We changed our way of working to something that yields better results, involves harder work on our part, and lowers our margins. The big hope was that customers would really appreciate this, but it may be that they didn’t like it as much.

In the spirit of transparency, I want to share some shortcomings on our part over the past year. It stings a bit to be this open, so I’d like to ask a favor in return (if you like this post): Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Any feedback will be hugely appreciated. I will bring it into our development work starting today in Sundsvall, where we have our annual three-day Kick Off.

Everyone wants proactivity from their agency

More and more clients demand proactivity from their SEO and SEM agencies. By staying one step ahead in projects, you create the feeling that you’re working hard. The client also avoids feeling like they have to chase their consultants, instead they can comfortably sit in the passenger seat and be led into the future. We’ve always worked this way, and over the past year, we have stepped it up significantly.

There are always things to do on a site to improve search engine rankings. With better rankings comes more traffic, and more traffic brings more sales. Early in our company’s history, we decided that we want to ensure our clients sell more — the more, the better.

Maximizing SEO results requires effort from both sides

To maximize SEO results, both we and the client must work. Sure, you can get results by implementing only parts of the plan, but it’s best when everyone does their part. This naturally means we have to push for actions that must be taken on the client’s side.

Do we want results at any cost?

The problem is that we will push you as a client to put in the effort. If you don’t make the changes we recommend, you won’t get good results. And if you don’t get good results, sooner or later you’ll cancel the contract — no matter how much you like us.

On the other hand, you might not like us if every time you hear from us it’s because we want you to do something. Even if it’s about your own site, your own company, it’s never pleasant to have someone constantly making demands — even when those demands clearly bring fantastic results.

We have really stepped on the gas

Over the past year, we have put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort per client. My impression is that we were already far ahead of the rest of the industry in SEO quality, but the last year we have really increased the hours spent per project.

We’ve increased the project managers’ involvement by specializing their roles and cutting away some tasks so they can focus more on their core responsibilities. We’ve drastically increased specialist hours per client (and the number of specialists). All to be even more proactive and deliver even better results.

But it hasn’t reduced churn

However, this does not show as a positive in churn rates. We thought we would keep clients much longer on average, but that hasn’t been evident. There’s not much data since only a few cancel, but my impression is that the increased activity may actually have a negative effect. Perhaps the previous results were already sufficient, and better results don’t necessarily mean more satisfied clients.

Of course, this will vary between clients, but the question remains: Should we invest even more time pushing changes, or maybe take a step back?