Client onboarding timeline template
Onboarding a new client from signed contract to regular delivery takes five to six weeks in this template: kickoff in week one, access, data and a success plan in weeks two and three, and the first deliverable reviewed by the end of week five. The client’s two jobs, granting access and reviewing that first deliverable, are flagged, because that’s where onboarding stalls.
- Kickoff
- Contract & paperwork
- Internal team briefing
- Kickoff workshop
- Kickoff complete
- Setup
- Access, accounts & toolingclient
- Data collection & audit
- Success plan & KPIs
- Deliver
- First deliverable
- Review & feedback loopclient
- First value delivered
- Transition to steady state
This is the actual template. Durations count working days; weekends are skipped. Drag any bar to reshape it once it’s open.
When to use it
- You’ve just won a client and want to show them what the first month looks like before they start wondering.
- You run customer success for a B2B product and every new account should go through the same steps.
- Onboarding keeps stalling on logins or data from the client, and you want those waits on the timeline.
- The account is moving from sales to delivery, and delivery needs to see what was promised and by when.
What’s in it
- 01
Kickoff
Contract and paperwork, an internal briefing, then the kickoff workshop, ending at Kickoff complete after the first week. The internal briefing is the handover from whoever sold the work: what was promised, to whom, and what the client is nervous about. It comes before the workshop so your team isn’t hearing the scope for the first time in front of the client.
- 02
Setup
Access, accounts and tooling (a client task), data collection and an audit of what the client already has, then a success plan with KPIs. A login that takes a week to arrive pushes back everything behind it, so send the access checklist with the signed contract. The success plan comes last so its KPIs start from what the audit found.
- 03
Deliver
About a week and a half on the first deliverable, a client review of about four days, then First value delivered at around day 32. The last bar moves the client into steady-state work: a retainer, regular reporting or normal account management.
Adapting it to your project
Make the first deliverable small
Flag data collection if it’s theirs
Walk through it at kickoff
Save it as your standard onboarding
Questions
How long should client onboarding take?
Five to six weeks from signed contract to steady-state work in this template, with the first deliverable finishing around the end of week four. Simple service engagements can be onboarded in a week or two. Enterprise software onboarding with data migration, integrations and training often runs one to three months.
What are the steps in client onboarding?
Contract and paperwork, an internal handover from sales, a kickoff meeting, setting up access and accounts, collecting information from the client, agreeing goals and success measures, delivering the first piece of work, reviewing it together, and moving into regular delivery.
Is this template for employee onboarding?
No, it’s for a new client or customer. Employee onboarding has different steps (equipment, payroll, training, introductions), and the general project plan template is a better starting point for it.
Related
Start your client onboarding plan
Open it, drag the bars onto your real dates and rename anything that doesn’t fit. Sign up when you want to keep it.