Pssst…Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the episode, we wanted to let you know we have a new facebook group for this podcast! 🤗

Search for Design and Prosper Podcast Community or click here.

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Here’s part 2 of the essential business tech you need to elevate your customer service experience.

Looking for part 1? Click here. 🤗

Combined with part 1, these are all of the things that we believe are really essential in running a graphic design business.

EMAIL MARKETING SOFTWARE

Why you need this: to easily build your own online community and nurture potential leads.

Some of you might be thinking, well, I don’t really need to invest in email marketing software just yet because I don’t really have an audience that I’m speaking to.

But, we recommend you start to create your community—positioning yourself you as the leader.

Consistency is the key here. Once a week or once every two weeks—even monthly is okay. It doesn’t have to be long and filled to the brim, just enough to say “Hey beautiful community member, this is what’s happening in the design industry space.” Or, “This is what’s happening in the branding space.” Or tell your story… “This is what’s happening in my studio”.

It’s a powerful ‘know, love and trust’ exercise for existing and potential clients to get to know you and your processes via a really thoughtful and beautiful touchpoint.

We love Flodesk but it doesn’t have a free tier. You could try Mailerlite and Mailchimp—or one of the many available. Do a little research and find one that suits you and your budget.

AUTOMATION SOFTWARE

Why you need this: to connect one app to another and essentially create your own little universe of actions.

We use Zapier!

Zapier ‘zaps’ tasks from one platform to another. It’s the key to seamless automation in your business.

For example, you could set up a zap so that every time you ‘star’ or ‘flag’ an email, it is sent straight to your to do list on another app.

Another example: As soon as a client pays an invoice, say in Stripe, that transaction is sent to a spreadsheet. Or, you could set up a zap to send out an automated thank you email to your client.

Zapier has a free tier and you can do quite a lot on the free plan, especially if you don’t have a high volume of zaps happening.

GOOGLE PLUGINS

Why you need this: to streamline your time and stay on top of your to-do list.

We dedicated a whole episode to google extensions that help you streamline the design process. But in this episode we wanted to specifically zero in on extensions that help with customer service.

Here are some extensions to help you with customer service and better project management:

• Mail tracker (Been ghosted? This allows you to see if people have opened an email you have sent them)
• Loom extension (quickly and easily record vids for clients. It’s great for answering questions or where it’s easier to talk something through rather than writing it out.

Specifically for Trello users:

• Trello card history (in case you accidentally delete text out of a card)
• Send to Trello plug in (you can add it to your bookmarks bar and send any website page to a Trello board of your choice).

Be sure to also check out Episode 15: 5 essential Chrome Extensions for Graphic Designers.

CARD PAYMENT FACILITY

Why you need this: to make it as easy as possible for clients to pay you!

This tech is Essential with a capital E!

If you don’t have credit card payments set up already—then this is one of the most important things to set up as quickly as possible.

Make sure your clients can pay you with ease, whether it be through PayPal, Stripe, or whatever it is. There are fees associated with these options, be mindful of what they are then either absorb them or include them in the running costs of your business. We’d rather absorb the 2%-3% fee for the benefit of having quick payments and better cash flow.

Gone are the days when a cheque or direct deposit is the way to go. These options can slow up the process or even stop your clients in their tracks and is an unnecessary barrier to entry.

We use Dubsado, but you can set up payments and invoices directly within Stripe and PayPal.

SURVEY + QUESTIONNAIRE SOFTWARE

Why you need this: to get essential feedback from non-buyers plus clients who have recently finished a project with you.

Feedback, good or bad is important intel into how you operate your business moving forward.

So why didn’t somebody, have a full-body yes experience and go with you? We want to know where we can address any gaps.

And, it’s a beautiful way to gather feedback after a project, converting beautiful responses into powerful testimonials and social proof.

We love Typeform for its ease and beauty and it has a free tier…10 questions per form and 10 responses per month. We have found 10 questions are ample, any more than that and you risk taking up too much of your client’s time.

It could also be as simple as Google Forms—totally free, although not as pretty.

WRITING SOFTWARE

Why you need this: to have the smallest barrier of entry into creating content!

We might do a whole separate podcast on using AI in your design business but wanted to share that we would be lost without Hemmingway in particular.

Hemmingway is a clever app that improves readability, which naturally makes the text easier to comprehend. Given we have but seconds to capture our audience’s attention, when the readability of our messaging is clear and easy we are halfway there.

And of course, most of you will have heard of or used Grammarly to improve your grammar and to help you write mistake-free.

AI copywriting is blowing our minds but we are new to it. There are new platforms popping up daily targeting specific niches. It’s hard to keep track! And Don is trying to stop Kris from going down too many rabbit holes. 😜

A couple more for you to explore are Jounce and Chat GPT

MESSAGING APP

Why you need this: to keep client messaging separate from your personal life.

What apps do you use to message your friends and family? Whatever they are, don’t use them for business too. It’s important to protect your non-work time and personal messaging with client messaging. This is especially important when you have your own business because it can feel all-consuming at the best of times.

We use Voxer for all our client voice messaging. Voxer is a walkie-talkie-style app that allows you to swap audio, text and image messages in real-time.

If you want to practice using Voxer, download the app and search for us – Design and Prosper. Then send us a voice message with a question you would like us to answer on the podcast. 🤗

We might even feature your question on a future podcast episode – and don’t worry, we’ll keep your name anonymous if you prefer.

Slightly off-topic from messaging, but we love the idea of using Videoask to embed an interactive video on your website.

This is made by the clever people who created Typeform and it adds a beautiful level of connection and nurture to your website.

Videoask enables potential clients to watch a short video greeting when they land on your website, and then you can ‘personally’ ask them what they need help with. They will select an option, for example, “I need help with branding” or “I want to book a call” and then they will be sent to the next step on your site.

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Ok beautiful people, enjoy exploring all this tech and taking your customer service to the next level. It will be a win for you AND your clients. Let us know your favourite tech that you use in your design business!

Much love,
Kris & Donna xo