In the support & maintenance division, edits are often purely functional and extremely urgent.  One thing I try to do with my clients is suggest small improvements above and beyond the standard maintenance requests, and emphasize how easy it is to keep the request affordable.  Almost everyone wants to “do it right,” but clients often have a boss ready to veto 30 hours to redesign and rebuild the entire products section.  However, customers may not realize that significant improvements can be made despite limited time and budget:

• 1-2 hours for an information architect look at a problematic page that frequently elicit customer complaints
• ½ hour for a copywriter to punch up the language on a flat homepage promotion
• 2-3 hours for a designer to restyle a confusing chart so that users can get critical product information “at a glance”
• 3-4 hours for a developer to automate a task that normally takes the client 1-2 hours to accomplish using a content management system (CMS) several times weekly
• 15 minutes to create a Google Analytics account and add the code to a landing page to make sure a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is effective

Affordable suggestions like these introduce clients to expertise that normally only get tapped during large-scale projects. They also remind them that we really do have their best interest in mind and that we are as frustrated by the “bubble gum and duct tape” add-ons to their website as they are. It’s important for everyone to remember that while a full-scale website redesign might not be possible during tough times, these “small victories” in key places (i.e., where customers often identify difficulty) can happen on a regular basis, and often have a big impact. The focus and frequency of these changes can draw attention to improvements that might have otherwise gotten lost during an overwhelming, large-scale redesign, and show users that your company strives to be responsive.  Innovation, intelligence, and creativity in small doses can still be enough to inspire customer involvement and loyalty.

Most web developers prefer to work behind the scenes, while an account manager handles day-to-day contact with clients.  Chances are, this is exactly why they have chosen to be a developer and not an account manager.  However, for small agencies and organizations, it’s not uncommon for developers to take on both roles.  Developer gets request; developer develops; developer stages; developer emails client; client sends approval; developer pushes live.  There’s a unique rhythm to the entire process and developers will quickly learn the rewards and challenges of wearing both hats.

Client-facing developers have the opportunity to interact on a personal level with their clients, and the challenge of juggling project management and development work simultaneously.  It’s truly a remarkable skill, especially if you provide your clients with on-demand support and handle a large volume of work everyday.

Here are some tips for the client-facing developer to maintain efficiency while delivering stellar customer service and support (these are also applicable to Account Managers and Project Managers):

1.  Make sure each of your clients feels like they are your most important client.  Be polite and make sure your client knows you are there to help and want to help, especially when they’re in a pinch.  Offering to go the extra mile will make a world of difference.
2   Don’t let client emails sit in your inbox – answer them within an hour.  If you can’t get to their request right away, tell them you will as soon as you can.  They will always appreciate it and this may buy you more time in the end.
3.  When a request is being stalled by outsourced design work or another resource outside your control, make sure to keep in touch with your client to keep them aware of the status.  They need to know that things are moving along. Also, stay on top of the resources you have outsourced to.
4.  Stay organized – have a system for filing emails.  Have all of your application windows in the same position every day.
5.  Stay with that rhythm of communication, development and delivery.  A set structure to the way you work will allow you to work more efficiently and get things out the door more quickly.
6.  Don’t be alarmed by your inbox when you get in in the morning.  Tackle what’s most urgent, what can get out the door quickest, and then the larger items, in this order.
7.  Always send links in your emails to clients when you are staging something or going live.  This way your client can easily get to what they need to see.  It also ensures that you have adequately QA’d your work.
8.  Always check for PDF links, images and changes to style sheets – be careful nothing has slipped through the cracks before you deliver to the client.
9.  Take notes while you are coding. I If a client needs to elaborate on something, or has failed to send an asset, take note and compile these in your client email later.
10.  If you are out of the office, notify your most active clients and provide them with an alternate contact.

Customer service is an easy thing to deliver with some very basic skills.  Juggling development work and client management can be a very efficient system in spite of the challenges.  And in the end, it’s more rewarding to deliver your client good code and even better customer service.

