A marketing handover is complete when the next responsible person can run the work. A folder of logos and a list of usernames may be useful, but neither proves that the business can change its website, recover an account, follow a lead, or stop an unwanted charge. Those are the tests we'd run first when an agency relationship ends, an employee leaves or a business brings marketing in house. If you're switching, bring your account list to Trojan Digital Marketing: the first strategy call is free, and during business hours we aim to reply within five minutes.
Start the handover before the last week of a contract. Identify the people responsible on both sides, agree on the systems in scope, and create a written acceptance list. This is an operating exercise. Questions about contractual rights or disputed ownership need to be resolved from the actual agreement, rather than assumed from who paid an invoice.
Begin with the business dependency, then find the account
- Domain and website
- Document ownership and access.
- Analytics and records
- Define access and the handover.
Instead of asking only for passwords, we ask what the business must be able to do tomorrow. It must receive inquiries, keep its domain registered, display its website, pay for approved advertising, and see enough history to make decisions. List the systems behind each activity. This approach catches dependencies that an account export can miss, such as a form that sends through an agency controlled integration.
| Business activity | Systems to identify | Acceptance evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Keep the website available | Domain registrar, DNS, hosting, deployment | Named business owner can access and identify renewal settings |
| Receive an inquiry | Forms, email delivery, CRM, call routing | A test inquiry arrives with its source and an assigned owner |
| Run advertising | Ad accounts, billing, conversion connections | Business can inspect campaigns and manage authorized access |
| Maintain content | CMS, source files, image library, licenses | New editor can make and reverse a harmless draft change |
| Understand results | Analytics, Search Console, dashboards, CRM reports | Reports reconcile with documented definitions |
The evidence column turns a polite exchange into a reviewable handover. It also exposes gaps early enough to fix them without a rushed migration.
Separate ownership, access, and billing
These are different questions. Someone can have administrator access without being the contractual owner of a design asset. A business can pay a bill while an agency controls account recovery. A team member can view a report without being able to grant the next team appropriate access.
For every important system, record the business entity, current administrators, recovery contact, billing contact, renewal date and the person who will own the relationship after the transition. We have more than 1,400 live websites, and the domain registrar is the account we'd confirm first, since losing the domain can take the site and its email with it. Use business controlled email addresses where appropriate. Do not place passwords, recovery codes, or API secrets in a broadly shared handover spreadsheet; use an approved secure method for credentials.
Permissions should fit the job. Google Analytics documents access at account and property levels, so a handover should identify which level was granted and whether it covers the property the business actually uses. Seeing one dashboard is not proof that every relevant property is available.
Make website delivery reproducible
Ask what a new developer would need to maintain and release the current website. Depending on the platform, that may include a repository, CMS access, build instructions, redirects, environment configuration, plugin licenses, and a recent backup. Record what is included in the delivered work and what depends on a subscription or a third party service.
Confirm where original photography, editable creative files, fonts, and purchased assets live. Note any restrictions documented by their licenses. Do not assume that every item displayed on a website comes with an unrestricted right to reuse it elsewhere. An asset inventory makes future creative work easier even when no ownership dispute exists.
For a redesign, the website project scope should explain what the business receives at delivery. Handover requirements are easier to satisfy when they are part of the project definition rather than a surprise at the end.
Trace every lead path before changing access
Draw a simple route from visitor action to human follow up: form submission, delivery service, CRM record, assignment, notification, and response. Then test it. Include after hours routing, spam handling, failed delivery, and duplicate submissions where relevant. A successful thank you screen does not establish that a salesperson received the request.
Phone systems deserve the same care. Record which numbers are public, which are tracking numbers, who controls them, and what happens when a provider relationship changes. The call tracking inventory and routing checks provide a useful companion to this handover. Do not retire a number simply because it appears in an old campaign; it may still receive calls from saved contacts or printed material.
Document automations as business processes
An integration is more than an API key. When we set up an AI agent, account handoff is reviewed before payment, and the written scope confirms the handoff terms. Its handover should explain its trigger, input, action, owner, expected timing, and failure behavior. Identify which accounts authorize the connection and whether removing a departing user will break it. Where an automated action affects a customer record or message, show how a person can inspect and correct the result.
A practical automation implementation should include enough documentation for the business to understand what runs without supervision and what still requires review. During the handover, demonstrate one normal run and one safe failure scenario. For example, confirm that a missing email address produces a review task rather than silently discarding the inquiry.
Use an acceptance drill, not a screenshot collection
Here is a hypothetical acceptance drill for a small service business changing agencies. The incoming owner logs in using their own account, opens the correct analytics property, locates the current advertising invoice, edits a draft service page paragraph, and submits a labeled test quote request. The office then confirms the request in the CRM and follows the documented response route.
Any failed step becomes a named task with a due date. “Access sent” is not the same as “access works.” Keep the drill low impact: use drafts and clearly labeled test records, avoid interrupting live campaigns, and reverse temporary changes once the evidence is recorded.
Close the transition deliberately
- Confirm the agreed deliverables and unresolved exceptions in writing.
- Verify backups and exports can be opened by the receiving team.
- Assign recurring bills, renewal reminders, and vendor contacts.
- Record the final reporting period and the definitions used.
- Remove access that is no longer needed after the receiving team passes its checks.
- Set a short follow up review for issues that only appear during ordinary use.
If a new website launches during the transition, keep the launch assessment separate from the account transfer checklist. The first 90 days of website measurement focus on whether the site is functioning and contributing to the business. A clean handover gives that assessment a reliable starting point: known systems, named owners, and evidence that the next team can do its job.
