SEO practices that increase client retention

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Oct 18, 2019 / by
SEO practices that increase client retention

The SEO market might not be saturated, but it’s certainly busy. Clients have thousands of options to consider when assigning their marketing budget so being able to hold on to a client for multiple SEO campaigns and build strong relationships has never been more important.

It’s ultimately up to account managers to directly influence client retention, as it is their job to make sure the agency’s objectives and the client’s objectives are one and the same and that the client is happy with the service. However, for everyone in the agency, it pays to understand the practices that can keep clients coming back for more.

Be specific with your goals

Before you start a campaign, it’s vital that both parties are on the same page, otherwise, someone is always going to end up either disappointed or pushed too hard.

If you’re aiming for 10,000 visits a month, you need to be open with the SEO marketer in charge of your campaign and if you’re an SEO expert that can’t deliver those kinds of results you need to be honest too.

Ask the right questions

The best way to build a lasting rapport with any client is to make sure you’re asking the right questions and are actually listening to their ideas.

Ask them about their growth plans, their products and services, and their competitors and most importantly of all, ask them about their target audience, as this is the diamond you will be attempting to crack.

Identify personas

If you ask the right questions, then you are one step closer to identifying what kind of persona your client exemplifies. Build a persona profile of each client and make sure every decision you made has been made to reflect and satiate those personas.

If you’re aware of your client personas, you should also be aware of what motivates them – generation of sales, clicks, or simply getting the make out. Recognising and reacting to these motivations will allow you to build deeper and longer-lasting client relationships.

Be honest

Honestly in marketing is a rare bird indeed, but the key in SEO (and marketing in general, come to think of it) is to say exactly what you mean, but always say it with a smile on your face.

If a client has unrealistic expectations – be honest about it, but do so in a way that’s more “we might not be able to land an 80% SEO conversion rate, but have you considered this angle,” instead of “sorry but an 80% conversion rate is simply not realistic.” Both approaches are truthful,  maybe, but the former will land a great deal softer than the latter.

Write an expedient report

Your reports are one of your most valuable client retention tools and  shouldn’t be approached lightly. However, many SEOs are quite content to waffle on needlessly in their reports and include details that the client might not even bother to read.

These reports also take up a fair chunk of their budget. The more cost-effective and dynamic approach is to keep the reports minimal and free of any potentially alienating SEO jargon. You want to use them to catalyse a conversation where required.

Keep in touch

The report that follows an SEO campaign is obviously where the vast majority of your ‘post-match analysis’ should sit, but it’s in the little emails and phone calls that happen while the gears are still in motion that the real bonds are formed.

Calls and meetings with your clients are a great way of keeping lines of communication open and if you are prepared for these calls and meetings then even better!

The holy grail is to be able to definitively connect SEO results to marketing revenue and the more of the above practices you utilise, the more likely it’s going to be that you’ll be able to make that connection. If you can get that far then you might just have bagged yourself a client for life.

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