Freelance Writing and Clients: Effective Communication

As freelance writers we work online A LOT. We do much of our communication through email, forums, IM, contact forms, etc. If you haven't been living under a rock out in the boondocks you likely have used email and you know that the words you are trying to convey in email aren't always interpreted the way you want or expect them to be. This can result in a multitude of problems with clients including: incomplete projects, incorrect projects and on the far end of things, loss of a client.

If you are working with a client solely through email what may seem clear as an OCD's window to your client may be as clear as my nicotine-covered windshield on a sunny day to you. And it goes both ways of course. You have clients who need to provide you with the information you need to complete their project, but they may not know how to communicate that effectively. This is where you swoop in and save the day (or at least your client's project so you can be paid), you need to become the authority on effective communication and gently lead your client toward the answers you need. Yes, clients are sometimes high-maintenance. And that's ok. Most people are about one thing or another.

So here's what you, as a freelance writer, can do to coax those words out of your client:

1) Number your questions and separate them by paragraph breaks. If you are finding yourself emailing your client over and over asking the same questions because for some reason they don't seem to be reading your questions it may be because those questions are tied up in paragraphs. People, especially busy people, have this tendency to scan paragraphs looking for the info they want or need. This is perhaps what you have done to get down here to these points, scanned for the bold and numbers. Separating things, numbering them and even putting them in bold drive your reader and client to the most important parts and can help you get the answers they need. It's much easier for them to add in some answers real quick if you've already given them the room to do so.

2) The "Fluff Factor": This is a lesson in customer service. I worked at a bank a while ago and my boss was a big fan of the "fluff factor" when emailing internal and external customers. Our emails were tailored to prevent the recipient from getting defensive in any way. Often consisting of smiley faces, nothing in all capital letters because that can be patronizing or seem like yelling, lots of "Thanks!" and friendly exclamation points, not the ones that rhetorically state: "what the #%$^ are you doing!?!?!?" But even the most well-intentioned emails can be misconstrued and put certain people on the defense which causes them to shut down their receptivity. All in all, it's just good practice to be professional and friendly...although your email doesn't have to look like a high-school girl's notebook with flowers, hearts and smiley faces drawn all over the place.

3)Separate your subjects into separate emails. For efficiency and calarity's sake I like to get as much said as possible in emails. Anything that I can think of that impacts communication with that person goes into those emails. I may have several questions, then some ideas, then some contract details to work out, or whatever else. However, I find that when I separate these topics into respective emails I am much more likely to get the responses I want and need. But don't bombard your client with five emails at once, that will just annoy. Prioritize them and send one at a time and let the responses and communication flow naturally from one topic to the next.

A lot of people don't have these communication problems with their clients, but I find that I do quite frequently. Many of the clients I work with don't know exactly what I do for them, they may think I just write their content so they may not understand why I need to know these things in order to complete their project. They are not freelance writers themselves and often just don't get what we do. They just know they need their content.