A friend of mine seems to never have a bad client.

Which is nuts, because we’re both in-house creatives at the same business, so you’d think we would have had the same experiences.

And boy have I had some bad clients.

Our work is different, and people come to us for different things. But it still often feels like there’s a pandemic of bad clients floating around one end of the hallway, while there’s rarely a stray to be spotted at the other.

I’ve been working with her on several projects over the last year or so and have started to understand one of the biggest reasons why her clients love working with her.

She emails them.

A lot.

At first I almost couldn’t believe how often. After every meeting, even internal ones, and any time a slight change of direction was taken, whenever there was a sketch or a tiny part of a job was done.

At least that’s how it seemed to me. For her, it was whenever there was a strategic change or development. And she was right.

“They rarely understand what’s going on with their projects, what we do, or how long it takes, so I like to keep them up to date. It means there aren’t any surprises for them, and I’m sure they’re happy with the direction I’m taking.”

It’s natural for us to take for granted that the simple things we understand might be complex for other people. We do this everyday, so much of it seems obvious.

But for the client? They are in another office somewhere, probably clicking “Send/Receive” in their inbox a few times a day hoping to get a glimpse of what’s going on with an idea they’ve given to someone else to make real.

It’s only a small thing, but I’m amazed at the reward it offers.

I still hate dealing with email, but I’ve been trying this with a few clients and the difference in attitude, respect, and happiness has been noticeable.