How To Write A Welcome Guide That Doesn’t Overwhelm Your Clients
Hello there, darling!
Setting up a CRM doesn’t have to be hard. And creating a flawless client experience doesn’t have to be scary! When you have a Client Experience Strategist (me!) in your corner, you no longer have to dread client onboarding. In fact, you might as well pour yourself a glass of champagne right this very second, because I’m about to make your life so much easier.
Hi! I’m Chloe, a Client Experience Strategist for the top wedding professionals in the field. I help creative business owners like you streamline their client experience and automate their admin tasks to save time and energy.
I also help you create documents and SmartFiles in your CRM to communicate your information effectively. The goal of these files is to tell your clients everything they need to know – without overwhelming them.
I get it, you have a lot of important info to share! You need your clients to answer questionnaires, share inspiration, and sign documents. But here’s a secret: your client experience isn’t just what happens on the wedding day. Client experience starts the moment you receive an inquiry.
Which means, yes, all of your emails, proposals, contracts, and questionnaires impact your client’s experience working with you.
What experience do you want them to have? One where they feel even more stressed and overwhelmed than before hiring you? Or one where they can finally breathe because they know they found a trustworthy, professional wedding vendor?
I know which one I would choose.
So in this blog, we’ll discuss one of the most important files you can send to your clients, and how to make it easily digestible for your busy clients. And then we can get back to that champagne I promised you.
What Is A Client Welcome Guide Template & Why Do I Need One?
When you onboard a client, do you outline what they can expect from you? Things like how quickly you respond to emails, which days of the week they can expect to hear from you, when certain calls should be scheduled, etc.
If you are, congrats! You already have the essentials of a client welcome guide.
If you’re not, then you really ought to start. Keeping all of this information in one place helps avoid confusion, misunderstanding, and disorganization.
A client welcome guide outlines exactly what your client can expect from you. The goal is to make them feel comfortable and confident in you and keep all important information in one place.
This way, you avoid those redundant (and annoying) emails from your client asking when payments are due, meetings are scheduled, and questionnaires must be answered.
So, we know what a welcome guide is. But what’s a client welcome guide template? Ohhh I don’t know, only your new best friend.
A welcome guide template is a pre-written pattern you use to create an individual welcome guide for each of your clients. When you use a template, you don’t need to create a welcome guide from scratch for every client. You just fill in the necessary info and – voila! – you can send the welcome guide to your client!
Seriously, it takes less than 15 minutes to plug in the personalized details. Then, you and your client have access to one document that answers alllllll your clients questions.
Want a reminder of when something is due? Check the welcome guide.
Can’t remember the best way to get in touch? The info is in the welcome guide!
Not sure what questionnaire you were supposed to fill out? I’ll give you three guesses as to where they can find that information. (That’s right – it’s in the welcome guide.)
How To Create A Template For A Client Welcome Guide
Writing a client welcome guide template is honestly pretty easy. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be golden, darling!
1. Break it down
First of all, you need to decide what to include in your welcome guide. This depends on what services you offer and what information you need from your clients. Below is a list of pages I find useful. Some of these may not apply to you, and that’s okay! Pick the ones that will help you communicate the most important information with your clients.
- A Welcome Page. Let your clients know that they are important to you! Think about it from their perspective: they just invested a large chunk of $$ in your service. Get them excited! Help them feel confident in their choice to hire you.
I like including a table of contents here as well.
- Highlight any programs you use that your clients will need to interact with. Do you store info on Google Drive, communicate via Slack, or keep important tasks open in Aisle Planner? If your client will need any of these apps, let them know in advance!
- Communication. How can your clients reach you? How quickly will you respond? Some people limit their communication to email while others prefer sharing their phone number. Whatever you choose, make sure to communicate that to your client.
- Timeline. This one’s super important! When are payments due? If you’re a photographer, when will you send sneak peeks or the full gallery? If you’re a planner, when does your client need to schedule meetings or inform you of their decisions?
- Client Deliverables. Do you send your clients questionnaires? Make sure you outline when they will receive the questionnaire and when they need to complete it. Do you require any passwords? What about contact info for other vendors? Include all of that in the welcome guide.
- Frequently Asked Questions. If you receive the same questions from every client, consider including the answers in your welcome guide. This can help your client feel more confident and understood.
2. Personalize it
At this point, you have a welcome guide template that has an outline of all the information you need to share. Now, you personalize it.
First, you need to make sure all the info you include reflects the client’s package and timeline. But even more than that, you need to make sure it feels personal.
Include your client’s name. Be detailed. Leave space to say something individual and unique to each client.
3. Make it Pretty
This might sound silly, but I’m 100% serious. Make your welcome guide pretty.
When you send a large document full of important information, you need to make it a pleasant experience to read through.
Think about it. Have you ever received an important document that you know you need to read, but by the third line your eyes are glazing over? Yeah, me too.
That’s why I am so dedicated to aesthetically formatting my client’s documents. Digesting that important information is so much easier when it’s broken up into sections with lots of pretty pictures mixed into it.
PLUS, this is another great opportunity to show off your branding. Having pretty, on-brand forms shows your clients that you’re the real deal. If you spare no detail in creating your back-end documents, your clients will know that you’ll spare no detail when planning, designing, or photographing their wedding.
4. Keep the Client Welcome Guide Easily Accessible
The whole point of the welcome guide is to provide all the information so your client can refer back to it. So make sure the welcome guide is easily accessible in your client portal!
If you just email a Google Doc or Canva PDF, it will be buried in their inbox in a matter of hours. And trust me, no one is going to dig through hundreds of emails to double-check a date. They’ll just shoot you a text at 1:30 am instead.
Spare them the effort and make sure your client welcome guide is front and center in the client portal, so they can flip through it whenever they want.
See? That wasn’t too difficult! Now, you have a beautiful, detailed document to send your client. Next, you can write a killer canned email sequence to send the welcome guide and introduce your client to your brand.
But that’s enough for today! I’m proud of you for taking this step to elevate your client experience, darling. I promise it will be worth it!
Chloe
P.S. Looking for even more ways to improve your client experience? Let’s chat! I’d love to discuss how a custom-designed CRM can save you time and money.
