An agency client onboarding checklist you can reuse
Onboard a new agency client by confirming the agreed work, naming decision-makers, collecting the essential inputs and setting the first milestone. Give every action an owner and date, and make clear what the client needs to do next.
Define when onboarding is complete
For a small agency, onboarding should leave the delivery team ready to start and the client clear about what happens next. A welcome email alone does not do that. You need an agreed scope, the right people, essential inputs and a realistic first milestone.
Use one base checklist, then adapt it to the work. A website build may need domain access and approved copy. A monthly marketing retainer may need campaign access, reporting expectations and an approval contact. Do not ask every client for everything.
The reusable checklist
| Check | What must be clear | Suggested owner |
|---|---|---|
| Agreed work | Deliverables, exclusions and the current approved scope. | Account lead |
| Client contacts | Day-to-day contact, decision-maker and backup. | Account lead |
| Agency responsibilities | Who manages the relationship and who leads delivery. | Agency owner or operations lead |
| Essential inputs | Files, answers and access needed for the first milestone. | Delivery lead |
| Dates and dependencies | Start date, first milestone and what could block it. | Delivery lead |
| Communication | Where updates go and how questions are handled. | Account lead |
| Feedback and decisions | Who consolidates feedback and how decisions are recorded. | Client decision-maker and account lead |
| Kickoff | Open questions resolved and next actions recorded. | Account lead |
Run onboarding in a clear order
- Check the sales handover
Read the proposal and recent conversations. Bring forward commitments, assumptions and unresolved questions. Ask the person who sold the work about anything unclear before making promises to the client.
- Send one organised welcome
Introduce the agency lead, explain the next milestone and list the inputs needed to reach it. Separate essential requests from items that can wait.
- Collect and check the inputs
Give each request a clear description, a responsible person and a due date. Check that files are usable and access works; receiving a link is not the same as being ready to start.
- Hold a focused kickoff
Confirm the desired outcome, responsibilities, review process and first deliverable. Use the meeting to make decisions, rather than reading out information everyone already has.
- Confirm the next milestone
Send a short recap of decisions and actions. If an input is missing, explain which work is affected and agree the revised next step.
Ask for the minimum useful input
Turn vague requests into concrete ones. Instead of asking for “all your brand assets”, specify the logo formats, brand guidelines and images needed for the first deliverable. Explain where to provide them and who will check them.
For account access, ask for an appropriate invitation or approved sharing method. Avoid putting passwords into the onboarding checklist or a shared message thread. Record who has confirmed access and which account they checked.
Make feedback responsibilities explicit
If several client stakeholders will review the work, agree who will combine their comments before they come back to the agency. Also agree what counts as a decision and where it will be recorded. A reaction in a chat should not leave the delivery team guessing whether work is approved.
If the client asks for something outside the agreed scope, record it as a request and discuss its effect on timing and cost before treating it as a delivery commitment.
Example: onboarding a website client
This is an illustrative workflow, not a customer story. The agency has agreed to design and build a five-page website. Before the first design review, it needs the approved page list, current brand files and a named person to collect feedback.
The checklist can show those three inputs as essential. Photography for a later page can have a separate date. If the page list is delayed, the account lead explains the effect on the design review instead of leaving the original milestone looking certain.
Keep the checklist with the client record
Stack includes client management, tasks and client portals. Use the client record as the place the team returns to for the relationship, and decide which requests and updates the client needs to see. Review the available setup in your workspace before making it your standard process.
Start with one real onboarding. After kickoff, remove requests you did not need and add any decision the team had to chase. That gives you a checklist based on how your agency works, rather than a long form that nobody maintains.