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The Ultimate 63-point Client Onboarding Questionnaire

Getting Client Relationships off to a Great Start

Starting a new agency / consulting engagement with a client is an exciting time. Contracts flying back and forward, promises and hopes of increased revenue and results – and a lot of information to wrap your head around.

 

Below is the ultimate checklist I’ve put together, from 7 years of agency experience running SEO programs for everything from SaaS, nationwide franchise businesses, 9-figure eComm retailers and multi-billion dollar conglomerates. This has extended into my own SEO consultancy and the approach I take, in setting foundations up correctly for all consulting engagements to get them off to a great start.

 

Asking your newly onboarded clients to fill out the below ensures that:

– You only have to ask once for this information

– You can refer back to it in the future or when something relevant comes up

– If a new team member joins you to help out with the account, they can very quickly get all the background information needed

– If you leave the business, your teammates don’t lose out on all the accumulated knowledge you had, given that some (although not all) of it will be included here

 

If you’re a digital marketing team in-house, running through the below questionnaire (even if you’re not engaging an agency for SEO or other digital activity) will help you:

– Build an internal knowledge hub of core information about your marketing activity, key information and history

– Ensure continuity if you or others leave the business

– Help get new team members up to speed when joining your company

 

Linked here is a shared Google Sheets template for this checklist – make a copy and take it from there!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10nLh0JVviZSJebxE5qpapNNFcEMuLVf4T2mmDmh7sj0/edit?usp=sharing

 

The full sections and question breakdown below:

Foundations

Describe what your business does in 1-2 sentences – your elevator pitch.

How complex is your business / product – how easily can it be explained to someone new?

What are the key USPs for your business?

What are the key pain points you solve?

What elements of your product / service do customers tell you they love?

What elements of your product / service do customers tell you they don’t love?

What are some common challenges or objections customers might have to purchasing?

What sets you ahead of competitors?

What areas might you not be as competitive against competitors in?

What geo-regions do you operate in or focus on? Any future expansion plans?

Are there different business departments / sections you’re trying to grow or launch now or in the near future? (e.g. new product range, B2B offering)

Brand & Customers

How well developed is your brand? History, taglines / slogans?

Do you have any notable or famous founders, spokespeople, public figures associated with you?

Do you have clear brand guidelines, tone of voice documents? Styles, colour palettes etc.

Do you have clear marketing persona or segmentation work to reference?

What are the attributes of your Ideal Customer Profile? Any notable elements, skews or over/under-indexing?

What are some of the key elements of your customer journey – touchpoints, channels, media, publications, advice?

Previous and Current Activity

What does your current marketing strategy look like? Channels, activity, campaigns, rough budgets? Who is running this? Is there a calendar of key campaigns, dates, seasonality?

What does your current / previous SEO or Content program look like?

What have been challenges or blockers in previous SEO engagements?

Do you have any ongoing or previous testing / CRO programs in place?

Do you have PR activity running (internally or with an agency)?

Do you have external business partnerships, sponsorships or similar in place?

Competitors & Landscape

Who do you consider your direct key competitors in your sector?

Who do you consider your second-tier / indirect competitors?
 
Is there anyone you consider (within your industry or not) who you think is doing a really good job with their website / marketing activity?

Who do you consider a market leader within the sector – someone that customers trust and would go to for help?
 
Are there any key acronyms, complicated words or industry language to be aware of?

Are there any major regulations, governing bodies or legal elements of your industry to be aware of?
 
Are there any major upcoming changes in your industry (e.g. regulation / deregulation, foreign competitors entering, local competitors M&A or expansion, Private Equity activity)

Website, Analytics & Conversions

What is your core website, and do you have other subdomains, websites or digital assets in the portfolio?

Do you have Google Search Console set up for these?

Do you have Google Analytics set up for these?

Do you have clear on-site event tracking and conversions set up? Do you have a glossary / implementation notes for these?

What does current reporting / dashboarding for the business look like? What data sources are being used for this – e.g. GA, backend / internal CMS numbers.

Have there been any major website changes, redesigns, migrations etc. in the last 2-3 years? Any planned in the future?

Contact, Project Management, Resources

Who is going to be the key point of contact? Who might also be involved in meetings or discussions?

What is the business ownership structure? Any key stakeholders, board of directors etc. to consider?

What communication channels (e.g. email, Slack) do you use and prefer?

What project management tools (e.g. Trello, Jira) do you use and prefer?

What document management tools (e.g. Google Drive) do you use and prefer?

Do you have internal (or external) developer resource to implement technical changes?

How free or restrictive do you consider your current CMS / website in being able to implement changes?

Is there a large / constant backlog of tasks and projects for the site, changes awaiting deployment?

What does the approval process (legal, brand team, product owners etc.) look like for updating pages and content on the website?

Do you have internal (or external) copywriting and content resource to write material for publishing?

Do you have internal (or external) graphic design or visual asset creation resources?

Metrics, Objectives & Business Growth

Do you have clear team / website goals for the next 6-12-24 months?

Do you have clear top-line business goals for the next 6-12-24 months?

What level of understanding does the business have around SEO?

How will / are SEO results being reported to the wider business (e.g. QBRs, board meetings)?

What are the key metrics the business is focusing on or looking for? Where do you see SEO metrics laddering into these?

What does success in this SEO engagement look like?

What capacity does the business have to take on and fulfil additional customers / sales?

What is your average order value? (or similar / equivalent)

What is your average conversion rate?

What is your business profit margin, customer LTV, CPA in other channels and other key metrics to note?

Content (blog / guide sections of website)

What does the current content brainstorming / ideation / topic selection process look like & what goes into this?

What does the writing, optimisation, approval & publishing process look like?

Are there any core blockers in publishing content (e.g. compliance approval delays, writing capacity)?

Are there core pillars around which you structure / write content (e.g. product updates, business news, audience-focused, SEO-focused)?

Is content ever revisited for an update or refresh?

Are there any notable plans or pieces in the pipeline?