Onboard a new client: from adding them to their first report

The whole journey for an agency, in order, from connecting a client's store and accounts to its contract, its people and its first report.

6 min readUpdated 7 October 2026

This is the whole path from "we have a new client" to "the client is set up and getting reports", in the order it happens. Each step links to its own article with the detail. The example client is Fellwick, an online shoe brand on Shopify.

Before you start

Your agency is set up. If not, see Set up your agency.
Check you have room for another client: the free agency plan allows one. See How many clients can a free agency have?.
Know who at the client owns the Shopify store. Only someone who can install apps on the store can connect it.

A store connects to Fabrik Analytics only through the Shopify app: installed from the Shopify App Store, or opened from Apps in the store's Shopify admin. Nobody types a store address.

Ask Fellwick's store owner to install Fabrik Analytics from the Shopify App Store and approve the permissions Shopify shows.
Shopify sends them to Fabrik Analytics to create their login. The store's email address works best.
The workspace for Fellwick now exists and new orders are already arriving. Their own short setup opens next; they can finish it or leave the rest to you. See Install Fabrik Analytics from the Shopify App Store.

If Fellwick already uses Fabrik Analytics, skip this step.

Step 2. The client connects to your agency

Copy your Fabrik ID from Clients, Connections and send it to Fellwick.
Fellwick's owner enters it: on the sign-up form under Agency ID, in their setup under Already work with an agency?, or later in Settings, Team, on the Agency connection card, then Send request.
On Clients, Connections, choose Awaiting your approval and Approve.

Fellwick is now your client: it appears on Clients and every member of your staff can open it. See Connect a client to your agency.

If your agency is on a paid plan or its trial and Fellwick was paying for its own plan, that plan is cancelled and the unused part refunded.

Step 3. Finish the client's setup

Open Clients, then the Setup and health tab, and choose the button in Fellwick's Next column (Start, Resume or Review). Or use Needs you on your Home, which lists "Fellwick: setup not finished" until setup has been finished once. If Fellwick finished its own short setup before connecting, nothing shows on Needs you; open its setup from Setup and health to fill in the rest.
Work through the setup: Brand Details, Pixel & Tracking (accept the Data Processing Agreement so visits are recorded), Meta Ads, Google Ads, Klaviyo, Slack if your agency uses it, Targets, Intelligence Rules, Zoho Books and Team & Access.
On Summary choose Go to dashboard. This finishes setup and starts loading the last 12 months. Edit integrations later leaves without finishing.

The detail of each step is in Add a client. How the history loads is in How is my history loaded?.

Step 4. Connect the ad and email accounts

Meta Ads and Google Ads: choose Connect Meta or Connect Google Ads and sign in with a login that can see Fellwick's ad account, then pick the account. See Connect Meta Ads and Connect Google Ads.
Klaviyo: Fellwick, or anyone with access to its Klaviyo account, approves the connection. See Connect Klaviyo.

Step 5. Costs and targets

Add Fellwick's costs so the P&L shows real profit. See Add your costs.
Set monthly targets, for example net sales of 80,000 and ad spend of 16,000 for November. See Set monthly targets.

Step 6. Choose the account team

Open Fellwick, then Account, Account team. Add the people who work on Fellwick and choose the lead. They appear on Fellwick's Home as "Your team at" your agency. See Choose a client's account team.

Step 7. Give Fellwick's people access

Open Account, Access and choose Invite a client user for each colleague at Fellwick, with their role. See Give client users access.

Step 8. Set up the contract

Open Account, Contracts, New contract: for example a monthly retainer of 3,000 and 5% of net sales above each month's target, starting on the first of next month. See Set up a client contract.

Step 9. The first report

Create Fellwick's first report from Reports, or schedule a series so one is made every month, and choose who receives it. See Create a report, Schedule a recurring report series and Send a report by email or Slack.

What you will see when it is done

On Clients, Fellwick shows All syncing, and on Setup and health its integrations are lit.
Your Home no longer lists "setup not finished" for it.
Fellwick's own Home shows its figures, your team and its next report, with a Getting set up checklist for anything still open. See Use the setup checklist on Home.

Troubleshooting

The client installed the app before you added them, and now there are two Fellwicks: a store installed from the App Store is never attached to a client you created yourself. Email support@fabrik.ae with both names and we move the store onto the right one.
Approve shows a client limit message: your plan has no room. Upgrade from Billing in the menu under your name, then approve again.
Fellwick's request is not on Connections: check they entered your Fabrik ID, not their own. Ask them to look at the Agency connection card in Settings, Team: it shows the request and its status.

Frequently asked questions

Should the client install the Shopify app, or should we add them?

Whoever owns the store installs Fabrik Analytics from the Shopify App Store and creates their login. They then connect to your agency with your Fabrik ID and you approve. A store installed from the App Store is not attached to a client you added yourself, so let the client start it.

How long until the client's figures are complete?

New orders arrive as soon as the app is installed. The last 12 months load in the background once setup is finished, one platform at a time and newest days first. Recent weeks show within minutes; a large store's order history can take a couple of hours.

Does the client pay for Fabrik Analytics?

Not while your agency is on a paid agency plan or its free trial: your plan covers every connected client. On the free agency plan your one client stays on its own plan: a 14-day Pro trial from when its setup is finished, then Free, unless it chooses a plan.

What do the client's people see?

Their own brand, from Home: their figures, your team on their account, upcoming reports and what changed recently. They never see your contracts, commission, invoices or margin.

Which steps can wait?

Everything after the store and the agreement. Meta, Google Ads, Klaviyo, costs, targets, the contract and the first report can each be done later; the client's Home checklist and your Clients page show what is still open.

Who at the agency can do each step?

Approving a connection needs the owner, a director or a manager. Adding clients and running setup needs a role that can add clients, by default the owner, directors and account managers. Contracts need agency finance access, by default the owner, directors and the CFO.