It’s the absolute worst part of agency life; it’s the he-who-must-not-be-named of the marketing profession. Losing a client, however, is sometimes inevitable. With the right offboarding strategy, your hard work won’t go to waste. Ensure your former client can access and utilize foundational work and key campaign documents. Best-case scenario, your client contact can maintain the marketing program, and might eventually return to your agency when the time is right.

1. HOW TO PART WITH A CLIENT
CLIENT OFFBOARDING 101

2. THE HE-WHO-MUST-
NOT-BE-NAMED OF
AGENCY LIFE
AKA: CLIENT CHURN
Image credit: Flickr Creative Commons.

3. THAT SAID, IT’S A NECESSARY EVIL.
With the right offboarding strategy, your hard work won’t go to waste.
Ensure your former client can access and utilize foundational work and key
campaign documents. Best-case scenario, your client contact can maintain
the marketing program, and might eventually return to your agency when
the time is right.

4. … BUT HOW?
Image credit: Flickr Creative Commons. Copy added.

5. 1. CLOSE THE LOOP ON SERVICES OWED AND RENDERED.
‣ Refer back to your contract. Does he or she pay for services in
advance of their delivery? Is there an early-cancellation condition?
‣ Settle up on what’s owed (to the agency or the client).
‣ Clearly communicate the status of remaining service.
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6. 2. PROVIDE ACCESS TO KEY CAMPAIGN DOCUMENTS.
‣ Deliver a running list of all strategic documents delivered over the
course of the partnership.
‣ Also provide all portal logins (username / password) that the
agency utilized during the partnership—even if you didn’t set up the
accounts.

7. 3. OFFER A STATUS UPDATE ON ALL PROJECTS UNDERWAY.
‣ Flag any projects or campaigns currently in the works. If you
provide blogging services, draft a list of headlines that have been
approved with a status note (e.g. outlined, drafted, etc.).
‣ If there are other weekly or daily undertakings that could fall
through the cracks (like social media activity), offer suggested next
steps during the transition to maintain momentum.
‣ Make clients aware of any running paid campaigns.
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8. 4. DRAFT A LIST OF ALL ACTIVE WORKFLOWS.
‣ Loop more than one contact in on published workflows in your
marketing automation system.
‣ To make the most of lead generation efforts, consider appointing
someone to check in on a weekly basis and follow up with new
contacts as needed.
‣ And, if the content is not evergreen, emphasis a campaign end
date to avoid stale (or outdated) email marketing.
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9. 5. ASK FOR FEEDBACK.
‣ When delivering all of the above resources, request a quick
offboarding call to answer any final questions and discuss overall
sentiment toward your agency’s services
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10. 6. ALWAYS SAY THANK YOU.
‣ Show appreciation,
‣ Connect on social channels to encourage an ongoing relationship
(if appropriate). After all, ultimate success is often tied to the
strength of our relationships.
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11. GOOD LUCK!