Client onboarding process template

When you bring on a new client, you only get one shot to make a strong first impression. But if your onboarding process is confusing or inconsistent, that initial impression can quickly fall apart. Maybe you've scrambled to send kickoff docs. Perhaps you forgot to introduce the right team members. Or maybe your client left the call still wondering what happens next.

Whether you're a freelancer, agency lead, or operations manager at a growing company, onboarding should be a confident, repeatable process and not a fire drill. That’s why we developed this client onboarding process template in Asana.

This free template helps you organize every stage of customer onboarding, from internal prep to welcome emails, legal paperwork, training, and follow-up touchpoints. So instead of reinventing the wheel each time, you can build trust, save time, and deliver consistent client experiences that scale with your team.

Who benefits from client onboarding process templates?

We’ve seen teams struggle with disorganized handoffs, forgotten steps, and siloed communication during client onboarding. Even minor hiccups, like missing access credentials or unclear responsibilities, can erode trust and impact your customer’s experience.

This client onboarding template works exceptionally well for:

• Freelancers and consultants who want to streamline client onboarding journeys and project a more polished, professional image.

• Client success and account managers who need a consistent customer onboarding checklist to ensure every box is ticked for new clients.

• Agencies and service providers managing multiple onboarding flows, social media accounts, and project deliverables for different clients.

• Operations leads responsible for creating scalable, repeatable onboarding experiences that decrease churn and improve customer retention.

• Marketing and sales teams looking to improve handoff and implementation after closing deals, using shared CRM and project management tools.

If you’ve ever fumbled through a kickoff meeting or scrambled to find the right onboarding email templates, this workflow diagram process template for client onboarding is for you. It’s invaluable for welcoming new customers and new users in a way that builds lasting customer relationships.

Why use Asana’s customer onboarding process template?

We collaborated with a mid-sized B2B sales team facing inconsistent handoffs after closing new customers. After they adopted this template, they standardized key steps from the kickoff meeting to CRM updates and reduced onboarding time by 40%. Their customer retention rate also increased.

Use this new customer onboarding template to:

• Standardize your onboarding checklist so nothing falls through the cracks.

• Give every team member clarity on responsibilities, deadlines, and next steps.

• Create repeatable workflows that scale across clients and accounts.

• Deliver consistent, high-quality onboarding experiences that reflect your brand and foster long-term customer success.

• Build strong client relationships from the start with proactive communication, clear walkthroughs, and transparent pricing.

• Support your customer service teams with the structure they need to guide clients through a seamless onboarding experience.

How to use this client onboarding process template

Ready to build a better customer journey? Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you use this client onboarding template effectively. For even more helpful project management tools, visit our complete hub of templates.

1. Set up your internal kickoff and assign roles

Before your client ever sees a welcome message, align your internal team. Add tasks for team leads to review the client’s goals, assign roles (like project owner or primary point of contact), and check resource availability.

For a marketing agency, this might mean assigning a creative lead, strategist, and account manager to the client’s workspace.

2. Customize and send the client welcome kit

Create a section for your client-facing materials. Include editable templates for welcome emails, brand questionnaires, or a project overview doc. Assign tasks for personalizing and sending these resources.

As an example, your kickoff email might include the team intro, a link to the client intake form, and a timeline preview.

3. Manage contracts, billing, and permissions

Track legal docs, invoices, payment status, and account access all in one place. Use custom fields to flag status and notify finance or legal teams when follow-up is needed. Add tasks like "Send DocuSign contract," "Verify first invoice paid," and "Confirm tool access granted."

4. Collect goals and success metrics

Use an Asana form to gather your client’s objectives, target metrics, and preferences. Map this to project milestones so your team understands what success looks like for each customer. A SaaS implementation team might capture the client’s target go-live date, top key performance indicators (KPIs), and any additional functionality needed to achieve goals (think automation or AI tools).

5. Plan implementation or service delivery phases

Break the onboarding journey into phases. Create a timeline view or use columns to represent planning, setup, training, and go-live. Add tasks and owners for each phase. For a digital marketing agency, this might include: "SEO audit," "Google Ads setup," "Social strategy presentation."

6. Schedule training, check-ins, and support

Add recurring tasks to stay in touch during and after onboarding. Include training sessions, check-ins, and feedback surveys. Assign owners and dates so nothing gets missed.

For example, set a recurring task for a 2-week check-in to ask how onboarding is going and whether the client has questions.

Asana client onboarding features

Asana’s built-in features make this client onboarding process flow template easy to customize, track, and scale. While Asana’s work management platform offers many features, here are a few of our favorites to improve your customers’ onboarding experience.

Forms: Standardize your client intake using embedded forms that send data directly into Asana.

Custom Fields: Track important info like onboarding phase, contract status, or primary contact, so key details are always visible at a glance.

Timeline View: Visualize the entire onboarding journey with a Gantt chart showing each phase and dependency.

Task Dependencies: Make sure nothing starts before it should by clearly identifying when one task relies on another.

Automation rules: Reduce admin work by automating recurring steps like assigning tasks or updating statuses.

Recommended onboarding integrations

Connect Asana with your favorite tools to simplify communication, automate updates, and improve your client onboarding process. Want to explore more Asana app integrations? Check out our full integrations directory.

Slack: Get instant task updates or share onboarding progress with your team in real time.

Gmail: Convert client emails into actionable onboarding tasks with a single click.

Google Drive: Attach shared documents, such as welcome decks or onboarding checklists, to Asana tasks.

HubSpot: Connect your CRM directly to Asana to sync contact info and automate onboarding task creation.

Pipedrive: Trigger onboarding workflows in Asana immediately after deals close in Pipedrive. Ensure a seamless sales-to-service transition.

Salesforce: Automatically generate onboarding tasks when deals are closed. Keep sales and success teams in sync.

FAQs about new client onboarding process templates