How To Best Educate Clients About The Web Development Process

One of the hardest parts about dealing with clients during the construction of a website is that they simply do not understand the web development process. You can sit there all day trying to explain to them the finer points of getting a contact form to work or getting a website to change size depending on what sort of screen it is viewed on, but the truth of the situation is that clients simply have no grasp of the magnitude of development work. Use these tips to help you explain your process better and to (hopefully) have some happier clients:

• You're only an expert in your own personal field
  As professionals in the web development industry, you should be able to spot a number of things upon immediately viewing a website, such as patterns and even usability issues – things that your client may have no idea about. You must also remember, however, that your client is an expert in their own industry, so you need to listen to what they tell you.
• Compromise and negotiate so that you're both happy
  What many in the web development industry find frustrating is that their clients are so emotionally attached to their brands that everything else tends to go out the window (even common sense, in some cases). Instead of mentally slapping yourself when a client demands a bigger logo, back up your reasoning with facts and statistics obtained through thorough research. You'll be surprised to find that most people will listen to you.
• Recognize that sometimes you can't both win
  At the end of the day, the client is paying you for your web development work and not the other way around, so you may sometimes be forced to bend over backwards to make the client happy – even if it's not what you would have suggested they do. If no amount of compromise or negotiation will work, just do what the client wants and try to improve the website in other ways.
• Make sure that your clients respect you
  There is no point in trying to explain the web development process if your words are going to fall on deaf ears. If your clients do not respect you, they are not going to care much for what you have to say. The best way to make sure that you're being respected is to: deliver on time, encourage the client to deliver their tasks (such as content or images) on time, and to keep communication channels open.

Above all else, remember that web development clients are not children who have come to school to learn – often, they have businesses to run, orders to fill, phone calls to take and meetings to attend, so they may struggle to find the time to understand your process completely. By focusing on the above tips, you are sure to go a long way towards ensuring that your clients have a better understanding of what it is that you do.