Client Onboarding from a Form with n8n + Claude (free workflow)

What this workflow does

Stop doing the same onboarding admin for every new client. Send your client one form link. The moment they fill it in, this workflow makes their own Google Drive folder and shares it with them, writes a warm welcome email in their language with Claude, saves a project brief as a Google Doc in their folder, adds them to your client tracker in Google Sheets and emails you a short brief with questions for the kickoff call. If the client hasn't booked the kickoff after two days, they get one friendly reminder.

1. New Client Onboarding Form asks for name, company, email, phone, service, goals, launch date and useful links. Workflow Configuration holds your business name, booking link and timing.
2. Clean Up Client Details tidies the answers. Find Existing Client and Is This a New Client? check the tracker by email, so a client who fills the form twice doesn't get a second folder. Tell Me About Returning Client emails you instead.
3. Create Client Folder makes a folder named "Company - Client name" in your Clients folder, and Share Folder with Client gives the client access (editor by default) without Google's own notification email.
4. Write Welcome Email with Claude returns a subject, a 3 to 5 sentence welcome, a team brief, a list of things to ask on the kickoff call and a kickoff agenda. If Claude fails, Use Standard Welcome Email takes the error output and a standard welcome goes out instead.
5. Prepare Onboarding Package puts everything in one place. Save Project Brief to Folder creates a Google Doc in the client's folder, Add Client to Tracker adds a row with Status "Waiting for kickoff", Send Welcome Email to Client sends the welcome with the folder and booking links, and Send New Client Brief to Me sends you the brief.
6. Every Morning at 9 AM reads clients still waiting. Keep Clients Waiting Too Long keeps those added 2 or more days ago who haven't had a reminder, Send Kickoff Reminder to Client sends one short note and Mark Reminder as Sent makes sure it's only ever sent once.

Who it is for

Marketing and web agencies, freelancers, consultants, coaches, designers, video editors, accountants, interior designers and any service business that onboards a few clients a week.

What you need

• n8n (Cloud or self-hosted)
• Google account with Drive, Sheets and Gmail
• Anthropic API key (one onboarding costs a fraction of a cent)
• A booking link for kickoff calls
• n8n (cloud or self-hosted)

The workflow, step by step

Step 1 · Form or daily check

A client submits the form, or the 9 AM check starts. Both read Workflow Configuration, then the switch picks the path.

• New Client Onboarding Form (n8n Form)
• Every Morning at 9 AM (Schedule)
• Workflow Configuration (Set)
• New Client or Daily Check? (Switch)

Step 2 · Duplicate check

Looks up the email in the tracker. A returning client gets no new folder; you get an email instead.

• Clean Up Client Details (Set)
• Find Existing Client (Google Sheets)
• Is This a New Client? (IF)
• Tell Me About Returning Client (Gmail)

Step 3 · Client folder

Creates a "Company - Name" Drive folder and shares it with the client's email.

• Create Client Folder (Google Drive)
• Share Folder with Client (Google Drive)

Step 4 · Claude welcome

Claude writes the welcome, team brief and kickoff agenda. If it fails, Use Standard Welcome Email takes over.

• Claude Chat Model (Claude model)
• Write Welcome Email with Claude (Basic LLM Chain)
• Welcome Package Parser (Structured Output Parser)
• Use Standard Welcome Email (Set)

Step 5 · Save and send

Saves the brief Doc, adds the tracker row, emails the client and emails you. Each step runs even if another fails.

• Prepare Onboarding Package (Set)
• Save Project Brief to Folder (Google Drive)
• Add Client to Tracker (Google Sheets)
• Send Welcome Email to Client (Gmail)
• Send New Client Brief to Me (Gmail)

Step 6 · Kickoff reminder

Clients still waiting after reminderAfterDays get one reminder, then Reminder Sent is set to Yes.

• Get Clients Waiting for Kickoff (Google Sheets)
• Keep Clients Waiting Too Long (Filter)
• Send Kickoff Reminder to Client (Gmail)
• Mark Reminder as Sent (Google Sheets)

Setup

1. Download the JSON below and import it in n8n (Create workflow > ⋯ > Import from File).
2. Create a Google Sheet with a tab called Clients and these headers in row 1: Date Added, Client Name, Company, Email, Phone, Service, Goals, Launch Date, Folder Link, Status, Reminder Sent.
3. In Google Drive, create a folder for your clients (for example "Clients").
4. Add Google Drive OAuth2, Google Sheets OAuth2 and Gmail OAuth2 credentials and select them on the matching nodes. For Save Project Brief to Folder, the Google Docs API must be enabled in your Google Cloud project.
5. Add an Anthropic credential with your API key on Claude Chat Model.
6. Pick your sheet on the four Google Sheets nodes and your Clients folder in Create Client Folder.
7. Open Workflow Configuration and set businessName, yourName, ownerEmail, kickoffBookingLink (Cal.com, Calendly or Google Calendar booking page) and, if you like, reminderAfterDays (default 2), clientFolderAccess (writer, commenter or reader) and writingStyle.
8. Activate the workflow and send the form's production URL to your next client. When they book the kickoff, change Status to "Kickoff booked".

How to customise

• The sample prompt and emails are a starting point, not a fixed format. Rewrite them for your business.
• New Client Onboarding Form: questions
• Write Welcome Email with Claude: welcome, brief and agenda (tone via writingStyle)
• Use Standard Welcome Email, Send Kickoff Reminder to Client: email text
• Every Morning at 9 AM: reminder time
• Questions: add or remove fields in New Client Onboarding Form, and add them to the prompt in Write Welcome Email with Claude.
• Your voice: describe how you write in writingStyle, for example "Friendly, short, mixes Hindi and English like I talk to clients on WhatsApp".
• Folder access: set clientFolderAccess to commenter or reader if clients shouldn't upload.
• More setup steps: add a Slack or Telegram message after Prepare Onboarding Package, or a Google Calendar node to block time for the project.
• Another model: swap Claude Chat Model for OpenAI or Gemini; the rest stays the same.

Why Claude

This workflow uses Claude Sonnet 5 through the Anthropic Chat Model sub-node with a Structured Output Parser. The welcome email is the very first thing a paying client reads from you, so tone matters most here: - Sounds like a person. Claude is the best of the three at short, warm writing that follows a long list of style rules (no "I hope this email finds you well", no "kindly", no "do the needful", no exclamation marks) without slipping into corporate filler. - Mirrors the client's language. If the client writes their goals in Hinglish, Claude replies in the same mix naturally, which Indian clients notice and like. - Doesn't invent promises. The prompt forbids prices, dates and results that aren't in the form. Claude sticks to that, which matters in a message that sets client expectations. - One call does five jobs. Subject, welcome, team brief, missing info and kickoff agenda come back as one clean JSON object. - Low volume. A business onboards a few clients a week, so the higher price per token adds up to a few cents a month.

Gemini Flash-Lite is cheaper and fine for pure extraction, but its welcome emails read more generic. Switch the sub-node if cost matters more than tone.

Guardrails

• Folder access: The client gets editor access by default. Set clientFolderAccess to commenter or reader if they shouldn't edit.

Troubleshooting

• Credential errors after import: imported workflows never include credentials. Open each node marked red and select your own account.
• Nothing runs on its own: test runs only fire once. Activate the workflow so the trigger keeps running.
• Odd times or dates: set your timezone in Workflow Settings.