Agency playbook: onboarding clients on a white-label chatbot platform

Updated 2026-09-19 · 5 min read · By the Convo360 team

Why onboarding needs a checklist

An agency running five or ten white-label clients on one platform can't afford to reinvent the setup process each time. A repeatable checklist means junior team members can onboard a client correctly, clients get a consistent experience regardless of who handled their account, and nothing important, like connecting the client's own keys, gets missed under deadline pressure.

It also protects the agency commercially. Skipping BYOK setup and quietly using the agency's own AI or WhatsApp credentials for a client, even temporarily 'to save time', quickly turns into the agency absorbing that client's usage cost indefinitely. A checklist with BYOK as a hard gate before go-live avoids this.

A checklist also makes it easier to price the work consistently. When every client goes through the same five stages, the agency can quote a standard setup fee for a single-channel client and a clearly higher one for multi-channel or custom knowledge-base work, instead of guessing at scope each time a new prospect asks for a quote.

Stage one: discovery

Before opening the platform, run a 30-minute discovery call covering:

• Which channels matter: WhatsApp, website, Instagram, voice, and current message or call volume.
• The main use case: lead capture, support deflection, appointment booking, order updates.
• Whether they already have a WhatsApp Business number and Meta Business Manager, or need help setting one up from scratch.
• Who will own AI provider keys: the client directly, or does the agency need to walk them through creating one.
• Any existing tools to migrate from: a spreadsheet CRM, an old chatbot, or a platform like uChat.

Write this into a short brief before proceeding. It becomes the reference for every step after, and the document you point back to if scope creeps later.

Stage two: template and flow setup

Start from the closest match in the Template Store: a salon booking agent, a real estate lead-capture bot, a restaurant reservation flow, rather than building from a blank canvas. This alone saves hours and gives the client something recognisable to react to and refine, instead of an abstract flow diagram they can't picture in use.

Customise the system prompt, knowledge base and templates to the client's actual business, then walk through Preview / Try-it together on a follow-up call so the client sees it working before launch, not just described in a proposal document.

Stage three: BYOK keys and channel connection

Because Convo360 runs on BYOK, the client's own OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini key, their own WhatsApp number via embedded signup, and their own telephony account (if voice is included) all need to be connected under the client's own billing. This is the single most important step to get right. It means the agency never carries theclient's usage cost, and the client owns their WABA outright, which matters if they ever switch agencies.

A short table helps keep this stage from being skipped mid-project:

Document exactly which keys were connected and by whom, and where the client can find them later, in case a key needs rotating.

Stage four: wallet funding and pricing

Under the partner program, the client's platform access is billed through a prepaid wallet, topped up by the agency or the client depending on your commercial arrangement. Partner pricing itself is set between the agency and Convo360 and isn't published, so quote your own client pricing based on your agreed margin, and confirm with the client upfront whether wallet top-ups are the agency's responsibility or theirs.

Set a low-balance alert before launch so the client's bot never goes down mid-month because a wallet ran dry unnoticed. See /docs/reseller/ and /docs/billing/ for how wallet billing and GST invoicing work.

Stage five: handover and monthly review

Give the client a short written handover: what the bot does, what it doesn't do yet, how to view conversations, and who to contact for changes. This single document prevents most confused support tickets in week one, since clients otherwise message the agency for things the bot's own dashboard already answers.

Then schedule a recurring monthly review: check Analytics for conversation volume and drop-off points, review Flow Logs for dead ends the bot hit, and propose one or two improvements. This is what turns a setup fee into an ongoing retainer, and it gives the agency a natural, low-pressure moment to discuss adding a new channel or workflow.

Keep the handover document itself short: a single page covering scope, limits and contact details reads better than a long manual most clients will never open. If the client wants more detail later, point them to the relevant page in /docs/getting-started/ rather than duplicating platform documentation inside the handover.

A simple onboarding calendar

Most agencies find a two-week rhythm realistic for a single-channel client, longer for multi-channel or custom knowledge-base work:

Sticking to a fixed calendar, rather than an open-ended 'we'll get to it', is what makes onboarding scale past the agency's first few clients.

Step by step

1. Run a discovery callMap channels, use case and who owns AI/WhatsApp keys before opening the platform.
2. Install a matching Template Store agentStart from the closest industry template and customise it rather than building from scratch.
3. Connect the client's BYOK keysSet up their own AI provider key, WhatsApp number and telephony account under their billing.
4. Fund the client's walletTop up the workspace wallet per your agreed commercial arrangement with the client.
5. Deliver a written handoverSummarise what the bot does, its limits, and who to contact for changes.
6. Schedule a monthly reviewCheck Analytics and Flow Logs monthly and propose improvements to keep the retainer active.

Example conversation

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