Chapters · 10
What should a marketing agency client onboarding checklist include?
A complete checklist follows the agency client onboarding process through six phases, each with an owner, a target day and a test for "done": before signing, day 0, week 1, kickoff, the first 30 days and offboarding, written now and run at the end.
| Phase | Target (our suggestion) | What must happen | Done when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Before signing | Proposal stage | Name who owns and pays for each account; list every platform; ask if a previous agency is still linked; put scope, approver, ownership and exit in the SOW | The SOW names the approver, the scope, who owns each account and how the work ends |
| 2. Day 0 | Signature day | Countersigned contract; first invoice out; account lead named; client record created; welcome email within 24 hours; intake and access requests in one message; kickoff booked | The client holds one email with every request and three dates: intake due, kickoff, first report |
| 3. Week 1 | Working days 1 to 5 | Access granted and tested; intake back; brand files in a client-owned drive; tracking audit; account snapshots before any change | Every line of the access log reads "verified", with date, role and who granted it |
| 4. Kickoff | By working day 5 | Scope recap, goals and targets, intake gaps, approvals, reporting cadence, the first win | The approver has confirmed goals, targets and cadence in the recap email |
| 5. First 30 days | Days 6 to 30 | Baseline report; the first win; weekly check-ins; 30-day review with the approver | The client has seen a baseline, one shipped change and a review against the goals |
| 6. Offboarding | Written now, run at exit | Billing out of agency names; client holds the top role; agency access removed; data handed back | The client confirms the removal list in writing |
Download the client onboarding template, 56 tasks (CSV)
Download the checklist as a document (Markdown)
Three rules throughout:
- One request email, not twelve. Access asked for one platform at a time comes back one platform at a time.
- Bill on signature. Work that starts before the first invoice teaches the client the invoice is optional.
- Snapshot before you touch. Export each account's last 90 days before your first change, or month two has no fair baseline.
The tracking audit checks three things: the tags fire, GA4 key events match the client's own count of leads or sales for the same week, and the consent banner sends what Google needs for EEA traffic.
Ad account access checklist: what role to request, and who grants it
Ask for the lowest role that does the job, from the one client person who can grant it, and log the day your team proved it works.
| Platform (asset) | To manage | To report only | Granted by | Where | Trap to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads (manager link, MCC) | Link to your manager account; staff get Standard on your side | Read only on your side | Client Admin accepts | Admin > Access and security > Managers | Five manager links at most; move an old agency's billing before unlinking |
| Meta (ad account, dataset) | Partner, partial access: manage campaigns, view performance | Partner, view performance | Client person with full control | Business Suite > Settings > Partners (your portfolio ID) | The dataset (pixel) or a second ad account gets left out: list every asset ID |
| Meta (Page, Instagram) | Partial or task access: content, messages, ads | Task access: insights | Client person with full control | Same partner flow | Keep two client people with full control |
| Google Analytics 4 | Editor on the property (Marketer for audiences and key events only) | Viewer, with cost or revenue hidden if asked | Client Administrator | Admin > Property access management | Account-level access reaches every property |
| Google Tag Manager | Account User; container Publish (Edit or Approve if the client publishes) | Read, for audits | Client account Administrator | Admin > User Management | Account Users get no container rights until each is set |
| Search Console | Full user | Restricted user | An Owner | Settings > Users and permissions | Never be the only verified owner |
| Google Business Profile | Manager | Manager (no view-only role) | An Owner | Business Profile settings > People and access | New owners and managers wait 7 days for some actions |
| LinkedIn Campaign Manager | Campaign manager, plus Sponsored Content poster on the Page | Viewer | Account manager | Ad account access, or LinkedIn Business Manager | One Billing admin, by default whoever creates the account: let the client create it |
| TikTok Business Center | Operator | Analyst | Client Business Center admin | You request by ad account ID; the client approves | You must say if you are the primary media agency |
| Shopify | Collaborator, only the permissions needed | Collaborator, reports only (check labels on screen) | Store owner | Settings > Users > Collaborators (request code) | The code lets you ask; the owner still picks permissions |
| HubSpot | Partner seat, or edit rights to the tools needed; never Super Admin | View-only rights to reports | Client Super Admin | Settings > Users & Teams | A Partner seat needs your email domain to match your partner account's |
| Klaviyo, Mailchimp | Manager | Analyst (Klaviyo), Viewer (Mailchimp) | Owner or Admin | Settings > Users | Mailchimp's Admin has the Owner's permissions: never take it |
| WordPress | Editor; Administrator only for plugin work, for a set period | Not needed | Client Administrator | wp-admin > Users > Add New User | Hosting, DNS and SFTP are separate logins to grant and revoke |
Checked 4 November 2026 against help-page text in search results (Instagram, Meta dataset and WordPress: third-party guides only); menus move, so follow the label on screen. The full matrix has 38 rows, including YouTube, Microsoft Advertising and Looker Studio.
