How to onboard a new client

Why onboarding deserves a process

Without a process, onboarding happens in fragments: a contract in one email, a question in another, a missing login discovered on day five. Clients notice. A simple checklist you run the same way every time is the cheapest way to look organised and to start work on time.

The steps, in order

1. 1.Confirm the agreement. The accepted proposal or quote, the signed contract, the scope and the price.
2. 2.Send the deposit invoice with the contract, and start once it is paid.
3. 3.Send an intake questionnaire to collect contacts, goals, brand material and anything else you need.
4. 4.Send a welcome email or packet explaining how working together goes, what happens next, and how to reach you.
5. 5.Collect access to accounts, files and tools, and keep a list of everything you were given.
6. 6.Hold a kickoff call to agree goals, roles, dates and the very next steps.
7. 7.Deliver a first small milestone quickly, so the client sees progress early.

Ask the right questions up front

A good intake form saves hours of back and forth. Ask who the decision maker is, who else gives feedback, what success looks like, any deadlines you must work around, and what they have tried before. Ask for brand files and logins in the same form, so they arrive together.

Agree who decides

Name one person on the client's side who gives final approval, and who stands in when they are away. Many delays come from feedback arriving from several people who disagree. Agreeing this at the start is far easier than untangling it mid-project.

Run a short, focused kickoff

Keep the kickoff to the essentials: goals, scope, timeline, who does what, how feedback works, and what happens in the next two weeks. Send a short written summary afterwards. It becomes the reference for everyone, including people who missed the call.

Plan the ending now

Write down the access you were given, so you can hand back or remove it when the project ends. Offboarding, meaning final files, a handover, removing access and asking for a testimonial, is much easier when you set it up at the start.

From the Stelaah Store

• ✓Free Client Onboarding Kit. A free client onboarding kit in Word and PDF: an onboarding checklist, intake questionnaire, kickoff agenda, welcome email and offboarding checklist.
• ✓Client Onboarding System. A client onboarding system in Excel and Google Sheets with a seven-step tracker, scope, milestones, an access list, offboarding, email templates and fillable forms.
• ✓Client Welcome Packet. A four-page client welcome packet in Word and PDF, in four editions, that tells a new client how working together goes, the timeline, approvals and how to pay.
• ✓Client Questionnaire. A free online client questionnaire builder with new client intake and discovery question sets, to edit, copy, print or download.