How to Improve Client Experience So Clients Stay and Refer You

Oct 7

9 min read

Key takeaways

If you want to know how to improve client experience, start with a map of every touch point from first enquiry to a year after the work ends. Then systemise each one.
Keeping a client costs far less than finding a new one. Amy Gallo's 2014 Harvard Business Review article puts acquisition at five to 25 times the cost of retention.
Don't automate a part of your client journey until you've done it by hand and understand how it works.
Positive feedback feels good but won't show you what to fix. Ask clients what could have been better, then tell them what you changed.
Systems create consistency, consistency creates trust, trust creates referrals, and referrals create growth.

Kate books her discovery calls through an online calendar. The moment someone books, they get a personal confirmation. Then a reminder a week out, another 24 hours before, and a final one an hour before the call, by text and email. People sometimes tell her she really makes sure they turn up.

She does. Before she set it up, no-shows were common. Now her show-up rate is pretty much 100%. That's the simplest lesson we know on how to improve client experience: small, consistent systems that mean nobody's left wondering what happens next.

And because the booking form asks what people want to talk about, Kate turns up to every call already informed. This post comes from episode 12 of season two, where we got into what happens after someone says yes, and how to keep clients coming back and sending their friends.

We're Dr Kate De Jong, a PhD engineer turned business strategist, and Sam Morris, a Navy veteran who's spent 20 years in business working out what makes businesses tick and what makes them stall.

Why Does Client Experience Matter More Than Winning New Clients?

Where should your energy go once someone has paid you?

Because keeping a client is far cheaper than finding a new one, and happy clients bring you the next ones. Most businesses still pour their effort into acquisition and then leave the experience to chance.

Amy Gallo's 2014 Harvard Business Review article, “The Value of Keeping the Right Customers”, says acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. The same piece reports that increasing retention by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.

Kate's in Perth, where word of mouth is everything. It only works if the experience is consistently good. Chasing new clients all the time is exhausting, and you can throw money at ads until the cows come home, but without retention it doesn't add up. (If ads are part of your mix, our post on why your paid ads might be wasting cash is worth a read.)

We've both coached inside a company where the focus was on getting clients in, not on what happened next. People felt ripped off. They had buyer's regret. Good reviews and word of mouth were near impossible after that, and it never sat right with either of us.

What Makes a Client Experience Remarkable?

Is it luck, personality, or something you can build?

A remarkable experience is designed on purpose. It's made of consistent systems and a real effort to make people feel seen and valued.

“Every remarkable experience is the result of intentional design. It's consistent systems and it's a real commitment to making sure people feel seen and valued.” — Dr Kate De Jong

Sam's example was her beautician. She used to go to the quick, in-and-out places in shopping centres, where the service was rushed and the little things went wrong. Now she pays more to see the same person every time, someone careful who remembers their last conversation even when it's been five or six months.

Her point for business owners: price sensitivity will only get you so far. If you're offering better service, don't be afraid to price for it.

How Do You Map Your Client Journey?

What does a client actually experience between saying yes and finishing with you?

A client journey map lists every touch point a client has with your business, from first enquiry to final delivery and beyond. Once you can see them all, you can systemise each one so the quality doesn't depend on how busy you are that week.

Marketing researchers Katherine Lemon and Peter Verhoef made the same case in their 2016 Journal of Marketing paper, “Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey”. They note that customers now deal with businesses through myriad touch points across channels, so the experience has to be managed across the whole journey, not one moment at a time.

Onboarding matters most. What happens straight after someone pays sets the tone. Kate's view is that the worst feeling is making the decision, paying, and then hearing nothing.

“It's very disappointing when you sign up for something and you're all excited, and then you don't get a confirmation, or you don't hear from that person … and it's really deflating.” — Dr Kate De Jong

Start with the basics and keep them simple. When Sam asked Kate about automating payments for strategy sessions, Kate's answer was that she just invoices people. What matters more is jumping on an enquiry straight away, getting the person booked, and knowing each step that follows: payment, the session, notes, actions, and booking the next session before you hang up so it doesn't fall off the radar.

Should You Automate Your Client Experience?

Where does technology help, and where does it get in the way?

Yes, but only after you've run that part of the journey by hand and know how it works. Automate too early and you'll take longer to get it right than if you'd been in the trenches doing it yourself.

“I don't believe that you can effectively automate any part of your business until you truly understand how those parts work.” — Sam Morris

Once you understand it, technology can make the experience better. Kate uses the AI transcription built into Zoom. It gives her the agreed actions, a summary of each topic and a link to the full transcript, so she can send clients good session notes without scribbling through the call.

“When I started using AI to record the meeting, I was able to focus so much more on the person because I wasn't sitting there writing everything down.” — Sam Morris

Sam still takes her own notes, but they're about tone, body language and the things people don't quite say. AI records the functional side. Putting the two together gives deeper insight than either on its own.

