Whether you work for a web design agency, lead a team of developers, or fly solo, you know that dealing with scope creep and revisions is a very real thing.
And, while you may love your job, dealing with problem clients that are seemingly never satisfied can cause you to want to hang your gloves and just call it quits.
That doesn’t always have to be the case, though.
In fact, if you educate yourself about the root causes of most web design revisions, and how to prevent them, you’ll find yourself loving your job more often than not.
In today’s article, we’re going to share with you some of the most common reasons why clients want revisions to their newly created websites, and how you can prevent those requests from ever coming up.
1. No Clear Vision
Website owners have hired you as their web designer for a reason – they don’t know what they’re doing.
Because of that, you need to make sure from the very beginning that you know exactly what the client wants.
That said, you also need to make it clear to your clients that their website is for their users. After all, a seamless user experience is what your clients should be after.
But if they don’t understand what that entails, you could find yourself facing many revisions that will not help your client succeed.
Here are some things you should ask your client at the start of any new web design project:
What Are Your Overall Goals?
Every website has a purpose, and knowing that purpose from the beginning will guide the way you design your client’s website.
Do your clients want to build a bigger email list, generate more eCommerce sales, or build a stronger social media presence?
Knowing the answer to these questions will help you get your clients the results they want, without having to make a million changes.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Knowing who your client’s target audience is will help you create a website with elements that will resonate with them.
For instance, if your client caters to international customers, you’ll need to create a multilingual site, complete with a language switcher and multiple currency options.
How Do You Want to Stand out?
It’s easy to get into the habit of creating cookie cutter websites for clients. This is especially true if your client is not clear from that start about what they want.
Find out what makes their brand unique, what their target audience’s pain points are, and how they want to achieve their goals.
This way everyone, including you, your client, and their site visitors are happy.
Lastly, it’s important to discuss with your clients the importance of buying a unique domain name before launching a new website.
After all, the domain name is one of the first things all site visitors will notice when coming to their site.
Not to mention, a good domain name can drive lots of organic traffic to your client’s website, help build brand recognition, and establish your client as an authority in their industry.
2. Too Many Revisions
One of the most significant problems web designers face when it comes to web design projects is scope creep.
In other words, you and your client agree about a project, but as the project progresses, your client continues to demand more and more revisions, even when the work you’ve completed is good.
Some web designers will argue that offering unlimited revisions is just good customer service and that if you’re a good web designer, you won’t need to make many changes to a final project.
But the truth is, some clients are never happy. Or they don’t know what they really want. Or they just change their minds a lot.
No matter how good at your job you are.
To avoid this never ending cycle of revisions, constant changes, and scope creep, you need to set the record straight from the start what your terms are.
This might include a written contract with the following outlined:
- How many free revisions you’ll allow before you start charging additional fees
- What the client expects from you, how you’ll provide it, and how much it will cost
- The project’s expected time limit and what happens if the time limit expires
- How you’ll deal with a client that isn’t satisfied with your work
- What results the client expects and what guarantees (if any) you provide
If you need a contract template for your web design work, check out BidSketch’s free template here.
This template is simple and to the point. And anything you want to add can easily be attached to the template and signed by both parties.
3. Failure to Optimize
As a professional web designer, it’s your job to make sure your client’s website is as optimized as possible. This means optimized for search rankings, site speed, and site performance.
To make sure you don’t miss any of the key optimizations during your site build, optimize any images you upload to your client’s website by compressing them using an online tool like TinyPNG.
Next, make sure you use responsive design, which is much easier than creating a separate mobile website for those on the go to access from their small devices.
If you want, you can check your final project using Google Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure your client’s site is indeed responsive by design.
Lastly, run your final project through an online site speed testing tool such as Google PageSpeed Insights.
After all, nearly 40% of people will abandon a website if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds or less.
And your client will expect to have a fast loading, fully functional, and highly converting website from the start. And ultimately it’s your job to provide this.
Just in case you want to do a little more, check out how to optimize your client’s website using Google Search Console.
This tool will help you (and your client once they take over their website) track things like site errors, backlinks, site performance, and high ranking keywords.
Final Thoughts
Being a web designer can be a very lucrative, and fulfilling, profession. However, as with all careers, web designing doesn’t come without its challenges.
Don’t let your clients cause you to rethink your profession and make you want to run for the hills because of their incessant need for revisions or lack of vision for their own website.
Instead, take charge of your projects from the start and create something that you can be proud of and that your clients will love, sans a million revisions.
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Jimmy Rodela is a Freelance Writer and a Content Marketer. He is the Founder of the Guild of Bloggers.
He is a contributor on websites with millions of monthly traffic like Yahoo.com, Business.com, Monster.com, Business2Community and SocialMediaToday.com.
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