Client Collaboration in Notion: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

May 11, 2024

You’re here because Notion, the all-in-one workspace darling, is getting more and more appealing by the day. Sure, it’s become a popular choice for managing projects and collaborating with clients.

But in our experience, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. In fact, no tool ever is.

I’m going to share what we found was the good, the bad, and the ugly of using Notion for client collaboration.

So, let’s see a realistic breakdown of Notion's collaborative capabilities (and limitations) for client projects:

The Good: What Makes Notion… Good?

Centralized workspace

Notion excels at creating a central hub for your clients’ projects. If you use it right, you can easily streamline your workflow by having a single source of truth – a central location where both your team and clients can access all project information.

This way, you can eliminate the back-and-forth emails, disorganized documents, and version control issues.

It’s been a great way to keep everyone on the same page, including our team members and clients.

Real-time collaboration

The ability to work together seamlessly in real-time is another thing.

Notion has become a powerful tool that we use for real-time collaboration and coordination among team members and external coordinators (aka clients).

Here are a few examples of how you can use it for real-time collabs:

• Project briefs and documentation
• Idea generation and brainstorming
• Asset management and collaboration
• Performance tracking and reporting

My favorite recent feature is notifications. Basically, you get notified of any changes or actions that happen in your Notion workspace. Plus you can control what triggers notifications for you.

Good. What else?

Streamlined workflows

In my years of working on various projects, I’ve seen seen my fair share of cobbled-together spreadsheets and Frankensteinian project plans, both as freelancer and a full-time company employee.

Or a hybrid – combining that with whatever documents you can produce with various project management tools.

You too?

Good stuff, right?

You know what’s even better?

Notion is so versatile, that you can use it to manage any type of workflow, all in a single tool.

Because you now have a centralized workspace, and the ability for real-time collaboration, you also get the benefit of a streamlined workflow – like the one you’d get from a typical project management tool.

Project Management

We use Notion to organize tasks, timelines, and resources. Aside from tracking project progress, we use it to assign responsibilities and set deadlines.

Remember the notification feature I told you about? Everyone in our team is informed about project developments. Plus, they collaborate on tasks, discuss requirements, and resolve issues within the platform.

Knowledge Management

This is where Notion shines even more!

We use Notion to create wikis, knowledge bases, and other types of documentation. Some pages are shared with clients, and some are internal only.

What matters is that we have a single place where the team compiles best practices, standard operating procedures (SOPs), FAQs, and other information. Then we can choose who sees what.

And this is the best part…

Your entire workspace is a searchable database. So if you organize and structure it right, your own team can quickly access the information they need, contribute their own insights, and keep knowledge bases up-to-date.

Conclusion: Enhanced client engagement

The benefits we’ve seen extend beyond mere internal organization. You can use Notion to empower your clients.

When we started granting them access to relevant project information, I’d like to believe that it encouraged their participation and keeps them invested in their project's progress.

Whether they’ll continue to in the long run is another question. Time will tell…

But what about the bad…things?

The Bad: Potential Drawbacks to Consider

Learning curve

Notion isn't a magic bullet. Yes, people rave on and on about its flexibility. But if you’re not careful, this very same flexibility can also be a huge hurdle.

Setting up an efficient Notion workspace requires an initial investment of time and effort. There's a learning curve involved, so be prepared to guide your clients through the platform's functionalities.

In fact, if you’re not so well-versed with Notion yourself, I highly recommend you take the time to get familiar with it first, before introducing it to your team.

If you’re the one who’ll introduce Notion to your team, you should also be the one to set the rules and standards regarding how your team will use your Notion workspace.

If you don’t, it will get ugly. I’ve seen it – a Notion workspace where anyone can and does whatever they like, plus the lack of training and familiarity with the tool…

Let’s just say the workspace was working against the team, instead of working for them.

No offline mode

Ahhh yes. The thing that Notion users have been asking for and wondering about… for literally years.

Let's not sugarcoat it – Notion is an internet-centric tool. Others can say that some features are available offline, but I’ll say the entire tool is unusable offline. The full power of Notion relies on an internet connection.

So if you want to use Notion as your client collaboration tool, make sure your team and clients have consistent internet access to avoid disruptions in their workflow.

And that’s all I have to say about that, and not ask you to join me in wondering when offline mode will come.

Security concerns

Notion is fairly secure. But as it is with all cloud based consumer products, nothing is 100% safe.

For Notion specifically, they lack end-to-end encryption. Meaning, the encryption and decryption of your Notion data is handled by Notion itself, and not you.

So if you or your clients care about that, reconsider Notion.

