A client portal for marketing agencies that keeps every client organized
A typical agency client lives in about six places at once. The proposal is in an email, the signed contract is in someone’s downloads, the brand assets are in a shared drive with the wrong permissions, the monthly report is a link in a chat thread, and the invoice is a PDF nobody can find when it’s overdue. Then the client asks, “Where’s the latest version?” and you spend twenty minutes finding out.
CloveDesk gives each client one private, branded space for all of it. You send the proposal, get the agreement signed, share the work you want them to see, and invoice from the same place. Your client opens a link from an email. No account, no password, no new tool to learn.
Where agency client work usually goes wrong
Agencies rarely lose clients over the quality of the work. They lose time, margin and goodwill over the admin around it. These are the problems we hear again and again:
- Work starts before the paperwork is signed. The kickoff call happens, the first deliverables go out, and the agreement is still “being reviewed”. If a dispute comes, you have a handshake and an email thread.
- Approvals are scattered. One stakeholder replies on email, another on WhatsApp, a third leaves comments in a document. Nobody can say which version was approved or by whom.
- Reports and assets get lost. Monthly reports, creative files and campaign documents are spread across drives, links and attachments. Clients ask for them again, and again.
- Scope creeps without a paper trail. Without a clear quote and signed terms, “can you also do this?” becomes free work.
- Invoices get chased by hand. You send the invoice, wait, remember, forget, and then write an awkward reminder three weeks late.
- You don’t know what a client really earns you. Freelancer fees, tool seats and one-off costs sit in a different place from the retainer, so the true margin stays a guess.
A client portal doesn’t fix your strategy or your creative. It fixes the part where the work meets the paperwork.
How a marketing agency uses CloveDesk, step by step
Here’s a realistic flow for a small agency taking on a new retainer client. The how it works walkthrough shows each screen with screenshots.
1. Create a workspace for the client
Every client gets a workspace with their business details and a color to tell them apart. Inside it you create a project for each engagement: a website refresh, a quarterly campaign, a monthly retainer. Each project has its own quotes, invoices, documents, files and expenses, so one client with three engagements stays tidy.
2. Send a proposal as a quote the client can answer
Build the proposal as a quote with line items, notes, terms and an expiry date, in whichever currency the client pays in. Or upload your own proposal PDF if you’ve already designed it. The client opens it from an email link and approves it, asks for changes or declines. If they ask for changes, you revise it and the previous versions stay in the revision history, so there’s no argument later about which one was agreed.
3. Get the agreement signed before work starts
Upload your master services agreement, statement of work or NDA and send it for signature. Your client signs by drawing or typing on any device. You both receive the signed PDF with a certificate page and an audit trail. If a client’s legal contact or a second decision maker also needs to sign something outside the main workspace, Universal E-Sign lets you send any PDF to anyone through a private link.
4. Run the project through stages the client can see
Each project moves through stages, so the client can see where things stand without asking you. A retainer might sit at “Onboarding”, “Strategy approved”, “Month 1 live” and “Quarterly review”. You decide when it moves, which keeps you in control of what the client sees.
5. Share creative, reports and assets on purpose
Upload files to the workspace or a specific project and choose which ones the client can see. Drafts stay private until you share them. When something’s ready, email the client from CloveDesk so they know. Each file has a comment thread you share with the client, so feedback on a creative sits on the file itself instead of buried in email, and you can keep new versions as the work evolves. Labels help you find things later; they’re for your own organization and clients don’t see them.
6. Turn the approved quote into an invoice
When the work is approved, convert the quote into an invoice in one step. Every line carries over. Add payment terms and a due date and send it. Your client can accept and sign it or ask for changes. Add your own payment links (PayPal, Stripe, Wise and similar) and the client gets a Pay button on the invoice, in the email and on the PDF. The money goes straight to you.
7. Stop chasing by hand
You can see when the client opened the quote, the invoice or the document, and when they last visited the portal. Overdue invoices are flagged automatically. You can send a reminder with one click, or let reminders go out on their own. A dashboard shows everything that’s waiting on a client, so the Monday morning “who owes us what” check takes a minute.
8. Track what each client actually earns you
Log the costs that belong to a client or a project, such as a freelance designer for one campaign, a paid tool, stock assets or printing, in the currency you paid in. The project shows its own revenue and costs, and the workspace adds up everything underneath it. That’s how you find out which retainers carry your agency and which ones quietly cost you money. The guide to freelance expense and profit tracking shows how to read those numbers.
What your clients experience
Agency clients are busy marketing managers, founders and operations leads. They don’t want a new login. With CloveDesk they get an email with a link, open a clean page branded with your logo and colors, and see what’s waiting on them. They can approve a proposal, sign an agreement, download a report, comment on a file and look at an invoice. Nothing to register, nothing to remember.
