If you work with clients at all, at some point in the process, you probably have to TALK TO ONE ANOTHER.
However, it might not always be the easiest—or most effective—form of communication for certain things. Maybe you’ve got (extremely well-meaning) chattier clients who, if you’re not careful, might eat too much of your creative energy, leaving none left for the actual work itself. Or perhaps you’re like us, and work with a team of people, in which case, we need to have everything documented so all of us can easily reference the client’s feedback—without individually listening to an hour long call playback every time. Or maybe you’re abroad and the connection isn’t the best, and making a phone call would require a miracle. Or maybe you just hate talking on the phone. Sourpuss.
Yet, on the other hand (because there is always another hand), reducing all client communications to email can sometimes feel cold, impersonal and, in some cases, less of a positive experience.
A fun solution I’ve recently been experimenting with?
Kaizena works with Google Docs—the world’s best word processing platform for its ability to have multiple people live editing a document simultaneously—and allows you to highlight any piece of text, and attach a voice comment to it.
Did your brain just explode all over the kitchen table? Clean that up later.
Usually the way we work when we’re soliciting feedback on a copywriting project is by having clients highlight text and type their comments in the margins—another great feature of Google Docs, because we can directly reply to those comments and start a thread, which feels more seamless than old-fashioned Word docs—but sometimes, having the ability to add your voice to the mix can take your interaction to a whole other level.
Clients get to hear your true enthusiasm and feel more connected, and you get to leave more detailed thoughts, and also have the fun privilege of hearing your clients respond back to you, too!
Bonus?
If you ever get a Dear John letter, the sucker’s never gonna know what hit ’em.