The Client Onboarding Checklist That Prevents 80% of Project Problems
Project goes wrong. Scope creeps. Timeline extends. Client gets angry.
Root cause: bad onboarding.
Seventy percent of project problems trace back to the first two weeks.
Our onboarding checklist (25 points):
Discovery (Week 1)
Schedule kickoff call (in-person or Zoom, 90 min)
Get client stakeholders identified (who approves design? Who decides budget? Who is the main contact?)
Understand business goals (not "we need a website," but "we want to double our leads from the website")
Audit competitors (5-10 direct competitors analysed)
Review existing analytics (if they have a current site, what's working?)
Establish approval process (design gets approved by X person in Y hours)
Set communication preferences (email? Slack? Calls weekly or biweekly?)
Brand & Strategy (Week 2)
Brand guidelines audit (do they have existing brand guidelines? Collect them)
Messaging workshop (headline, tagline, key messages for the site)
User research (who visits this site? What do they want? Create 2-3 personas)
Information architecture (page list, hierarchy, how visitors navigate)
Competitor analysis summary (here's what we learned from your competitors, here's what you should do differently)
Content audit (what content exists? What's outdated? What's missing?)
Project Setup (Week 2-3)
Create project brief (one-page summary of the project, goals, deliverables, timeline)
Set up project management tool (client and team have visibility into progress)
Create shared folders (Google Drive for planning, Happy Files for assets)
Install Happy Files on their WordPress (so they can manage assets)
Set up Vimeo account (for design review videos, video file storage)
Schedule weekly check-ins (consistent communication cadence)
Establish payment terms (when invoices are due, milestone payments if applicable)
Content & Assets (Week 3)
Content deadline (all copy/images due by X date, not "whenever you get around to it")
Collect brand assets (logo files, existing imagery, brand guidelines)
Set up logo/image conventions (all images are 16:9 ratio, all logos at minimum 200px width)
Define revision rounds (2 rounds of revisions included, each additional round is X)
Sign contract (legally protect both parties)
The payoff:
When all 25 points are done before design starts:
- Timeline delays drop (stuff is planned, scope is clear)
- Client satisfaction goes up (they know what to expect, they're involved)
- Change orders drop (scope was clear, they can't suddenly add features)
- Revisions are fewer (client input was clear from the start)
The reality:
Most projects skip strategy work. Client says "just design it."
Then month 2: "This isn't what we wanted."
The strategy work costs nothing extra. It saves significant hours later.
Every project we've done with a full onboarding checklist has been smooth.
Every project where we skipped steps has been difficult.