Is Your Client Onboarding Process Everything It Should Be?

Onboarding

This is where you set the tone. Your potential client has found you and been enticed enough by your marketing to reach out, but the onboarding process is what really tells them who you are, and sets expectations as a company. Are you organized? Are you quick to respond? Do they have everything they need to trust you with their project?

Onboarding is so much more than entering a name into a spreadsheet. It's what keeps you and your team on the same page, and it's the first glimpse of the working relationship your client will have with you.

One Port of Entry

Have one form, connected to all other software, essential for getting clients in the first place, and vital for your own organization. Place your contact form everywhere it makes sense (its own Contact page, the bottom of the home page) but make sure it's always the same form leading to the same place.

Build a workflow for that form: link it to your CRM, email management, and project management software, using an integration tool like Zapier to connect everything. And use the form for everyone, even a phone call or an in-person introduction should get logged through the same process.

Templates

Templates make your life easier: welcome and follow-up emails, pricing information emails, scheduler emails, offboarding emails, your project management workflow, discovery call questions, meeting notes, contracts, and proposals. They also keep your process cohesive across a team of designers, so everyone gathers the same information the same way.

Welcome Email Sequence

A 5–7 email sequence triggered immediately after a contact form submission, spread out over a couple of weeks, can do real work between a client finding you and their discovery call, introducing your team, showing past projects, and giving a glimpse of your process.

Welcome Packet

Once a client signs, a welcome packet adds a layer of warmth that makes them feel seen and part of the team. It's also a great place to lay down expectations, business hours, who to contact and how, payment schedules, and client-appropriate checklists.

My Final Advice

Make every client-facing part of your process user-friendly. Streamline everything you can, for your own sake and your client's, and don't skip talking about finances, clear expectations at onboarding make invoicing smoother down the road.