Client Experience Essentials: The 5 Layers You Actually Need

Your client experience doesn’t start with a workflow or a fancy journey map. It starts with the words you choose and the tone you set.

In this solo episode, I’m breaking down the 5 Client Experience Essentials — the layered framework I now use to help creatives build businesses that book faster, serve better, and feel easier to run. And while most people start with automation or journey mapping, I’m here to tell you why the real foundation of your experience is your client communication.

If you’ve ever felt like your backend was “done” but your clients still seemed confused, clunky, or ghost-prone — this one’s for you.

Find It Quickly:

01:10 — The 5 Client Experience Essentials, defined

02:10 — Why most creatives start with the wrong layer

02:28 — House analogy: what communication, workflows, and delivery systems really are

03:14 — Why poor communication breaks even great systems

04:31 — Your voice is the experience: what builds trust

04:53 — Where journey mapping fits (and why it’s not step 1)

05:14 — What to fix first if your experience feels clunky

05:37 — From systems strategist to experience architect

06:06 — Inside Email Like You Mean It and how it helps

🔗 Links Mentioned:

📘 Email Like You Mean It – My self-paced course for writing strategic, on-brand client emails https://coliejames.com/email

🎧 Subscribe to Business-First Creatives

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-first-creatives/id1626652456

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5btYwigg8aN6UCzImRvEfb?si=3b4e1ce675734fba

Episode Transcript

Colie (00:26):
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another solo episode
of Business First Creatives.
Today we're gonna get into somethingthat has literally been tugging
at me for months and I figured itout 10 minutes ago, and so I am
making this podcast episode now.
I just got off of an offer, hot seat withSeals Lockley, um, and it was amazing.

(00:46):
But when she finished giving me myfeedback as the fourth person was
going, I was scribbling down notesand figuring out what I wanted to talk
about inside of this podcast episode.
As someone who's been living andbreathing backend systems for years,
it made total sense that automationand workflows were my entry point.

(01:06):
I've taught a lot of photographers andother creatives how to clean up their
CRM, streamline their booking processand stop babysitting their inbox.
Lately I've been rethinking whattruly makes a client experience
unforgettable, consistent, andeasy for you, and more importantly,
what it takes to make it work.

(01:27):
So today after my offer Hot Seat, I satdown and I mapped out what I'm calling
the client Experience Essentials.
These are five foundational layersthat work together to help you book
dream clients faster, deliver amore seamless experience, and stop
dropping balls behind the scenes.
So before we dive into a deeperdebate about where to start, let

(01:49):
me give you the full picture.
Here are the five layers.
Number one is client communication.
That's your voice, your tone andclarity in every email and touchpoint.
The second is your bookingand onboarding processes.
The smooth handoff from I'm in to,we're officially working together.
Number three is your customerjourney design, a fully mapped out

(02:13):
experience from inquiry to delivery.
The fourth are your workflow automations.
I mean, that's what I've beentalking about this whole time.
This is the backend systemthat runs the process for you.
And number five are your offerdelivery systems, how your service
is fulfilled, completed, andfollowed up with professionalism.

(02:35):
And while most people wouldassume you start with a map.
I did initially, the customerjourney design, if you will.
I'm here to make the casefor something different.
Today I'm going to tell you why.
The real foundation of your clientexperience isn't workflows your
automation or even your customer journey.
It's your client communication.

(02:55):
Now, Let's start with a metaphor.
Your client experience is a house.
The customer journey.
Design is your blueprint.
It's your plan.
It's where each room goesand what the flow should be.
Those things that I used to talk about,your booking systems, your automations,
your delivery processes, those are yourframing, your plumbing, your electrical.

(03:17):
They make the house function.
But your client communication, that's thefoundation, that's the slab, that is the
thing that everything else is built on.
You can't put walls on dirt, and yousure as hell can't decorate a house
that's not built on something solid.
So this is why I thinkclient communication is
layer one in this process.

(03:39):
It's your handshake, your storefront,your first impression, or a nice
warm hug if that's your thing.
If it's confusing, slow or stiff,you've lost them before you even
introduce yourself or your offer.
And here's the kicker, most people losetrust here without even knowing it.

(04:00):
You think your proposal is the problem.
You think your pricing is the problem,but really your communication didn't build
enough trust for the client to say yes andproceed to the next step in your process.
Now that communicationpowers every other layer.
Your booking process runson clear communication.

(04:21):
Your journey design can only come to lifethrough emails, videos, and touchpoints.
Your automations literally send yourcommunication, and if they are not, you
are the bottleneck in your process andyour offer delivery is only polished
if your emails, guides and followup reflect your amazing experience.

(04:44):
No matter how good your system is,if your communication inside of
it is clunky, generic, or out ofsync with your brand, it breaks.
Your voice is the experience.
Your voice is what makesyour systems human.
It's the difference between acold automated process and a
high touch experience that yourclients rave about and that builds

(05:07):
loyalty, referrals, and rebooking.
So where does your customerjourney design actually fit?
Don't get me wrong, mapping yourcustomer journey is crucial.
But by starting with communication,your tone, clarity, and cadence,
you build a foundation that yourjourney and your systems can grow on.

(05:28):
You don't just send the right things.
You send them in a way that feelslike you and that human connection is
what your leads and clients will love.
Okay, so what do you do first?
If your client experience feelsinconsistent or like you're constantly
rewriting the same email over and overagain, start with your communication.

(05:50):
Ask yourself, what does myinquiry email sound like?
Do my onboarding messages setexpectations clearly and efficiently?
Would I want to receivethis email as a client?
Then build from there,not the other way around.
So yes, I want to remindyou, I am still Colie James.
I am still a system strategist,but more specifically, I'm a client

(06:12):
experience system strategist becausewhat I've learned is I'm not just
here to help you build your workflows.
I'm here to help you create experiencesthat your clients rave about.
It starts with the words that youchoose, the tone that you set,
and the way that you communicatefrom that very first, hello.
So if you're building yourown client experience layers.

(06:34):
Lay the foundation first.
Make your communication rock solid, andthen go build the house of your dreams.
Now, if you want help figuring out whatto say and when, that's exactly what
we're doing inside my new course EmailLike You Mean It because good systems run
your business, but great communication,that's what gets you booked.

(06:55):
If you'd like additional details,they are inside of the show notes, or
you can go to Colie james.com/email.
Okay.
That's it for this episode.
See you next time.