Do most clients know what a CMS is?

Question

I currently work in an agency and have been considering trying to branch out on my own. In my current setup, whenever I interact with a client, it's at the later stage after they've hired us and after someone from sales did all the front work with them. I suspect it's very different for developers who deal with clients directly.

My question is how much explanation and training do you have give to clients before they're on the same page with you? How often for example do you find that clients don't understand the concept of a content management system? What other similar "basics" have you found that they don't understand?

Answer 1

They might not know the buzzwords, but they understand what they want and (usually) what they want to do. It is nice to use terms so you and the client can communicate easier, but don't beat them over the head with terminology.

They don't want a "CMS" they want the ability to add/edit/delete pages in a simple UI and have them displayed in the same style as the rest of their site.

Communication is getting ideas and concepts across, not necessarily "educating" your clients.

Answer 2

I have worked on both sides, with clients as the resident coding troll and with software shops as one of the programming grunts. And on most jobs the whole engagement is often reduced to the software shop trying to sell a product, do some cursory customization, and then get out as soon as possible. And I don't blame them. I often found that clients:

• Didn't know that that content on the web can be copied and pasted.
• Thought that a product, i.e. the CMS system itself, can somehow divine content on its own.
• Were convinced that the whole process is either an IT problem or the consultant's problem, i.e. they will ask you to keep the content updated for them.

That is to say that most clients will have an intuitive understanding of what a CMS can offer them, but they won't fully realize what it will require of them.

If your agency wants to expand into including a CMS as part of your total offering, which seems to be more about design and content as your question implies, I think you can stand to benefit your clients a lot more, particularly if you're up front with them about what they will need to do.

Answer 3

There is no definite answer to that. Clients differ. Some have more affinity for and experience with technical things and jargon and some dont. Some dig buzzwords, some prefer plain english. You have to adapt to the individual client. The most important thing is finding out together what they really need - not what they think they need. Or As Henry Ford put it:

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

One of the biggest misconceptions I have come around regarding CMS is clients tend to underestimate the effort they have to put into it once they have it. They think (or have been told) a CMS is easy and cheap: you can update your content yourself and you dont have to pay the expensive agency to update your site anymore. Sounds brilliant, but it's a myth.

Clients have to understand that Content Management is a process that requires a lot of work. It's not just some technical thingie you install. That's only the smallest part. It also takes time to know the CMS and it takes practise. Use it or lose it. A CMS has to be used by someone and those people have to understand the aims of the website. They have to have a skillset in editing and writing and - if you allow extensive designing - design. Otherwise, the CMS a) wont be used and/or b) will contain poor content and/or c) look like crap.

Despite being six years old and published on April 1st, I find most of the arguments in Why Content Management Fails still very valid and good to consider when working with clients who want a CMS.