Good work alone does not keep a client informed. Two weeks without an update can leave them asking "what am I actually paying for?" Tell them what is happening before they have to ask.
The fix is boring and it works. Same day every week, same short format, whether or not the week went well.
What should a weekly progress report include?
Four things. Nothing else.
What got done. Two or three lines, in plain language, describing outcomes rather than activity. "The booking form is live and took its first booking on 12 May" is an outcome. "Worked on booking form" is a timesheet entry. Your client cannot judge effort and should not have to.
What is next. One or two lines about the coming week. Show the client the plan for the next piece of work.
Anything you need from them. Be specific and name the deadline. "I need the logo files by 15 May or the homepage slips a week" works. "Let me know your thoughts when you get a chance" does not, and you will be chasing it for a fortnight. Read how to ask a client for feedback before requesting a review.
Anything that changed. A slipped date, a cost that moved, a decision you made on their behalf. This is the part people leave out, and it is the part that matters most.
That is the update. Four short blocks. No status tables, no percentage complete, no colour-coded risk register that neither of you believes.
How long should a client update be?
Under 200 words. Aim for something they can read on a phone, standing up, between meetings, without scrolling twice.
Length is not generosity. A long update is usually a sign that you are padding a thin week, or that you have not decided what actually mattered. Both are worth noticing in yourself. If you genuinely have more to say, attach the detail and keep the update itself short. The client who wants depth will click. The client who does not will still be informed, which is the point.
Here is a complete example:
Week of 12 May
The new booking flow went live on 12 May and has taken 34 bookings since. Payment errors are down from about 6 a week to zero so far.
Next week I am cleaning up the confirmation emails and starting the reporting screen.
I need your merchant ID for the reporting screen by 15 May, otherwise it moves to the following week.
One change: I moved the reporting screen ahead of the admin settings page, because you cannot see revenue without it and settings can wait.
Under 100 words. Your client now knows what happened, what comes next, and what you need from them.
Use the client update template to write your own version of the same format.
How often should I update a client?
Weekly, on a fixed day, forever.
Weekly is frequent enough that nothing festers and rare enough that it never becomes a chore. Fixed is the more important half. When updates arrive on a predictable day, your client stops chasing you, because there is a known moment when the answer arrives. Unpredictable updates train people to ask, and then you are handling questions all week instead of writing once.
Choose a regular time to share progress with clients, whether at the end of the week or the start of the next. Do not wait until there is something to report.
What do I write when nothing got finished?
A blocked week still needs an update.
Say what is holding, why, what you are doing about it, and when you expect it to move. For example: "The API sandbox has been down since 14 May. I have a ticket open. If it is not back by 19 May, I will build against a mock so we do not lose the week." The client can see your next step rather than guess why nothing arrived.
Slow weeks are also when you should say what changed even if it makes you look worse. Bad news early is a project management problem. Bad news late is a character problem. Your client will forgive the first and remember the second.
One more thing about difficult weeks: resist explaining the technical reason at length. A short honest sentence reads as confidence. Three paragraphs of justification read as guilt, even when everything you wrote is true.
Read how to tell a client bad news for help explaining a delay or a changed plan.
How should you share progress with clients?
Email delivers the update to the client's inbox. A shared document may require a login or ask them to check another place for news.
For advice on writing a client update email, start with what your client needs to know and keep the message short.
Email has history, but that history can be split across threads, inboxes and people. Three months in, finding what was agreed in March may mean searching several conversations.
Use both email and a stable project page. Send the current update by email and keep past updates in order on the page. When a new person joins on the client side, you can send them one link instead of forwarding a set of threads.
That link should not require an account. If the project needs another access check, turn on a Friday-generated 4-digit PIN that the client can enter without signing up. Read the client page PIN guide before sharing it.
The habit is worth more than the format
You can take everything above and put it in a plain email template today. The format is not the hard part. The hard part is that on the week you are behind, or embarrassed, or genuinely slammed, you will want to skip it, and that is exactly the week your client is wondering whether this is working.
Send it anyway, on the day you agreed.
Friday exists to make that habit take ten minutes. One page per project, post an update, they get it by email with a private link to everything that came before. They do not need an account, and you can turn on a Friday-generated 4-digit PIN.