Landed a new client? 😮
The last thing you want is to spend weeks onboarding them and getting access to their marketing accounts.
After speaking to dozens of high-performing marketing agencies, we found they all come to the same sticking point with client onboarding:
Finding the best client onboarding software. 🤕
Brady, the executive director from ChiroCandy Marketing told us:
“Our method for onboarding new clients was typically with videos that walked them through the process step by step. Frustratingly, it only worked around 30% of the time.”
Evidently, the customer onboarding process is essential for the long-term retention of new clients and customer success. It’s also key to building a positive working relationship from the get-go.
After all, you’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression!
Keep reading to find out 14 valuable client onboarding tools to improve your onboarding experience for agency clients. 👇
What Is Client Onboarding Software?
Client onboarding software is a set of tools that simplify administrative workflows, personalize client onboarding processes, and facilitate a seamless transition into the agency’s ecosystem.
Here are 4 key areas that customer onboarding software can automate for agencies:
Access Requests
Getting access to marketing assets is the most common complaint we hear from marketing agencies who want a seamless onboarding experience.
It is possible your clients aren’t tech-savvy, or may not know all their account passwords. Precious time can be wasted setting up access to social media accounts, websites, and analytics.
The right customer onboarding tool will automate this entire process and make getting access to your client’s assets a breeze.
Document Management
Customer onboarding software can automate creating, distributing, and managing contracts, agreements, and other relevant forms, reducing manual effort and streamlining administrative processes.
Communications
Communication tools can automate the delivery of personalized welcome messages, onboarding instructions, and other communications to clients through various channels including email, SMS, or in-app messaging, enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction.
Task Assignment and Progress Tracking
Client onboarding software can automate the assignment of tasks to team members involved in the onboarding process and track the progress of each task, ensuring accountability, transparency, and efficient workflow management throughout the onboarding journey.
Find out more: The Best Way For Marketing Agencies to Onboard New Clients
Why Is Client Onboarding Software Important?
Many factors can hamper the customer onboarding experience.
User onboarding can take too long, causing your client to become impatient and dissatisfied. They may even decide to abandon you halfway, leading to a higher churn rate for your business.
Your clients may be apprehensive about your service in the initial stages, so it’s paramount to be clear and consistent to put any doubts at ease.
If there’s a lack of communication, those inevitable early doubts can turn to dissatisfaction, and, before you know it, you’ll be parting ways.
Deanna, from the team at EmberTribe, mentioned that:
“The unmeasurable part is the client experience.”
Without a standard operating procedure and client onboarding checklists, team members will be far less capable of delivering a seamless customer experience.
Set clear goals in a kick-off meeting, and explain how you will collaborate and communicate with them. Clients may have unrealistic expectations or become confused if you are not transparent about all your processes from the get-go.
Client onboarding software can help in the following ways:
- It can boost customer retention rates: Automation tools can consistently provide a seamless onboarding process, ensuring the client feels supported from the beginning and reducing the risk of early churn.
- It can drive productivity: By choosing to automate repetitive tasks, customer onboarding software can free up time to focus on more important activities and maximize resource utilization.
- It can improve user adoption: Customer onboarding software that offers guided tours, tutorials, and interactive walkthroughs can familiarize users with a service.
Key Considerations When Selecting the Ideal Client Onboarding Tool
Deciding on the best client onboarding software for your business will largely depend on your niche and specific onboarding workflows.
However, as a rule of thumb, all user onboarding tools should include the following:
Automation features
Look for platforms that can automate routine tasks during customer onboarding, as these can free up time and minimize human error.
User-friendly Interface
User-friendliness is key to providing a great user experience for both your team and clients.
Feedback mechanisms
Opt for a platform that includes feedback tools such as NPS surveys to gather insights and refine your onboarding approach, ensuring continual improvement and client satisfaction.
Integration options
Evaluate whether the tool seamlessly integrates with essential apps for your operations, such as document-sharing platforms, accounting software, and practice management tools, to ensure smooth automated workflows.
How Can You Make Client Onboarding Easier?
There are many marketing agency tools that claim to make the onboarding process smoother.
Customer onboarding begins as soon as lead generation is done and the sales process is complete. A welcome email is often the first port of call, and this should include a point of contact.
An onboarding questionnaire or client intake form is a fantastic way to gather information and help create a customer-centric workflow that aligns with your client’s needs.
Find out more: The Importance of Client Intake Forms
It would be unwise to ignore the range of client onboarding tools that can help you during this process. After assigning an account manager and a team to oversee the project management, it’s time to communicate the client goals and how you plan to achieve them.
