How to Onboard Clients with a Tracked Welcome Packet and Intake Form
Client onboarding usually ships in three pieces: a welcome PDF nobody confirms reading, a form-tool link that feels like homework, and the follow-up email chasing both. Three tools, three URLs, and you still don't know if the packet was ever opened.
Collapse it into one document: the welcome packet with the intake form as its last page, behind a personal tracked link. The client reads, fills and submits in one visit — and every part of that reports back to you.
Make the packet one document
Pages 1–3: the welcome content — how you work, the first 30 days, who to call. Page 4: a fillable intake form. Any PDF tool that creates form fields works; what matters is the field names, because they become the keys in every submission payload:
company_name (text)
primary_contact (text)
billing_email (text)
current_tools (text)
communication_pref (radio: Email / Slack / Phone)Then upload it privately:
curl -X POST https://apdf.io/api/docs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN" -H "Accept: application/json" \
--data-urlencode "file=https://your-site.example/onboarding-packet.pdf" \
--data-urlencode "name=Welcome Packet — Northlight Onboarding" \
-d "is_public=0"One client, one link
curl -X POST https://apdf.io/api/docs/91fd5-09179-d072a/links \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN" -H "Accept: application/json" \
--data-urlencode "name=Nadia Fontaine" \
--data-urlencode "email=nadia@atelierfontaine.example"{
"data": {
"token": "bsWyzJxs",
"name": "Nadia Fontaine",
"email": "nadia@atelierfontaine.example",
"url": "https://docs.apdf.io/studio/91fd5-09179-d072a?v=bsWyzJxs",
"is_active": true,
"last_viewed_at": null,
"created_at": "2026-07-23T09:31:23.000000Z"
}
}That URL is the entire kickoff email's call to action: “Everything you need is here — give it a read and fill in the last page.” No attachment, no separate form link, nothing to install on her side: the packet opens in the browser and the form is fillable right in the viewer.
The intake arrives — with a name on it
When Nadia hits Submit on page 4, the whole form lands in your workspace, attributed through her link:
GET /api/docs/91fd5-09179-d072a/form-submissions
{
"doc_id": "91fd5-09179-d072a",
"creator_id": "2CyFB2HjTsRn",
"recipient": {
"name": "Nadia Fontaine",
"email": "nadia@atelierfontaine.example"
},
"fields": [
{ "id": "16R", "name": "company_name", "page": 4, "type": "text", "value": "Atelier Fontaine" },
{ "id": "20R", "name": "primary_contact", "page": 4, "type": "text", "value": "Nadia Fontaine" },
{ "id": "23R", "name": "billing_email", "page": 4, "type": "text", "value": "billing@atelierfontaine.example" },
{ "id": "26R", "name": "current_tools", "page": 4, "type": "text", "value": "Notion, Figma, QuickBooks" },
{ "id": "29R", "name": "communication_pref", "page": 4, "type": "radio", "value": false, "checked": false, "exportValue": "Email" },
{ "id": "34R", "name": "communication_pref", "page": 4, "type": "radio", "value": true, "checked": true, "exportValue": "Slack" },
{ "id": "39R", "name": "communication_pref", "page": 4, "type": "radio", "value": false, "checked": false, "exportValue": "Phone" }
],
"created_at": "2026-07-23T09:34:33.000000Z",
"updated_at": "2026-07-23T09:34:33.000000Z"
}
Everything the kickoff needs, machine-readable: the billing address for the first
invoice, the tool stack for the integration checklist, and
"exportValue": "Slack" telling you where she
actually wants to talk. Prefer a push? An automation on the form-submit event
delivers each intake to your webhook the moment it lands — the
forms tutorial
wires it.
And you know the packet was read
The same visit shows up in the document's sessions — proof the welcome content was read, not skipped on the way to the form:
{
"session_id": "X5q9879PK1GehXdA",
"viewer_id": "2CyFB2HjTsRn",
"recipient": {
"name": "Nadia Fontaine",
"email": "nadia@atelierfontaine.example"
},
"device_type": "desktop",
"browser": "Chrome",
"os": "OS X",
"referer": null,
"utm_source": null,
"created_at": "2026-07-23 09:33:55.864",
"pages_viewed": 4,
"total_duration_ms": 31061,
"completion_pct": 100,
"prints": 0,
"downloads": 0
}
Same viewer_id as the submission — read
and intake are one story. The clients who haven't submitted are visible
too: opened-but-not-filled gets a gentle nudge, never-opened gets a resend. No
more chasing people who already answered.
Where to go from here
The packet is live — these builds close the loop around it.
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