That matters more than it sounds. Every extra step between your email and their answer is a day lost. Removing the login removes one of the most common reasons for “I’ll look at it later”.
Features that matter most for agencies
| What agencies need | How CloveDesk handles it |
|---|---|
| One home per client | A private workspace per client, with a project for each engagement |
| Proposals that get a clear answer | Quotes the client approves, declines or asks to change, with revision history |
| Contracts signed before kickoff | E-signature with a signed PDF, certificate page and audit trail |
| Creative and report sharing | Selective file sharing, comment threads on files, file versions |
| Visible progress | Stages on every project the client can see |
| Getting paid | Invoices with payment terms, Pay buttons using your own links, overdue flags and reminders |
| Knowing what’s been seen | Open tracking on quotes, invoices and documents, plus last portal visit |
| Margin per client | Expenses per project or client, in many currencies, with revenue and costs on the dashboard |
| Looking professional | Your logo, brand colors and business details on everything clients see |
You’ll find the complete list on the features page.
What CloveDesk doesn’t do for agencies
Agencies come in all shapes, so here is exactly where the limits are before you commit any time to it.
- One person manages the account. There are no team seats or role-based access, so it suits owner-run and boutique agencies where one person handles the client relationship and the admin. If several people on your team need their own logins, it isn’t the right fit today.
- No messaging. Conversations stay in your email or chat tool. Comments exist on files, not as a general chat.
- Clients can’t upload files. They can view, download, sign and comment. If you need clients to send you assets, you’ll collect those another way.
- Payments don’t happen inside CloveDesk. Clients pay through the links you add, and you mark the invoice as paid. CloveDesk never handles the money.
- It’s branded, not white label. The portal carries your logo and colors but runs on a CloveDesk address, with no custom domain.
- No time tracking, ad reporting or project boards. It doesn’t replace your reporting tools, your project manager or your analytics dashboards.
If you need a full suite with a CRM, scheduling and team roles, the HoneyBook and Bonsai comparisons explain where a bigger platform makes more sense.
Who this is for
CloveDesk fits best if you run:
- a boutique agency or studio where the owner manages clients directly
- a one-person agency that has outgrown email threads and shared folders
- a specialist practice, such as social media, SEO, email marketing, PPC or content, serving a handful to a few dozen retainer clients
- a white-collar services outfit that needs contracts, approvals and invoices without enterprise software
If you work alone under your own name rather than as an agency, start with the client portal for freelancers page. If you advise rather than execute, the client portal for consultants page covers that workflow.
Moving over from shared drives, Notion and email
Most small agencies aren’t replacing another portal. They’re replacing a patchwork of tools. You can switch without a big migration:
- Start with your next new client. Create the workspace, send the proposal and get the agreement signed there.
- Move active retainers at a natural break. The start of a new month or quarter is a good moment to set a client up and send the next invoice from CloveDesk.
- Add your defaults once. Business details, terms and conditions, payment links and branding are saved and reused on every quote and invoice.
- Leave the archive where it is. You don’t need to import old files. Keep them in your drive and use CloveDesk for what’s current.
Frequently asked questions
What is a client portal for a marketing agency?
It’s a private place where each client can see proposals, sign contracts, review shared work, download files and look at invoices, all without hunting through email. For an agency, it replaces scattered attachments, links and chat threads with one organized space per client.
Do my clients need to create an account?
No. They open a link from their email. There’s no password and no sign-up.
Can my whole team log in?
Not today. CloveDesk works with one person managing the account, so it suits agencies where the owner or one account lead handles the client admin.
Can clients approve creative inside the portal?
Clients can open the files you choose to share and leave comments on them, and they can approve or decline quotes and sign documents. There’s no formal creative proofing workflow, so for large rounds of design review you may still want a dedicated proofing tool.
Can I handle monthly retainers?
Yes. Keep a project per retainer, move it through stages, and create each month’s invoice from your saved details. Late invoices are flagged automatically, and reminders can go out on their own or by one click.
Can I track ad spend or freelancer costs per client?
You can log costs against a client or project in many currencies and see them next to the revenue. It tracks the amounts you enter. It doesn’t connect to ad platforms or pull spend automatically.
Is the portal white label?
It’s branded with your logo, colors and business details, but it isn’t white label. It runs on a CloveDesk address and emails come from CloveDesk.
Are e-signatures legally valid?
Signed documents come with a certificate page and an audit trail. E-signature rules vary by country and document type, so check what applies where you and your clients are based.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. You can start free and set up a real client to see how it feels.
Give every client one place to find everything
Create a workspace, send your next proposal, and get the agreement signed before the kickoff call. The first client takes about the same time as writing the email.