Is client input always the best strategy?

20^th August, 2010

Our clients are a complete mix of different people. We have some who are very easy going and let us get on with the design without much input from them and we have others who are extremely particular and heavily get involved with the design process. A lot of our clients we have never met, and we just recognise their voices on the other end of the phone. Many of our other clients however have insisted on a meeting with us before they commit to any project.

In our opinion neither method is right or wrong. Some people like to meet the person face to face before paying them all their hard earned money, whereas others would rather pick up the phone and get the project signed off as soon as possible. From our experience it is usually the latter where the projects for us are most successful. As an example, we have had two projects earlier on this year where the client has phoned us up and due to another web company letting them down or a launch date has been pulled forward, they have asked if we could build a site for them within a matter of 5 days.

Cases like these remind me of my school days, where you have an exam and don’t revise for it until the very last minute. Pressure is what some people thrive on, and often under pressure you work better. People who insist on having meetings, usually means they are unsure of what exactly they want. This can therefore prolong the design stage, and a site that would normally take one or two weeks to build, can take one to two months. Either way the project always gets completed, which results in happy customers.

Rosanna Ward