I know it sounds unnecessary when there's nothing major to report but this is one of the highest-trust habits I've built with clients. a quick 5 line message what got done, what's in progress, anything coming up takes 10 minutes and does more for client retention than almost anything else. clients don't churn because you did bad work. they churn because they feel out of the loop. the ones who stay longest are almost always the ones who feel consistently informed. build the habit early and it becomes automatic