8 Client Onboarding Mistakes That Drive Clients Away (and What A-Game Agencies Do Instead)

For agencies, onboarding can feel like just another routine: paperwork, checklists, account setups. But clients don’t see it that way. For them, onboarding isn’t admin. It’s the very first test of whether you’ll be a reliable partner or just another disappointment.

Agencies push for speed and results, while clients seek assurance and trust. That mismatch is where things often go wrong.

To help close the gap, we asked agency leaders to share the most common client onboarding mistakes they see, and more importantly, how to avoid them. 🙌

And if you spot yourself in any of these examples, don't worry, it’s not too late! With the right systems, client onboarding software, and mindset shifts, onboarding can turn from a bottleneck into one of your strongest retention tools. 😃

“A solid onboarding process isn’t a formality – it’s the foundation.”
-Rok Hladnik (CEO, Flat Circle agency)

Most common client onboarding mistakes

‍

#1. Ignoring buyer's remorse

Buyer’s remorse, AKA post-purchase dissonance, doesn’t just happen after buying an expensive cream-colored couch or those flashy, limited edition shoes. It also occurs after companies sign off on the contract.

Like any high-stakes decision, hiring a marketing agency is a big commitment, which is why some clients start to second-guess their choice after the early buzz wears off.

The top reasons that new clients have buyer’s remorse:

• A messy handover from sales to operations 
• Reality did not match initial expectations
• Inconsistent communication that erodes trust early on

Remember, the clients you just signed probably considered two or three other agencies too. There is always a small chance that they’ll change their mind, even after they’ve agreed to work with you. 

👉 What to do instead

✅ Assign an accounts manager or point of contact whose priority is to nurture the new relationship, not execute on marketing work.

✅ Acknowledge when the contract has been signed and when payment has been made. Don’t make your client email you to ask if payment went through.

✅ Proactively educate and align expectations (see point #2), with regular check-ins, so doubts never get the chance to build.

‍

#2. Unclear expectations and boundaries

Leaving expectations vague is one of the quickest ways to lose a client’s trust. Results alone won’t protect the relationship.

As Sean Lang shared on the Agency Uplift podcast, his agency once delivered an 18x ROAS for months, only to be fired! 🤯Why? Because they skipped the foundations. 

There was no onboarding roadmap, no clear scope of work, and no structured communication cadence. To the client, the process was invisible, so the results felt like luck instead of strategy.

If you stripped away your results for a moment, would your client still feel confident in your process? Or would they struggle to explain what you actually do for them on a day-to-day basis?

If the answer is not a solid yes, the relationship is already fragile.

👉 What to do instead

✅ Start with weekly client strategy calls to build trust and rapport quickly. Once the relationship feels stable, move to biweekly check-ins. Clients who trust you won’t need constant reassurance later.

✅ Create SOPs for scope definition and client updates. Spell out what’s included in an update, how it should be communicated, and what to avoid. This removes ambiguity and keeps communication consistent across the team.

✅ Make the invisible work visible. Repeat the “obvious” steps, walk clients through your thinking, and turn your delivery into a narrative. 

‍

🔗 Related article: 27+ Questions to ask in your Agency Client Onboarding Questionnaire

‍

#3. No standardized onboarding process 

Many agencies fall into the “figure it out as you go” approach to onboarding. It works when you’re only handling a couple of new clients each month, but A-game agencies know that it quickly becomes a bottleneck if your goal is to scale. 

Without a repeatable, transparent process, onboarding drags out, ramp-up time slows, and clients forget most of what you’ve told them. In fact, research shows nearly 70% of information is lost within 24 hours of learning.

Is your agency set up to scale, or are you relying on a patchwork client onboarding process that won’t hold up under growth?

👉 What to do instead

✅ Build a repeatable client onboarding process that doesn’t rely on memory or improvisation. Record trainings, document steps, and create a client onboarding questionnaire so every client receives a clear and consistent start. 

✅ Use a week-by-week roadmap instead of overwhelming clients upfront. A simple timeline shows what happens in week one, week two, and beyond, so clients always know what’s coming next. This builds confidence and shortens the time it takes for them to see results.

✅ Test and refine your process until it’s “battle tested.” Phil Keil, Director of Paid Social at Taikun Digital, explains: “The most common onboarding mistakes can be avoided by having a really solid templated onboarding process that has been battle tested.”

‍

🔗 Related article: 6 Ways Agencies Can Automate Client Onboarding 

‍

#4. Taking too long to set up accounts and access sharing

Few things kill the excitement of a new client relationship faster than a messy access setup. As Travis Halff (founder of Y’all) put it, “Nothing sets the tone of a client kickoff quite like 15 back-and-forth emails over granting access to Meta and Google ads.”

Clients don’t care if the platforms are confusing—they only see an agency that looks disorganized and incompatible with how they want to work.

Think about it: if access takes a week or two, you’re already slipping into month two without impact. At that point, early enthusiasm has turned into frustration, and it might already be too late! 🫣

👉 What to do instead

✅ Frame access as part of your value, not admin work. Clients see every touchpoint as a reflection of your professionalism. If you handle access requests clumsily, they assume the rest of the relationship will be the same. Treat a smooth access setup as a first proof of competence.

✅ Assign ownership on your side. Don’t leave access chasing to whichever colleague happens to send the next email. Designate a team member to drive, track, and close the loop quickly.

✅ Anticipate common snags. Most delays happen because clients don’t know who holds admin rights or which logins exist. Build a simple checklist of “things to confirm before granting access” so you guide them past the roadblocks they don’t see coming.

