How to Automate Client Onboarding in Workast: Step-by-Step Guide

Client onboarding usually starts with a lot of small manual steps: collecting information, creating tasks, assigning the right people, setting deadlines, and making sure everyone knows what happens next.

With Workast, you can turn that process into an automated workflow. A client fills out one form, and Workast can create the task, organize the information, assign the work, create the onboarding checklist, and get everything ready for your team.

Here’s how to set it up:

Step 1: Create Your Sales Space

Start by creating a Space in Workast where you’ll manage new client leads. For example, you could create a Sales Space with lists like:

This gives every new client request a clear place to enter your workflow and makes it easy for your team to see where each onboarding stands.

Step 2: Create a Client Intake Form

Next, create a Workast Form to collect the information you need from every new client. Instead of gathering details across emails, Slack messages, documents, and calls, you can send clients one form. Depending on your business, you might ask for:

When a client submits the form, Workast automatically creates a task with their information. So instead of someone receiving the form and manually creating the project, your onboarding process has already started.

Step 3: Create an AI Workflow for New Clients

Now you can decide what Workast should do every time a new client enters your Space. Go to AI Workflows and create a workflow that runs when a new client intake task is created. For example, your workflow could instruct Workast to:

For a digital agency, the instructions could look something like this:

When a task is created, if it mentions 'Onboarding Form', analyze the task description. If it mentions Website Design:

- Add the tag 'Website'. - Assign the task to Sarah. - Set the main task due date to 2 business days after the task is created. - Create these subtasks: Review client requirements (due 1 business day after the task is created) + Contact the client to schedule a discovery call (due 2 business days after) + Prepare questions for the discovery call (due 2 business days after)

You don't need to automate the client's entire project in one workflow. The goal is to automate the repetitive setup your team normally has to do every time a new client arrives.

You can adapt these instructions to match your own services, team, and onboarding process.

What Happens When a New Client Submits the Form?

Once the form and workflow are ready, your team doesn't need to manually set up every new client.

When a client submits the intake form, Workast creates their task and the AI Workflow processes the information. In the example above, a Website Design client would automatically be tagged, assigned to Sarah, given a deadline, and provided with the first onboarding actions.

Your team opens Workast and finds the new client already organized and ready for the next step.

From Client Intake to Actionable Work

The complete process looks like this:

Client submits the intake form → Workast creates a task → AI Workflow analyzes the information → Client is categorized and assigned → Onboarding actions and deadlines are created

From there, you can build additional workflows as needed. For example, completing the kickoff call could trigger another workflow that creates the next set of tasks for the project.

You don't need one massive automation that handles everything. You can automate the repetitive steps throughout your process and let each completed action move the work forward.

Automate Your Own Client Onboarding

Every business has a different onboarding process. The form fields, assignments, tags, subtasks, deadlines, and workflow instructions can all be adapted to the way your team already works.

Once your setup is ready, every new client can enter the same organized process without your team rebuilding tasks and checklists from scratch.

Create your client intake form, connect it to an AI Workflow, and let Workast handle the repetitive setup.