Intro
Let’s face it - your communication online will either lead you to secure the sale or lose the sale. Your written communication will make or break you as a freelancer online because in most freelancing marketplaces you communicate through messaging back and forth.
In today’s video, I share with you ways to improve your communication with buyers on freelancing marketplaces through all three phases of an order: pre-order, during the active order, and post-order. Here are the exact communication strategies I’ve learned the past five years that have helped me go from average to stellar as a seller.
Read all about it in today’s blog - or watch it in video format over on YouTube below:
Pre-order communication strategies
If a potential buyer lands in your inbox, this is your first impression to wow them. Will replying with a “hey, how can I help” secure the order and wow their socks off? Likely not. Will replying with a personalized message that expresses passion and interest in their project wow them if it’s professional and friendly? Absolutely!
That first interaction with them should be three things: quick, professional, and personalized. Let’s break those down.
Quick - Your response should be quick (think within 4 hours) because many buyers are in a rush to get an order in. So they will message a handful of sellers and may hire whoever responds first. The longer you wait to respond, the less chance you’ll have of winning them over.
Professional - Your response should be professional and not too relaxed. Freelancing marketplaces are for professional freelancers and businesses. You’re not talking to your friend or texting a buddy. You’re interacting with a potential paying client, so communicate how you would with a boss. But feel free to be a little more friendly and welcoming to connect with them.
Personalized - On platforms like Fiverr, you can use saved canned responses. So you may have a standard “hello, how can I help you? Canned response. But caution - too canned sounds robotic and impersonal. So insert a canned response, but personalize it to the client. Add in their name and connect with them. Show your passion for their project and how getting to work with them on it would be exciting for you! They want to hire someone who loves what they do because that passion will shine through in the final delivery.
While communicating with this potential buyer, you’ll first want to ask for more details about their project.
Some of the best question to ask (according to Fiverr) are:
What is the name of your company?
Provide an overview of what you need and what you’d like to achieve?
Who is your target audience?
Who are your competitors?
What are your brand guidelines?
Do you have any style preferences?
What are the technical specifications for your order?
If you are quick to respond, professional, and personalize your messaging to the buyer you’ll be 10x more likely to secure their order.
Once they place an order with you, it’s time to communicate within the actual active order itself.
During order communication strategies
Once the order is paid for and you’re notified that the order went through, do you just get straight to work and deliver when done? No no no.
Communication during the working process is critical to give the buyer peace of mind that their project is actually being worked on and is cared about.
There are 3 steps of communication during an active order:
Thank them for the order right away and show excitement for starting the order - also clarify the work flow, order, and timeline one last time if needed
If this project takes more than a few hours, give them daily updates so they know you’re making progress
Once the project is done, deliver. Communicate to them that their happiness with the delivery is of the utmost importance to you. Tell them to reach out if they have any concerns or revision requests. Keep the door for communication open still.
Post-order communication strategies
Once a buyer accepts your delivery, the final step of communication could be to kindly ask for a review… but I’ve got a bonus step for ya.
Ask for a review and let them know how great it was to work with them (so they know you’ll also review them well as a buyer).
Then the bonus step is to upsell them. Ask them, “Can I help you with anything else?” and perhaps be specific about the service you could offer. For example, when I deliver a video to a buyer, I’ll upsell them to a picture service after. I’ll say something like “I also love taking lifestyle photos. I can see doing a pose with your [product] in my backyard with the palm trees and sunlight shining on it. Do some lifestyle photos interest you right now?”
Why do I do this? Because this buyer already trusts me and likes my work. So they’re already a “hot lead” as it’s called in the marketing world. They’re not a “cold” target audience…they’re already hot and primed to buy from you!
Wrap Up
Today you learned many valuable ways to improve your communication with buyers on freelancing marketplaces. From how to communicate before, during, and after orders. To some bonus tips on personalizing your messages, being quick with responses, and upselling with buyers you loved working with.
Implement a few of those now and I bet you’ll close on more sales 😉
Happy freelancing!
Thanks for reading!
SHARE THIS POST
LET'S CONNECT ON INSTA
RECENT POSTS
