How We Built an End-to-End Client Onboarding System on Make.com

The before-state: five tools and endless checklists

CS managers tracked onboarding in spreadsheets. Contracts lived in PandaDoc, billing in Stripe, training in a small LMS, and tasks in ClickUp. Clients waited days for kickoff because payment checks, access provisioning, and training invites were hand-triggered. Leadership wanted a predictable, time-to-value-focused onboarding machine without hiring more coordinators.

Objectives we set

• Cut time-to-value by 30%+ without adding headcount.
• Eliminate manual status chasing and duplicate data entry.
• Give execs live visibility into stage, owners, and blockers.
• Keep PII and payment data out of prompts; stay SOC2-aligned.

Architecture on Make.com

Step-by-step build

1) Contract signed → single source of truth

When PandaDoc status flips to “completed,” Make grabs the contract metadata (plan, seats, start date), enriches the company via Clearbit, and updates HubSpot. A deal property marks “Onboarding: In Progress” and captures the SLA timer.

2) Billing and risk checks

We create the customer and subscription in Stripe, apply tax settings, and store the Stripe ID back in HubSpot. If payment status is pending, a Make scenario polls Stripe every 10 minutes for 90 minutes, then escalates to finance if still unpaid.

3) Access and provisioning

Make calls internal APIs to provision the app workspace, add default roles, and generate secure invite links. Access lists are logged in ClickUp for auditability. No credentials ever touch prompts; secrets live in Make’s vault.

4) Training paths and comms

We map users to role-based LMS tracks, send invites, and schedule kickoff via Calendly with a CS lead. Slack channel gets created with the CSM, AM, and onboarding specialist, seeded with “Day 1” context and a checklist link.

5) Milestones, alerts, and SLAs

Make posts each milestone to Slack with who/what/when, updates HubSpot timeline events, and writes stage times to ClickUp for reporting. If a stage exceeds its SLA (e.g., training not started in 3 days), it pings the owner with a remediation CTA.

Results after 60 days

• Time-to-value dropped 38% (median from 21 days to 13 days).
• 22 hours/week of coordination removed across CS and ops.
• NPS during onboarding rose from 41 to 50 (+9) by end of quarter.
• Kickoff scheduling time fell from 2.4 days to same-day in 72% of cases.

Playbook you can reuse

1. Set SLAs per stage (contract, billing, access, training, first value).
2. Centralize truth in your CRM; write every ID back (Stripe, LMS, app).
3. Instrument milestones; alert on SLA breaches, not feelings.
4. Keep humans for high-touch moments: kickoff, QBR framing, escalations.
5. Version prompts and email/SMS copy in Git; Make only references them.

Security and data handling

We avoided sending PII or payment data to any LLM. Make scenarios use environment-scoped credentials and log redactions. Audit logs feed into ClickUp; secrets stay in Make vault. If you’re SOC2-bound, keep a simple DPA + change log.

Timeline

• Week 1: Discovery, SLA definition, data mapping.
• Week 2: Build contract → billing → CRM → access flows; pilot on one segment.
• Week 3: Add training tracks, Slack automation, and alerts; expand to 70% volume.
• Week 4: Hardening, runbooks, rollback path; 100% cutover.

If you want this outcome

Start with contract and billing as the truth, then automate provisioning and training. Measure stage times, not tasks. Keep a manual override lane for VIP accounts. We can stand this up in about four weeks for most B2B stacks.