The best way to get more web design clients is often from existing or past clients. After all, they know (and love) your work and chances are they have friends or colleagues who need the same services. Sometimes at the end of a project, though, it can be difficult to know exactly how to ask for that referral. 

Enter: An automated workflow! 

An automated workflow is the easiest way to ensure you’re getting the information your clients need in front of them and making it as easy as possible to send you a referral. 

So, how do you automate this workflow? Good question. We’re so glad you asked!

The first step is to think of all the things that need to happen once a project is complete and considered finished. This is the workflow part. 

Yours might look something like this:

1. Website goes live — celebrations begin
2. A week or two later you send an email checking in with your client to make sure they’re still happy and everything is working as it should. This is important because you want to ensure your client is happy before you ask them for a referral.
3. Once they’ve told you how happy they are, you follow up with another email telling them how appreciative you are for the opportunity to work on their project, you’re so happy they’re happy and, because your business thrives on word-of-mouth-referrals, the best compliment they can give is to refer you to someone they know.
   
   (Need some help with what to say? Download our email templates and get access to our emails proven to get referral results!)

That’s it! You’ve got your workflow.

Now that you’ve got that piece, you’ll want to automate it.

There are a few ways to do this. 

You can use an email manager like Mailerlite which has built-in automation features.

If you use a CRM platform like 17hats or Dubsado, you can integrate this into your project workflow.

Or, if you’re looking for something that requires less tech, you can simply use canned responses in Gmail.

Whatever you decide on, just remember consistency is key and don’t be discouraged if it takes a few tries to get an introduction. It’s usually not a reflection of you, people just get busy and forget. If you haven’t heard back from them after a week, don’t be afraid to reach back out!

Interested in other ways you can automate your web design business? Business system automation is our jam! Schedule a free discovery session and we’ll help you find the areas of your business where you could be saving time & making more money.