It's the Little Things: How to Create a Delightful WordPress Experience for your Clients

Project management at an agency can be the difference between a raving fan or a disappointed ex. In this presentation, Andi discusses some approaches we use at Big Sea during the design, development and hand-off of a WordPress project to ensure a delightful outcome for the client -- one that has helped Big Sea succeed with raving fans for the past 10 years.

Transcript

1. It's the Little Things creating a delightful wordpress experience for your clients Andi Graham @andigrahambsd Presented at Wordcamp Tampa 2015
2. I’m Andi from Big Sea. @andigrahambsd | bigseadesign.com Hi there!
3. We|Clients
4. 504 = wordcamps worldwide 10,000s of nerds who want your jobs
5. Nope. I am a unique beatiful &
6. delighted. your clients need to be
7. frame the relationship Clients are not the enemy.
8. • Always be timely. • Always listen. • But give them what they need (not always what they want) • Give them little things when they don’t expect it. 8 Principles of Customer Delight • Give them a point of contact. • Give them space. • Have policies, but be flexible. • Always tell them how you will help them. bsea.co/wp-principles-of-delight
9. and Elevate Educate
10. Before You Work
11. bsea.co/wp-kickoff Kickoff Meeting first things first:
12. 1. Who
 Introductions & Roles
 Approvals & Changes
 2. What
 Scope of Work Review
 3. Why
 Strategic Approach & Goals
 Measurable Criteria
 Target Personas
 Aesthetic
 Content & IA
 4. How
 Our Process
 Project Plan & Milestones
 Logistics
 

13. The project plan bsea.co/wp-project-plan 1. What 2. When
15. During the Work
16. don’t disappear! Weekly Reports • What you did this week • What you’re doing next week • Any issues / risks / blockers • Anything you’re waiting on or need • Budget / timeline updates
17. and Enable interaction Involve the client
18. teach your clients how to give helpful feedback bsea.co/wp-feedback
20. 1. What it is
 Style tile? Wireframes? 
 Full page comp? Cool functionality?
 2. What to pay attention to
 “Look at this, not that.”
 3. Explain thoroughly
 Give creative reasoning, limitations of 
 functionality, rationale behind it all.
 4. Frame feedback
 Be honest but clear; consider your 
 users; foster a discussion around
 solutions, not a list of changes. 
 
 bsea.co/wp-feedback
21. practice client-proof development bsea.co/wp-client-proof
22. 1. Use a child theme
 Give your client the benefits of 
 proper theme upgrades
 2. Use Advanced Custom Fields
 Keep managing complex data easy/
 by adding custom fields; consider 
 premium add-ons 
 3. Embrace shortcodes
 They’re harder to screw up and give
 clients the ability to use complex layouts
 4. Use only reliable plugins
 Well vetted, reviewed & supported;
 include security & backups
 

23. In the Admin
24. and Documentation Training Enable your clients with
25. Help & How-to’s bsea.co/wp-help-plugin
26. screencasts
27. Make it pretty bsea.co/white-label-cms
28. At Launch
29. nothing beats bsea.co/wp-join-me training!
30. Don’t forget the details bsea.co/wp-launch-checklist launch checklist
31. Appreciate your client? Show them! bsea.co/wp-gift-ideas
32. Handwritten thank-you note Customized cookies Flowers or plants Regional/specialty gifts Coffee or tea Personalized to their tastes

33. After Launch
34. 30 days of no questions asked support
35. friendly & useful follow-up
36. 6 Months later performance review bsea.co/wp-website-grader
37. Satisfaction? Delight!
38. Thanks! @andigrahambsd bigseadesign.com