Free Client Update Template: Weekly and Monthly Examples

Weekly client update template

Paste it into an email, or into Slack with the subject as the first line. Replace each bracket and delete any line that doesn’t apply this time.

Subject: [Client or project] update, [reporting period]

Hi [name],

Where things stand: [One sentence your client could repeat to their boss.]

What changed: [What’s finished and what it means for them day to day. Name any limit.]

What we checked: [The cases you tried, including the ones that usually break.]

Not checked yet: [What hasn’t been confirmed, and when it will be.]

Blocked or at risk: [What’s stuck and how it affects timing.]

What we need from you: [One decision or input] by [date], so we can [what it unblocks].

Next: [Next action], [owner], by [date]. You’ll hear from me again by [date].

[Your name]

A quiet week might need only “Where things stand” and “Next.” Use more of it when something changed, broke or needs a decision.

Monthly client update template

Use it for a retainer or a longer project, once the client wants the whole month in one place. It looks back at what got done and forward at next month’s plan.

Subject: [Client or project] monthly update, [month]

Hi [name],

The month in one line: [What changed for them this month, in one sentence.]

Done this month: [The two or three things that matter most, and what each one means for them.]

Results so far: [What you can measure, where the number came from, and what isn’t measured yet.]

Still open: [Work in progress, with the date you expect each piece.]

Blocked or at risk: [What could move a date, and what you’re doing about it.]

What we need from you: [One decision or input] by [date], so we can [what it unblocks].

Next month: [The two or three things you’ll focus on.]

Next update: [date]. Reply any time before then if something comes up.

[Your name]

Keep it to what the client would miss if you left it out. The weekly updates already hold the detail.

How to fill it in

• Where things stand: one plain sentence. Write it last, once you know what the rest says.
• What changed: the effect on their day (“quotes reach the right rep”) before any detail about the workflow.
• What we checked, and not checked yet: a passing test covers the cases you tried. Say which ones those were, and what you haven’t seen yet.
• Results so far (monthly): each number with where it came from and when you counted it. If it’s too early to tell, say so, and say when you’ll know.
• Blocked or at risk: what’s stuck and which date it moves. If nothing is, delete the line.
• What we need from you: one decision, a date and what it unblocks. Add a second only if it can’t wait.
• Next: the next action, who owns it and when they’ll hear from you again.

Example: a finished change

Halfmoon Solar asked for web quote requests to go to the rep who covers the customer’s ZIP code, instead of taking turns. The change is live. Halfmoon Solar and everyone in these examples are fictional.

Subject: Halfmoon Solar lead routing update, October 5 to 9

Hi Dana,

Where things stand: web quote requests now go to the rep who covers the customer’s ZIP code. It went live on Wednesday.

What changed: quotes no longer take turns between reps. A quote from Marco’s territory goes to Marco, and one from Jess’s goes to Jess. One limit: a ZIP code that isn’t on your territory map goes to the shared quotes inbox, so someone still assigns those by hand.

What we checked: we sent 12 test quotes, including at least one from each territory, one with no ZIP code, one with a four-digit typo and one from outside your service area. All 12 went where they should. Quotes with a missing or unrecognized ZIP code land in the shared inbox marked “Check ZIP code.”

Not checked yet: the real quotes since Wednesday. Tests cover the cases we thought of, and live quotes can turn up others.

Next: I’ll review this week’s live quotes on Monday and send you what I find by Tuesday.

Sam

Twelve passing tests prove twelve cases. The update says so, and says when the live quotes get a look.

Example: a change waiting on the client

Next, Halfmoon wants commercial quotes to go to Nora, a new rep. The routing is built, and one rule needs Dana’s decision.

Subject: Halfmoon Solar commercial quotes update, October 19 to 23

Hi Dana,

Where things stand: commercial quote routing is ready except for one rule, and I need your call on it.

What changed: Nora is set up as a rep, and the routing to her is built. I’m finishing her new-quote alert and the tests while I wait.

Blocked or at risk: the quote form doesn’t say which quotes are commercial, so I need a rule. Until it’s live, commercial quotes keep going to Marco and Jess by ZIP code, as they do today.

