How to understand your client needs
An affective design is the one that addresses the intrinsic requirements of the business, which requires the designer to have an actual understanding of client and the industry.
This post has discussed about the best ways to understand your client's requirements before starting development or designing.
Listen to your client
Understanding all of your client's requirements on the first meeting is difficult and so, you might have to meet the client several times before you get a fair idea of his needs. Asking questions about what his immediate and long term business goals are, will reveal his inherent requirements.Client may also be asked to divulge his expectations from the new website design.
Understand the industry
Specific industries have specific challenges. Knowing the industry and competition will help you form a better understanding of client needs. It will help with understanding the basic fact why a business exists and what it aims to achieve is important if you want to design an effective website.
Products and services of client
What the business sells? What are the demands? Once the purpose of the business is established, as a designer you must form an idea of its products and services to identify what your design must include to increase its business.
Whether it's an ecommerce site or a general informative site - knowing what the end-clients of the business want will help you in planning your design better.
Demography and competition
What is the target market for the client? Normally, discussions on industry, product and business goals will reveal information related to the desirable customers for the business. An effective design must be user focused and therefore, knowledge of customer demography is important if you want your design to target them.
Competitor analysis is another important part. It will give you a fair idea about the factors to include in your design.Moreover, based on the analysis you can decide how you can make your design different from others.
Corporate culture
A website is an extended part of a business and an important part of marketing strategy. It must therefore reflect its inherent culture to become a part of its corporate identity.In order to create an appropriate design, that would be an accurate representation of client's business, understanding of its corporate culture is important.
Scopes of improvement
If the project is to redesign the website you must ask them why the requirement has arisen.
Why they want to re-design and what areas they want to improve in the new version? Why understanding client requirement is necessary?
Understanding client needs can help you in the long run.
Given below are the reasons.
- Improves project execution and turnaround time
- Helps deciding the best possible way to execute the project
- Improves client satisfaction
- Improves resource efficiency
More revenue and more profit
The more you can learn about your client's requirement; the better would be your design.This will also improve the time needed in executing the project.