Sales and delivery
Weekly Client Update Template: Progress, Decisions and Blockers
A client update should explain what changed and what needs attention. Use these fictional examples to report evidence, dependencies and the next decision without turning a status email into a list of internal activity.
The reusable update structure
- Period and project: identify what the update covers.
- Completed: outputs the client can inspect, with an appropriate link.
- In progress: the current deliverable, not every task someone touched.
- Needed from you: specific decision or input, owner and agreed date.
- Forecast: what is still expected and the assumptions behind it.
- Next update: actual review point, especially when a decision is pending.
Leave out a section only when it genuinely adds nothing. An empty “risks” heading is less useful than a clear statement of a known dependency.
Three complete short updates
On track: “The service-page draft is ready at [link]. We are preparing the contact page. Please send consolidated comments through [approver] by [agreed date]. The layout review remains planned for [date], assuming those comments arrive. Next update: [date].”
Waiting on input: “The approved layout is ready, but we cannot complete the project gallery without authorised photographs. [Owner] is supplying them by [agreed date]. Please confirm whether that is still possible; we will then confirm the next delivery forecast.”
Changed forecast: “The extra service page was approved on [date]. It adds [assessed work]. The agreed revised review date is [date], conditional on [input]. The original review date is superseded; all other scope remains as recorded in [version].”
A better progress statement
“We worked hard on the site” tells the customer little. “The draft services page is ready for your review” identifies an output. If there is no new deliverable, explain the actual state and the decision needed rather than inventing progress percentages.
Use evidence the recipient can access. Do not attach confidential internal notes or expose another customer’s data just to demonstrate activity.
Check that the update leads somewhere
Can the reader identify their required action without searching through the whole email? Does the forecast clearly distinguish a target from a date agreed with conditions?
Keep the update in the project record. When a customer replies with new scope, record and assess that request; an update email does not itself authorise extra work. Weekly is an example cadence, not a requirement for every service.
Continue with a related resource
Use the example with your own facts, assign an owner and review the result before relying on it. These resources are available without creating an account.
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