We’re big on communication and support. Our processes, our culture and our desire to see brands succeed all feed into providing guidance around the clock. Working alongside our Project Managers, Developers and Designers, Junior Account Manager, Alicia, is key to keeping clients in the loop and web projects on track. 

Take a read to find out what Alicia has to say when we spoke to her about how our Client Services and Support Desk teams look after our clients and why retainer plans are so important. 

What is your role at NetConstruct?

I’m a Junior Account Manager, I started as an exec and then worked my way up and have been here for 18 months now. I work across various areas of the business and feed information into the Account Directors and clients. I mainly support the Account Directors on their projects, so I’m like a second point of contact for them and I’m also named Account Manager on some of our accounts too.

I work closely with the Project Managers and our Scrum Master as well, particularly on scheduling and making sure we have time for everything. Once a project launches, I then work with the Support Desk team and our Developers to action what needs doing in terms of further development. I love that I get to work so closely with all the different teams. It means I’ve learnt about topics that I didn’t think I would, like development. Sometimes I find myself chatting about browsers and think…where did that come from?! I also really love doing the design and UX workshops as they’re quite similar to what I did at uni. I’ve always liked being hands-on with everything and here you can be. 

How does your team keep clients in the loop on their web projects? 

Throughout a web project, we have different methods of communicating with a client. In the beginning, communication is mainly through meetings, emails and calls. Once we’ve moved into the discovery and design process, it’s heavily based on a mixture of face to face meetings, video calls and emails. When we get to the build, we’ll start introducing JIRA. It’s a great tool that allows us to give the client visibility of how the project is going. They can raise tickets for any issues, snags or additional changes they would like implementing. We can then organise these into project sprints and let them know when work has been completed.

Most important of all are our weekly calls and regular face to face meetings, as I believe you can get more done when you’re actually speaking to someone. More recently, we’ve started utilising the video functionality of Teams which has allowed us to maintain a personal level of contact with our clients while we’re working from home. This has been key to keeping up business as usual during recent unprecedented events.  We use this time to check in, let them know how everything is going and find out if anything has changed in the business on their end that we need to know about. Keeping everyone informed naturally helps a project run more smoothly.

How do we aim to deliver great customer service?

We always want to support our clients the best we can, and our culture promotes this through everything we do. But, a key part of us doing this effectively is having an in-house Support Desk meaning clients can easily submit a ticket or make a phone call when guidance is needed. The team then work to provide a solution within three business days, where possible. Lots of other agencies don’t have this kind of dedicated support system. It gives our clients the ability to get in direct contact with developers for advice and they can quickly help fix bugs, implement site improvements and provide ongoing CMS support. 

We believe good communication is key so that’s why we make ourselves readily available - our Client Services and Support Desk teams are only a phone call away. 

At NetConstruct, we have a lot of retainer clients. Why do you think that is?  

There are so many benefits of a retainer plan for a client. They can enjoy the latest updates and technologies to ensure their website is performing at its best and also have the added peace of mind of a monthly time quota pre-scheduled to make any changes to their website. 

Our clients work in fast moving industries, so having dedicated retainer time each month allows us to meet demands and gives us flexibility in scheduling. This flexibility is key. Our schedule does get full in advance and it’s much easier to move time around than to try and squash it in. We allow clients to use the time across our disciplines and we’re able to accommodate last minute changes easily. Our whole ethos is around continuous improvement so having that dedicated time and monthly planning sessions keeps everyone thinking about what we can do to keep the website moving forward.  

We recognise that every team is equally important at NetConstruct and can bring a different perspective. For example, if a developer is working on a website and has implemented something similar on another project, they’ll make suggestions to ensure we’re getting the best result and working efficiently, saving valuable time for the changes that mean most to our client’s business. 

A lot of our work revolves around building an effective working relationship with our clients. We want them to get the most from their website and an ongoing relationship allows us to help them do this. We don’t have a build and leave mentality. Instead, we always want to continue making iterative improvements to our web projects. 

What's your favourite project you’ve worked on and why? 

Stericycle - it was the first project I did from start to finish. We built a great relationship with the client; they were very good with communication and providing feedback. 

It was also the first project we took a content-first approach on. Rorie, our Lead Designer, and I conducted a brilliant content workshop with Stericycle. We basically covered what was going to be on each page and blocked it all out so when the project reached the design phase, everything had been considered, nothing was missed that we had to return to and the client was aware of what content they would be displaying on their website. 

What’s the one piece of advice you’d give a client before starting a project?   

Fully understand from an internal point of view what you want from your web project. If you know what you want to achieve, we can still do our workshops and exploration stages, but it starts you off in a better position and you’re likely to get a better outcome. 

What our clients say about our Client Services Team

“From our initial meetings to the design and implementation of our new website NetConstruct have appreciated our brand values and the integrity of our company. We are absolutely delighted with the result. The team at NetConstruct were easy to communicate with every step of the way. We would definitely recommend NetConstruct and look forward to working with them in the future." 

Victoria Bramley, Consumer Marketing Manager at Theakstons

If you need a supportive web agency or advice on your web project, get in touch and our experienced team can provide you with the guidance you need.