20 Questions to Ask In Your Agency Client Onboarding Questionnaire

The client onboarding questionnaire is key to starting a business relationship off right.

While you may feel like celebrating and kicking back after crushing that sales pitch, the pressure is on more than ever. The client signed the contract, laid down their first payment, and now they want results.

However, in marketing, few things are instant. That's why you need to prove you're on top of your game by getting the ball rolling.

Let's dive into the process of creating an onboarding questionnaire. Then, we'll list out the best client onboarding questions you can have on your form.

What is a Client Onboarding Questionnaire?

A client onboarding questionnaire is a physical or digital form designed to collect information that's crucial to the success of a project.

When done right, your onboarding form should benefit both parties.

First, a questionnaire with well-articulated questions should give your client pause for consideration. The last things we want are overly-general answers. We want the brand owner to honestly reflect on their company's strengths and weaknesses.

No one is going to understand a company better than someone who works on the inside. They have a deeply vested interest in its success whether it be for personal or monetary gain. Coming to your agency should be a sincere request for professional assistance in achieving that goal.

With that in mind, you want your onboarding questionnaire to focus on key details such as:

• The company and its offerings
• The company’s mission, values, and approach to customers
• The primary business objective of a marketing service
• Competitor offerings & behaviors
• The ideal audience demographics

With these factors in mind, you have the bedrock for an excellent onboarding form. However, you can and should modify your form as necessary to consider the specific digital marketing services that the client is requesting from your agency. For instance, if you're designing client-focused onboarding questions for digital marketing services that highlight SEO strategies, incorporating an "SEO-focused intake form" can be invaluable. This ensures you gather all the essential insights needed to optimize search performance from the get-go.

Your onboarding form will help save time, guide the client on what they need to provide, and establish a permanent record. That way, you'll be able to fall back on their responses when it comes time to discuss progress and results.

Without further ado, let's dive into 20 of the best questions you can use to guide your initial client onboarding questionnaire.

The Best Client Onboarding Questions

1. Who is the primary point of contact at your company regarding your digital marketing services?

This will lay out a clear line of communication. You want the client to provide a name and their preferred method of contact. This helps you ensure that you can obtain a quick response at any time throughout your business relationship. It also helps you avoid bothering the wrong individuals during their regular responsibilities.

2. Does your company have existing marketing assets? (Logo, preferred fonts, color hex codes, images, etc.) If so, please upload them here.

A company that's prepared with its branding material is a godsend. It's a great indicator that your client has a clear image of their company and how they want you to present it. Getting your hands on these assets from the start will ensure that your creative team can get to work as soon as possible.

3. What is your primary business objective with our services? (brand awareness, lead generation, sales, remarketing, etc.) Select multiple if necessary.

You likely have a solid idea of this from the initial meetings with your client. Nevertheless, allow the client to reflect on what they truly hope to gain out of this business exchange. You'll have a record of the primary objective as well as any other tertiary goals that your team can strive to work toward.

4. What is your brand's unique value proposition for the consumer?

This question is critical for successful marketing. However, you'd be surprised how many companies fail to have a solid response to this question. No amount of marketing can help a brand avoid this question for good. After all, if someone at the company can't identify a reason to shop there, how can the consumer?

5. What are your core company values and your mission statement?

Asking this allows your team to gain a solid understanding of what the company represents to the public. Every brand should have an available statement as to what its company aims to provide to the consumer and the community. The values represent how the team might go about achieving that mission.

6. What everyday problems do your offerings help the consumer solve?

Many brands go about reciting a list of benefits that their products or services provided. While that's helpful, it's not the most direct way to win over a customer. Instead, ask the client to think about the everyday problems their average customer faces. Then, explain why the offerings address that problem directly.

7. What is your preferred manner of speaking with the consumer? (professional, humorous, laid-back, etc.)

Your client should help establish the tone of the marketing materials you create on their behalf. Help your team avoid any tonal confusion by establishing how your client wants to be viewed by the consumer in everyday interactions.

8. Describe your ideal buyer persona.

While the prior question describes how you should talk, this one explains who you should be talking to. The ideal buyer persona describes the individual that is most likely to benefit from and purchase the brand's offerings. Try to retrieve as much qualifying data such as demographics, habits, or related interests.

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9. What is your primary weakness as a business?

Time for some brutal, honest reflection. Every person and every company has a weakness. It's being honest about those failings that allow us to eventually overcome them. When your client describes company weaknesses, you can devise ways to address them and alleviate customer concerns through your marketing efforts.

10. What are the most common reasons you hear from customers that lead to lost sales?

The response will likely be a continuation of the last question. While the former asked the client what they thought, this question asks them to reflect on how well they are listening to the customer. Crafting a way to address customer complaints and concerns head-on is the best way to condition potential customers to convert.

