How to Make a Client Handover Video in 2026 (+ Script)

You launched the site. The client is happy. Then, three weeks later, an email arrives: "Sorry to bother you, how do I change the opening hours on the contact page?" A month after that, a new office manager joins and asks the same question again.

A client handover video fixes most of this. It is a short recorded walkthrough that shows the client how to log in, make the everyday edits, publish safely, and know what to leave alone. Done well, it becomes part of the deliverable, not an afterthought.

This guide covers how to plan, script, record, and deliver a website handover to a client, whether you built the site in Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, or set up a tool like Notion or a CRM. You will also get a reusable script template and a checklist you can copy into your next project.

#Why a recorded walkthrough beats a one-off call alone

Most freelancers already do a handover call. That call is still worth doing. It lets the client ask questions and builds confidence. The problem is what happens after it ends.

People forget. A one-hour call covers a lot of ground. A week later, the client remembers that editing is "somewhere in the dashboard" but not the exact steps. A video lets them replay the two minutes they need, when they need it.

Staff change. The person on the call is often not the person who edits the site six months later. Marketing coordinators leave, owners hand tasks to assistants, and agencies get swapped. A recorded walkthrough survives those changes. A call does not.

Your inbox stays quieter. Every "how do I..." email takes time to read, answer, and sometimes screen-share. When you can reply with a link to a specific video, the answer takes seconds and is more complete than a rushed email.

It protects the site. A clear "do not touch this" section reduces the chance of a client accidentally deleting a template, breaking a layout, or unpublishing a page.

It looks professional. A tidy set of handover videos with a written guide signals that you care about what happens after launch. That matters for referrals and repeat work.

The best approach is both: hold the live call, and send recorded videos that cover the same ground in a form the client can keep.

#What to include in a website handover video

Keep the scope to what the client will actually do. You are not teaching them web design. You are teaching them to run their own site safely.

#1. Logging in

Show the exact login URL, where to find it later, and what the dashboard looks like after logging in. If the platform has two-factor authentication, mention it. Never type or show the client's real password on screen (more on privacy below).

#2. Editing text and images

This is the most common task. Show how to find a page, change a heading or paragraph, swap an image, and update alt text. Point out image size guidance if the site has it, for example "keep hero images under a certain file size" in your own words for this project.

#3. Adding a blog post or CMS item

For Webflow this is a CMS collection item. For WordPress it is a post. For Shopify it may be a product or a blog article. For Notion it may be a new database entry. Walk through one complete item from blank to published, including any required fields, categories, and the featured image.

#4. Publishing

Explain the difference between saving and publishing on their platform. Show where drafts live and how to preview before going live. This is where many clients get stuck, because "I saved it but it's not on the site" is a very common confusion.

#5. What NOT to touch

Be specific. Name the areas that can break the site: global styles, templates, theme files, navigation symbols, plugin settings, code embeds, DNS settings. Explain briefly why, so the rule makes sense and is easier to remember.

#6. Where to get help

Tell them how to contact you, what counts as a quick question versus a paid change, and where the platform's own help center is. Webflow, for example, publishes general Editor tutorial videos for clients, which can sit alongside your project-specific videos.

#7. Renewals, hosting, and domain basics

Clients often lose sites because a domain or hosting plan expired on a card that was cancelled. Cover who pays for what, when renewals happen, and where the billing lives. You do not need to show billing screens with real card details. A spoken summary plus a line in the written guide is enough.

#Tailor it to the person who will actually edit the site

Before you record, ask one question: "Who will be making changes day to day?"

The answer changes the video. A business owner who will update a menu twice a year needs something different from a marketing assistant who will publish three blog posts a week.

If you do not know who will edit the site, record for a non-technical beginner. Experienced people can skip ahead. Beginners cannot fill gaps on their own.

Use the client's words, too. If they call the "Team" page "the staff page," say both. People search their memory with their own vocabulary.

#One long video or several short task videos?

It is tempting to record one 40-minute walkthrough and call it done. It is faster to make. It is also much harder to use.

A client looking for "how do I add an event" does not want to scrub through a long recording to find minute 23. Short task videos solve that.

Recommendation: record several short task videos plus an index.

• One video per task, ideally a few minutes each.
• Titles that match what the client will look for: "Add a new blog post," "Change the opening hours," "Swap the homepage photo."
• An index page or document that lists every video with a one-line description.

If you prefer one longer recording, add chapters so people can jump to each task. Either way, the goal is that the client can find the answer to one question in under a minute.

Short videos are also easier to update. When the site changes, you re-record one task instead of the whole walkthrough.

#Add a written guide alongside the video

Video is great for showing where to click. Text is better for scanning, searching, and copying. Many people skim web pages rather than reading word by word, as Nielsen Norman Group explains, so a written guide with clear headings and numbered steps helps clients find what they need fast.

A good written guide mirrors the video structure:

1. A heading per task.
2. Numbered steps.
3. A screenshot for any step where the button is hard to find.
4. A short "watch out for" note where mistakes are common.