What we need from you: pick one by Tuesday, October 27.
1. Any quote with a business name filled in goes to Nora.
2. Only quotes for systems over 25 kW go to Nora.
With your answer by Tuesday, it can go live Thursday, October 29. A later answer moves go-live back by the same number of business days.

Next: once you choose, I’ll add the rule, rerun the tests and confirm the go-live date.

Sam

Dana can answer with one number. She also knows what keeps working while she thinks about it.

Example: a monthly update from a fractional leader

Alex is a fractional head of sales for Copperleaf Studio, a design agency, two days a week, and reports to Lena, the founder. October was about cleaning up the sales pipeline. Copperleaf Studio and everyone here are fictional too.

Subject: Copperleaf Studio monthly update, October

Hi Lena,

The month in one line: the new pipeline stages are live, and every open deal now has a next step and a date.

Done this month: all 64 open deals in the CRM moved into the new stages, so the Monday forecast call starts from one list. Both reps had a 30-minute walkthrough on October 14.

Results so far: deals with no next step went from 23 to 0, counted in the CRM on Friday, October 30. It’s too early to say whether deals close faster. That takes at least two months of closed deals.

Still open: the proposal template. My draft is with you for comments, and I expect to finish it by Friday, November 13.

Blocked or at risk: two accounts are still tracked in the old spreadsheet instead of the CRM. While they are, the forecast won’t match the CRM.

What we need from you: a yes to retire the old spreadsheet by Friday, November 6, so the forecast runs from the CRM alone.

Next month: finish the proposal template, start short win and loss notes on every closed deal, and run the first forecast call from the CRM alone.

Next update: Tuesday, December 1. Reply any time before then if something comes up.

Alex

The result says where its number came from, and the update says plainly what it can’t show yet.

How often should I send a client update?

Weekly while the work changes from week to week: a build, a launch, a new process. A weekly update covers steady progress, finished work and small risks that don’t need a decision before the next one.

Monthly once the work is steady, such as a retainer or ongoing support, and the client mostly wants results and next month’s plan. Some clients want both: a short weekly note and a fuller monthly one.

Send a short message the same day when a blocker will move a date the client is counting on, when you need a decision before your next update, or when something live is affecting their customers. Say what happened, what it affects and what you need. Then include it in the next regular update as usual.

When nothing moved, say so in one line:

No real progress on [item] this week because [reason]. Next step: [action] by [date].

If a reply asks for something new, write it up as a request before you build, with the change request template. For the handoff at the end of a build, see Your Client Handoff Is Part of the Automation.

Should I send it by email or Slack?

Send it where your client already reads. Email suits anything they may forward to their boss or need to find later, such as a decision with a date. A short weekly note in Slack is fine if that’s where you already work together.

Whichever you pick, keep the subject line format. It makes the updates easy to search when someone asks what happened in March.

How do I share bad news in an update?

Early, and near the top. Put it under “Blocked or at risk” and say what it affects, what you’re doing about it and what you need from them. If it moves a date they’re counting on, send it the same day instead of waiting for the next update.

A client who hears about a slip early can plan around it. One who finds out on the day it was due usually starts reading every update twice.

What if the client doesn’t reply?

Ask for one decision, give a date and say what happens until then, as in the second example: “Until it’s live, commercial quotes keep going to Marco and Jess by ZIP code, as they do today.” Then the work doesn’t stall while they think.

If the date passes, send one short follow-up that repeats the question and says what the delay now moves. Don’t make the choice for them and call it agreed.

Drafting updates in AgentHub

If you keep your client work in AgentHub, it can draft a client update for you. Ask for a client’s update for a period, and it builds a private draft from what’s recorded for that client, including verified changes and open requests. If you ask in a client conversation, it also lists items from your notes, and you choose which ones to add.

You choose what goes in, edit the summary and preview exactly what your client will see. Nothing is shared until you publish it, which creates a link you send yourself or email from AgentHub. AgentHub doesn’t watch your workflows or mark a change as verified on its own. The checks in an update are the ones a person recorded.