11. What is the main reason that customers cite as motivation for being loyal?

After some tough self-assessment, your client gets to reflect on their quality aspects. Returning customers almost always have a consistent reason for sticking with a brand. This could be pricing, customer service, or product quality. You'll want this information so that you can highlight it as a strength.

12. What other demographics do you believe could benefit from your offerings?

The client may or may not have an idea of this. Of course, they're going to want to appeal to as many groups as possible. However, try to obtain some insight as to where you might be able to direct marketing efforts to expand the company's reach and grow.

13. Is your company active on social media? If so, please list your profile handles. If not, would you like us to create these for you?

Social media is vital for marketing in 2022. Whether you're leveraging sites like Facebook for paid ads or using Twitter to share content, there's a place for it in every brand's strategy.

Use your questionnaire to identify the correct social accounts for the brand. If they exist, you can review their social activity to gain a better understanding of their messaging. You can also identify strengths and weaknesses early for future improvements.

14. Do you have a website? If so, please list the URL. If not, would you like us to create one for you?

A quality business website is even more important than the former. Have your client list the URL for you, so that you might avoid locating the incorrect domain. On the other hand, it's important to identify the absence of a website early, so that you can sell the benefits of one to the customer for future project success.

15. Who are your primary competitors?

Now that we have a solid understanding of the client, it's time to attack the competition. Your agency needs to understand exactly who you're competing with so that you can plan your strategy. Understanding competitor strategies is going to be key to succeeding in a variety of digital marketing channels.

16. What do your competitors do better? What strengths do you hold over the competitor?

This may or may not tie back to the client's responses about their company's strengths and weaknesses. However, it's important to ask this in light of the direct competitor. It's vital to address the pros and cons head-on because the customer is going to research it themselves regardless.

17. What makes your product or service a superior choice over the competitor?

This helps your agency examine the key offering comparisons as opposed to a direct competitor comparison. We want to understand both the company as a whole and the actual offering being delivered to the consumer's hands.

18. Do you plan to utilize paid ad campaigns? If so, what is your expected monthly ad budget?

You may or may not have an idea if the client wants this based on your initial meetings. If paid ads are off the table, eliminate this from your onboarding. Otherwise, it's important to establish guidelines early on regarding anticipated ad spending. If there are any anticipated issues, you can hash them out before the paid ad work begins.

19. Can you reference other ads, websites, or marketing materials that you like? What features do they have that can benefit your brand?

We like this question as it can provide a better indication of the client's tastes. The better you can satisfy the client with your early drafts, the more likely you are to establish a trusting relationship moving forward.

20. Are you currently performing any marketing efforts in-house? (SEO, paid ads, blogs, etc.) If so, please describe them.

There's little sense in ignoring the client's hard work to date. This can tell you if the client has anything from a website blog, a Google Ads account, a Facebook Ads account, or anything else related to their online presence.

Creating an Onboarding Questionnaire

You can utilize any form-building software in existence such as Google Forms to craft your questionnaire. However, there are two unique methods of delivering onboarding to clients through the DashClicks platform.

Method 1 - Utilizing the Forms App

DashClicks features a proprietary forms builder software that allows you to build and publish customized forms.

You're able to create your queries, customize columns and rows, and modify a variety of style options. You can also send and manage form invitations from within the same platform. Finally, share the onboarding form directly with an embed, iFrame, or direct share link.

A free account grants you the ability to create one form with the drag-and-drop builder. There's no cap on the number of form submissions you can track, while many other providers set limits based on your existing plan.

You may also resend lost invitations and cancel pending invites at any time.

Method 2 - Automated Onboarding with White-Label Fulfillment

This method is not for everyone as it focuses on agencies looking to benefit from our white label fulfillment services.

Account owners get access to our fulfillment store. This allows you to purchase essential digital marketing services such as Facebook Ads or Social Posting for your client.

When purchasing a service, our system automatically sends the appropriate onboarding forms to the requested party. We can send the white-labeled form to your client or send it to your email directly. Clients and agencies alike enjoy this as it means even less for the client to do, leading to a better first impression.

You can then track and revisit onboarding forms at any time directly through your account's project management software.

If you want to expand your agency's offerings, and want to avoid the hassle of going back and forth with onboarding, this method is for you.

Build Your Ideal Client Onboarding Questionnaire

The client onboarding questionnaire is a necessary form to get your business relationships off on the right foot. You eliminate the guesswork and let the client know exactly what your agency needs to get the job done right.

If you're looking for an easy-to-use form builder, sign up to DashClicks now and take advantage of the free Forms app. If you don't like it, you're free to log out and take advantage of the numerous form builders around the web.

As a final note, don't be afraid to play around with the suggested question format. If your agency is selling a particular marketing service or package to the client, shift the questions to capture the necessary key details. These 20 questions are meant to serve as a guideline that helps identify essential facts that are meaningful for every business-marketer relationship.