10 Client Management Features to Look for in a Coaching Platform

Modern coaching platforms have revolutionized the way coaches interact with clients, providing a streamlined experience that enhances communication, organization, and overall client satisfaction. 

As a result, choosing a coaching management platform is not simply about taking your coaching business online, it’s about creating beautiful client experiences digitally. To do that, the coaching platform you subscribe to must have a certain set of client management features. 

Let’s look at 10 client management features to look for in a coaching software: 

1. A robust client profile 

A reliable coaching platform should offer comprehensive client profile management. Look for features that allow you to create individual client profiles, capturing essential information such as contact details, session history, goals, action items and progress, and any notes and documents relevant to your coaching sessions. 
 
Having all of a client’s information in one place on their profile will save you a significant amount of time everyday and also improve your coaching experience. 
 
Bonus: The ability to customize these profiles to suit your coaching style and approach can also significantly enhance your client management process. 

2. Communication tools  

Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful coaching relationship. At the very least, the software you choose must offer email integration and video conferencing.  
This will ensure that to run your day-to-day sessions you needn’t constantly juggle between the coaching software, your email provider website and your video conferencing software (such as Zoom); you can do it all from one place. Another bonus is the ability to share resources and have them stored on the platform – documents, links, media, etc. that you’d otherwise share via email or WhatsApp and lose track of, should be able to be shared via the platform, making it your single touchpoint. 
 
These communication features facilitate real-time interactions between you and your clients, making it easier to schedule sessions, share resources, and provide timely feedback. 

3. Session scheduling and reminders  

Session scheduling is a big part of what you should expect from a coaching management platform. Most end-to-end platforms will offer some form of calendar integration so that you can simply plug your existing Google/Microsoft, etc. calendars into the system for session booking, rescheduling, and cancellation.  
 
However, sophisticated coaching software will build features on top of that in order to add more value. Simply.Coach, for example, allows clients to book sessions with you, allows you to add in buffer slots for breaks or other commitments so you don’t get overbooked, sends automated session reminders, and more. It even includes the previous session’s notes with its email reminder so that you can brush up before the upcoming session, and you can also attach pre-session prep forms to the session invites that are emailed to your client at the time of scheduling. 
 
Efficient appointment scheduling is vital to maintain a well-organized coaching practice, making this functionality the backbone of any coaching management platform. 

4. Progress tracking and goal setting 

A robust coaching platform should enable you to set goals with your clients and track your clients’ progress. Look for features that allow you to create action plans, monitor milestones, and track the evolution of your clients’ journey. Visualizing progress can boost motivation and provide tangible evidence of the positive impact of your coaching. 
 
With Simply.Coach, you can collaboratively set goals with clients (see: pt.8, client workspaces), break them down into action items, monitor progress towards goals, and have progress reports automatically generated and shared from the platform. 

5. Document sharing and resource management 

As a coach, you probably already share plenty of resources with your clients over the course of an engagement. Documents, videos, images, links, and so on that add value to the engagement are an important part of client management. This is usually done over WhatsApp, email, text message, in-person document, and such, which scatters the resources across different platforms and makes it difficult to find when needed. 
 
A coaching platform that allows you to share resources and materials with your clients can enhance the coaching experience. A comprehensive coaching platform should provide a secure way to share documents, videos, worksheets, and other relevant content, and have it all stored in one place. This feature not only facilitates knowledge transfer but also keeps all resources organized and easily accessible within the platform. 

6. Client feedback and surveys 

Feedback is essential for continuous improvement, and over the course of an engagement you’ll often share surveys and exercise sheets for clients to work on. When you take your business online to a coaching management platform, you should be able to gather feedback from clients, run exercises and worksheets, and so on. 
 
In fact, the benefit of running these surveys and exercises online is that technology is able to automatically gather responses and create reports – a process you have to otherwise undertake manually. 
 
Simply.Coach comes with Digital Tools, a feature that allows you to run digital surveys or coaching tools (such as the 360º assessment, mid-engagement impact survey, and so on). The platform even sends reminders to clients to fill out the forms, collects all the responses, and generates reports. 

7. Progress analytics and reporting  

Proving ROI is a big part of your role as a coach, especially if you’re a leadership/executive coach. To showcase the value of your coaching services, you need to be able to create progress reports and attendance reports – demonstrate the attendance of employees, and their progress towards goal achievement.  
 
Comprehensive progress analytics and reporting tools can provide valuable insights into your clients’ development over time. Look for a platform that offers data visualization and reporting features, allowing you to track trends, measure outcomes, and demonstrate the effectiveness of your coaching programs to clients or stakeholders. 

8. Client workspace 

This is one of the most important – though not very commonly available – features for client management. A client workspace allows you to bring your clients on board the platform, so you can collaboratively set goals with them, they can update progress, access the documents shared by you within the platform itself, and so on. It essentially brings the collaboration of an in-person engagement, online, and improves your client relationship. 
 
In the Simply.Coach client workspace, clients can also schedule sessions with you (based on your shown availability), assign tasks for review with you, share documents with you, and so on, making it a true two-way collaborative platform. 

9. Mobile accessibility 

In today’s mobile-centric world, the ability to access the coaching platform from smartphones and tablets is essential.  

Opt for a platform that offers a user-friendly mobile app or a responsive web interface, enabling you and your clients to engage seamlessly on the go. 

10. Payment and billing integration 

How much time do you spend at the end of every month creating invoices, sending them out, and following up for payment? A coaching management platform with a robust invoicing & billing feature set will automatically send out invoices for you, follow up for payments (via the email integration) and even allow clients to pay online.  
 
Simply.Coach, for example, has a Stripe integration that allows clients to pay through dozens of payment modes in over 135 currencies, across 35 countries and 14 languages. 

Conclusion 

As the coaching industry continues to evolve, the right coaching platform can be a pivotal tool in managing client relationships and delivering a seamless coaching experience. By evaluating these 10 client management features, you can make an informed decision that aligns with your coaching practice’s unique needs and goals. Remember that a well-chosen coaching platform can empower you to focus more on your clients’ growth and development, ultimately contributing to your own success as a coach. 

About the author

Vaidehi Mirashi

Content Marketing Consultant @ Simply.coach

Vaidehi is a content marketing consultant with a decade’s experience handling over 80 brands and multiple award-winning campaigns under her belt. When not working, you’ll find Vaidehi spending time with family, binge watching Netflix shows, and baking.