Key steps to create a successful Client Onboarding process

As an online service provider, your client onboarding process is the first impression a new client will get. It helps them to know exactly what to expect from you and your business. If it isn’t a great first impression, you’ll have a lot of recovery to do.

There’s a lot of power in a concrete set of steps that a client will take. It helps eliminate potential buyer’s remorse. It helps facilitate a level of confidence and it starts the service process from the instant they hand over their payment.

Here, we will help you to put together a simple successful Onboarding Process. But let’s start by explaining what we mean.

What is a client onboarding process?

Client onboarding is the act of welcoming a new client to your business. It's a chance for you to promote a healthy relationship, treat pressing matters, help the client set up and start the relationship on the right path.

The client onboarding process functions as a channel to understand each other well. That understanding will enable you to give in your best while the client also provides necessary assistance to help you provide the best service.

What to include in your Client Onboarding process:

Getting Started Email
Contract outlining terms and agreements
1st Invoice
Payment options
Client Intake Form
Welcome email
What to expect
Getting started/next steps

New Client Email

Your first email in your new client onboarding process will consist of a few getting started steps. You will want to explain to them how to complete these steps based on your process.

Information about Contract
Invoice
Payment information
New Client Intake Form
Pro Tip - Create a template email for each of the emails you will send. There are tools available such as Canned Responses for Gmail or even full systems like Dubsado that facilitate this process.)

Contract

Once your prospective client has agreed to work with you, the first step is to get them to agree to your specific terms.

A contract is a document that helps to legally establish the rules for engagement between your client and you. We highly recommend that you get a written agreement before moving to the next level in your relationship. In the absence of that, your client may become disillusioned with their results and demand a refund in full.

Some important things to consider when creating a contract include:

Description of services
Length of relationship
Financial compensation
Expectations
Confidentiality agreements
Release of Liability

Please note: We are not legally trained and highly recommend you work with a qualified professional to avoid any potential liability.

You can use tools like HelloSign or Docusign to create your contracts and send them out for signature.

1st Invoice

Create an invoice template to make it quicker when taking on new clients or use tools such as QuickBooks, Xero and Freshbooks to create a digital invoice which will save time.

Using tools as mentioned will save time as clients can pay via a link on the invoice and if billing is ongoing, recurring templates can be set up.

The tools will also allow you to offer payment options to your clients such as:

Card processing with PayPal
Direct Debit
Bank Transfer details can be added to the text on the invoice

New Client Intake Form

In many cases, you’ll want to gather some information about your new client before you begin. This may include what they expect to gain from working with you, what are their goals, or priorities. It might also include things like their birthday (so you can send a card) or how to best reach them.

Some of this may have been gathered prior to your discovery call with them but now is the time to fill in any gaps.

Having this information all in one place at one time saves you from appearing unprofessional when you must go back and ask things over and over.

Tools like Google Forms or JotForm are extremely useful for gathering this detailed information in one place.

Let’s begin

Now that the “paperwork” is out of the way, it’s time to get started! This may be your client’s first impression of your ability so make it a good one!

Welcome/What to Expect

It’s time for the official Welcome! If you have a name for your “tribe” members, welcome them in that way.

"What to expect message" is an email explaining the next event on the list. Such as booking an onboarding chat, schedule next 6 months of calls, your policies and how you work etc...

A sample of what to expect message is shown below.

Subject line: Welcome to the tribe!

Hello (Insert client’s name)!

It’s official and I’m so glad that we are on the way.

The next step is to schedule your 6 months’ worth of calls with me. You can use my online calendar at (insert link) to get those set up. I recommend scheduling them all in advance. If something comes up and we need to move one around, we can handle that individually.

Here’s your first homework assignment. This prep work will help us get right to the heart of things on our first call. Don’t worry, it will take you less than 10 minutes to complete this task.

Regards,

(Insert your name).

Additional email with tips

Additional emails in your welcome campaign can help the client onboarding process by allowing new clients to get better prepared for expectations.

Consider how much information you want to share up front and break it into a series of emails that go out over several days or weeks.