# How to structure Slack channels per client

> Give each client a team channel, a leads channel and an alerts channel, plus one shared channel. Who sits where, what goes where, and an owner for each.
- **Author**: Marxx
- **Published**: 2026-11-06
- **Category**: Slack
- **URL**: https://marxx.ai/library-guides/how-to-structure-slack-channels-per-client

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Give each client up to three internal channels: #client-name for team talk, #client-name-leads for new leads and #client-name-alerts for ad alerts. Add one shared channel only if the client talks to you in Slack, and write an owner and a backup into every channel's description.

## Internal vs shared channels

An internal channel holds only your agency's people. A shared channel also holds people from the client's company, through Slack Connect or as guests.

| Channel | Who is in it | What goes there | What never goes there |
|---|---|---|---|
| #client-northwind | Your team on the account | Ideas, drafts, questions, decisions | Client staff |
| #client-northwind-leads | People who call or qualify leads | One message per new lead | Team chatter |
| #client-northwind-alerts | Media buyer and account lead | Ad alerts and account problems | Long discussions |
| #ext-northwind | Your team and the client's team | Updates, approvals, questions | Raw alerts, lead contact details, internal debate |

## When to split and when to merge

Start with one internal channel per client. Split when one kind of message buries the rest.

- **Split off -leads** when leads arrive often enough that team talk scrolls out of view. The people who call leads can then follow that one channel.
- **Split off -alerts** when alerts start to read like noise. The media buyer gets one place to check each morning.
- **Keep it merged** for a small client with a handful of leads a week. Three quiet channels are harder to watch than one busy one.

Use the same names for every client, so anyone can guess a channel's name. Our [Slack channel naming conventions for agencies](/templates/slack-channel-naming-conventions-for-agencies) has a full scheme.

## Owner and backup

Every channel needs one person who answers and one who covers. Put both in the channel description, with the hours they cover:

```
Owner: Priya Shah. Backup: Karan Mehta.
Leads: answered 10am to 7pm, Mon to Sat.
```

When the owner is on leave, the backup takes over with no handover meeting.

## Worked example

Say you run three clients. Northwind Escapes gets about 40 leads a day, so it gets all three internal channels plus a shared one. Mango Lane Foods sells online and has no leads, so it gets #client-mangolane and #client-mangolane-alerts. Orbit Fitness gets 5 leads a week, so everything stays in #client-orbit, and the client talks to you on email.

| Client | Internal channels | Shared channel | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwind Escapes | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Mango Lane Foods | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Orbit Fitness | 1 | 0 | 1 |

That is 8 channels for 3 clients, each sized to the work.

## Point your tools at the right channel

Each tool that posts to Slack needs to know which channel belongs to which client. Set leads to go to -leads and alerts to -alerts. See [how to get Facebook lead notifications in Slack](/guides/how-to-get-facebook-lead-notifications-in-slack) and [how to set up Meta ads alerts in Slack](/guides/how-to-set-up-meta-ads-alerts-in-slack).

We make Marxx. In [Marxx in Slack](/features/slack), each kind of message can go to its own channel, set per client, so leads land in -leads and alerts in -alerts.

## FAQ

### Should client channels be public or private inside the agency?

Make them private if some clients are sensitive or your team is large. Otherwise public works, since only your own staff can see them.

### What if a client wants to see leads in Slack?

Post leads in the shared channel only if the client asks and agrees who can see the contact details. Many agencies keep leads internal and share counts instead.

### How many channels is too many?

If a channel gets fewer than a few messages a week, fold it back into the main client channel.

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