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Template. You can change anything about this app by describing it in its build chat. See App templates.
Send new clients a step-by-step onboarding form they complete in your client experience. Their progress saves as they go, so they can stop and pick up where they left off. Your team sees every onboarding in one list, with each client’s answers and files, and is notified when a client finishes or stalls. Category: Onboarding · Used by: your team and your clients · Works with: CRM

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Features

  • A ready-to-send form, Standard onboarding, with five steps: Welcome, Your details, Goals, Communication, and Documents
  • A form builder with steps, question types (short text, paragraph, email, phone, number, date, dropdown, multiple choice, checkboxes, and file upload), and content blocks (text, callout, image, and video)
  • Several forms, with one set as the default for new onboardings
  • Onboardings for a single client or a whole company, where everyone in the company fills in one shared form
  • Four statuses: Not started, In progress, Stalled, and Completed
  • A list with a count for each status, filters by client or company, and sortable columns for form, status, progress, last activity, and assignee
  • Automatic saving, so clients return to the step they left
  • Each onboarding’s answers and uploaded files in one place, with a PDF download
  • Reopening a completed onboarding with a reason the client sees
  • An Onboardings section on each client’s and company’s CRM profile

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How to use it

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For your team

  1. Open the app and click Start onboarding.
  2. Under Recipient, pick a client or a company. Picking a company gives everyone in it one shared form to fill in together.
  3. Under Form, pick the form to send. The default form is selected for you. Choose New form to build one first.
  4. Optionally, under Assignee (optional), pick the team member who owns this onboarding.
  5. Click Start onboarding. The client is notified and the onboarding appears in your list as Not started.
Each client or company can have only one active onboarding at a time. To send a new one, archive the existing one first.You can also start an onboarding from a client’s or company’s CRM profile: open the Onboardings section, pick a Form, and click Start onboarding.
  1. From the actions menu at the top of the app, choose Edit onboarding form.
  2. Use the form switcher to pick a form, or click New form to create one.
  3. Click Add step, give the step a Name and an optional description, then click Add field to add questions or content. Mark a question Required if clients must answer it to continue.
  4. Switch to Preview to see the step the way your client will.
  5. Click Save form. Changes also save automatically as you work.
From a form’s menu you can Duplicate, Rename, Set as default, Archive, or Delete it. The default form can’t be archived or deleted. Set another form as the default first. Archived forms can’t be sent until you restore them.
The status cards at the top of the list show how many onboardings are in each status. Click a card to filter the list to it. Use the filter to narrow by client or company, and turn on Show archived to include archived onboardings.An onboarding moves to In progress when the client completes its first step. It’s marked Stalled after seven days with no client activity, and goes back to In progress as soon as the client picks it up again.
Click an onboarding to open it. You see its progress, when it was started, its last activity, and when it was completed or reopened, and every step with the client’s answers and uploaded files, which you can preview or download. Click Download PDF to save a copy.You can change the Assignee at any time. You can change the form only while the onboarding is still Not started.
A completed onboarding is locked for the client. To let them change their answers:
  1. Open the onboarding and click Reopen onboarding.
  2. Enter a Reason. It’s required, and the client sees it.
  3. Click Reopen and notify. The client gets an email with your reason, and can edit and resubmit the form.
Open an onboarding and click Archive onboarding to hide it from the client and from your list. Turn on Show archived to find it, then click Restore onboarding to bring it back.Delete permanently removes the onboarding, including all answers and uploaded files. This can’t be undone.

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For your clients

Clients open the app in your client experience and see their form one step at a time, with their place in the form, such as “Step 2 of 5”, shown at the top. They answer the questions, upload any files, and click Continue to move to the next step, or Back to return to the previous one. Required questions must be answered before they can continue.Answers save automatically. Clients can leave and come back later, and they return to the step they left. If they have more than one onboarding, they pick one from Your onboardings.
On the last step, the client clicks Submit. Their answers are then locked, and they see a summary of what they submitted. They can click Download PDF to keep a copy.If your team reopens the form, the client sees Your onboarding was reopened with your reason, and can update their answers and submit again.
Clients only see onboardings sent to them or to their company. They never see archived onboardings.

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Notifications

  • When you start an onboarding, the client, or every client in the company, gets an email and an in-product notification.
  • When you reopen an onboarding, the client gets an email and an in-product notification with your reason. Restoring an archived onboarding that isn’t finished sends an in-product notification only.
  • When a client completes an onboarding, your team gets an email and an in-product notification.
  • When an onboarding stalls after seven days without client activity, your team gets an email and an in-product notification. The check runs when someone on your team opens the app.
  • When a stalled client picks it up again, your team gets an in-product notification.
Team notifications go to the onboarding’s assignee. If no one is assigned, every team member who has access to that client or company is notified. To change who’s notified or what the messages say, see Configuring notifications.

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Set it up

1

Add the template

Click Add App in the Dashboard sidebar. Find Client onboarding under Start from a template, or scroll down to Browse all apps and pick the Onboarding filter.
2

Try it as your team

The app lands in your sidebar as a draft. Review the Standard onboarding form, then start an onboarding for your test client.
3

Check the client side

In the builder’s Client view, pick your test client, fill in a few steps, leave, come back, and submit the form.
4

Publish it

Publish the app with visibility set to Hidden from all people, or on plans with custom visibility, limited to your test client. Sign in as your test client to try it in the real client experience, then make it visible to the clients who should use it. See Launching apps.

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Change it with the app builder

This app is a template, so you can change anything about it by describing what you want.
1

Open the build chat

Open Client onboarding from your Dashboard sidebar, click its name at the top, then click Switch to builder.
2

Describe the change

Write what you want the way you’d ask a teammate. Say who it’s for and where it shows up, such as your team’s onboarding list or the client’s form.
3

Check the preview

The app builder makes the change and updates the preview. Switch between Team view and Client view to check both sides, and pick a client to see it as them.
4

Publish

Click Publish when you’re happy. Until you do, your clients keep seeing the last published version.
Changes people often make to this template:
  • “Add a step that collects each client’s billing details”
  • “Mark an onboarding as stalled after three days instead of seven”
  • “Email the client a reminder when their onboarding stalls, not just my team”
  • “Only show the Documents step if the client picks Compliance as a goal”
  • “Add a due date to each onboarding and flag the overdue ones in the list”
  • “Start an onboarding automatically for every new client”
See Iterating on apps for how to describe changes well and how to go back to an earlier version. To rename the app, or change who can see it and how it notifies people, click its name at the top and choose Rename app or Manage app.

Client intake form

Collect scope, goals, budget, and timeline from new clients

Document collector

Request documents from clients with an upload checklist
View this template on assembly.com