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Overview

Creative retainers are recurring scopes of work: design hours, content, creative direction, website support, reporting, or priority access. Newie manages billing and the customer record around that monthly agreement.

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Define the Monthly Scope

A creative retainer only works if both sides understand the monthly capacity. Set up predictable billing, then define what is included so the retainer does not turn into unlimited design, endless revisions, or urgent requests that were never priced. Manage tasks, utilization, approvals, files, and scope reviews in your normal project system.

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Common Setup

  1. Create a Subscription for each monthly retainer tier
  2. Add Terms of Service for included scope, revision limits, unused time, cancellation notice, turnaround times, approval expectations, and out-of-scope work
  3. Add a Setup Fee when the client should pay an onboarding, audit, setup, or kickoff fee immediately
  4. Set a Billing Start Date when the client commits now but the retainer should begin on a future date
  5. Add a Welcome Email with brief forms, kickoff booking links, Slack or project-management invites, shared folders, brand asset instructions, and first-month expectations
  6. Create groups for service line, account manager, client type, location, or retainer tier when you need filtered reporting

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Retainer Sale Flow

1

Client chooses the retainer

The client agrees to the monthly scope, deliverables, communication process, price, start date, and cancellation terms.
2

Send the subscription

Share the standard service link, a custom link, or complete the sale with Purchase as Customer.
3

Client agrees and subscribes

Terms of Service can capture scope, revision limits, payment expectations, and cancellation notice before checkout.
4

Newie sends onboarding

The Welcome Email can include kickoff booking, brief forms, asset upload links, project-management access, and communication channels.
5

Deliver each month

Use Newie for the recurring retainer. Manage tasks, approvals, files, and communication in your normal delivery tools.

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Retainer Scope to Define

  • Monthly hours, deliverables, or service lines included
  • Turnaround times and approval expectations
  • Revision limits and what counts as a new request
  • Whether unused time or deliverables roll over
  • Notice period, minimum term, and cancellation rules
  • How urgent work, ad hoc projects, and scope extensions are charged
  • When the retainer should be reviewed or resized

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Useful Service Examples

Last updated: 2026-06-29