<aside> ❓ We send clients a weekly or bi-weekly email, depending on the cadence of the project, to update them on their project. This practice enhances our transparency and collaboration with clients while also helping us maintain accountability.

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Steps

1. To, Cc and Bcc

   In the "To" field, address the client. Include the primary client and any team members regularly involved in the project or who have requested to be kept informed. Do your due diligence to identify these individuals. Use the "Cc" field to include our project team.

2. Content

   Draft this email before your regular check-in call with the client. Consider collaborating with our project team to gather input from all members involved. This approach ensures a comprehensive update.

3. Ask questions

   Use this email as an opportunity to unblock our team by clearly stating what we need from the client to move the project forward. If we've been waiting on items, include the duration of the wait to emphasize the time's value and its impact on potential delays.

4. Drive action

   Do your best to drive action by including specific actions you need the client to take, such as sharing account information, reviewing a document, or granting cloud drive access.

5. Use it and send it

   Use this email to guide your regular check-in meeting with the client. Make adjustments to the email if there are any changes to the email from the meeting, such as if the client has a task update we can check off (strike that item out, but include it in the list). After your meeting and any updates, send it right away.

FAQs

• Why an email?
• How often should we send these emails?
• Who should be included in the email recipients?
• How can we make these emails more effective in driving action?
• What should we do if we don't have any progress to report?
• How should we handle sensitive or confidential information in these emails?

Template

<aside> ✉️ Subject: PROJECT_NAME (CODE-001) Weekly Ship: January 18, 2023

Hi team,

I hope you're having a great week! I want to give you a quick update on the progress we've made on PROJECT_NAME.

✅ What we accomplished last week (OR these last couple weeks)

• [Task 1] (a significant accomplishment)
• [Task 2] (we're making excellent progress!)

🎯 What we want to achieve this week (OR these next 2 weeks)

• [Goal 1]
• [Goal 2]

🛠 Things we need from your team

• [New!] [Resource 1] (to keep the momentum going!)
• [Carried from last week] [Resource 2] (to take our progress to the next level!)
• [Carried from 2 weeks ago] [Resource 3] (to make sure we're operating at peak efficiency!)

📈 How we’re tracking

We have approximately 65% of the budget remaining. After this week's check-in we should be ready to move on to Design, which puts us ahead of our 3-6 week estimate.

⛰️ Progress graph (optional)

📝 Things to keep in mind

• [New!] [Reminder 1] (don't forget!)
• [Reminder 2] (important stuff!)
• [Reminder 3] (don't want to miss this!)

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Best,

[Your Name]

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<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" />

Credit and Acknowledgement

The ideas and format for this email are heavily inspired by Sanctuary Computer and shared with us during a studio building workshop. We’ve since edited and customized this document and process to work for our own operations.

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