So what’s Notion’s security implementation?

Notion is:

• Encrypted at rest, meaning your data on Notion’s databases are encrypted.
• Encrypted in transit, meaning that the traffic itself going to and from Notion’s servers is encrypted.
• Follows SOC2, meaning they adhere to a set of policies and procedures that specifies how organizations should manage data.

Limited Filtered View Sharing

This is my biggest gripe with Notion. Why, after years of the community asking for it, is it still not possible to share filtered database views without having the share the entire master database???

If you want to show a client a specific subset of information from a larger database (e.g., only tasks assigned to them), you currently have to grant them access to the entire master database.

Why???

This is so problematic for many reasons. First, you're forced to expose sensitive data you don't want them to see. Second, even if the data isn't sensitive, it can overwhelm clients with irrelevant information.

I know, there are workarounds that exist (like opting for a separate database for each client instead of using a central database). But that isn't ideal.

Ideally, Notion should allow for more granular control over database views, and let you share filtered versions directly without compromising security or data privacy.

Not a replacement for all communication

We’re at a stage where Notion complements our existing communication channels, but not completely replace them. In my opinion, that’s the perfect balance.

Regular meetings, phone calls, and even the occasional email are still necessary.

We’re able to make Notion work for us by simply using it to streamline communication within our existing channels.

I don’t buy this idea that a lot of Notion influencers sell, that Notion replaces everything. Especially not in client collaboration.

The Ugly: When Notion Client Collaboration Goes Wrong

Overly complex setups

There's a fine line between a streamlined workspace and an overly complex setup that hinder collaboration rather than promote it. And quite frankly, Notion’s versatility can make it easy to go the latter.

Be mindful of this, and maintain a user-friendly Notion set up so you don’t overwhelm collaborators, especially in the client onboarding stage.

Excessively complicated setups will alienate your clients and make it difficult for them to navigate and participate in your workspace.

Lack of client buy-in

Whatever client collaboration tools you choose, client buy-in is crucial.

For a tool as blank as Notion, lack of client buy-in can get ugly.

We’ve found that simply giving them a link to your workspace then dusting off your hands is not an option. It’s frustrating for both parties when clients don’t know where to find important information or how to provide feedback.

It gets really ugly when they start reverting to their own communication channels or project management tools. Everyone goes back to fragmented and inefficient workflows. All your effort in setting up your Notion for collaboration goes down the drain.

What worked for us is investing time in onboarding clients, teaching them the platform’s functionalities if they don’t already use it, and then making clear our expectations for their participation within the workspace.

Communication breakdown

Piggybacking from the previous point, Notion requires active engagement and understanding from all parties. That’s if you want to fully realize its potential as a collaborative workspace.

Communication remains crucial, even within the collaborative environment of Notion.

You see, you can perfect your Notion setup all you want. But at the end of the day, it’s just a tool.

You may have experienced clients that, despite your efforts to streamline communication, always fail to provide timely feedback or necessary resources. Then your team gets delayed in delivering the project, or worse, end up completing tasks based on incomplete or outdated information, only to realize later that revisions are needed.

Or what about clients that are too excited, who keep adding stuff to the project because now they have access to their own dashboard. Scope creep, missed deadlines, and dissatisfaction for both parties.

Then the client loses trust and confidence in your collaborative process. You might also lose their business.

You must establish clear instructions for using the platform. Your team must clearly define roles and permissions for editing, commenting on, and managing specific sections.

Notion provides this level of access control via their sharing and permission settings. Make use of them!

This way, you can avoid misunderstandings and ensure everyone is always on the same page throughout your time working together.

So, Notion For Client Collaboration?

It depends. Notion is a powerful tool for client collaboration, but it's not a magic bullet.

You can use its strengths to:

• Empower clients with real-time access to project information, which encourages engagement.
• Streamline workflows by centralizing communication, tasks, and knowledge in one place.
• Improve organization with a single source of truth for project details and documentation.

However, there are limitations to consider:

• Learning curve: Setting up an efficient workspace requires effort, and clients might need training.
• No offline mode: Disruptions can happen if internet access is unreliable.
• Security considerations: While secure, Notion lacks end-to-end encryption, which may be a concern for some clients.
• Sharing limitations: It's not possible to share filtered database views without sharing the entire master database.
• Communication breakdown: Notion won't replace human interaction. Clear communication and established expectations are still important.

The Verdict

Notion can be a valuable tool for client collaboration, but its success depends on careful planning, client buy-in, and on-going communication. If you're willing to put in the time and effort, Notion can be a game-changer for your project management and client engagement.