Most agencies lose the first two weeks of a new engagement to the same problem: chasing documents, logins, and approvals over email. Brand guidelines arrive in a Slack thread. The ad account password is in someone’s inbox. The contract is still waiting for one signature.<\/p>\n
A repeatable onboarding checklist fixes that. Below is the marketing agency client onboarding checklist we recommend \u2014 what to collect, in what order, and how to make sure nothing slips. Copy it, adapt it, and run it the same way for every new account.<\/p>\n
The first 14 days set the tone. If a client has to send the same login twice, or your team starts a campaign without knowing the right disclaimer to use, you start the relationship in deficit. Worse, the team builds workarounds \u2014 a shared Google Drive folder here, a Loom there \u2014 and by month three nobody can find anything.<\/p>\n
A standard onboarding process gives you three things:<\/p>\n
The rest of this guide walks through what to collect, broken into the same buckets we use with agencies on Superdocu.<\/p>\n
This is the full list. Use it as a starting point and remove items that do not apply to your engagement type.<\/p>\n
Send these through e-signature so you have a clean audit trail. If you use Superdocu, the DocuSign integration is built into the workflow so the client signs and you get the countersigned PDF without leaving the portal.<\/p>\n
Tell the client what file formats you need. “Send your logo” gets you a low-resolution JPG from a deck. “Upload your logo in SVG and a transparent PNG at 1000px wide” gets you what you can actually use.<\/p>\n
Never ask for passwords. Request named user invitations to the right roles. It is faster to get approved, safer for the client, and reversible when the engagement ends.<\/p>\n
This is the section clients delay the most. They believe they need to write something polished. They do not. Ask for what already exists, even if it is a half-finished Notion doc.<\/p>\n
If you work in regulated industries, getting this on day one is the difference between launching on time and shipping ads that get pulled in week three.<\/p>\n
The checklist above is the easy part. Running it consistently is harder. Three approaches, ranked from worst to best.<\/p>\n
Email and a shared folder.<\/strong> The default. You email the client a list of what you need, they upload to Google Drive, you chase the missing items. Works for one or two clients. Breaks at five.<\/p>\n Project management tool with a task list.<\/strong> Better. Asana, ClickUp, or Notion with a template. Still has gaps: clients have to learn your tool, files end up half in the PM tool and half in your drive, and you cannot tell at a glance who is missing what.<\/p>\n A document collection workflow with a branded portal.<\/strong> What we recommend. The client gets a link, sees only what they need to do, and uploads everything in one place. Your team gets a dashboard of who is at what stage.<\/p>\n This is what Superdocu was built for. You set up the marketing agency onboarding workflow once \u2014 sections matching the checklist above \u2014 and assign it to every new client. The portal carries your agency’s branding, not Superdocu’s. Documents get auto-organized by section. The client gets reminders without you writing them. Read more about client onboarding document collection<\/a> and how it compares to the ad-hoc approach.<\/p>\n A working schedule, assuming a kickoff call on day one.<\/p>\n If you blow past day 14, the bottleneck is almost always missing access or unapproved disclaimers. Build those into your reminders.<\/p>\n Asking for everything at once.<\/strong> A 47-item document request feels overwhelming and gets ignored. Group items into logical sections and let the client tackle one at a time.<\/p>\n Not setting deadlines.<\/strong> “Send us your brand guide when you can” means you get it in week four. Give every section a target date.<\/p>\n Forgetting to re-onboard.<\/strong> Brand guidelines change. Disclaimers change. Logins expire. Build a 12-month re-onboarding into your retainer so you are not caught out.<\/p>\n Treating onboarding as paperwork.<\/strong> It is also the first impression. Your portal, your tone in reminders, the quality of your kickoff doc \u2014 clients judge the engagement on this.<\/p>\n Skipping the why.<\/strong> For every document or access you request, tell the client what it unlocks. “We need GA4 access so we can attribute campaign performance to revenue” gets uploaded faster than “Please send GA4 access.”<\/p>\n Two things on day 15.<\/p>\n First, run an internal handoff: the strategist who ran onboarding briefs the account team, the creative team, and the media buyer on what they learned about the client. Five minutes per role, no slides, just the headline.<\/p>\n Second, archive the onboarding portal in a state your team can refer back to. Brand guidelines change. The original copy is the baseline.<\/p>\nSample timeline for a 14-day onboarding<\/h2>\n
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\n \nDay<\/th>\n Step<\/th>\n Owner<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Kickoff call. Send onboarding portal link with full checklist.<\/td>\n Agency<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1\u20133<\/td>\n Client uploads contracts, brand assets, access requests.<\/td>\n Client<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n Agency reviews access. Flags missing items.<\/td>\n Agency<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4\u20137<\/td>\n Client completes audience and compliance sections.<\/td>\n Client<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 7<\/td>\n Agency runs technical audit (analytics, pixel, GTM).<\/td>\n Agency<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8\u201310<\/td>\n Agency drafts strategy doc based on submitted info.<\/td>\n Agency<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 11<\/td>\n Strategy review call. Approvals collected in portal.<\/td>\n Both<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 12\u201314<\/td>\n Creative production starts. First campaign briefed.<\/td>\n Agency<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Common onboarding mistakes to avoid<\/h2>\n
What to do after onboarding ends<\/h2>\n