‍

⚡ Bonus: Why not make it possible to get access to 13+ social, marketing, and analytics platforms in just a few clicks? With Leadsie, you send one secure link, your client follows the instructions, and you have access—no chasing logins or long email chains.

‍

#5. No buy-in on your agency’s way of working

One overlooked reason clients disengage at the start of the relationship is that they never bought into how your agency works. It’s not enough to explain your process over meetings and emails—clients need to believe it makes their life easier.

The moment client onboarding feels like homework, clients quietly check out.

As Halff shared, even when clients get stuck because platforms are confusing, they don’t blame Meta or Google; they assume the marketing agency doesn’t know how to make things simple.

It all comes down to this question: when your clients think about your process, do they feel relieved, or do they feel that you’ve added more administrative burden to them?

👉 What to do instead

✅ Co-create the project planning/roadmap. Instead of handing clients a rigid process, involve them in shaping timelines and deliverables during the kickoff. This makes your system feel like their system,  and clients are far more likely to follow a plan they had a hand in building.

✅ Turn behind-the-scenes effort into visible wins. Translate your day-to-day activities into simple updates that demonstrate progress: short Loom videos, milestone recaps, or even quick “here’s what we handled this week.” Clients need to see the value to buy into the process.

‍

#6. Rushing to impress with fast actions

Up to now, we’ve emphasized the importance of moving fast in onboarding. But there’s a difference between speed and hurry. 

Agencies often feel pressure to show quick wins right away. 

But as Rok pointed out, rushing to impress with fast actions without first mapping the client’s business model and goals is one of the quickest ways to lose trust.

Speed matters, but only if you’re fast at the right things. Clients don’t want a flurry of activity; they want to see you understand their world before you act in it.

👉 What to do instead

✅ Build a non-negotiable client onboarding checklist. Before launching a single campaign, ensure that you’ve completed the necessary marketing audits, mapped conversion funnels and tracking, reviewed ad spend budgets, and identified creative gaps. This creates confidence that your actions are rooted in data.

✅ Dedicate the first 1-2 weeks to alignment. Use this time for goal-setting and in-depth commercial analysis, even if it feels slower. Rok added that an upfront pause can save months of damage control later.

✅ Make strategy visible before execution. Share your audit findings and project planning with the client so they see why you’re making certain moves. Results without a visible process feel like luck, and luck isn’t a strategy.

‍

#7. Making major changes too quickly

If you’re taking over work from a previous agency (or freelancer) with a new client, it’s tempting to spot “mistakes” and point out things you’ll do differently. 

However, hold off on hyper-focusing on these details right at the start of a new client relationship. Major changes to campaigns and ad spend can introduce doubt and anxiety, even if you’re certain you know what you’re doing.

Phil told us that this is the second most frequent mistake he’s seen, right after account access issues. He bluntly states that sudden, sweeping changes are a “ticking time bomb” that can lead to losing your new client.

👉 What to do instead

✅ Don’t rush to change everything for existing campaigns at once. Yes, it can feel tempting to kick things off with a big bang. But think of it as a strategic pivot, not a rush to impress new clients. 

✅ Phil recommends building a roadmap and timeline that outlines potential changes. He explains, “This means the client can relax knowing everything is in control and knows when changes will be made.”

‍

#8. Metrics that don’t match business goals

One overlooked risk in client onboarding is assuming your clients will speak your language. 

Rok has seen this faux pas firsthand at his e-commerce paid ads agency. He shared how he inherited accounts where agencies had been optimizing for the wrong KPIs for three weeks. The client didn’t flag it—they trusted the agency knew best—but by the time results flatlined, the budget was gone and confidence in paid media had evaporated. 

Clients may not flag issues early because they assume you know better. That silence becomes a risk if misplaced, not safety.

👉 What to do instead

✅ Audit metrics alignment before launch. Don’t inherit KPIs blindly, even if the clients are insistent. Confirm with the client which numbers actually tie to revenue, margins, or growth, and scrap the rest.

✅ Frame KPIs as part of the client’s story. Don’t just share marketing metrics. Package results as business milestones: “This campaign lowered acquisition costs” lands better than “CTR improved 12%.”

✅ Check for silent misalignment, especially on vanity metrics. Never assume that no questions means clarity. Build in pulse checks, AKA ask clients to restate goals in their own words or walk through what they’re seeing in reports. If they can’t explain it, alignment isn’t there.

‍

💪 Don’t Let Account Access Requests Be Your Weakest Link

If there’s one thread running through all these mistakes, it’s that clients don’t just leave because of results—they leave because of how you made them feel at the start.

And one of the quickest ways to trigger that doubt? Struggling with something as basic as granting access. That’s where Leadsie makes onboarding painless (finally). 🤩

“We got a compliment recently on how ‘cool that tool was’ and how it took them max five minutes to onboard us. I even show it in pitches now. It’s a great way to prove that we make life easier for clients, not harder.”
-Travis (Y’all marketing agency)

Leadsie is a client onboarding software that simplifies requesting and giving access to marketing assets, social media, and ad accounts with one secure link. No passwords, no messy guides—just instant access to your clients’ or influencers' Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, Shopify, LinkedIn, and 13+ other platforms.

Don’t believe us? Marketing agencies using Leadsie say what used to take five or six back-and-forth emails now happens in one. That’s 80% fewer emails! (and 100% less frustration 😉)

Want to make access sharing instant too? Try Leadsie with a 14-day free trial on us, no credit card needed! 🎉