You’ll want to establish deliverables, timelines, and any fixed meeting schedules. Organization is the key ingredient to any good onboarding process, and there are many digital tools that can support you in creating a positive customer experience.
Let’s explore 14 of the most useful client onboarding software tools for marketing agencies.
The Best Client Onboarding Software: 15 Tools for Onboarding Agency Clients
The following customer onboarding tools have been carefully selected to help you provide your clients with a great onboarding experience.
Let’s take a closer look at why each of these tools can streamline your client onboarding:
1. Leadsie (getting account access)
Ok, we may be biased, but thousands of marketing agencies use Leadsie to simplify the process of getting access to their clients’ advertising, social media and analytics accounts.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
Getting access is the starting point of any new customer relationship, and Leadsie was specifically developed to remove frustration from the onboarding process.
Sending an instant access request is a great way to get off on the right foot and make a good first impression.
All the client needs to do is open the link and grant permission to give you access to their accounts, such as their Facebook Page, Instagram & Ad Accounts, Google Analytics, Ads, Business Profile and TikTok.
Leadsie makes the onboarding experience easier for your clients, saving everyone time and a potential headache. It’s a fantastic tool for any freelancer or marketing agency that wants to impress new clients with a slick onboarding process.
Here’s how it works:
Make sure to get your free trial here.
Pricing
Starter plan: $41/month (onboard 36 new clients per year)
Agency plan: $83/month (onboard 120 new clients per year)
Pro plan: $208/month (onboard 600 new clients per year)
2. Content Snare (collecting content & documents)
Content Snare is client onboarding software that makes it easy to gather information, content and marketing assets from clients. With 1500+ clients in more than 60 countries, it’s a popular tool among agencies. It automates much of the process, like automatically chasing clients, so you can spend more time doing your work instead of chasing clients for info or files.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
Content Snare makes it easy for clients to fill out onboarding questionnaires and deliver the content you need on time.
The system supports respondents with intuitive field types, while you can add instructions to explain exactly what you need. Your clients can even post questions directly within questionnaires to ask for further clarification.
Content Snare comes loaded with reminder email templates to keep your clients accountable, and you customize them as much as you like.
Features like these make Content Snare perfect digital agencies who are tired of the constant back-and-forth trying to get clients to send information on time.
Pricing
Basic: $29/month
Plus: $59/month
Pro: $99/month
Custom: $179/month
3. DocuSign (signing contracts)
DocuSign is a digital signature tool that helps collect signatures on contracts and other documents. It’s a fast and reliable way to sign documents electronically.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
Remember that you should do everything you can to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible. Using DocuSign makes the contract signing process faster and easier for you and your new client.
As soon as everyone has signed the document, you and your new client will receive an email notification from DocuSign to confirm that the document has been fully executed.
Businesses have quickly adopted e-signature technology and can integrate DocuSign into apps and websites.
Pricing
Personal: $10/month
Standard: $25/month
Business Pro: $40/month
4. Notion (organizing information)
Notion is an all-in-one project management tool that creates a collaborative workspace for notes, projects, tasks, databases, and more. Users can connect their teams, projects, and documents in one place. It’s ideal for centralizing information.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
A lack of organization can be detrimental to the client onboarding process. Let Notion come to your rescue like a knight in shining armor.
It offers your team a central hub where collaboration is seamless, both for the team members executing projects and the clients reviewing the work.
Sending a new client a Notion link eliminates the need to send multiple word documents and PDFs via email. It’s excellent for tracking milestones and deliverables, and thousands of free templates can help you jump straight into work and stay on top of your content creation.
It’s fantastic for keeping track of your client onboarding checklist and organizing your timeline. And you can customize Notion to suit your needs and build the workflow you want.
Pricing
Although Notion has a free plan for individuals with basic organizational needs, it also offers a range of paid subscriptions with more advanced features:
Plus: $8/month
Business: $15/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
BONUS (Integration!): NoteForms, previously known as NotionForms, assists Notion users in creating simple and beautiful forms connected to their central Notion workspace. Whether it’s a survey, a questionnaire, or any other form, you can receive responses directly in Notion.
An onboarding questionnaire is essential for gathering further information and understanding your client’s expectations. Making assumptions with insufficient data in the early stages can harm your chances of a positive customer relationship and long-term retention.
That’s why sending clients a polished questionnaire during the onboarding process is standard practice.
NoteForms is an elegant code-less form builder where you can create reliably beautiful forms in minutes. Choosing to use this integration means your client’s form responses can go directly to your Notion database.
5. JotForm (collecting information & surveys)
If you aren’t a Notion user, JotForm is another excellent form-building tool you can use to capture client information. With over 10,000+ form templates, this customer onboarding software has the largest selection of free form templates on the web!
