Running an SEO company comes with its fair share of challenges, and one of the most significant hurdles is preventing clients from jumping ship. Losing clients can be frustrating and damaging to your company’s reputation. However, if you understand the pain points that often lead to client churn, you can take proactive measures to address them head-on. This blog will explore a few effective strategies to stop clients from leaving your SEO services. You can build stronger relationships, deliver exceptional value, and ensure client satisfaction for the long haul by tackling these pain points.
Misaligned Expectations
Nowadays, many SEO agencies fail because they didn’t set realistic expectations right from the start. It’s important to ask yourself if you’re overpromising and underdelivering.
Sometimes clients come to you without much knowledge about SEO and may have very high expectations. In such cases, it’s crucial not to say yes if you know you won’t be able to deliver on those expectations.
Failure to Educate the Client
As a top agency in SEO cape town, we’ve encountered many clients who have previously worked with one or two SEO agencies but still have no idea how SEO actually works.
It’s important to educate your clients and keep them informed. Building trust with your clients is essential for maintaining a long-term relationship.
Educating your clients is an ongoing process. Regular communication that reflects your expertise and adds value to them positions you as their go-to expert for any questions or concerns they have. You want them to turn to you instead of random “SEO gurus” they might find online.
Lack of Value for Money
Clients always expect the results of SEO as soon they invest. However, good SEO takes time, and this can be a perpetual challenge for SEO professionals. One way to approach this is by agreeing on long-term goals with your clients.
For example, if your client is a publisher, you can suggest a goal to achieve a 50% increase in traffic within 24 months. While you might achieve this goal earlier (remember to underpromise and overdeliver), it provides your client with a tangible and measurable expectation of value.
Make sure you demonstrate to your clients how your SEO efforts are positively impacting revenue and conversions, rather than just focusing on traffic and rankings.
Your Clients Don’t Know What You’re Doing
Don’t leave your clients guessing about the work you’re doing for them. It’s important to keep them informed about what’s happening currently and what the next steps are. Regular communication is key.
For example, you can create a monthly email that includes:
- Performance reports.
- Summaries of the work done and deliverables.
Additionally, check in with your clients once a week to provide quick updates on major initiatives or to share recent wins. It’s important to help your clients understand the direct link between the SEO actions taken and the measurable business outcomes.
Consider creating a roadmap at the beginning of the contract and updating it monthly to show the progress. These regular communications go a long way in keeping your clients informed about what you’re doing. It also demonstrates structure, and accountability, and builds client appreciation.
Some SEO services even report the number of hours dedicated to SEO work for each client every month, even if they don’t charge clients per hour. This helps reflect the amount of effort put into each task and deliverable.
No Visible Results
If your clients have stayed with you for the duration of their contract but can’t see any results, it’s important to address the issue. Assuming you’ve been actively working and producing results, underlying problems may need to be addressed.
First, review your internal SEO processes and ensure they’re well-structured. Even if you do great work for other clients, having clear processes and internal templates is crucial for success.
Next, make sure you have a solid project management tool in place. It’s difficult to keep organized and execute SEO strategies properly without one, especially as your business scales.
Regularly review your processes, particularly when there are new Google updates. Work with your team to incorporate these updates into your standard processes.
Always seek opportunities to train your team. You don’t necessarily need to enroll them in courses but schedule bi-weekly or monthly meetups where you discuss the latest news and tips in the SEO world.
Allow team members to express their desire to learn new skills or explore new areas, and allocate the necessary time and budget for their development.
The Product Just Wasn’t Ready for SEO
Not all businesses are ready for SEO. While SEO is a great channel for generating revenue in most cases, it’s important to evaluate whether your business is in the right stage for SEO. If your product or company isn’t ready yet, no amount of SEO will help.