Download the full platform access matrix (Markdown, 38 rows)
Download the platform access matrix (CSV)
Access-request tools such as Leadsie and Connexify send the client one link that asks for many accounts at once; who must grant each role stays the same.
Who should own the ad accounts: the client or the agency?
The client owns every account, asset and payment method; the agency gets named logins at the lowest role the work needs.
- Control follows the top role. On Google Ads only Admin adds and removes users, so an outside Admin can lock the client out. Keep the top role with two client people everywhere.
- Money follows the payment method. If your card pays, you carry the client's spend, the invoices are in your name, and a messy exit can stop the client's ads.
- History follows the asset. Treat a pixel's event history and a Business Profile's reviews as things that cannot move. Build them in the client's name on day one.
Some agencies hold accounts in their own portfolio to start spending sooner. If you do, write down what transfers at the end and when.
What should a client intake questionnaire include?
It should ask about 20 questions that sales did not answer, each with its place in the client record decided before you send it.
The ten groups: the business and its offer; goals and the one number; budget and who pays; audience; brand voice and claims; people and approvals; what came before; tools; reporting; constraints and dates.
Pre-fill what sales learned and ask the client to correct it. Mark each answer complete, partial or missing, and put every gap on the kickoff agenda. Scope answers need the most care: they are what a retainer scope-control system checks every later request against.
Download the client intake questionnaire (22 questions)
What goes in a client kickoff meeting agenda?
A good kickoff agenda has six blocks in 60 minutes and confirms rather than collects: the intake is already back.
- Minutes 0 to 5: people and roles. Who does what on each side; name the approver.
- 5 to 15: what was sold. Scope, exclusions and how extra requests are handled.
- 15 to 30: goals and targets. The one number, its baseline, what good looks like at 30 and 90 days.
- 30 to 40: intake gaps. Each one resolved, or given an owner and a date.
- 40 to 50: how we work. Approvals, response times, reporting cadence, the channel for questions.
- 50 to 60: first win and next dates. Read the access log aloud, platform by platform.
Send the recap within 24 hours; you will point to it in month three.
Download the kickoff agenda and recap email
How long should client onboarding take?
Onboarding lasts until your team has verified access and the client has seen a baseline. This checklist targets access by working day 5 and a review at day 30; no survey we found measures it for agencies, so track your own.
Vendor timelines end at different points (first deliverable, first campaign live, end of onboarding), so pick one finish line and track two numbers per client:
- Time to verified access: until your team confirms it can work inside each account (a measure Connexify, an access-tool vendor, names; we start the clock at signature). Track it per platform: one late grant hides behind four fast ones.
- Time to first win: from signature to the first change the client can see.
For stalled access, see the day-5 and day-10 rule in the FAQ.
Worked example: what six days of waiting costs
This is an example, not data. Take a paid media retainer at $6,000 a month. A year has about 260 working days, so a month has 260 ÷ 12 = 21.67 (rounded). Your target is verified Google Ads and Meta access by working day 3. It arrives on day 9.
| Step | Working |
|---|---|
| Working days lost | 9 − 3 = 6 |
| Share of month one | 6 ÷ 21.67 = 27.7% |
| Fee that bought planning but no account work | $6,000 × 6 × 12 ÷ 260 = $1,661.54 |
| Ten new clients a year with the same delay | $1,661.54 × 10 = $16,615.40, about $16,600 |
The client pays either way; what you lose is month one's story, as the 30-day review sets three weeks of work against four weeks of expectations. Put access dates in the welcome email and recap, so a late grant reads as a client dependency.
