Create an Exceptional Client Experience with AccessAlly

As a coach or other service professional, you want to create an exceptional client experience.

What if there was a way to do that, while also making what you do more tangible and easier to explain to your prospective clients?

And what if you could package what you do in different ways, so you can earn more leveraged income and move beyond one-to-one services? 

There is a way to accomplish all those things. The key lies in creating your Client Journey.

Your Client Journey is the journey you take your clients through and the results they achieve at each step. Think of it as your unique blueprint or recipe.

Having a Client Journey makes it much easier to talk about what you do because it takes something intangible, like coaching, and makes it clear and concrete.

You can even create a visual map of your Client Journey (click here to see mine).

Having a Client Journey also creates a better experience for your clients. When they can clearly see the steps they need to take, it helps them stay focused and accountable. It also gives your clients peace of mind and confidence that they can get results by following a clear path.

And here’s the best part….

Once you’ve created your Client Journey, you can package it in different ways, with different levels of access to you and at different price points.

When you do that, you can start earning leveraged income.

Be careful though. Because if you’re not, you can negatively impact the client experience.

Here’s what happened to me. I created a number of different courses, each of which was hosted on a different platform.

So when a client invested in more than one program (think the 80/20 rule), they had to log in to multiple platforms to access their courses.

It wasn’t pretty, and it resulted in frustrated clients and high customer service fees.

So I went on a mission to find a platform that would allow me to host all my programs under one roof.

I did an extensive search and found there were two main categories of online course platforms.

1. WordPress Plugin (e.g. Wishlist, Memberium, AccessAlly)
2. Hosted Platform (e.g. Thinkific, Teachable, Ruzuku)

How do you know what’s best for you? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each.

Plugin:  

Biggest pros are that you can have more design flexibility and customization, which allows you create an exceptional client experience.

The biggest cons are that you’ll likely have to hire a VA or web developer to help you get it set up.

Hosted platform:

The biggest advantage here is that you can get your course up faster. You may still need to get help from a VA, but won’t need a web developer.

The biggest cons are that you’re more limited in terms of your course layout and design, and you may have to pay a transaction fee on each course sale.

With those pros and cons in mind, I decided that it was worth the time to create an exceptional client experience. And thinking long term, I would rather pay up front for something and not get dinged with every sale made.

So that led me to research the plugin options.

I had already used Wishlist and Optimize Press, and they’re great if you want to just create one course. But each one required a different login, and was creating that scattered experience for clients.

Then I researched Memberium and actually bought it. I started setting it up and asked a question in the member area about how to best set up courses.

The answer I got was that there wasn’t any training on course design or setup, and there didn’t seem to be any support on it within the member area.

Your course design and setup are essential for the client experience — and for your brand. So that wasn’t going to cut it for me.

Then I started researching AccessAlly, by Nathalie Lussier. I had done Nathalie’s 30 day list building challenge and remember being struck by the beautiful design.

I loved how you could customize the course layout and design. And the functionality was off the charts.

AccessAlly’s #1 focus is on creating an exceptional client experience.

There are too many online courses out there that just sit on people’s computers. With AccessAlly, there are tons of features to help ensure people actually complete the course.

Such as a quiz, to see how people are doing as they move forward, and checklists to help them monitor their progress. And you can track their progress, so you can see where they’re at in the program.

There are ways for clients to communicate directly with you as they do the course, and even send you documents.

AccessAlly’s commitment to an exceptional client experience applies it to it’s own clients as well.

The support in the private Facebook Group is outstanding. Nathalie, her web designer husband, and members of their team, are all in there providing hands on support.

Have a question about the tech stuff – they’re there for you. Have a question about course design – they’re there with ideas and suggestions too.

Of course, you can also email customer support with questions but I love getting feedback right in the Facebook group from the AccessAlly team and other users.

Another pro is that AccessAlly integrates with a number of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, including ActiveCampaign, Converkit, Drip, Infusionsoft, and Ontraport.

What about the cons?

It’s more expensive in terms of upfront costs than a hosted option. But I love the idea of not getting dinged for every sale I make.

In terms of how long it takes to set up AccessAlly, it definitely takes longer than a hosted option. But it’s so worth it!

I did most of it myself, but did have to get some help. Within the AccessAlly facebook group I found a terrific web designer who knows AccessAlly very well, so he helped me get things set up beautifully.

It’s really not as hard as you may think, because AccessAlly has tons of great tutorials. And they’ve created these “short codes” that allow you to easily implement the key functions in your course design.

Click here to do a free test drive of AccessAlly

I even found some fun, creative ways to use AccessAlly.

I have a free giveaway I use that lets people into my “world”. When they’re in there, they can see all the programs I have available.

Likewise, clients taking one course can see all the programs you have available.

I also decided to use AccessAlly with my private clients.  Every client gets their own private coaching page, where they can: access a library of trainings, schedule calls with me, get call recordings and notes from each session, and even send me notes and documents. My clients love it!

Want to see a quick behind the scenes tour of the Marketing from Within Academy I set up using AccessAlly? 

I hope it gives you some ideas and inspirations you can use for your own courses and clients.