Even with a playbook that covers essential customer agreement clauses, it’s easy for small details to slip through the cracks during a high-speed negotiation. This checklist is designed to be your final "safety net" before you hit send, helping you audit your agreement from the initial draft through to final management.
Phase 1: Pre-Drafting & Identity
1. Verified Legal Entities
Are you using the full, registered legal names for both companies (e.g., "Company, LLC") rather than just "Doing Business As" (DBA) brand names?
2. Authorized Signatories
Have you confirmed that the person signing actually has the legal authority to bind their company to a contract?
3. Relationship Structure
Does the agreement explicitly state if you are allowed to use subcontractors or freelancers to help fulfill the work?
Phase 2: The "Promises & Agreements" Audit
4. The Subject Matter Test
Does the description of services clearly distinguish between your "Standard Product" and any "Custom Deliverables"?
5. The "Net-X" Calculation
Is the payment trigger tied specifically to the invoice date rather than the date of receipt or approval?
6. Liability Cap Clarity
Is there a specific "hard ceiling" on your financial exposure (e.g., fees paid in the last 12 months)?
7. Indemnity Alignment
Does your indemnity clause only cover things you can control, like Intellectual Property ownership, rather than general business risks?
8. The "Deemed Accepted" Clock
Is there a set number of days for the customer to provide feedback before the work is automatically considered "accepted"?
Phase 3: Risk & Compliance Checkpoints
9. Data Processing Compliance
If you are handling any customer data, have you included a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) to meet 2026 privacy standards?
10. Termination "Tail" Obligations
Is there a clear process for returning or destroying client data once the contract ends?
11. The "Survival" Clause
Are critical terms like Confidentiality and IP ownership marked to "survive" the termination of the contract?
12. Governing Law & Venue
Is the "Governing Law" set to a jurisdiction that is favorable (or at least neutral) to your business location?
Phase 4: Operational & Management Review
13. Designated Reviewers
Has your finance or operations lead verified that the payment and acceptance terms can actually be executed by your team?
14. Internal Fact Check
Do the dates and timelines in the contract align with your actual production schedule and resource availability?
15. Milestone Tracking
Have you set internal alerts for "Termination Notice" windows or upcoming price increase triggers?
And there you have it
We hope this checklist has been useful in helping you avoid common mistakes that often trip up even experienced teams during the final signature phase.
If you’re ready to automate these checkpoints, consider trying our customer agreement playbook generator today.
