The Client Onboarding Checklist (Copy) (Copy)

This is the master checklist for onboarding a digital marketing client. You may not need everything in this list, but going through will ensure that nothing is missed.

In the "Name this Checklist" box, insert the client's business.

Foundation Elements:

Create a Basecamp for the client

Get the client's technical / website contact details

Get the client's branding elements

Set up Google Analytics (or gain access)

Set up Google Tag Manager (or gain access)

Set up Facebook Ads and the Facebook Page (or gain access)

Set up Google AdWords (or gain access)

Set up LinkedIn Ads (or gain access)

Set up AdRoll (or gain access)

Set up Unbounce

Set up MouseFlow

Gain access to the client's blog (if needed)

Set up Hootsuite and social media accounts (if needed)

Gain access to the client's email sending software (if needed)

Complete the campaign map

Foundation Elements:

There are a few "first steps" that create the accounts and code you will need for other onboarding tasks.

Create a Basecamp for the client

Everything we do for our clients lives inside of Basecamp.

The first step is to create a new Basecamp for the client. Name it using our naming format:

[Client] Client Business Name

Get the client's technical / website contact details

Answer this question: who do you contact if you need code placed on the website?

Who is in charge of changing domain names to use with Unbounce?

If Gravytrain is responsible for everything, no problem. Who do we contact when we need a username and password for something?

Do not proceed further until you know who the client's technical contact is. Document this person and their email/phone in the "Docs & Files" section in the client's Basecamp.

Get the client's branding elements

1

High-resolution logo
2

Corporate font or typeface
3

Color palette
4

Style guidelines or branding guidelines
5

Company photos, stock photos, icons

Set up Google Analytics (or gain access)

It's likely that the client will already have their own Google Analytics installation. If not, Erik can build a new GA install and assign you access.

Regardless of the above, you must create separate working views as a best practice. This is explained below.

If the client already has GA:

1) Visit https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009702?hl=en so that you can provide detailed instructions to the client.

2) Have [email protected] added via "User Management" in the "ACCOUNT" section. If the client has other accounts we're not working with, or if they prefer to keep some stuff hidden, then we can use the "PROPERTY" section. As long as it includes the client's website, we're good.

NOTE: Don't have your personal email added. Have [email protected] added and then task Erik with adding your email.

3) Ensure the permissions are "Manage Users, Edit, Collaborate, Read & Analyze" as seen below.

If the client does not have GA:

1) Task Erik in Basecamp to create a new Google Analytics account for the client. If you have any specific requests or customizations for GA, let him know in the task.

Before you do anything else:

1) At least two new views must be created for each property. There's a max of 25 so this isn't a problem.

2) Create one view that is made to be left alone. No filters or anything should ever be done to this view. Label it accordingly.

3) Create one view that is meant to be edited. Label it accordingly.

4) Make a mental note to create additional views if you are going to be using a significant number of filters. Once data is filtered out, it is lost forever.

Here's an example of what this might look like.

Set up Google Tag Manager (or gain access)

Rather than pasting a whole bunch of pixels in the client's website and in Unbounce, we use Google Tag Manager to get everything nice and clean.

If the client has their own GTM, you must request access to it: https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/6107011

If not, ask Erik to create the master client account and assign you access to it.

If you are unsure if they have GTM, then load the client's main website. Press "CTRL-U" to view the page source, and "CTRL-F" for find. Search for tagmanager or googletagmanager. If it's present, then they have GTM installed.

The remainder of these instructions will assume that we're installing GTM for the first time.

Once you're inside of GTM, you'll need to copy and paste the GTM code into the client's website.

Login to https://tagmanager.google.com
Click the client's container name
Click "Admin" at the top to access the administration menu
Click "Install Google Tag Manager" in the "Container" menu.

NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT CONTAINER IF THERE IS MORE THAN ONE!

The code you copied will be used in at least two places. The first place is the client's website, somewhere inside of the HTML <head> and </head> tags. A good practice is to place it right above the closing </head> tag.

You'll either delegate this to the client's technical contact, or you'll do it yourself. Either way, you'll need to figure this out. Ask Erik if you can't.

The second place you'll likely use this is in the Unbounce script manager. This is done on the "DOMAIN" level.

NOTE: you can only do this AFTER you have set the client's domain up in Unbounce. However, the steps are below.

Login to Unbounce and click "Domains" on the left side
To the right of the client's domain, you'll click the gear icon.
Click "Add script to domain" and "+ Add a Script" at the bottom of the window.
Select "Custom Script" from the dropdown box - NOT GOOGLE TAG MANAGER! Name the script "Google Tag Manager", "GTM" or something similar.
On the next page, select "Head" from the Placement dropdown.
Select "Main Landing Page + Form Confirmation Dialog" from the Included On dropdown.
Paste the Google Tag Manager code into the box.
Ensure the client's domain is selected. Click "Save and Publish Script"

In step 8 you MUST ensure you have the correct domain checked off. Don't be the person who installs GTM across clients. It will mess up Analytics, conversion tracking and pixels for both!