Write in plain language. The plain language guidelines are a useful reference: short sentences, everyday words, and active voice. If you want more detail on turning a recording into text instructions, see our guide on how to turn a screen recording into a step-by-step guide.

This is one place where Nook can save time. You upload your recording and it produces a written step-by-step guide with screenshots that you can export as PDF, Word, or Markdown, alongside the video itself.

#A reusable handover script template

Scripting sounds like overkill for a handover. It is not. Even a rough outline stops you from rambling, forgetting the publish step, or saying "um, let me just find that" every thirty seconds. For a deeper look at structure, see our post on writing a demo video script.

Below is a template you can reuse. The bracketed parts are placeholders. The example lines are written for a fictional client: Maple Street Bakery, a small bakery whose manager, Sam, will update the site.

HANDOVER VIDEO SCRIPT TEMPLATE

[TASK TITLE]
Example: "How to change the opening hours"

1. INTRO (10-15 seconds)
   Say who this is for and what they will be able to do by the end.
   Example: "Hi Sam. In this short video I'll show you how to change
   the bakery's opening hours on the website. It takes about two minutes."

2. WHERE TO START (15-30 seconds)
   Show the login page and the dashboard.
   Example: "Start by going to the login page. You'll find the link
   in the handover document. Once you're in, you'll see the list of
   pages on the left."

3. THE STEPS (1-3 minutes)
   One action per sentence. Pause after each click.
   Example: "Click 'Contact.' Scroll down to the hours section.
   Click on the text for Saturday. Change 8 to 9. Click outside
   the box to finish editing."

4. SAVE AND PUBLISH (20-40 seconds)
   Explain the difference clearly.
   Example: "Your change is saved, but it isn't live yet. Click
   'Publish' in the top right, then confirm. Now open the site in
   a new tab and check the hours look right."

5. WHAT NOT TO TOUCH (15-30 seconds)
   Name the risky areas near this task.
   Example: "You'll notice the footer also shows the hours. That one
   updates automatically, so please don't edit it directly. If it
   looks wrong, send me a message."

6. HELP (10-15 seconds)
   Example: "If anything looks off, email me with a screenshot and
   I'll take a look. Small fixes like this are covered in your
   support plan."

7. CLOSE (5-10 seconds)
   Example: "That's it. The next video shows how to add a new
   seasonal item to the menu."

Notice the pattern: tell them the goal, show the starting point, walk through the steps, publish, warn, point to help, and connect to the next video. Once you have this outline, each task video is quick to plan.

#Recording tips that make a real difference

You do not need expensive gear. Any screen recorder works: QuickTime on a Mac, OBS, the Windows Snipping Tool, or a downloaded Loom recording. What matters more is preparation.

#Use a clean browser

Open a fresh browser profile or a guest window. Hide bookmarks, close unrelated tabs, and turn off notifications. Clients do not need to see your other clients' dashboards in your bookmarks bar.

#Use demo content

Create a test blog post or CMS item named something obvious like "Test post, delete me." Edit that during the recording instead of live content. Then delete it at the end of the video so the client sees how cleanup works.

#Move the mouse slowly

Fast cursor movement is hard to follow. Move deliberately, hover over the button for a moment, and then click.

#Pause after every click

Give the screen time to load and the viewer time to notice what changed. A one or two second pause after each click makes the video much easier to follow, even if it feels slow while recording.

#Zoom in where it helps

If the buttons are small, increase the browser zoom before recording. A slightly larger interface is easier to follow on a laptop or phone.

#Do not worry about perfect speech

Most people stumble, restart sentences, or say "um" while recording. You can re-record, or you can let a tool clean it up. When you upload your recording to Nook, it writes a clear script from what you said, dropping the ums and restarts, or from what is shown on screen if you recorded silently. It then voices that script with a natural AI voice and adds captions. More general advice lives in our demo video best practices guide.

#Add captions

Captions help clients who watch without sound, viewers with hearing loss, and anyone whose first language is different from yours. The W3C has a clear overview of why captions matter and how they work.

#Privacy: protect the client and yourself

Handover videos often get forwarded, saved to shared drives, and kept for years. Treat everything on screen as something a stranger might see one day.

1. Never show the client's password. Log in before you start recording, or use a test account. If you must show the login screen, show it empty.
2. Blur email addresses. Dashboards often show the account owner's email, form submissions, or customer lists.
3. Blur API keys and integration tokens. Settings pages for payment, analytics, and email tools often display keys in plain text.
4. Hide phone numbers and card details. Billing pages and order lists in Shopify or a CRM can expose customer data.
5. Check the whole recording before sending. Watch it once just for privacy. Look at the corners, notification pop-ups, and browser autocomplete suggestions.

You can blur in a video editor, or use a tool that blurs private data such as emails, phone numbers, card numbers, and API keys automatically (the workflow below does this). Even then, a final check by you is still a good habit.

#Where to deliver the handover videos

Put the videos where the client will look for them later, not just where it is convenient for you today.

