Securing a new client is a great success for any design business. Amongst all the excitement of a new creative endeavor, it’s easy to forget just how many things there are to organize at this stage of a project.
Research has shown that a good business plan boosts the chances of growth by 30%.
If you’re trying to decipher the most important questions to ask your new WordPress client, we’ve got you covered. Here are the five most important things you need to know.
What Is the Identity of Your Business?
Getting your client to sum up their company in a succinct way might be tricky, but it has to be done if you’re to get down to the core of what’s important to them. This is vital information that will help you design the perfect WordPress sites for clients.
Building WordPress sites is all about being selective.
Including information that skirts around the point is a sure-fire way to overload internet users and send them elsewhere. By getting your client to summarize their business’ identity, you can pin down the vital facts and figures that portray their brand accurately to potential users.
The key elements of the business should be the foundation on which you build the design.
That doesn’t mean extra details won’t be useful. Note down facts like location and contact details, and get a good idea of their goals for the future so that your design can help to propel them towards the growth they’re looking for.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Knowing exactly who the client is trying to connect with will allow you to tailor your design to appeal to those prospective users. Though your first point of contact is the client, understanding their target audience is the only way for the collaboration to truly succeed.
If your design doesn’t resonate with the right people, your work will be for naught.
When you find out your client’s target audience, you can engage with market research and learn what features on WordPress sites appeal to that demographic most. Maybe it’s certain words, particular font sizes, or an altered ratio of text to images. The more you can learn about the potential users of the site, the more effective you can make it.
What Features Do You Want?
Asking about exact features your client wants to be included on their WordPress site right at the start of the process can save time further down the line. Entering the design process knowing this means you can make the appropriate space for them straight away.
There are various factors that can impact your client’s response to this question.
Often, the desired features are linked to goals – a contact form to give users a direct link to the company, or social media links to boost brand awareness. Other times, it can be informed by previous experiences trying to forge an online presence.
Asking about the features they want can open up a discussion about the current web presence, what is working well, and what has failed their company in the past.
This can offer good guidance about what to include, what can be excluded, and if any key features can be moved around for optimization so that the client reaps the benefits they offer like never before. Be sure to ask about why certain features appeal more than others in order to better understand your client’s headspace surrounding the project.
What Specific Aims Do You Have?
A new WordPress design is an exciting opportunity to work towards a specific goal with a client. Careful planning, research, and execution can culminate in a company achieving a goal they have held for a long time.
It’s all well and good that your client wants an updated site because their current one feels dated or ineffective.
But in order for your new site to please them, you need a thorough understanding of what counts as success for them. For one client, a straightforward boost in web traffic might qualify as a goal met. For another, the ultimate aim might be a significant boost in sales or subscriptions.
Knowing the issues they are trying to overcome and the goals they are trying to meet gives you a way to optimize the site. You can solve their problems and shape their site into a tool that helps them progress towards the future they want for their business.
Who Are Your Competitors?
Though it might sound disingenuous to ask about other companies during a get-to-know-you session with a client, in reality, this is a vital question to ask. That’s because knowing the competition means being able to outdo them.
The parts of competitors’ websites that are thriving will likely work well on your client’s site too – and the features that fail are destined for a similar fate if you use them.
As designers, the aim is not to copy – it is to learn and build on the strengths and weaknesses of both your client’s current site and those of their competition. To get the traffic, you need to stand out in the best way possible.
You can also engage with your client by asking them to show you things they like and dislike about competitors’ sites, so you can further understand their individual tastes.
Having a selling point in comparison with competitors is vital. Make sure you ask your client what it is -they will undoubtedly have one – and incorporate it into your WordPress design.
Now You’ve Got Five Questions to Ask
Knowing the right questions to ask means setting yourself up for a smooth and successful partnership with your new client.
They will enjoy the benefits of your top-notch web design, and your business will thrive on their glowing review.
Michael Tieso
Michael Tieso is the founder of Reggio Digital, a Managed WordPress Hosting provider and reseller of Pressable. He loves helping his customers manage and configure their WordPress site.
