Reduce Agency Churn

Understand Expectations to Reduce Agency Churn

If you want to reduce churn at your digital marketing agency, it’s critical to understand your clients’ expectations. And it’s just as important to set expectations for your clients so they understand what it takes to run successful campaigns. Managing this relationship well will lead to a strong partnership and groundbreaking creative work. A misalignment in expectations can derail even the most well-planned strategies. 

An Evaluation of Clients’ Expectations from Their Ad Agencies and Ad Agencies’ Expectations from Their Clients developed insights into what those expectations are by surveying 25 ad agencies and 50 clients.1 This article shares its findings and offers insights into how these relationships can be optimized for success.

Increased Competition Between Digital Marketing Agencies

The competition between marketing agencies increases on a daily basis. Since the pandemic, more marketing and advertising professionals expect to be able to work from home. Many agencies have adapted to that reality, and other agencies have emerged to take advantage of the shift. 

Now, newcomers can establish agencies staffed with skilled professionals from around the globe. Whether your agency is one of those newcomers or it’s been around for decades, you have to find ways to meet your clients’ expectations or risk losing them to a competitor.

Understanding Client Expectations

Increased competition among agencies has led to increased expectations from agencies. If you can’t meet those expectations, they can easily find someone who will.

You’ll need to make sure you understand those expectations so that you can determine what boundaries need to be set and when you can afford to be flexible.

Clients expect:

  1. Effective Communication. Whether it’s updates on campaign progress, creative proposals, or budget discussions, communication is the cornerstone of a successful partnership.
  2. Transparency. Clients want agencies to be open about the processes, challenges, and reasoning behind creative decisions. Transparency in budgeting, timelines, and results is crucial to build trust.
  3. Creative Excellence: Clients turn to agencies for their expertise in crafting compelling, innovative campaigns. They expect your agency to bring fresh ideas to the table and execute them flawlessly, delivering creative solutions that align with their brand’s vision.
  4. Results-Driven Approach. No matter the objective of the campaign, you must have a way to drive and demonstrate results. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or improving customer engagement, your agency is expected to produce tangible outcomes that justify their client’s investment.
  5. Budget Management. In addition to maximizing their ROI, clients expect your agency to work within the constraints of their budgets. Efficient budget management and the ability to deliver quality work without unnecessary expenses is essential.
  6. Stick to the Timeline: Clients expect agencies to meet deadlines consistently, ensuring that campaigns launch on time and without last-minute surprises.

What Your Agency Should Expect from Clients

While your clients have a well-defined set of expectations, agencies also have their own requirements for a successful partnership. For agencies to deliver their best work, they need to set the following for their clients:

  1. Clear Briefs and Objectives. Clients should provide comprehensive briefs that outline the campaign’s goals, target audience, messaging, and any specific requirements. The more detailed the brief, the better equipped your agency will be to deliver the desired results.
  2. Respect for Expertise. Agencies bring specialized knowledge and experience to the table. Clients should respect this expertise and be open to the agency’s recommendations, even if they challenge preconceived notions or preferences.
  3. Creative Freedom. Clients have a vision for their brand, but your agency needs creative freedom to explore innovative ideas. If you’ve established your agency’s expertise, then your client should give your team the freedom it needs to take creative risks that lead to great work that sets their brand apart.
  4. Timely Feedback. Agencies rely on timely feedback from clients to refine and improve their work. Delays in feedback can disrupt timelines and hinder your agency’s ability to meet deadlines.
  5. Adequate Budget. To deliver high-quality work, agencies need sufficient resources. Encourage your clients to be realistic about their budget constraints and so you can ensure that your agency will have the financial means to execute the campaign effectively.
  6. Open Communication. Just as your clients expect clear communication, your agency needs its clients to be open and honest about their needs, concerns, and any changes in direction. Open dialogue fosters a collaborative environment where both parties can thrive.

Aligning Expectations for Success

For your agency’s relationships with its clients to succeed, both parties must align their expectations and work collaboratively towards shared goals. Here are some strategies to achieve this alignment:

  1. Establish Clear Communication Channels. From the outset, both parties should agree on how and when communication will take place. Regular check-ins, status updates, and transparent reporting can prevent misunderstandings and keep everyone on the same page. This can be tough because generally no one on either side wants to add another meeting to their calendar. But it’s one of the most important things you can do to reduce client dissatisfaction and churn.
  2. Define and Track Success Metrics. Agree with your clients on the KPIs that will measure the success of every campaign. Whether it’s sales growth, brand awareness, or customer engagement, having clear metrics ensures that both parties are working towards the same objectives. But it’s not enough just to agree to the KPIs. You have to have a way to measure those metrics, and sometimes it will require client cooperation (e.g., installing GTM, or when a conversion pixel needs to be added to a key page of their website).
  3. Build a Foundation of Trust. Be open and transparent with your clients so they will trust you to deliver on your promises. Also, do your best to avoid clients who you don’t think you will be able to trust in return.
  4. Foster a Collaborative Environment. Both clients and agencies should view the relationship as a true partnership. This means being open to each other’s ideas, providing constructive feedback, and working together to overcome challenges.
  5. Be Flexible and Adaptable. The advertising landscape is constantly changing, and both clients and agencies must be willing to adapt to new opportunities and challenges. Be flexible in your approach and pivot when necessary to achieve better outcomes.
  6. Celebrate Successes Together. When a campaign achieves its goals, both the client and your team should take the time to celebrate that success as a partnership. Recognizing each other’s contributions reinforces the relationship and sets the stage for future collaboration.

Build Stronger Agency-Client Partnerships to Grow Your Agency

The relationship between clients and ad agencies is complex, but when managed effectively, it can lead to outstanding creative work and successful campaigns. By understanding and aligning expectations, your agency can build strong partnerships that drive business success for you and your clients.

Source

1 Arul, P. G. (2010). An Evaluation of Client’s Expectation from Their Ad-Agencies and Ad-Agencies Expectation from Their Client’s. Asia Pacific Business Review, 6(4), 128-138. https://doi.org/10.1177/097324701000600414