Whatever you choose, include the link in the final handover email and in the written guide. Ask the client to save it to a shared company location, not a personal inbox, so the next staff member can find it.

#Pricing the handover as a deliverable

Handover videos take time to plan, record, and edit. Decide up front how you will account for that time instead of absorbing it quietly.

Option 1: Include it in the project. Many freelancers build a standard set of handover videos into every project price. This works well if your handovers follow a similar pattern. List it in the proposal as a deliverable, for example "Recorded editing tutorials and written guide," so the client sees the value.

Option 2: Charge for custom training. Offer a basic handover as standard, and charge separately for extra videos, longer live training sessions, or training for multiple staff roles. This suits clients with complex CMS setups or larger teams.

Option 3: Bundle it with a support plan. Pair handover videos with an ongoing support or maintenance plan, including updated videos when the site changes.

Whichever you choose, write it down in the scope. "Training" is vague. "Five short task videos, a written guide, and one 45-minute live call" is clear. Your own costs matter here too. If you use a tool to produce the videos, factor its cost into the line item. Nook, for example, costs $9 per video for recordings up to 15 minutes with no watermark, your first video is free (up to 1 minute, with a watermark), and Pro is $19 per month for 10 videos. Details are on the pricing page.

#Keeping handover videos current

Sites change. A redesign, a new plugin, or a platform interface update can make an old video confusing.

• Keep a list. Track which videos exist, which page or feature each covers, and the date recorded.
• Re-record on change. When you deliver new work, check whether any handover video is affected. Add the update to that project's scope.
• Date the videos. Put the recording month in the title or description, so clients know how fresh it is.
• Short videos make this easy. If a single task changes, you replace one short video, not a long one.

When the client has staff who speak another language, consider translated versions. The workflow below can produce translated versions in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Hindi, Japanese, and Chinese, which helps when the person editing the site is more comfortable in one of those languages.

#Bringing it all together in one workflow

Here is how the workflow looks if you use Nook for client handover videos:

1. Record each task with any screen recorder you like.
2. Upload the recording.
3. It writes a clear script from your narration or from what is on screen, voices it with a natural AI voice, and adds captions.
4. It blurs private data, adds your logo, and adds intro and outro cards.
5. You get a share page with chapters, an MP4 file, and a written step-by-step guide with screenshots as PDF, Word, or Markdown.

That gives the client a video, a guide, and a single link, all from one recording.

#Checklist

Copy this into your project template.

Before recording

• Confirm who will edit the site day to day
• List the tasks they will actually do
• Write a short script for each task using the template
• Create demo content to edit during recording
• Set up a clean browser with no personal bookmarks or notifications
• Log in before recording so no password appears

Content to cover

• Logging in
• Editing text and images
• Adding a blog post or CMS item
• Saving versus publishing
• What not to touch, and why
• Where to get help and what counts as paid work
• Renewals, hosting, and domain ownership

After recording

• Watch each video once for privacy only
• Blur emails, phone numbers, card numbers, and API keys
• Add captions
• Create a written guide with numbered steps and screenshots
• Build an index of all videos with one-line descriptions
• Deliver via a shared location and the handover email
• Record the date of each video in your tracking list

#FAQ

#How long should a client handover video be?

Aim for short task videos of a few minutes each, rather than one long recording. If a task takes longer, split it into parts. Short videos are easier to find, watch, and update.

#Should I still do a live handover call?

Yes, if you can. A live call lets the client ask questions and practice with you. The recorded videos then act as the reference they keep after the call.

#How do I train clients to edit their website if they are not technical?

Focus on the few tasks they will repeat, use their vocabulary, and show every click slowly. Pair each video with numbered written steps. Avoid explaining features they will never use.

#What should a Webflow client handover include?

Cover logging into the Editor, editing text and images on static pages, adding and publishing CMS items, and the difference between the Editor and the Designer. Make it clear which areas they should not change, such as classes, symbols, and site settings.

#What should a WordPress client training video include?

Show the dashboard, editing pages in the block editor, adding posts with featured images and categories, and the update or publish flow. Explain which plugins and theme settings to leave alone, and who handles updates.

#Can I reuse the same handover videos for different clients?

General platform videos can be reused, but project-specific videos work better. Each site has its own pages, CMS fields, and risky areas. Use the script template to adapt quickly instead of starting from scratch.

#How do I keep passwords and private data out of the video?

Log in before you start recording, use demo content, and close any pages that show customer data. Then watch the video once just to check for emails, keys, and numbers, and blur anything that slipped through.

#Where should I store handover videos long term?

Somewhere the client's organization controls, such as a shared company drive or a client portal, plus a link in the handover email. Avoid storing them only in one person's personal account.

#Final thoughts

A good client handover video takes a little planning: know who will edit the site, script each task, record slowly and cleanly, protect private data, and deliver it somewhere permanent with a written guide. The result is a client who feels confident, a site that stays intact, and fewer repeat questions for you.

If you want to turn your raw screen recordings into polished handover videos and guides, take a look at Nook's page for client handover videos, or try your first video free.