[Work More Efficiently] Business Chat with Documents or Video Is Best for Website Creation and Revision Requests
From ACIDHOUSE, INC., this is Tetsuya Ashida.
Owners of small and medium businesses with websites sometimes ask me this question.
It wastes time, effort, and money. Is there a better way?
This article should help people with that concern.
Don't Use Phone Calls or Email
The disadvantages of using email and telephone for business are often discussed these days, and web-related work is no exception.
- They forcibly take up the other person's time (reducing productivity).
- They do not communicate requests efficiently (roughly the difference between asking for directions and using Google Maps).
- They leave no record (leading to tasks such as transcribing a call into an email).
- Text revisions cannot be copied and pasted.
- Messages get buried among other emails.
- It takes many steps to operate and is awkward to use.
- Inefficient conventions (having to begin with ‘Dear so-and-so’ and ‘Thank you for your hard work, this is so-and-so’, not changing the subject line, etc.).
- A convention that tolerates long messages.
- Being distracted by spam.
In short, both involve a lot of waste.
Use a Business Chat Tool as Your Foundation
Use business chat software as your basic communication tool.
Well-known business chat tools include Chatwork and, familiar in IT companies, Slack. But Slack is not always intuitive, so I recommend Chatwork.
I currently have contracts with several clients to provide web consulting and outsourced operations, and we handle things in a few lines of text on Chatwork.
Of course, it is rare to send multiple chats in a day, and we never use the telephone.
The following video clearly explains Chatwork's features and uses.
Combine Chat with Materials You Can Understand Visually
As mentioned above, the web is a predominantly visual medium, so creation and revision requests should be immediately understandable by looking at them.
The following are examples of visual materials (excluding things that can be communicated in plain chat text).
- Documents: compile your requests in documents such as slides and send them.
- Screen-recorded video: record your computer operations and spoken explanation of the request, then send a video file such as an MP4.
I will explain each.
Compiling Requests in a Document
Take screenshots of the website, paste them into slides, and compile your requests.
For creating the document, Google Slides is a good choice. You can export Keynote or PowerPoint files to PDF too, but I recommend Google Slides.
It works regardless of operating system, lets you add feedback as needed, and avoids having to work out which file is the current authoritative version when there are multiple rounds of discussion.
For computer screenshots, Google Chrome has a built-in feature. Using an add-on is also fine.
The following video explains taking website screenshots on a smartphone.
If only the first screen is needed, you can do it by pressing the physical buttons.
Always check how a mobile web page displays on an actual smartphone rather than a browser's smartphone simulation. Differences often occur, and the correct display is the one the end user sees.
Recording the Screen as Video
On a Mac, the built-in QuickTime works; on Windows, use Wondershare Filmora Scrn.
When the visuals alone do not explain something, audio is important information, so record it so that your voice is as clear as possible.
For mobile websites, the aforementioned QuickTime or Wondershare Filmora Scrn can also display your phone screen on a computer and record it.
For requests such as replacing text, it is considerate to send plain text in chat or prepare a separate document so the recipient does not have to type it again.
Use Zoom's Recording Feature If You Want to Talk
If you want something more like a meeting while out or on a business trip, I recommend Zoom.
Zoom has screen sharing and recording features, so you can record the screen during a meeting.
Zoom has a chat feature, but it disappears when the meeting ends, so it is better to avoid it. Use Chatwork for chat even during meetings.