The first 2 weeks of a client engagement determine whether a project succeeds or fails. Agencies that invest in structured onboarding ship better projects, have fewer scope disputes, and retain clients longer.
Here’s the checklist we’ve seen the most successful agencies use.
Week 1: Alignment and Setup
Business and Goals
- Document the client’s primary business goal for this project
- Define 3–5 measurable success criteria (e.g., “increase contact form conversions by 20%”)
- Identify the target audience and get any existing user research
- Understand the competitive landscape (ask them to share 3 competitor sites they like/dislike)
Stakeholders and Communication
- Identify the single point of contact (SPOC) for approvals — only one person can give final sign-off
- Map other stakeholders and their roles (reviewer, contributor, informed)
- Establish communication channels (email, Slack, project management tool)
- Agree on response time expectations (e.g., “we commit to replying within 24 business hours”)
- Schedule standing check-in calls (weekly or bi-weekly)
Scope and Contract
- Review the contract together — don’t assume they read it
- Explain what’s included in scope vs. what triggers a change order
- Agree on the number of revision rounds and what happens when rounds are exceeded
- Confirm payment milestones and terms
Access and Assets
- Get access to domain registrar (if applicable)
- Get access to existing hosting, CMS, analytics accounts
- Receive brand assets: logo (SVG/vector), brand guidelines, color hex codes, fonts
- Collect all content: copy, images, videos, PDFs that should be on the new site
Week 2: Process Setup
Feedback and Review Process
- Set up SnapFeed on your staging environment for visual feedback collection
- Send client a 60-second video showing how to submit feedback through the widget
- Confirm the client understands the review round structure
- Get their agreement that email feedback is closed — all feedback goes through the tool
Project Setup
- Create project in your project management tool with all milestones
- Set up staging environment with password protection (if needed)
- Share staging URL with explicit access instructions
- Create a shared folder for client assets and deliverables
Documentation
- Send a project brief document summarizing everything discussed
- Get written confirmation (“looks correct”) from the client on the brief
- Share the project timeline with clear delivery dates and client deadlines
- Create a communication log (shared doc or project tool) from day one
Why Each Item Matters
The SPOC Rule
The most project-killing scenario: you make changes based on feedback from Person A, then Person B (who has more authority) overrules those changes. Now you do the work twice.
Identify who has final say before the project starts. Get it in writing. Refuse to accept conflicting feedback from multiple stakeholders.
Written Confirmation on the Brief
This is your insurance. When a client says “this isn’t what we discussed,” you can point to the brief they confirmed. This single document resolves more disputes than anything else in the relationship.
The Feedback Tool Rule
Email feedback is unstructured and hard to track. The moment you accept one email with feedback, you’ve reopened that channel. Be consistent: feedback goes through the tool, always.
Collecting Assets Before You Start
Missing assets during development is one of the most common causes of delay. Clients often don’t realize how many things they need to provide. A detailed asset collection upfront prevents “we’re waiting on the final logo” at launch.
The Onboarding Call Agenda
Your initial onboarding call should cover (90 minutes max):
- Introductions and relationship building (10 min)
- Project goals and success criteria (20 min)
- Stakeholder map and communication process (10 min)
- Timeline walkthrough (15 min)
- Scope review and change order process (15 min)
- Feedback and review process demo (10 min) — show them SnapFeed here
- Asset collection and next steps (10 min)
End with: “Do you have any concerns or questions about how we’ll work together?” This surfaces issues when they’re cheap to address.
What Changes When You Do This Properly
Agencies that use structured onboarding report:
- 50–70% fewer scope disputes
- Projects that close 20–30% faster
- Higher client satisfaction scores at project end
- Significantly higher referral rates
The investment is 4–6 hours upfront. The return is measured in months of avoided pain.
SnapFeed makes the feedback portion of onboarding simple. Start free and set up your first project in minutes.