How it can help improve your onboarding process
When you onboard a new client, gathering as much information about their needs is essential. You’ll also want to capture the details about their current marketing efforts and any data they have.
A simple form is an easy way for them to share all the information you need to get started. It eliminates dozens of calls and back-and-forth emails. You also have a record of everything they told you so you can refer back to it as needed.
With a variety of features and integrations, JotForm can facilitate various onboarding tasks, ranging from collecting e-signatures to taking payment within forms using different payment processors.
Pricing
Free: $0/month (up to 5 forms)
Bronze: $34/month (up to 25 forms)
Silver: $39/month (up to 50 forms)
Gold: $99/month (up to 100 forms)
Custom: Custom price for unlimited usage
6. Loom (sharing information through video)
Loom is a video messaging tool that helps businesses facilitate workplace communication through instantly shareable videos. Users can record their screen and camera simultaneously, allowing teams to easily share ideas and communicate.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
Loom shines when used for collaboration. A team member can record an engaging video message and send it to colleagues internally and clients externally.
The tool exploded in popularity because it’s so easy to put together a tutorial, walkthrough, guide, or announcement.
It’s the perfect medium for one-way communication. You can skip those long and tedious emails and build a stronger customer relationship by adding a human touch to your communication.
It’s a fabulous way to introduce different aspects of your business to customer onboarding. A single informative video tutorial or walkthrough can save you and your new client so much time and frustration.
Pricing
Starter: Free (up to 25 videos/person)
Business: $12.50/month (unlimited videos)
Enterprise: Custom pricing
7. HighLevel (CRM, scheduling, email software & more)
HighLevel is specifically for agencies who want to capture new leads, nurture those leads and then close the deal. It’s a multi-tool platform that offers everything an agency needs to grow their client base and onboard those new clients.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
The tool combines workflow and pipeline management, CRM, email software, surveys, forms, appointment scheduling, and automation. It offers an-all-in one solution for agency needs.
With everything in one place, you don’t need to flit between tools when using HighLevel. This will enable you to streamline your processes and maintain your professionalism with new clients at all times.
Having all client information in one place can save you a tonne of time and avoid any miscommunications which may occur from managing multiple onboarding tools.
Get a free 14 day trial using our link (we receive a commission in case you decide to continue using it).
Pricing
Starter: $97/month
Unlimited: $297/month
8. DashClicks (all in one tool for agencies)
An all-in-one tool, especially for digital agencies, DashClicks includes templates to create ads on different platforms and and so much more. You can integrate analytics, contacts, forms, social media reports all in one place. Clients can access the reports which saves you a whole bunch of time explaining and reporting results.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
A streamlined onboarding process is an effective one and DashClicks certainly streamlines everything for you. The software allows you to shorten your sales cycle and automate tasks that would normally take up a lot of time.
You can make a great first impression when you manage your clients through DashClicks.
The platform even enables automated onboarding for new clients which gives them a slick and uncomplicated way to get started with your agency.
Get a free account using our link (we receive a commission in case you decide to move to a paid plan).
Pricing
$99/month to access all features.
9. Zapier (automate routine tasks & workflows)
Zapier is a workflow automation software that connects all your apps and services so that they can work together seamlessly.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
This popular onboarding tool operates on a "trigger-action" principle, where an event in one app can automatically initiate an action in another app.
Users can create "Zaps," which are automated workflows that link two or more apps, defining the trigger event and the subsequent action to be performed.
This means that their customer onboarding software can be used by agencies to automate repetitive tasks, such as sending welcome emails, assigning tasks to team members, and updating client records, streamlining the onboarding workflow and saving valuable time and resources.
Additionally, Zapier's integration with a wide range of apps enables agencies to connect their preferred tools for project management, communication, CRM, and more, ensuring seamless data flow and communication across platforms.
Pricing
Although Zapier has a free plan for individuals, it also offers several paid subscriptions with more advanced automation features:
Starter: $19.99/month
Professional: $49/month
Team: $69/month
10. ClickUp (project management)
A favorite project management tool of many marketing agencies, ClickUp allows you to plan, manage and track any project. You can set priorities, share dashboards and manage marketing campaigns through simple workflow management. You can share documents for collaboration and even plan out content calendars within the app.
The product’s tagline is ‘one app to replace them all’ and certainly delivers on this promise. It even has a CRM feature, so you can keep all your client information in one place and not have to switch between programs.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
A simple way to collaborate and keep a client’s strategy and planning information in one place, the tool shows the client you are organized. You can share to-do lists and prioritization information so the client can see what you’re working on without having to get in touch with you.
The tool provides visibility to the client which can help you build trust and loyalty with them.
