Client Onboarding Template

What is a client onboarding template?

A client onboarding template is a structured document that defines the steps, milestones, and responsibilities involved in bringing a new customer from signed contract to active use. It captures the full onboarding journey — kick-off, configuration, data migration, training, and go-live — in a format that the customer success team follows consistently for every new account.

Client onboarding is where relationships are won or lost. A disorganised first 90 days creates doubt, delays value, and increases churn risk. When each onboarding follows a different ad-hoc plan, some customers succeed while others stall. A standardised template ensures every customer receives the same structured experience, milestones are tracked, and knowledge from previous onboardings improves the next one.

Who should use this template?

This template is for teams responsible for customer adoption and early-stage success:

• Customer Success Managers — manage the onboarding timeline, track milestones, and ensure the customer reaches first value on schedule
• Implementation Consultants — coordinate technical setup, configuration, and data migration according to the documented plan
• Account Executives — ensure a smooth handover from sales to customer success with all deal context transferred
• Training Leads — deliver onboarding training sessions aligned with the customer’s specific use case and rollout plan

What’s included in this template?

The template has two parts: structured metadata fields and the onboarding body.

Metadata fields classify each onboarding:

• Client name and contract reference
• Onboarding owner — the CSM responsible for the account
• Start date and target go-live date
• Onboarding status (kick-off, configuration, training, go-live, completed)
• Account executive for handover reference

Onboarding body covers the full journey:

• Sales handover — deal context, customer goals, technical requirements, and key stakeholders
• Kick-off agenda — objectives, timeline, roles, communication plan, and success criteria
• Configuration and setup — technical tasks, integration requirements, and data migration steps
• Training plan — sessions by audience (administrators, end users, champions) with dates and materials
• Milestone tracker — key dates with status, owner, and dependencies
• Go-live checklist — final validation steps before full rollout

How to create and customise this template in Elium

1. Open the Template Builder — Go to your profile menu and select the Template Builder tab, or click “+ Create” and choose “Create a new template”.
2. Set the scope — Choose an icon, enable the template, and decide whether it applies platform-wide or to specific spaces (e.g. Customer Success only).
3. Add structured fields — Click “Field” to add metadata: text fields for client name and contract reference, a user field for onboarding owner, date fields for start date and target go-live, a tag field for status (pre-populate with “Kick-off”, “Configuration”, “Training”, “Go-live”, “Completed”), and a user field for account executive. Mark client name and onboarding owner as mandatory.
4. Build the onboarding structure — Use the “+” button to add content blocks: text blocks for sales handover and kick-off agenda, a checklist block for configuration tasks, a table block for the training plan (columns: session, audience, date, status), a table block for milestone tracking, and a checklist block for the go-live checklist.
5. Preview and save — Review the template layout, then save. CSMs can now select it when starting a new onboarding, and you can apply it to existing content in bulk.

How AI helps you create and use this template

Capture faster. Paste the sales handover notes, contract details, and customer requirements into Elium’s AI. It generates a pre-populated onboarding plan with suggested milestones, configuration steps, and training sessions tailored to the customer’s size and use case.

Retrieve smarter. A CSM asks Elium’s AI: “How did we handle SSO configuration for enterprise clients with Azure AD?” The AI returns the specific setup steps and lessons learned from previous onboardings — so the team reuses proven approaches rather than solving the same problems repeatedly.

Why teams use Elium for client onboarding

Every onboarding generates knowledge — configuration decisions, integration workarounds, training feedback, and lessons learned. When this knowledge stays in project management tools or email threads, the next CSM starts from scratch. Elium centralises onboarding knowledge: structured templates ensure consistency, completed onboardings become a reference library, and AI-powered search lets CSMs find answers from past accounts instantly.

Organisations that document their onboarding process in Elium reduce time-to-value for new customers, improve retention by delivering a consistent first experience, and build a growing library of implementation knowledge that strengthens every future onboarding.