Clients should know where to ask questions and when they will hear from the agency. A communication plan prevents urgent requests from disappearing in scattered messages and keeps routine updates from turning into constant meetings.
Agree on four things at kickoff
Choose a primary contact on each side, a channel for requests, a place for decisions and a regular update time. Set response expectations your team can meet. Specify how a true emergency is reported and what counts as one. Different clients can have different arrangements, but each project needs one written plan.
Copy this communication plan
Client contact: [Name and backup]
Agency contact: [Name and backup]
Request channel: [Portal, project tool or email address]
Decision record: [Document or project thread]
Routine update: [Day, frequency and format]
Monthly review: [Date, participants and purpose]
Normal response window: [Working hours and time zone]
Urgent issue channel: [Method and eligible situations]
Approval deadline: [As set in the project plan]
| Message type | Channel | Owner | Expected next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| New work request | [Channel] | [Name] | Acknowledge and assess scope |
| Draft feedback | [Channel] | [Name] | Consolidate and decide |
| Incident | [Channel] | [Name] | Triage and update |
| Monthly report | [Channel] | [Name] | Review results and next actions |
Write a useful weekly update
Keep it to five parts: work completed, work in progress, decisions needed, risks and next dates. Name an owner for every requested decision. A green status with an unanswered client approval is misleading; show the dependency plainly.
Illustrative example: “The landing page draft is ready. We need your approval of the product claims by Thursday. Without that decision, the scheduled design review on Monday will move. Alex owns the next update.”
Keep meetings for decisions
Send the status update before a meeting so people can read it. Use meeting time to resolve blockers and agree on tradeoffs. End with a short decision log. If the same issue is discussed repeatedly, the written owner or approval process is probably unclear.
Review the cadence
After the first month, ask whether updates are too frequent, too sparse or missing the facts clients need. Track unanswered requests and missed approvals. Change one part of the process at a time and communicate the new expectation.
Connect this plan to the kickoff agenda and client feedback process.
Editorial notes — remove before publication
Response windows are placeholders. Adapt them to team capacity and signed service terms; verify links.