Sam also floated the next step for Kate's booking process: an AI avatar that sends each new booking a short, personalised video based on what they wrote in the form. It's already happening in some businesses. If you want to set up the basics first, our AI Setup Workbook walks you through it.

What Does Going Above and Beyond Actually Look Like?

Do you need grand gestures to impress clients?

No. It's usually a small, useful extra that takes you five minutes and saves the client hours. Session notes and transcripts make these easy to spot.

Kate's example: a client mentions they need an infographic, so she whips one up in Canva and sends it over. Sam's point was that it isn't a big thing to add to your workload, but it's a massive benefit to the client.

Another one is not hogging the client. If someone else can help with a problem better than you, send them there and let them come back to you for what you're great at. Kate sends people to Sam for anything AI-related.

There's research that backs the small-and-easy approach. In “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers” (Harvard Business Review, 2010), Matthew Dixon, Karen Freeman and Nick Toman report on a study of more than 75,000 customer interactions. They found elaborate efforts to delight had little effect on loyalty, and that what customers really want is a simple, quick solution to their problem. Kate's reminders are a good example: they make it easy to show up.

How Do You Get Client Feedback That's Actually Useful?

Why does the feedback that feels best tell you the least?

Ask questions that invite criticism, not compliments, and make it safe for people to tell you what could be better. Then act on it and let them know you did.

“Positive feedback is useless when it comes to system improvement. It does not tell you where you are going wrong, it does not tell you where you are losing out.” — Sam Morris

After our workshop on 15 April, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. But a couple of people said the introductions ran too long. So now people introduce themselves in the chat, and there's more time for live coaching. A small fix, and a better experience next time.

Sam's pet hate is the feedback surveys big utility companies and banks send after a call. The questions are built so you can't say what actually annoyed you. That's not genuine feedback. Kate has written about asking better questions in her blog, “10 Questions to Get Valuable Feedback” (linked below).

Reviews need a system too. Kate asks straight after she's finished with a client and knows they've had a good experience. People often don't get to it the first time you ask, so a follow-up request is part of the process, not nagging.

What Should Happen After the Work Ends?

Does the relationship stop when the contract does?

It shouldn't. Build a simple check-in system so past clients hear from you personally every three, six or 12 months.

Sam admitted she didn't do this in her early years and wishes she had. There are people she worked with years ago and she'd love to know what they went on to achieve. Kate has been on the other side of it. She worked closely with a coach once, felt a real bond, and then felt forgotten once it ended.

Your email newsletter is the minimum, but everyone knows it's a message to a list. A CRM reminder that says it's been 12 months since you worked with someone, followed by a real message from you, keeps people warm. It's also when they might be facing something new and need a bit of help.

Why Should You Shrink Your Marketing Promises?

What happens when the marketing is better than the experience?

Clients judge the experience against what you promised. Promise less than you deliver and you win. Promise more and you lose them, along with their referrals.

Sam has paid for coaching programs and courses where she believed the hype and the inside was a very different, disappointing thing. Kate thinks most of our listeners could say the same.

“You are better off to shrink down your marketing and over-deliver than you are to say that you're going to do all of these things that you can't possibly achieve.” — Sam Morris

Sam would love more transparency on completion and success rates. Marketing shows the five clients who did amazing things, not how many people went through the program without getting the result. She thinks the market would shift if those numbers were public.

Kate summed up the whole episode in one chain.

“Systems are what create that consistency, and the consistency then creates trust, and the trust then creates referrals, and then the referrals create the growth.” — Dr Kate De Jong

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a client journey map?

It's a list of every touch point a client has with your business, from the first enquiry through onboarding, delivery and follow-up. Mapping it shows you where the gaps are, and which steps you can systemise so every client gets the same quality.

Should I automate my client onboarding?

Only once you've done it by hand and know what works. Simple automations like booking confirmations and reminders make a big difference early on. Keep the human parts, like welcome messages and check-ins, personal.

How do I ask for Google reviews without being pushy?

Ask straight after a good result, while the experience is fresh. People often mean to leave one and forget, so a friendly follow-up is part of a normal review system.

How often should I check in with past clients?

Pick a rhythm you'll actually keep, like three, six or 12 months after you finish working together. Put it in your CRM so it doesn't rely on memory, and make the message personal.

Your Client Experience Check for This Week

Three things to try before Friday.

Map every touch point in your client journey, from first enquiry to 12 months after you finish. Mark each one as automated, done by you, or missing.
Look at the first 24 hours after someone pays you. What do they hear from you, and when? Fill any silence.
Ask your last three clients one question: what's one thing we could have done better? Then tell them what you changed.

“Feedback is a gift. So build systems to collect it and use it and show people that their feedback actually gets implemented as well.” — Dr Kate De Jong

Listen to the full episode

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