How to navigate the challenges from client feedback as a creative team

Managing client feedback can be a tricky task for any size creative team. Whether you're working on a small design projects, a piece of advertising, or a complete marketing campaign, the process of incorporating feedback from clients is essential, but it can also be time-consuming, challenging, and sometimes even frustrating. From communication breakdowns to personal preferences, there are a variety of obstacles that can stand in the way of a successful collaboration. But by addressing these issues early on, and understanding they exist, creative teams can deliver high-quality work for their clients on time, and every time.

Communication
Industry jargon can be an issue for creative teams, while communicating. Especially when a client is unfamiliar with the design process. This could lead to confusion and misunderstandings.

Vagueness

Clients may have an idea of what they want, but may not be able to articulate themselves. This can lead to frustration on both sides, and make it difficult for creative teams to fulfil the brief.

Personal taste

Some clients may have a strong personal preference for how they see a project being completed. This may not align with best practices or industry standards. Creative teams will need to reconcile these preferences with their own professional experience and knowledge.

Fragmented responses
Information may be supplied from multiple sources, through various channels and to any member of the creative team. Struggling to define the definitive information, or the most up-to-date can be a headache to manage but one that needs to address before it gets out of hand and swamps the process.

Timing

If a client provides feedback at the last minute or after a project is already completed, it can leave creative teams working against the clock to incorporate changes. This can result in rushed and inferior work. Deadlines need to set in place.

Too little/Too much

Both outcomes pose their own problems. A client who doesn't engage, or at the other extreme, bombards your team with too much, or irrelevant information can hamper the smooth running of a project. Set expectations early in the project lifecycle.

Scope creep

Sometimes goals or objectives of a project gradually expand beyond its original scope. This usually occurs when clients change their minds or add new elements to the project as it progresses, causing delays and added costs.

‍Limited resources

Some clients have a limited budget, which can impact the scale of the project. Creative teams may have to make sacrifices to produce the project, leading to a product that is less polished or doesn't fully meet the client's expectations.

Subjectivity, time constraints, resistance to change and legal or regulatory constraints are also some of the many other challenges that creative teams face when handling client feedback.

So, what's the solution?

Oppolis Cloud has been developed to meet many of these creative challenges head on. With decades of experience producing software for the marketing, creative and publishing sectors, we are well positioned and have an extensive track record of delivering solutions that solve the every-day-problems facing these teams.

What we’ve discovered is that a single location for all communication, project assets, comments, reviews, team members and artwork is essential.

A dashboard accessible to clients, project managers, creatives, client service managers, or any other team member involved in the creative project, can eliminate many of the challenges listed above.

Oppolis Cloud brings everything and everyone together: One solution to alleviates a multitude of problems

From the central dashboard, Oppolis Cloud users can track changes to a document or design, reveal who made those changes and when, and provide a clear record of changes requested by the client. This removes any confusion or disputes, and ensures that the final product always meets the client's needs and expectations.

The creative brief sits at the heart of the project and is accessible to everyone, all but eradicating scope creep because it can be referenced back to at any point.

Deadlines can be set against every job or task, and key milestones flagged. Everyone working for or on the project has a clearly defined goal.

Every file, review or piece of communication is attached to the creative project. Gone are the days when client service managers needed to trawl through emails threads looking for excel spreadsheets to forward on to a client.

A full version history of every piece or artwork is retained, so that any changes made can be easily referenced. Oppolis Cloud also provides commenting and annotation tools, which allows clients to give feedback not only on the project but also directly on every piece of artwork or design.

Project sign off is in the hands of the client, so they can formally approve the final product and confirm they are happy to release.

Say goodbye to many of the challenges of navigating client feedback with Oppolis Cloud. Try it out today and discover the difference a joined-up creative process can make.

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Oppolis Cloud, the creative project management solution used by creative teams.