Onboarding a new investigation client

Intake decides whether you take the case. Onboarding is what happens next: the few days between a signed engagement and the first hour of real work. It’s short, and most investigators skip straight past it. But it’s when a client decides whether they’re in good hands, and when the habits that prevent later disputes are either set or not.

This guide assumes you’ve already done intake, conflict checks and the engagement letter (see our case intake guide and retainer agreement checklist). It covers the first week after that.

Day 0: confirm, in writing

As soon as the engagement letter is signed and the retainer is received, send a short welcome message. It should:

• Confirm you’re starting, and when fieldwork or research will begin.
• Restate the scope in one or two plain sentences, so any misunderstanding surfaces now. “You’ve asked me to find out whether X is living at Y. I’ll do up to 20 hours of surveillance over the next two weeks.”
• Name the contact people on both sides.
• Explain how you’ll communicate (see below).
• Say what happens next, usually a kickoff call and a list of what you need from them.

Write it in plain language. A worried private client or a busy attorney should be able to read it in a minute and know what to expect.

Set up the channel before anything sensitive is exchanged

The first case details a client sends often arrive by whatever channel is easiest: a text with photos, an email with a forwarded thread. Get ahead of it:

1. Choose one channel for case content, such as a client portal or an end-to-end encrypted messaging app. See choosing secure messaging.
2. Send the invitation or instructions with the welcome message.
3. Confirm the client’s identity out of band, by a call to a number you already have, before you share anything through the new channel. If the channel shows a safety code or key fingerprint, compare it on that call.
4. Tell them what not to send by text or email: case documents, photos of the subject, account details.

Doing this on day one is much easier than moving a conversation that’s already running on your personal phone.

Hold a kickoff call

A 20–30 minute call early in the engagement saves hours later. Pursuit Magazine’s case-management framework treats assessment, research and planning as distinct stages before fieldwork; the kickoff call is where the client supplies what those stages need. Cover:

• The question, again. What decision will the client make with your findings? This often changes your approach.
• What they already know: names, addresses, vehicles, routines, photos, prior investigations. Ask how they know each thing, since secondhand information needs checking.
• What they’ve already done, such as contacting the subject, hiring another investigator, or posting online. You need to know.
• Constraints: dates to avoid, people who mustn’t find out, safety concerns.
• Budget and decision points: “After the first 10 hours I’ll update you and we’ll decide whether to continue.”
• Deliverables: interim updates, final report format, video delivery, and who receives them.

Take notes during the call and send a short written summary afterwards. That summary becomes the first entry in your case file (see organizing a case file).

Collect documents safely

Clients often have useful material: prior reports, photos, court papers, insurance documents, screenshots. Collecting it is where sensitive information most often travels insecurely.

• Ask only for what you need. The FTC’s guide for businesses boils good practice down to principles including “take stock” and “scale down”: know what personal information you hold and keep only what you need.
• Give a safe way to send it, not email attachments. If your tools don’t support client uploads, a secure file-transfer service with a link that expires, or an in-person handover, is better than email.
• Log what you receive: what it is, from whom, when, and where it’s stored.
• Agree what happens to it at the end: returned, deleted or kept with the file.

Share the plan

For all but the smallest jobs, send the client a short plan before fieldwork starts: what you’ll do first, what you’ll need from them, when the first update will come, and where the decision points are. For attorney clients, an investigative outline is often welcome. It shows your thinking and helps them prioritize within budget.

Pursuit Magazine’s piece on why attorneys don’t hire investigators says attorneys want investigators who will “communicate effectively (over communicate!)” and “conduct the investigation in stages, and budget accordingly.” A written plan does both before you’ve spent an hour.

Set expectations about results

New clients, especially private individuals, often expect television results: a clear answer, quickly. Be honest early:

• Surveillance may produce nothing on a given day, and that’s still information.
• Records can take time, and some don’t exist.
• You’ll report what you observe, not what they hope for.
• You won’t do things outside the law or outside the agreed scope, and you’ll say so if asked.

A client who hears this in week one is far less likely to dispute your invoice in week four.

Confirm the admin

Small details, settled now, avoid friction later:

• Billing contact and invoice format, especially for law firms and insurers
• Retainer balance and when you’ll ask for a top-up
• Your certificate of insurance, if the client requires one
• Contact details for urgent issues, and your normal response times
• How long you’ll keep the file, and how long any portal access lasts after the case closes

A one-page onboarding checklist

• Engagement signed, retainer received
• Welcome message sent: scope, contacts, channel, next steps
• Secure channel set up; client identity confirmed by phone
• Kickoff call held; written summary sent and filed
• Client documents received securely and logged
• Plan sent, with first update date and decision points
• Expectations about results discussed
• Billing, insurance and contact details confirmed

Onboarding a client well takes an hour or two. It’s the cheapest client-retention work you’ll ever do. For keeping things running smoothly once the case is under way, see client communication for private investigators.

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