How to turn onboarding answers into one client record
Store every onboarding answer once, in one record per client that your team, your reports and any AI agent read, so nobody asks the client the same question twice.
In AgencyAnalytics' 2026 survey, change inside the client was the most cited reason clients leave (37%), and an account manager who moves on takes their inbox. At ANA member advertisers, mostly large US companies, relationships with integrated agencies of record last 87 months on average (ANA and the 4A's, 2025).
| Field | Example answer | Used later by |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | Grow online sales from new customers | Kickoff, report narrative, renewal |
| Targets | Cost per order under $45; 400 orders a month by month three | Weekly checks, the 30-day review |
| Budget | $20,000 a month in media, on the client's card | Pacing, change requests |
| Approver | Head of Growth; replies within two working days | Every approval and scope call |
| Scope | Eight campaigns, two revision rounds; no landing pages | Request checks, change orders |
| Brand voice | Plain and warm; never "cheap", never "best" | Every draft and every AI prompt |
| Reporting cadence | Monthly report by the 5th; a short note every Monday | Report schedule, check-ins |
| Access log | Google Ads: Standard via manager link, verified 6 November | Audits, offboarding |
Give each field an owner who keeps it current. Anything that drafts for this client, a person or an AI agent, starts from the record, not an old email (how agencies give AI agents client context). Targets and cadence are what automated client reporting needs first.
Client offboarding checklist: how to hand back access
Offboarding is the access log run backwards, on the last day, with a client owner on the call.
- Billing first. No account is paid by your card, payments profile or manager account; move billing before any unlink.
- The client holds the top role everywhere, ideally two people per platform.
- Data keeps flowing. Looker Studio data sources run on a client login; files move into the client's shared drive.
- Links and partners removed: the Google Ads manager link and the Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn partner shares.
- Named users and pending invitations removed everywhere else.
- Tags and keys handed back: a client Administrator on Tag Manager; your verification tokens and connected apps removed.
- Written confirmation. Send the list and the promised exports; the client replies to confirm.
Where RevSmith fits (and where it does not)
RevSmith makes this guide. What its client onboarding does:
- Five milestones: the company and how it earns, connect the apps, brand, audience and scope, people and rhythm, and ready to use. Start from a website, a brief, notes or files; each is read in the background, AI suggests, and you confirm row by row.
- Links with no login. An intake link lets a client contact fill in a form (access details, brand answers); a connect link lets them connect an ad account or other app. Neither needs a RevSmith login, and one connect link can carry several apps.
- The record. "Ready to use" switches set up the client's monthly report workflow, a kickoff briefing, a watch on each measure with a target and a writing check using the brand's words (the first two need an AI key). Finish publishes what a person kept to the client's records in its Client Brain, makes the kept tasks and moves the client to active when the checklist passes.
Where it does not fit: a connect link connects the client's account to RevSmith; it does not give your staff roles in Google Ads or Meta, so you still use the matrix. RevSmith does not collect contract signatures, and it tracks invoices and payments you record; it does not send invoices or charge cards. Live ad-platform reads are not yet proven on a customer account, and RevSmith is onboarding its first agencies. Weighing one shared client record under all your work? Read what an AI operating system for agencies is, and when it is overkill, or see how client onboarding works in RevSmith.
Sources
- AgencyAnalytics, 2026 Marketing Agency Benchmarks Report, 2026. 494 responses from marketing agency professionals (45% owners and leaders; 64% US, 13% Australia, 8% UK, 7% Canada and others), February to April 2026; population: a client-reporting vendor's audience. https://agencyanalytics.com/agency-benchmarks-2026, https://agencyanalytics.com/blog/agency-benchmarks-2026-attribution. S78, Verified-primary.
- ANA and the 4A's, 2025 Client-Agency Relationship Tenure Report, April 2025. An ANA member survey (August to September 2024) and a 4A's agency survey; population: US advertisers in the ANA, mostly large, and their agencies of record. https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/pr-2025-04-tenure. S109, Verified-primary.
