Learn how to create a client welcome packet that introduces your business, informs your new clients, and adds delight to your client experience!
Critical files and collateral for independent businesses often include invoices, contracts, sales brochures, and more. But, there’s one tool you might not be using, which can play a big role in creating a great client experience and setting your projects up for success. That tool is a client welcome packet.
When you start any project or working relationship, it’s always important to get the last pieces of information that you might not have captured during the booking process. You also want to set expectations with your clients about how you should be working together and communicating. Lastly, you want to create a great impression, and that starts at the very beginning of your relationship with your client onboarding.
Here’s everything to know about using a welcome packet with your clients and best practices to make sure yours is effective.
Jump to:
- What should your client welcome packet include?
- Best practices for your welcome packets
- Use the right tool to build branded, effective welcome packets
What should your client welcome packet include?
Your client welcome packet communicates all the important details that you would like to share with a new client. This includes information that can help build your relationship, as well as detailed information about the project.
You can include everything such as a bio, your client onboarding process, your communication preferences, the project timeline, how the client can track statuses, and more.
We’ll break it down further below. Keep in mind that your specific welcome packet may vary depending on your client onboarding checklist. For most independent businesses, here’s what your client welcome kit should include the following.
1. Welcome message and introduction
First, take the time to thank your new client for booking with you. You can include a brief note on the first page of your welcome packet, or save it for the introduction email you send along with your packet. Either way, mention something specific from when you were first talking to them as a lead, and make sure they know how excited you are.
Even though they probably already know about your business from their own research before booking, give your new clients a refresher about who you are as well as the mission statement behind your business. This is also a great opportunity to introduce them to your team if they’ll be working with others along with you.
2. Policies
Next, get the serious stuff out of the way. Take the time to remind your clients about some of your policies, which should have also been in your online contract. You don’t have to copy and paste your contract clauses, but it’s a good time to reiterate late payment fees, payment processes, confidentiality agreements, and more.
3. Communication preferences and information
Be sure to give your clients instructions on how they can communicate with you moving forward. You should also include your office hours so they know when you’ll be able to respond and when you’re offline.
Include your contact information or a link to your scheduling tool so they’ll always be able to get a hold of you.
4. Login details and tech overview
Different businesses use different technologies, so this section will especially vary, but it’s important to get your clients up to speed as soon as they’re onboarded.
If you’re a photographer, for example, you might just have a client portal and invoicing software that your clients will need to know how to log into to get their photos and pay their invoices. For other businesses like consultants, you might have more tools like project management software, so you’ll need to include specific instructions for how to log in and use the system. You might also want to leverage part of your onboarding packet as an intake form to ask your clients to share specific documents.
5. FAQs
Are there common questions that you get throughout your projects? This is a great place to address them upfront and give your clients a set place to refer to them throughout the project. These might include how to use your client portal, how to adjust their payment schedule, where to find project updates, and more.
6. Timeline and scope of work
Once you’ve briefed your clients on all the general information about your business and working with you, it’s time to get into the specifics of their project. Lay out the timeline and scope of work that you’ve already agreed on in your contract.
At a high-level view, it can be great to call out important milestones and key dates that you’ve already set together.
7. Payment information
The most important part of running your business is getting paid! Don’t forget to reiterate everything your clients need to pay you. You can include their specific payment schedule along with a reminder of how you accept payment (credit card, ACH transfer, etc.) or within an online payment software.
8. Next steps
Lastly, you want to include next steps for each client. Will you be working on their project for a few weeks until the next check-in? Will there be a while until they hear from you next? Or, is there anything you need from them? Remind them to send over any important documents and files or send information you might need to get the project started.
Best practices for your welcome packets
As you’re designing your welcome packet, keep in mind these best practices to ensure you’re providing a great onboarding experience for your clients.
Make sure your client welcome packet is part of your brand
The most important thing about including a welcome packet in your client experience is that it has to be a completely branded package. This means it has to involve more than just shoving your logo into a client welcome packet template, adding text, and calling it “ready to send.”
Your client welcome packet is like holding the front door to your studio wide open to invite potential clients in. It sets the tone for your business. When it’s not cohesively branded or doesn’t fully jive with your website or social media profiles, potential clients notice and can feel the disconnect.
Keep your welcome packet concise and easy to navigate
Though there’s a ton of information to include in your welcome packet, try to keep it as simple as possible. Each section should have its own page that’s easy to navigate through a table of contents. Be sure you’re only providing the information–there’s no need to add paragraphs of text on each page if it’s unnecessary.
Make your client welcome packet an interactive experience
Want to upgrade your client welcome packet even more? Use a system like HoneyBook to make it interactive. Instead of a stale, static PDF, you can build fully branded, digital files that incorporate your visual brand along with video, photos, and interactive elements like questionnaires. You can provide your information while also giving your clients a professional, immersive onboarding workflow from the start.
Use the right tool to build branded, effective client welcome packets
You can build your welcome packets with a variety of tools, including docs, PDFs, and slideshows. However, you want your packet to be a living, breathing document that your clients can return to over and over again and use to refer back to different parts of your process.
That’s why it’s best to use a clientflow platform to build your client welcome packet. With a system like HoneyBook, you can build your welcome packet as an interactive template that syncs with other parts of your process. Clients can immediately schedule inside the welcome packet, view an online invoice, refer back to their contract, and more.
