If you want to keep your clients happy, talk to them.

That's such an important part of good customer services. Clear communication.

And it really is something you need to pay attention to.

I once saw a tweet from a very well-known and well-respected web designer

whose name shall remain nameless who said, "What does my client want from me?

For me to build them a website or for me to e-mail them?"

The truth is, a client wants both and you need to suck that up.

You need to communicate regularly with your clients

and you still need to be building them their website as well.

One of the most important aspects of communicating

with a client is to be regular.

Contact them every week irrespective of whether you've done anything.

Even if your call is just to say, "Hey, just to let you know.

I haven't been working on your project this week.

I've been working on another project, but it's absolutely fine.

I've got time scheduled in next week.

This is part of the plan, and I'm still going to be delivering on time."

They would prefer to hear from you even if you have nothing to say to them.

Because otherwise, they're going to wonder,

and you don't want clients wondering.

If they start wondering, they start worrying.

If they start worrying, then they start micromanaging.

And that is not something any of us want.

Another important factor with communication

is the medium through which you communicate.

Let's be honest. We're all geeks.

And as geeks, we love e-mail and we love IM and we love BaseCamp.

In fact, we love any medium which doesn't require us to actually talk to people.

And so the result of that is that client's get frustrated because they're not like us.

Some of them do like to actually talk to you on the phone.

So what you've got to do is use the medium that's most appropriate to them.

If they like using BaseCamp, hell, use BaseCamp.

If they like using e-mail, then yeah sure use e-mail.

But if not, then you need to be using what they like and not what you like.

With communication, always tell the truth even if the client does not want to hear it.

You're much better off limiting their expectations

so that you can later surpass them

than you are to essentially lie to the client.

The trouble is we don't intentionally lie to them, right?

Let's say there's a deadline that's coming up.

And we're beginning to wonder whether or not we're going to meet that deadline.

And we go, "It's okay. I'm going to make the time off.

I'm going to work over the weekend and I'll get it done

because I don't want to let this client down."

And so we work weekends and we still sleep in and deadline's getting closer.

And it's all getting full but no we're going to do it.

We'll work. We'll work through the night to get it done in time.

And then eventually, we fail.

And we've lied to the client.

We told them everything's going to be all right and it isn't.

We've given them a nasty surprise

and as I've said before, we don't want to surprise clients.

They don't like that.

So, if you're worried about meeting a deadline.

If you perceive that there might even possibly

be a problem with the project, tell the client.

You're better off telling them and lowering their expectations

and then everything turning out all right and the client goes away happy

than you are leaving them with a nasty surprise.

Meet with your clients often, will you?

Take the time to go and meet with them. When failing that, use the phone.

Make sure that you're engaging with them personally

because it will really help the communication

and the relationship between you and the client.

That said, when you do meet them or if you do have phone calls with them,

make sure you keep notes and records of what's been said too

and repeat that back to the client.

Having a written record is often very useful when things go wrong.

So communication is vitally important

and it should be considered a fundamental part of your job as a web designer.