Client onboarding works best when everyone is aligned from day one.
When teams have shared visibility, clear roles, and open lines of communication, it’s easier to stay on track and solve problems before they slow things down. But when collaboration breaks down—or one side is left waiting on the other—progress stalls, and frustration builds.
When it’s a shared effort—with clear roles, visibility, and easy communication— you gain momentum and reach your goal faster.
Here are strategies for turning client onboarding into a team effort, and how Setuply makes it easy to move forward together.
1. Treat Clients as Strategic Partners
Every client brings something different to the table: unique workflows, internal constraints, and a vision for what success looks like. When client onboarding is treated like a rigid process to push clients through, you risk eroding trust before the real work even begins.
Approach onboarding as a shared journey. That means listening to client priorities, adapting when needed, and building room for flexibility, without sacrificing structure.
How Setuply helps: Setuply makes it easy to tailor templates to reflect each client’s specific business processes, so teams don’t have to choose between customization and efficiency. You can adjust workflows, add or remove steps, and accommodate client preferences—all within a structured, scalable framework.
2. Give Clients Visibility Into the Full Journey
One of the most common sources of friction during onboarding? Uncertainty. When clients can’t see what’s happening or what’s expected of them, they can feel disconnected and disengaged.
Clear visibility into the full onboarding timeline helps clients anticipate next steps, plan internal resources, and stay aligned—while also creating shared accountability. When clients know what’s due, when, and why, they’re more likely to take timely action and keep things moving.
How Setuply helps: With Setuply’s visual project dashboards, clients have full visibility into the onboarding plan—including what’s already done, what’s coming up, and who’s responsible for each task. It’s a shared workspace that keeps everyone on the same page.
3. Make It Easy To Communicate, Ask Questions and Make Requests
Even the best-laid plans require adjustments. Sometimes clients have quick questions. Other times they need to escalate an issue or make a change that could affect the project. If there’s friction in how they reach out or uncertainty about where to go, those small moments can lead to big delays.
The easier it is for clients to engage with your team, the smoother the process becomes. That accessibility builds confidence.
How Setuply helps: Setuply centralizes communication by offering client-facing tools that allow you to submit questions, raise concerns, or request changes directly from within the platform. These touchpoints are tied to the onboarding workflow, so updates stay organized and context isn’t lost in email chains.
4. Reduce Back-and-Forth With Clear Responsibilities and Structured Timelines
Onboarding delays aren’t usually caused by big missteps. They’re often a result of small miscommunications. Without clear next steps or agreed-upon timelines, tasks can linger, clients may wait for input, and team members might duplicate work.
A shared structure with clear owners, timelines, and expectations enables things to keep moving while the need for check-ins is reduced.
How Setuply helps: Setuply allows teams to create onboarding plans with built-in accountability. Tasks are assigned to the right people (on both sides), deadlines are visible, and reminders keep everyone on track. The result: fewer “just checking in” emails and a streamlined path to go-live.
Clients Want To Get Started—Let’s Help Them Do It
Clients are eager to see results, and service teams want to deliver those results faster. That shared momentum is a great thing, as long as the process supports it.
Timerack is a great example of how a collaborative onboarding model pays off. With Setuply, they created a structured but flexible process that invites clients to take an active role in the onboarding journey. Clients know what to do and when, can request changes easily, and don’t feel overwhelmed or left out. It’s a more confident, empowered experience on both sides.
Since adopting Setuply, Timerack has more than doubled its onboarding capacity without sacrificing the personal touch. Want to hear about how they did it? Check out the on-demand webinar where their team walks through their Setuply-powered process. Or dive into the Timerack case study for all the details and results.
When you make client onboarding a two-way street, you build stronger partnerships from the start. That’s the kind of foundation that leads to sustained success.