You should be done! Now you can move on to setting up GTM and testing to ensure it's working properly.

Set up Facebook Ads and the Facebook Page (or gain access)

It's likely that the client already has a Facebook Page. You'll have to make a request to gain access to this.

It's our best practice to create our own Facebook Ads account for each client. This is to ensure that we're working inside of our own environment and that no issues arise from multiple people accessing the same account.

If the client is an experienced Facebook advertiser with a significant spend, you may find that their custom audience and pixel data is valuable. If you feel that is the case, chat with Erik.

Obtaining a Facebook Ads Account

1) Task Erik in the client's Basecamp with a task to create a new FB Ads account.

Requesting Facebook Page Access from the Client

1) Login to https://business.facebook.com

2) On the left hand menu, click "Request Access" and select "Page"

3) Type in the name of the client's page. If they are new or have a small number of likes it might not show up. In this case, visit the client's Facebook Page and copy the ID from the browser address bar. Paste that in the box instead. Ensure you're requesting access to the correct page.

4) Select the "Page Editor" role as your desired role. You can request "Page Admin" but for Gravytrain's purposes we don't need it.

5) The client will receive a Facebook notification asking them to approve the request the next time they login.

6) Once they approve, you might have to assign yourself a role to see the page in your Business Manager feed. In Business Manager, click "Business Settings" on the left, then "Pages".

7) You should see the client's page in the list of Facebook Pages. Select the page and click "Add People" on the upper right to assign yourself a role.

Creating a New Facebook Page on the Client's Behalf

If the client doesn't have a FB Page, you'll have to create one. Follow the instructions at https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/

Set up Google AdWords (or gain access)

As with Facebook Ads, it's our best practice to create our own Google AdWords account for each client. This is to ensure that we're working inside of our own environment and that no issues arise from multiple people accessing the same account.

If the client is an experienced Google advertiser with a significant spend, you may find that their keyword, ad set and conversion data is valuable. If you feel that is the case, chat with Erik.

Obtaining a Google AdWords Account

1) Determine if Google AdWords advertisements are likely to be used in the first 3 months of client work.

2) If so, task Erik in the client's Basecamp with a task to create a new Google AdWords account. He will assign you access.

Set up LinkedIn Ads (or gain access)

As with Facebook Ads, it's our best practice to create our own LinkedIn Ads account for each client. This is to ensure that we're working inside of our own environment and that no issues arise from multiple people accessing the same account.

If the client is an experienced LinkedIn advertiser with a significant spend, you may find that their past data is valuable. If you feel that is the case, chat with Erik.

Obtaining a LinkedIn Ads Account

1) Determine if LinkedIn Ads advertisements are likely to be used in the first 3 months of client work.

2) If so, task Erik in the client's Basecamp with a task to create a new LinkedIn Ads account. He will assign you access.

Set up AdRoll (or gain access)

Obtaining the AdRoll Pixel

1) Determine if retargeted display advertisements are likely to be used in the first 3 months of client work.

2) If so, task Erik in the client's Basecamp with a task to create a new AdRoll pixel. He will assign you access.

Set up Unbounce

Setting Up Unbounce

1) Determine if landing pages are likely to be used in the first 3 months of client work.

2) If so, task Erik in Basecamp with creating a new domain for the client. Please specify the domain (for example, try.client.com or info.client.com, etc.)

3) Create a new group for the client's landing pages. Follow the (CLIENT) Clientname structure.

4) Task the client's technical contact with modifying the domain name. A sample email is below.

5) Insert your Google Tag Manager code into the script manager. If you would like the same GTM code used on all Unbounce pages for a client, task Erik in Basecamp. Provide the GTM code and the client name.

Hi Chad,

I trust your day is well. In order to set up your advertisement landing pages with Unbounce we need to make a small change to the PayVida domain name at (The domain registrar, i.e. GoDaddy).

Can you please add a CNAME record for try.payvida.ca and point it to unbouncepages.com?

There's a quick how-to guide for GoDaddy CNAME records here: https://ca.godaddy.com/help/add-a-cname-record-19236

So for our purposes, "alias name" would be try
"Points to host name" would be unbouncepages.com

That should be it! Please let me know if there's any way I can assist.

Set up MouseFlow

Setting Up MouseFlow

1) Determine if landing pages are likely to be used in the first 3 months of client work.

2) If so, task Erik in Basecamp with creating a new MouseFlow account for the client.

3) Erik will respond with a copy of the MouseFlow tag code. This code should be run through Google Tag Manager as a page load tag, similar to Google Analytics.