Client Onboarding Flow
Overview
The Client Onboarding Flow is the bridge between a new contact on the contractor's website and a fully onboarded customer in the CRM — with a signed contract and payment method on file. It handles everything in four steps, designed to be completed by the customer on their phone with minimal friction.
The contractor's website is the entry point: a contact form, a booking widget, or a referral landing page captures the initial inquiry and creates a lead. From there, the contractor sends a portal invite and the customer moves through a guided sequence — no PDFs to print, no checks to mail, no back-and-forth email chains.
Every step is tracked in the CRM. The contractor can see exactly where each new customer is in the flow and send reminders with one tap if someone stalls out.
The 4 Steps
Step 1 — Portal Invite Contractor reviews the lead in CRM and sends a portal invite via SMS or email. The invite contains a unique link to the customer portal. No account required yet — just a secure, one-time-use link.
Step 2 — Account Creation Customer clicks the link, sets up their portal account (name, email, password or magic link), and lands on their dashboard. Their lead information is pre-populated.
Step 3 — Estimate Review Customer reviews the estimate the contractor has prepared — scope of work, line items, total. They can ask questions through the portal's built-in messaging. Approval is a single tap.
Step 4 — Contract + Payment After approving the estimate, the customer signs the service agreement digitally and adds a payment method (card or ACH). Job is created automatically in the CRM on completion.
CRUD Reference
| Object | Create | Read | Update | Delete |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portal Invite | ✅ | ✅ | — | ✅ |
| Customer Account | ✅ (customer) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Estimate | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Contract / Signature | ✅ | ✅ | — | — |
| Payment Method | ✅ (customer) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Onboarding Status | auto | ✅ | auto | — |
Notes
Portal invites expire after 7 days by default — configurable in CRM settings. Contractors can resend invites from the lead record at any time. The estimate must be created and attached before a portal invite will include the estimate review step. Digital signatures are legally binding e-signatures compliant with ESIGN Act and UETA. Payment card data is tokenized via Stripe — the CRM never stores raw card numbers.