10 Tips for Selling UX Work to Clients
We know that UX is important. Google knows that UX is important. But when it comes to selling UX work it can often feel like nobody else knows that it's important. Selling UX design work to clients is not as hard as you may think. Note that you are doing the work for them, but not for you. So, the most important thing is to make sure that you focus on the clients more than you focus on yourself. It is critical to understand some of the marketing strategies to apply in order to make your UX designer work more attractive to potential clients. Wondershare Mockitt will lead you to focus on how to sell UX work to clients.
1. You're trying to solve the problem they have.
One of the most important things you should put into consideration is the problem you are trying to solve with your UX design. The main goal should be to ensure that you create a UX design that will offer a certain solution to a problem your target audience has. The final product should serve the needs of the users effectively. To do this, you should make sure that you communicate your vision to the users in a way that they understand. The first thing you should do is to identify the problem you need to solve and guide all ideas to help in resolving it. Throughout the user experience work, you need to have the goal in mind to avoid being sidetracked.
2. People buy from people they trust and believe
Like in any other profession, you should make sure that you have the trust and confidence of your UX design end users. It takes time for you to build this trust, but with patience, you can gain a competitive edge. One of the ways you can build the trust of your users is by having a well-crafted portfolio. Clients will check your portfolio before they can decide whether to buy your UX work or not. Showcase your qualification and experience in UX designing. It is also important to show that you care for their specific needs as you do the designing. This makes the clients develop ownership of the UX design work. Make sure you are obsessed with your clients' needs and be transparent. Clients want to know what they expect from you in terms of the quality of the UX design.
3. Testimonies and references play a major role in convincing clients about your ability to deliver.
People usually trust UX designers with proof of their work. The only way to do this is to have testimonies and references from your past clients. The information they provide about your UX designer work determines whether other people will buy your UX skills or not. The testimonies and references can come in various forms including third-party reviews, word of mouth, recommendations, and others. They act as a form of social proof that you offer high-quality and fully customized UX work. They also guide potential customers and assist in overcoming objections. Note that you have full control of the testimonials you allow your potential clients to see. Choose the best testimonials and ensure they are displayed in the right way.
4. Customized presentations and collaterals
You need to have a fully customized presentation and collaterals to gain the trust of the clients. The most important way is to make sure that you understand all your presentation goals. Create a well-defined presentation objective, so that you can have a unique presentation. You need to inform, inspire, sell train, report progress, and solve a problem. It is also important that you understand your audience. Take time to know their motivations and interests so that you can craft a relevant and sharper targeted message. Create a story with your target audience in mind and frame your User experience work for them. To make sure that your audience does not get bored, ensure that you have a short presentation and it is long, allow for breaks or alter the format every twenty minutes to motivate the audience.
5. Consultative selling requires you to be a good listener first
You cannot sell your UX skills to clients if you do not have the right listening skills. In order to understand your clients' needs, you should, first of all, listen to their needs so that you can also serve them well. Before you begin the designing process, one of the steps you should never overlook is research. You should perform thorough research so that you can understand your clients' needs well. Here you should listen to what they expect from the UX design. By listening to your target end-users and knowing their struggles, you can develop empathy for the user instead of taking every word at face value, without knowing the context. Listening to users goes beyond just asking them their feelings about the problem.
6. Clients will listen to the first-hand experience that past clients have had with you
It is possible for you to have great testimonials and reviews from your past clients, but still, fail to succeed. As you sell your UX skills to potential clients you should not only rely on past reviews and testimonials. It is important to ensure that you offer a great experience to your users too. If you fail to offer a great experience, it will not be of any help to have great testimonials. Clients usually develop the confidence of trust with your UX design work if you offer them a great experience. They cannot rely on your other clients' satisfaction, but their own satisfaction. So, make sure that you offer your clients great first-hand experience failure to which they lose your trust.
7. Stakeholders are busy, so you need to do the hard work of finding out what needs to be done, how to do it, and then tell them as succinctly as possible
One of the things you will have to note is that all the relevant stakeholders in UX design are busy. You cannot rely on them to be part of the design process from the start to the end. Despite that they play a vital role in the success of the design, you have to keep in mind that you have to do more work yourself. You have the responsibility to know all the UX work that requires to be done and how it should be done without fully relying on them. After you have understood how the UX design ought to be done, now you can inform the stakeholders on how the entire design process ought to be done from the start to the end.
8. More Conversation, Fewer Wireframes
Clients always prefer human interactions in UX designer work. This is why it is good to ensure that you converse with them instead of using wireframes that do not have a human touch. With more conversations, clients feel that their needs are well catered. With more conversations, it shows that you care much about your clients' needs. Note that at times it is hard for clients to understand the wireframes, so more conversations make it easy for them to understand your UX design work. You can use sketches or workshops in the process.
9. Use Data to Back Up Your Points Wherever Possible
Clients develop trust and confidence with a UX designer who creates data-driven products. A user-friendly UX design should be fully guided by information on what work can work and want cannot. This is necessary because some of the features that might look great on paper end up being confusing or impractical, thus preventing the end-users from attaining their outcomes. You should endeavor to create UX designs with data backing. This shows that your work is evidence-based thus can solve problems by users in a more practical manner. Ensure you use the most relevant data and use the right techniques so that your design is based on factual information.
10. Face-to-face Contact is Key
To be successful in the UX design field, it is good to get in touch with your users on a face-to-face basis. At times you do not have to rely on the information you get through phone interviews, questionnaires, or other methods where you do not get into direct contact with your users. You can sell your UX skills by having face-to-face interaction with the clients and all other stakeholders involved in the process. This gives them a chance to ask you questions and have an opportunity to answer them. This is a great way to showcase your professionalism and show them you are an authority in the UX design industry. Face-to-face contact also helps you develop a better relationship with them.
Conclusion
Selling UX skills can be hard if you do not know how to do it. The tips provided above can help you bypass the competition and become the choice of clients. They will help you avoid the fear and anxiety you experience trying to figure out if you will succeed or not. The key to success is to make sure that you put your clients and their needs first in all your UX work. With them, you end up enjoying more sales and more satisfied clients in the long run. Invest good time to understand your clients and the market, so that you know the right approach to apply as you sell your UX skills to them.
