§ CLIENT ONBOARDING SYSTEM
Every new client, the same first impression.
Intake, contract, deposit, welcome, document gathering, kickoff. The connected onboarding flow that used to be six tabs and three follow-up emails — running by itself, every time.
§ THE PROBLEM
The first week with a new client costs more than it should.
Every business we work with has the same hidden cost: the first seven days of a new client engagement. Sending the intake form. Chasing the signed contract. Following up on the deposit. Asking for the brand assets. Asking again for the brand assets. Coordinating the kickoff call. By the time the work starts, you've sunk three hours into admin per client. The onboarding system replaces those three hours with about ten minutes — and the client experience is more consistent, not less.
§ WHAT'S IN IT
Six things, every onboarding system.
Intake form
Branded, scoped to your business, asking the questions you actually need answers to. Auto-creates the new client record. No more emailing a Word doc.
Contract and e-signature
Generated from the intake response, sent automatically, signed online. Stored against the client record. No printing, no scanning, no chasing.
Deposit and payment
Stripe or Xero invoicing wired in so the deposit gets paid before the work starts. Unpaid deposits chase themselves automatically until paid.
Welcome sequence
Day 0 — what to expect. Day 2 — gather what we need from you. Day 5 — kickoff confirmed. Day 7 — kickoff session. Same flow every time. Klaviyo or Resend, your call.
Document gathering
A simple checklist of what you need from the client (logos, brand assets, content, login access) — automated reminders until everything's in.
Kickoff scheduling
Calendar booking link sent automatically once the deposit is paid and documents are in. The kickoff session lands without anyone having to coordinate it.
§ HOW IT RUNS
Four phases. Three to five weeks end-to-end.
01
Map the current flow
What happens today between 'they signed up' and 'kickoff session'? We list every email, every form, every manual step. Most businesses are surprised how many there are.
02
Design the new flow
Which steps stay manual (the ones where the human touch is the value), which steps automate, which steps we drop entirely. Mapped before any tool is configured.
03
Build and test
Forms built, contract templates wired, payment links generated, email sequences written, calendar links set up. Tested end-to-end with three dummy clients before launch.
04
Cut over
Next real client is the first one through the new system. We watch the first three live runs and tune what needs tuning. After that, you have a system you can hand to anyone on the team.
§ COMMON QUESTIONS
What people ask before booking.
What's a client onboarding system?
A connected CH Digitals build that runs every new client through the same flow — intake form, contract, deposit, welcome sequence, document gathering, kickoff scheduling. The manual back-and-forth disappears; the human moments stay. Same first impression for every client, less admin per client.
What does it cost?
Project-priced from a written quote after the discovery call. Most builds sit in the $4K–$10K range depending on how many integrations are needed and how custom the contract logic is. Optional retainer if you want us iterating each quarter; many clients run it independently.
How long does it take to build?
Three to five weeks end-to-end. The longest part is usually the contract template work and the welcome-sequence copy — which has to sound like you, not like us. We write a first draft, you mark it up, we ship.
Will I lose the personal touch with clients?
Only the parts that aren't actually personal. Sending a generic intake form, a templated contract, and a reminder to upload assets — those are admin tasks pretending to be relationship-building. The kickoff call, the strategy session, the moments of judgement — those stay human, and you have more time for them because the admin's gone.
Which tools do you build it on?
Whichever fits your scale. For most small businesses we use a combination of Tally or Typeform (intake), DocuSign or PandaDoc (contracts), Stripe or Xero (deposit), Klaviyo or Resend (welcome sequence), and Google Calendar or Cal.com (kickoff scheduling). For higher volume we move to HubSpot or a custom Supabase build. We pick the stack that matches the load, not the brand.
Can I keep my current contract templates?
Yes. We work from your existing contract language. The system is the delivery mechanism — the legal content stays yours.
§ NEXT
If onboarding eats your first week with every new client — that's the work to remove.
Free thirty-minute discovery call. We look at your current flow, what's repeatable, and whether the system is the right fit.