11. Process Street (build onboarding checklists)
Process Street is a process management tool for creating and managing standard operating procedures (SOPs) and recurring workflows.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
This valuable agency onboarding software can provide your team with a robust platform for managing recurring business procedures and checklists.
With its collaboration features, and advanced capabilities such as permissions, reporting, and automation, agencies can efficiently distribute checklist workflows, monitor progress, and receive timely notifications.
All together, it facilitates a structured and efficient approach to managing the onboarding process for new users.
Pricing
Startup: $100/month
Pro: $1,500/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
12. FreshBooks (financial management)
FreshBooks is an accounting software created for small businesses that want to manage their finances more efficiently.
With its invoicing and billing features, agencies can quickly generate and send professional invoices to new clients, establishing clear payment terms from the outset.
FreshBooks also provides a centralized platform for managing customer data, including contact details and project history, streamlining communication, and ensuring a personalized onboarding experience.
Finally, its robust reporting and analytics tools can help agencies gain insights into their financial performance and assess the effectiveness of their onboarding strategies.
Pricing
Lite: $5.70/month
Plus: $9.90/month
Premium: $18/month
13. Slack (client communication)
Slack is a workplace communication tool founded in 2009. It’s an instant messaging platform that has transformed business communication, bringing internal and external teams together across departments and time zones.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
Effective communication drives onboarding success. Slack is an excellent tool for managing client communications. You’ll avoid back-and-forth emails, offering clients instant communication to enhance their onboarding experience. Yet, it may be impractical if you have hundreds of clients, so you may have to be pragmatic.
Therefore, offering direct Slack access to your top paying clients is a good idea. It offers a much stronger social connection than email, and all your communication will be in one place. Y
ou can add clients to existing channels or make a private channel and only add them and your team members. Slack means instant real-time communication, and decisions and tasks can be carried out quicker when there’s better access to project information.
Pricing
Although Slack has a free plan for individuals, it also offers a range of paid subscriptions with more advanced features for businesses:
Pro: $7.25/month
Business: $12.50/month
Enterprise Grid: Custom pricing
14. Asana (project management)
Asana is a cloud-based project management software tool that allows any business to manage, collaborate, communicate, and organize their tasks and projects.
How it can help improve your onboarding process
Asana is an excellent platform for efficiently welcoming new clients and breaking up the client onboarding process into actionable tasks.
Creating a workflow on their platform will ensure your team can focus on accomplishing your client’s goals. It’s flexible too, and can even be used as a basic CRM tool.
On Asana, you’ll find many templates that can benefit your business. For example, a project template can help you track the onboarding process. And creating your company’s own standardized onboarding template will reduce the time spent creating onboarding plans for new clients.
On this platform, information becomes centralized and accessible to everyone. The client can participate in collaboration, see the process in real time, and discern exactly what has been accomplished.
Pricing
Starter: $10.99/month
Advanced: $24.99/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
15. Calendly (scheduling meetings)
Calendly is a scheduling automation platform that you can use to schedule, prepare and follow up on external meetings. This tool, used by over 10 million people, is a great time saver and easy to use.
How it can help improve onboarding
A good onboarding process requires communication, be it introductions, kick-off calls, training calls, Q&A sessions, or follow-up meetings. Calendly helps eliminate the problematic back-and-forth when trying to schedule appointments, replacing it with just a few clicks.
Let’s not pretend that a messy scheduling process doesn’t create delays and missed connections. Calendly can synchronize multiple calendars and display your availability on a single calendar.
It also allows new clients to receive all the information they need without you having to copy, paste, and manually email each person.
Pricing
Although Calendly has a free plan for individuals with basic scheduling needs, it also offers a range of paid subscriptions with more sophisticated features:
Standard: $12/month
Teams: $20/month
Enterprise: $15k/year
Enhance User Onboarding With Customer Onboarding Software!
When it’s time to onboard new clients, you need to bring your A-game, or else you could lose them forever.
It’s the first stage of the customer journey, and you must do everything possible to make the process quicker and easier for them. Organization and communication are essential to forging a positive client relationship.
Create a smoother onboarding experience, and you’ll be saying goodbye to high churn rates and losing valuable customers to competitors with better processes.
By using some of the easy-to-use tools listed above, you’ll undoubtedly see better results in no time.
Here at Leadsie, we love to create automation software that simplifies time-consuming onboarding tasks.
Tired of the back-and-forth that comes with access requests? Try out Leadsie with our 14-day FREE trial and get access to your clients’ assets with just a link!😄
Just enter your email below.👇
Did we forget a precious tool you’re using for your onboarding? Tweet us at @leadsie and let us know!
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