Learning from Each New Client and Process
The client in question is a provider of online advertising and marketing services for small to mid-sized businesses. We worked with the client to develop online and interactive ads for them.
This project was especially interesting for me because it was our first real opportunity to try out our new Virtual Account Manager workflow. We have been tweaking our delivery of online services, and set up the Virtual Account Manager workflow to provide clients more support during the ordering process. We tested it out internally, of course, and our first "client" was our internal marketing team: but this was the first external client and I was a bit anxious to see how it would work out.
What Went Well
Thankfully, it worked out very well on the whole. The process offered the client a lot of flexibility, which they appreciated. The process also enabled us and the production team to stay on top of the client's requirements and respond quickly and effectively.
We comfortably met ad quality and turnaround specifications that we had agreed upon with the client: in fact, many of the client's marketing consultants were very impressed with the turnaround and quality of ads. I heard from many of them personally (and often) on how good a recent ad was.
Some comments from various client contacts in different offices:
Affinity Express was very impressive with their quick turnaround time and their quality of work. They produced four display ads for my client in less than two days. The client was very impressed. I look forward to using them again here in the near future!
Great job on the ad. The customer and I love it.
Fantastic job on the ads. The client as well as myself are very impressed.
Thank you for the beautiful ad. The client is happy.
My client was very happy with the banner ads. Great job!
Thank you for all of your work on my banner ad. I’m excited about getting this going. The overall ad looks great.
Thanks for the quick turn-around and you followed my directions to a tee!
One measure of the client's increasing confidence in us is that they have increased the number of ads they outsource to us from 20 in July to 50 in September.
What Didn't Go Well
Equally important as to celebrate what went well is to recognize what didn't. We found out that we need to improve on these areas:
- Simplify and streamline the workflow process further to make it even easier to work with. Integrating the client’s system with our internal workflow system is one area we are looking to develop.
- The training process: ensure at the beginning that we provide adequate and detailed training of users so that they understand the process thoroughly and can use it more effectively.
We did some of the above, but we have learned - from not getting it perfectly right - how we can improve these processes. And the best part, of course, is having a client who is pleased with our services and eager to work with us to improve them further.