Another client of ours recently had a vendor tell them, “any change request will take a minimum of 2 – 3 weeks.” Hearing this immediately had my brain thinking about ways to accomplish the change while bypassing the other vendor. I could fly to the vendor’s office, get a job there, and personally make the change they requested in less time. Examples of poor service are everywhere and I’d bet my career everyone reading this can provide an example right now.

Good customer service surprises people and warrants notice? Has poor service become the norm? If so, why? Is it too expensive or difficult to make top-notch service a priority? I don’t think so.

As the Director of PixelMEDIA’s On-Demand Support & Maintenance Team, my most important responsibility is to make sure all of our clients receive quality, timely, and consultative service. We’ve been successful doing this for the 10 years I’ve managed this team, but we are not overly clever or creative in the steps we take to do it.

For the benefit of anyone out there that is not satisfying their clients and customers to the standard we’re held to by PixelMEDIA, here’s a list of things we do everyday to be a successful service provider:

• We take this responsibility very seriously.
• We are genuinely interested in helping our clients be successful.
• Every member of the team is empowered to make decisions to benefit the client.
• We push back on our clients when we feel a better solution can be found. Even if it’s a smaller-budget solution.
• Our processes are designed around an optimal client experience.
• We have well-defined escalation and backup procedures.
• We don’t let factors within our control, such as the 5:00 whistle, prevent us from fulfilling our client’s needs.
• Clients are encouraged to let us know if they’re even slightly disappointed.

That’s about it. As I expected, there is nothing clever, creative, or innovative on that list. For me, it’s really just a matter of caring.

We often see companies make large changes to their online properties to highlight their branded names, most popular content, and top-converting transaction points without first considering customers, impact on search rankings, or prospective user experiences. Having a structured  approach to integrating new features and content can help boost your company’s credibility and more easily scale web properties for the long haul.

Here are a few examples of corporate publication strategies for delivering content to users based on the audience, from the world’s largest corporate website:

Parent site: http://www.microsoft.com – Core competencies of who you are and what you do. Main navigation umbrella. Contains subdirectories (aka. folders) of grouped information.

Subdomain: http://support.microsoft.com – Focused on specific user needs. May have sub-brand opportunities and extended navigation options.

Child site: http://www.xbox.com – Extends the brand family, and delivers a different navigation and architecture to a completely different audience.

With change come opportunities.

To subdomain or not to subdomain?

What deserves a subdomain? If content is different enough from the core website content and is focused on specific user needs, then a subdomain may make sense. Support and community content such as intranets, blogs, and extranets are usually no-brainers.

Publishing a subdomain may help your search marketing efforts, because you are elevating deep content to the level 1 navigation. But how do you really know if you should invest in creating enough content to substantiate a subdomain, complete with its own navigation system?

Just the facts

Leverage your web activity logs to justify that your existing user community has real needs. Measuring brand equity in terms of return website visitors, subscriptions, and webinars can help build a business case for gradual transitions and reduced drop. And in all of your spare time, stack that with events, email campaigns, search marketing stats, direct mail and other offline channels to help prioritize online changes.

Get customers involved.  Asking customers what they think can build loyalty, enhance sense of community and possibly improve your content if you implement enhancements they ask for. These folks can be very convincing on the big screen at a company meeting, whether they are telling the camera what really stinks about your product or, more rarely, what they like about your support area.

Got New Brand?

Many web architecture changes stem from new company brand initiatives. It may not be a one-step process to jam in two new product families of content under the corporate umbrella – even though that is what the acquisition strategy document says you have to do. If the user needs are very different, then content delivery may need to be tailored.

Rebranding is a hassle all in itself, so we usually ask for a media calendar to help guide your transition to avoid surprises, design and development re-work. Be a good corporate citizen and request the new brand guidelines, stylebook, or whatever the brand police are calling it. This should include web styles, high-resolution versions of your corporate and product logos, corporate imagery, iconography, and video – and not just pantone colors and print specs.

If none of these assets exist, or they are old or just poor, then you may have an opportunity to drive them yourself. If your team is the first to implement “new and improved” corporate guidelines for the web, then you may stand a better chance of publishing quickly if what you produce is better than what is currently published live. You can make the brand police happy, or better yet, completely unresponsive, by inviting them to contribute to your launch plan to include the live publication checklist.