With HoneyBadger clients operating in countries and cultures around the world, our white-label digital marketing agency understands the complexities of customer service. Whether dealing directly with the client or liaising through their digital agency, our customer service team has a unique insight into what clients expect and how reality can often fall short in delivery. If your team is experiencing client challenges, we hope some of these observations and suggestions prove beneficial. 

Research your client - know as much as possible 

Don’t wait for the client to teach you - do what you can proactively to find out as much as you can, then let them fill in the blanks. 

Set realistic marketing goals early 

Don’t be the ‘yes’ agency if this means accepting unrealistic targets. You’ll either fall short of expectations or blow up your team trying. Either way is not a win. 

Customer service priorities 

There are three pillars when it comes to providing exceptional customer service. 

1. Communication. 

Transparent, clear, and prescriptive. 

2. Trust. 

Always be open and honest. If you can’t deliver, explain why and offer alternatives. If you’ve made a mistake, be on the front foot. Don’t wait for the client or another party to ‘out’ your error. 

3. Build strong working relationships. 

Don’t keep the client at arm’s length. Set up regular meetings to understand their goals, evaluate performance and just see the whites of each other’s eyes. If the client wants to deep-dive, give them everything. If they want the executive summary, don’t wax lyrical. 

What are the biggest client concerns? 

Clients coming to HoneyBadger for the first time often vent about previous agency bugbears. The most common causes for concern are:

1. Charging for small website changes 

It’s understandable why an agency would do this, but perhaps the problem is based on a misunderstanding or lack of awareness at the start of the relationship. Again, this is a good reason to keep everything transparent and clear. 

2. Minimal contact and communication. 

Perhaps we should have listed this as number one, as it is a major bugbear for clients whose previous relationships lacked regular contact and information flow. The HoneyBadger customer service team meets monthly (some even weekly) with every client. This is an opportunity to review and sign off work, discuss upcoming proposed action, and agree on any next steps. Meeting minutes are shared with all attendees. In-between meetings, if the client emails, the team responds as soon as possible. Respond to all client emails before the day ends. If you don’t have a resolution, at the very least, acknowledge receipt of the email and provide the next steps. 

Further to the point of clear communication, HoneyBadger’s account management team are experts in customer service, not SEO, PPC, website development, social media planning, etc (they leave that to their specialist colleagues!). However, the team makes it their business to understand what their colleagues are working on and why. When something is unclear, the customer service team seeks more information and asks the right questions internally before the client can do so. 

3. Unwillingness to share “Intellectual Property”. 

Clients are often surprised by how much information we share. We even provide research decks capturing the work and logic that has gone into every row of metadata research and writing!  We don’t see this as losing IP but more so as investing in the client’s education and, therefore, the client-agency relationship. 

Common client misconceptions 

The most common client misconceptions pertain to forecasting deliverables and client management expectations. But, once more, these can all be managed (if not even circumvented in the first place) through transparent communications, clear outlines of responsibility, timelines and holding regular meetings. 

How to manage a difficult client situation

1. Ensure expectations align before work gets underway. 

This in itself can avoid so many difficulties. 

2. Own your mistakes. 

We’re all human. Owning your mistakes will be tolerated - failing to admit them will not. 

3. Research, always. 

Customer service represents the team and, as such, must have a good handle on all out-flowing and incoming information. If something is unclear, it’s up to customer service to proactively find out more before the client asks. 

Contact us 

If this advice is helpful and you’d like to contact us about our white-label digital marketing, please reach out! Equally, if you’re a customer service superstar in the making and our culture sounds perfect for you, we’d be delighted to hear from you!