won’t be satisfied. Your goal is always to improve your understanding of your client. And, in turn, you’ll gain their trust.

Resolve Problems

In order to win loyal customers, you need to always deliver satisfactory (if not excellent) work. If there are any problems with your final submission, offer to fix them and do so in a timely manner. 

If you feel a client is asking for too much, or perhaps their instructions weren’t clear, it doesn’t matter. Remember, there are still benefits to bad clients. First and foremost, if they are satisfied with the work, they can provide you with recommendations, referrals, or a testimonial. And finally, you can always decline to work with a client again, but you can’t undo a bad customer experience. 

Meet Deadlines

At the end of the day, adhering to deadlines is a sign that you are trustworthy. You’ve given your word (in the form of a contract or a proposal) that work will be delivered on a certain day. When your clients know they can trust your word, they’ll be more willing to hire you again.

It sounds simple, but when life gets chaotic, it’s easy to want to deliver just a little bit late. Follow these guidelines to make sure that you’re always meeting deadlines.

Don’t overpromise

It may be tempting to make grandiose promises in order to land a client, but don’t commit to a deadline or a project that you can’t deliver on. This is a short-term strategy that’s guaranteed to backfire. When a client asks for something in an unreasonable time frame, it’s always best to be honest and say that you can’t do the work that fast. 

Communicate delays ASAP

Sometimes the scope of a project can turn out to be bigger than you first thought. Other times, life will throw surprises at you that you can’t control. Either way, take the initiative to let your client know if a deadline is no longer feasible. And do it as early as possible. Let your clients know what you can achieve by the deadline and when you can deliver a final product. Delays can be inevitable, but you should always be proactive. And of course, don’t make them a habit. Just because a client extended a deadline once, doesn’t mean you can treat future deadlines as suggestions. 

Manage your other work with a calendar

If you’re freelancing, you’ll likely have multiple projects at once or even a full-time job. Any time you submit a proposal or commit to a deadline, you need to consider your other projects. The most successful entrepreneurs run their lives around calendars, not to-do lists. So, if you’re going to be running your own business, calendar everything. Not only does this keep you accountable, but it also helps you visualize the actual size of your workload.

Be Available

In order to make your clients feel confident about working with you, it’s important that you are available when they feel like they need you. That’s not to say that every time they email you, you drop everything and respond. In fact, to get your best work done, you need to take time away from distractions such as emails and phone calls. 

So how do you balance your productivity with seeming available? Give yourself a maximum time limit on getting back to clients. This is the window of time that you should respond to all client queries. In this case, twenty-four hours is a great benchmark. 

One of the best times to check email is around 4:00 pm so you can respond to clients before their workday is over.

 

Build a Relationship

Your goal as a freelancer or a creative entrepreneur is not to find new clients all the time. It’s to find new business with existing clients. That’s because it’s much easier to earn repeat business than to find completely new customers.

With this in mind, you need to make sure that you are nurturing your work relationships. Submitting good work on time keeps your clients happy. But a productive work relationship with your client provides opportunities for new jobs. 

Remember, your client will work with people that they like, know, and trust. Your work helps them trust you. And relationship building helps them like and know you. This doesn’t mean you need to become best friends with your client. However, there are some easy steps to take to build and nurture a good client relationship. 

Keep a Record of a Few Personal Details

If your client mentions kids, a hobby, or even travel, write this down and keep it somewhere. You can refer back to these facts in future communications. Opening up a phone call by asking about her daughter’s basketball team shows a client that you cared to remember what she told you.

 

Share Your Own Personal Details When Appropriate

Sometimes these details come up naturally in conversation, and that’s great. Sharing small tidbits of your life gives your client the chance to get to know you. Additionally, you may also discover shared interests of experiences. Another way to share personal details is by including them when you reach out about availability or asking for new opportunities. 

For example, if you’re going to be unavailable because you’re getting married or traveling. Take the initiative to send your client a quick update of your availability, and include the personal details (if you’re comfortable sharing them.) 

Schedule regular check-ins

If you’re building a productive relationship with a client, you want to avoid making every contact point about work. Relationships are no fun if they are all business all the time. There’s something to be said for a personal outreach or touchpoint. It also helps you stay top of mind. Let’s say your client doesn’t have work for you for a few months, do you want them to forget about you? No, you want to be the first person they think of when they have a new project. 

So, how do you stay on their radar without being pushy or constantly asking for new work? Regular “checking in” notes. Every quarter or a couple of months, send them a thoughtful note. Something quick and personal. For example: 

• Forwarding an article that they would appreciate
• Sending a congratulatory email on any positive news related to them/their company
• Asking if they will be attending an industry event that you’re going to

Make sure that some of your check-ins truly have no agenda. If you’re asking for new work every time you email them and they don’t have it, they’re just going to avoid opening your messages. Remember, your goal is to provide value with every interaction.

In Conclusion

As a business owner, you can’t afford to ignore customer satisfaction. You just won’t make it. Loyal customers and relationships are the lifeblood of any successful business. And for good reason too. When your customers are happy, they’ll bring you more of their business. Moreover, they can provide the best form of marketing, word of mouth. So, make your clients’ happiness a priority, and it will pay you back tenfold.