Define what “ready” means
Before sending a welcome email, agree on the paid scope, decision maker, primary objective, and first milestone. Identify what the agency owns and what the client must supply. An onboarding process succeeds when work can begin safely, not when a form has been submitted.
Collect permission, not passwords
Create an inventory of the website, analytics, advertising, business listings, and payment relationships relevant to the scope. Request the minimum access needed through each provider. Track who owns each asset and how the client can revoke agency access later.
Establish a baseline
Capture the current campaign state, conversion definitions, website health, and reporting period before changing anything. Mark missing or untrustworthy data explicitly. This protects both sides from attributing a pre-existing problem to the first week of a new engagement.
Make the handoff concrete
Assign the account lead, technical owner, and client approver. Give every outstanding dependency an owner and date. Book kickoff after the critical dependencies are resolved, or explicitly identify the work that can proceed while access is pending.
Deliver one small thing well
Choose a first deliverable with an observable outcome: a verified tracking journey, a documented campaign audit, or an approved content plan. Send the client a concise record of what was checked and what comes next. Early trust comes from reliable follow-through, not another onboarding portal.
An operating framework, not a claim of measured Almanac customer results.