Website maintenance check-in calls: how to run them

A maintenance check-in is a short, scheduled call where you and the client look at their site together: what you updated since last time, anything that broke or slowed down, the content they want to change, and what's coming up for their business. Agree on the rhythm when the maintenance deal starts — quarterly suits a small brochure site, monthly a shop or a site that changes with the seasons — prepare a one-page summary before each call, and keep a clear line between small changes included in the plan and new work that needs a quote. Regular calls replace a trickle of urgent emails with one planned conversation.

Maintenance work is invisible when it goes well: updates installed, backups running, nothing broken. Without a regular touchpoint, the client sees a monthly invoice and no result, and may start to question it. A check-in shows the work, catches problems before visitors do, and surfaces new needs — a seasonal page, a new service, a campaign — early enough to plan them rather than rush them.

Send a one-page summary a day or two before: updates applied, backups checked, any incidents and how they were fixed, page speed and uptime if you monitor them, and anything that needs a decision. Ask the client to reply with the changes they want to discuss. The call then starts from facts, not from memory.

Go through the summary quickly: what was updated, whether anything needs attention, whether forms and checkout still work. Keep jargon out: the client wants to know that the site is safe and working, and what, if anything, they must decide.

Look at the pages that date fastest: prices, opening hours, team, news, events. Old content undermines a site that is otherwise well kept, and the client is the one who knows what changed in the business.

Ask about the next few months: a new service, a move, a promotion, a recruitment drive. Each one may need a page, a banner or a form, and planning it now avoids a same-day request.

Define in the maintenance agreement what's included — for example a set amount of time for small edits each month — and say during the call which requests fit and which need a separate quote. Write down what was agreed and send it after the call. A clear boundary protects the relationship: the client knows what they pay for, and new work is recognised as new work.

Send a short recap the same day: decisions made, changes you'll handle and by when, items waiting for the client (texts, photos, approvals), and anything that needs a quote. Keep these recaps in one place per client; a year later, they show what the maintenance plan delivered and make the renewal conversation easy.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Create a check-in service and open slots for it at the length a call takes, one place per slot. Slots repeat weekly on chosen weekdays until a date, so a fixed weekday for check-ins works well. Monthly or quarterly calls don't repeat on their own: at the end of each call, book the next one yourself from your calendar. First and last name are required, email and phone optional; if you enter the email, the client receives a confirmation with a calendar file.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. Clients can't move bookings online: they contact you, you reschedule or cancel from your bookings list and tell them yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Calendar sync (Google, iPhone, Mac) keeps calls next to your project work. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.