Understanding the client’s requirement

May 27, 2004

As a copywriter, unless I don’t understand exactly what the client needs, I can’t do a good job. When I began taking up professional copywriting assignments, I was very enthusiastic. I thought, since I’m doing this work, I should know what the client needs. At a particular point I started telling them what their requirement was instead of asking them what their requirement was.

Although it used to give me a great adrenaline rush, it was in no way a healthy approach. Most of the times, the client knows what she wants to say. It’s just that she doesn’t have the appropriate words, which I have. Gradually the … seeped into my copywriting. It began to show I was way away from what the client actually had in mind. A job that could be done in a couple of days, took 7-10 days, wasting my time, and my client’s time.

Soon I realized it was not the right approach. I started listening to the clients. I started reading their email messages carefully, even reading things that hadn’t been written. We had long messenger chats. Now I prepare a detailed document of what exactly the client wants to say. Then I email the document to the client. Only when the client approves of the document, I start writing the copy for her.