UPLOAD LOGO HERE
Business X Client
Onboarding Template
Client:
[Client name]
Client person of contact:
[Name]
[Tittle]
[Email address]
Signed contract date:
[Date]
UPLOAD LOGO HERE
Do you really need a formal process for onboarding a new client?
Yes, the client onboarding process will set the tone for your relationship and if you hope to
retain this client, then you need to prepare and an onboarding process that proves you are the
right agency. Onboarding a new client is a multi-step process:
1. Kickoff email
2. Kickoff meeting or call
3. Follow up email
Once you’ve gone through the three steps above you will want to secure a “quick win” for your
client to give them confidence that you can drive results immediately. We’ve added a suggestion
at the end of this template about how you can do this.
Kickoff email | 24 hours after signing the contract
Items to include in the kickoff email
● A suggested date for the kickoff meeting/call ___
Ideally, a week after the kickoff email is sent.
● The required stakeholders for the meeting ___
○ Content creators
○ Technical / Web support
○ Person of contact for work approvals and establishing timelines
○ Sales professionals who will handle inbound leads
○ Person of contact for setting goals and results reviews
● The meeting/call agenda ___
○ Agency stakeholders introductions
○ Challenges, goals, plans, and timelines
○ A quick recap of the scope of work (SOW) per contract
○ Marketing overview
○ Roles and responsibilities
○ Next steps and action items
● The new client questionnaire ___
UPLOAD LOGO HERE
Make the most out of your kickoff meeting by asking questions beforehand. This will
allow you to prepare more in-depth and relevant questions during facetime with your
client. Examples of questions to include are:
○ What tools and platforms are you currently using in your marketing efforts?
○ Do your goals prioritize leads, customers, or revenue?
○ What is your average customer lifetime value (LTV)?
○ What is your LTV goal?
○ Do you have customer personas? Who is your ideal client?
○ How much does it cost you to acquire a customer?
○ What ROI have you seen on your current marketing efforts? What are you
currently investing in?
○ What percentage of your customers is generated through online methods?
○ What are the steps in your sales process? What are the common hesitations
clients have?
○ How do you currently find leads? Do you know what your cost per lead is? Do
you know what your lead-to-conversion rate is?
This email should be sent 24 hours after the contract was signed by both parties.
Date email was sent _____________
Agreeded kickoff meeting date and time _________________
Kickoff meeting or call | One week after the kickoff email
Items to include in the kickoff meeting
Start here by following the agenda outlined in the kickoff email.
● Agency stakeholders introductions -
The goal of this section is to understand each stakeholder's expertise and to build
rapport.
● Goals-
You probably have a good sense of the client’s goals from the sales process but use this
UPLOAD LOGO HERE
meeting to get a deeper understanding of these goals and ensure they are specific and
measurable so you can prove results to your client. A sample goal could be; Attract X
unique visitors per month.
● Plans -
Based on the goals that have been set, you can move onto the tactics and how your
agency has hit those goals. A sample plan for reaching a goal could be; Publish
relevant, helpful content on the blog ore frequently.
● Timelines -
Now that you know the goal and how you plan on achieving it, you will need to prioritize
the list based on what your team can begin immediately and what is the highest priority
for your client.
● Marketing overview-
This will be a brief review of your client’s past marketing efforts, as well as a dive into
their buyer persona. The goal is to understand what worked and what didn’t work as well
as who is their ideal client and why. This workbook provides useful questions that you
can use later in an in-depth audit.
● Roles and responsibilities -
There are certain things that both you and your client will need to deliver on so it’s
important you know who the “go-to” people are, in order to deliver your services. Some
important questions to ask could be;
Who is approving work?
Who should your agency contact if there is a billing issue?
Who is creating content and how frequently?
Does legal need to be involved?
● Next steps and action items -
The last portion of the meeting should include a recap of the goals and a list of action
items, as well as the first tactics to implement.
Follow-up email | 24 hours after the kickoff meeting
UPLOAD LOGO HERE
After the kickoff meeting, you should send an email to the key stakeholders in the partnership
recapping everything that was discussed so everyone is on the same page.
Items to include in the kickoff email
● Overview of the kickoff meeting.
● A request for marketing material: vector logo, marketing material, style or branding
manual, examples of marketing content, collateral raw files.
● A request for login or access information for social media profiles, CMS, and relevant
tools.
● A request for access to any leads list they might have.
● A calendar invite for a recurring sync meeting - Start bi-weekly for the first two-three
months, and then switch to monthly meetings if necessary.
● Any other items agreed during the kickoff meeting.
● The tactics you will start working on.
The first project for your new client | Content Audit
Getting started quickly is important for your long-term success with the client, it shows your
client that you don’t waste time and you will get the job done. Your client will want results and
some core marketing tactics like creating content and optimizing landing pages can take time,
so conducting a content audit for your client is a “quick win” to focus the team and give them the
tools to start immediately.
Content Audit
What is ranking well? What content is not performing/working well? How is content being used?
By conducting a thorough audit of your client’s content you can identify content gaps in the
buyers' journey, problems with messaging and conversion and understand what topics are
important/unimportant.
Begin your audit by making a list of key points like the topic, persona, content type and format
as well as key metrics like; views, conversion rates, submissions, etc.
Once you have this comprehensive list done, you can build a plan of tactical action items to
show with your client what you can start doing immediately. These action items can include
things like; adjusting a sales info sheet to include new product info/market info, create a content
offer from a transcript, refresh legacy content with new branding.
