How to onboard a new client online, step by step

Client onboarding is everything between “yes, let’s go ahead” and the first piece of real work. For most small businesses it comes down to four things: who the client is, what they need, the documents you need from them, and their agreement to your terms.

Done over email, that usually means a welcome message, a form attached as a Word document, a request for a couple of files, a PDF of your terms to sign and print, and then a week of “just checking you got my email”. Doing it online means the client gets one link, works through it on their phone, and you can see straight away what has come back and what hasn’t.

Onboarding is finished when you have everything you need to start, not when the client has clicked submit. Keep that in mind as you build your list.

The most common mistake is asking for too much. Every extra question is another reason for a client to put it off until later. Go through your last few new clients and write down what you genuinely used. It tends to fall into four groups:

• About them: name, email, phone, address, and billing details such as a company name, company number or a separate accounts email.
• About the job: the brief, access details, deadlines, preferences, or anything you’d otherwise ask at the first meeting.
• Documents: the files you need to do the work, such as plans, previous reports, statements or photos. Ask for ID only if you have a reason to check it.
• Agreement: your terms of business or contract, plus any consents, for example to send them marketing emails.

Then split the list into “need to start” and “need later”. Only the first group belongs in onboarding.

The order matters more than people think. Asking someone to sign before they know what they’re signing for feels pushy; asking for their passport before their name feels odd. This order works for most service businesses:

1. 1A short welcome. What happens next, roughly how long it takes, and who to contact with questions.
2. 2Their details. A form with contact and billing information.
3. 3Questions about the job. In the same form or a second one, depending on length.
4. 4Documents and photos. Each one as its own named request, with a note on what you need.
5. 5Your terms, last. Once they’ve seen everything else, they agree to your terms with a signature or by accepting a contract.
6. 6A confirmation. Tell them you have everything, or exactly what is left, and when work will start.

If it will take more than one sitting, make sure clients can save their answers and come back. People onboard on their phone, in the gaps between other things.

When the form arrives by email, the documents by WhatsApp and the signed terms as a photo of a printout, nobody can easily tell what is complete. One link to one place fixes that for both of you: the client sees a list they can tick off, and you see the same list from your side.

Keep the welcome message short. Something like this works:

Most of the clients who abandon a form do it at a question that is confusing, fiddly or feels unnecessary. A few habits help:

• Require only the essentials. If you can start without it, leave it optional.
• Use the right type of field. An email field brings up the email keyboard on a phone, and a date field shows a calendar instead of leaving them to guess the format.
• Write labels in plain English. “Who should we send invoices to?” is clearer than “Billing contact”.
• Explain anything personal. A one-line reason next to a request for ID or a date of birth removes most of the hesitation.
• Put uploads where they make sense. Ask for photos of the problem right after the question that describes it.
• Finish with the signature. It is the natural last step, and it means the details above it are part of what they’ve agreed.

Our guide to what to ask on a client intake form goes through the questions themselves, with an example you can copy.

A file arriving is the start of the check, not the end of it. It helps to think of every item as being in one of three states: still missing, sent but not yet checked, or checked and fine.

When something isn’t right, ask for another copy and say exactly why: “this statement is from March, could you send one from the last three months?” gets a better reply than “wrong document”. If you use an automatic first check on uploads, treat it as a helpful nudge for the client, not a decision. You still make the final call.

Some clients will finish in ten minutes. Others will need a nudge. When you follow up, thank them for what they’ve done and name only what is left. Resending the full list makes it look as though nothing has arrived.

A gentle rhythm works for most businesses: a nudge a few days after the first link, and another a few days before the date you need everything by. If a client has gone quiet, a short phone call usually does more than a third email.

PORTALD puts all of the above in one branded link. Your client signs in to a portal with your logo and colours, works through a checklist on their phone, and everything they send lands on their record for you to review. There’s no app to install.

1. 1Build your forms with the form builder: text, email, phone, number, date, dropdowns, tick-boxes, file uploads and a drawn signature. Make the key answers required.
2. 2Add your document requests, one per item, with a note on what you need. You can switch on an optional AI check that gives the client a quick reason if an upload looks out of date or incomplete.
3. 3Add your terms as a PDF contract for online acceptance, or as a signature at the end of a form. PORTALD records who accepted, which version and when.
4. 4Put it all in a checklist you can reuse for every new client, then invite the client. They get an email and set their own password.
5. 5Review what comes in: approve it, or ask for another copy with a reason. Your dashboard shows what is still outstanding and how long it has been waiting.

When a client needs a nudge, choose Send a reminder. PORTALD doesn’t send reminders on a schedule; you decide when. See the customer onboarding portal and online forms for more detail.

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