- Google, Help Centers for Google Ads, Analytics, Tag Manager, Search Console and Business Profile: access levels, roles, manager links and billing, checked 4 November 2026. Product documentation, no sample. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7456530, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7459601, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9978556, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/14169584, https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9305587, https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/14754100, https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7687615, https://support.google.com/business/answer/3403100. S154 (five links) and S155 (seven days), Verified-primary; the rest Official doc seen (Tag Manager partly).
- Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Shopify, HubSpot, Klaviyo and Mailchimp help pages: roles and partner access, checked 4 November 2026. Product documentation, no sample. https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1717412048538897, https://www.facebook.com/business/help/152071822895768, https://www.linkedin.com/help/lms/answer/a496075, https://www.linkedin.com/help/lms/answer/a425731, https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/4783, https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/request-access-to-ad-accounts-in-business-center, https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/dev-dashboard/stores/collaborations, https://knowledge.hubspot.com/partner-tools/assign-the-partner-seat-to-partner-and-provider-employees, https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005231648, https://mailchimp.com/help/manage-user-levels-in-your-account/. S157 (one LinkedIn Billing admin), Verified-primary. Official doc seen (Meta ad account, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Shopify partly; Instagram, Meta dataset, WordPress secondary only).
- Access-request vendors: Connexify, "Digital Agency Marketing: A Fast Client Onboarding Plan", vendor blog, undated, https://www.connexify.io/blog/digital-agency-marketing-a-fast-client-onboarding-plan; Leadsie, https://www.leadsie.com/agencies. Seen 4 November 2026. S156, Unverified: the measure's name only, no figure used.
- A Google Ads client account can link to at most five manager accounts, and unlinking a payments profile stops every account it pays for (Google Ads Help, checked 4 November 2026).
- In Search Console only an owner can add users or see the Users and permissions page (Google Search Console Help).
- GA4 has five roles, Administrator, Editor, Marketer, Analyst and Viewer, and account-level access reaches every property in it (Google Analytics Help).
- If nobody is left with full control of a Facebook Page, Meta deactivates it and schedules it for deletion (Meta Business Help Center).
- In a 2026 survey of 494 agency professionals, 80% named strong relationships the top factor in client retention, and the most cited reason clients leave was changes inside the client (37%) (AgencyAnalytics, 2026).
Frequently asked questions
What slows down client onboarding the most?
Access is the blocker that agency and access-tool guides name most often. The person who signed often lacks the admin role to grant it, the client has no Meta business portfolio yet or several ad accounts, or an old agency still holds the Google Ads link or billing. Ask in your first email who holds the top role on each platform, and send every request at once.
What if a client doesn't send access?
Chase on working day 3 in one message that names each missing platform, the role and who at the client can grant it. On day 5, escalate to the client's sponsor: ask who holds the admin role and offer a screen share. On day 10, move the start and first report dates in writing.
How do I get access to a client's Google Ads and Meta accounts?
For Google Ads, send a link request from your manager account (MCC) with the client's customer ID; a client Admin accepts it under Admin, Access and security, Managers. For Meta, send your business portfolio ID (formerly Business Manager); a client person with full control adds you under Settings, Partners and ticks each asset: ad account, Page, Instagram account, dataset and catalog. Then sign in and check every one.
How can we manage a client's social media without their password?
Use each platform's named access. On Facebook and Instagram, the client adds your business portfolio as a partner with partial access to the Page and the Instagram account. On LinkedIn, a Super admin of the client's Page makes you Content admin. Each person on your team gets their own login, and the client can remove any one of you.
What questions should you ask a new marketing client?
Ask what the sales calls did not answer: the goal and the number that proves progress, targets and budget, who approves work and how fast, who can grant access, brand words to use and avoid, what failed before, the tools in use, and how often they want reports.
Which GA4 role should an agency get?
Editor on the property if you configure GA4 or link Google Ads; Marketer if the work is only audiences, attribution and key events; Viewer if you only report, with No cost metrics or No revenue metrics if the client asks. Ask for property-level access, since account-level access reaches every property. Linking Google Ads also needs Admin on that Google Ads account, on the same login.