A client intake form is the short form a client fills in right after they say yes, so you don't have to collect basics over ten emails. Fifteen fields in four groups cover almost any small service business: contact and billing, the job, access and constraints, and preferences. Below are both versions (one for a trade job, one for a professional service), what to leave off, and the rule that keeps the form to five minutes.
Scope for this page: it's a business intake form, not a legal, tax or medical form. If your work involves medical or other regulated information, a form like this is not the right place to collect it, and you should get advice from your own compliance contact first. For everything else, the form below is a place to start.
What an intake form is for
It has two jobs. It stops you from asking the same questions in the first week, and it surfaces problems before they cost money: the gate code nobody mentioned, the second decision-maker, the invoice that must go to accounts payable with a purchase order number. A form also gives you one record to refer back to. When the client says "I thought we agreed to Friday," you have their own written answer.
The intake form comes after the sale and the agreement. The step before it is the proposal, and the step after it is the kickoff in the client onboarding checklist. If you want to collect a quote request before the sale, that's a different form: see online quote request form.
Contact and billing fields
Five fields. The first four are the same in both versions.
- Your name and best phone number (mobile if you're happy to be texted).
- Company name, if any.
- Email for the project, and anyone else who should be copied.
- Who approves the work, if it isn't you? Name and email.
- Where should invoices go, and do you need a purchase order number on them?
Why field 4 matters: a surprising number of delays come from a second person who appears in week three. Why field 5 matters: invoices sent to the wrong inbox are paid late, and the delay looks like your problem. The wording for a late invoice is in how to follow up on an unpaid invoice.
The job: scope, address, dates
Four fields, different wording for each version.
Trade version: (6) Address of the job and any parking or loading notes. (7) What do you want done, in your own words? (8) The date you need it finished by, and why that date. (9) Anything already done or started by someone else.
Professional version: (6) What are you trying to achieve in one sentence? (7) What's the deadline, and what is it tied to (a filing date, a launch, a meeting)? (8) What have you already tried or had done by someone else? (9) What would a successful outcome look like in 90 days?
Both versions put the "in your own words" question near the top. The answer tells you how the client talks about the problem, and you can reuse their wording in your recap. Compare this with the longer list of questions in discovery call questions; the form only asks what you need to begin work.
Access and constraints
Three fields.
Trade version: (10) How do we get in (gate code, key, who will be there, pets)? (11) Hours we can work, and any quiet hours or building rules. (12) Utilities or shutoffs we should know about (water, power, alarms).
Professional version: (10) Which accounts, files or systems do you need to give us access to? (We'll send a secure link.) (11) Who is available on your side, and when, for questions? (12) Anything we can't touch, change or share (a vendor contract, a legal hold, a system under change freeze).
For access, never ask the client to type passwords or sensitive numbers into a form field that sends by email. Use the tool's invite function or a secure link and say so on the form, in one line: "Don't type passwords here. We'll send a secure way to share access."
Preferences that prevent callbacks
Three fields.
Trade version: (13) Best way to reach you during the job (text, call, email). (14) Do you want a text when we're on the way? (15) Anything you'd like us to do differently from other contractors you've worked with?
Professional version: (13) Best way to reach you (email, phone, text) and your usual hours. (14) How often do you want updates (daily, weekly, only at milestones)? (15) Anything you'd like us to do differently from other providers you've worked with?
Field 15 is the best question on the form. Clients answer it honestly, and it names the last person's mistakes: "they never called before showing up," "they sent bills with no detail." You've just been told how to impress them. Texting a client requires their consent to be texted, so field 13 is also where you record it.
What to leave off
Leave off anything you don't need to start. No Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, dates of birth or ID photos unless the work legally requires them, and then collect them through a secure channel built for it, not a web form. No medical details. No long "tell us about your company" essays. No fields you won't read. Before you add a field, ask: what will I do with this answer in the first week? If the answer is nothing, delete it. A good test for a form is to hand the last client's answers to a new employee and see whether they can start the work.
A rule for five minutes
Five minutes means 15 fields, most with short answers, and no more than three that need a sentence. Count it: five contact fields at 10 seconds each is under a minute. Four job fields at 45 seconds is three minutes. The remaining six at 20 seconds is two minutes. That's six minutes, so cut the two least useful fields to hit five. If someone tests your form and takes longer than seven, remove fields until it doesn't. Mark the optional ones "optional" so that a skipped question feels allowed. Put the form on one page, not five, and make the submit button say what happens next: "Send and book kickoff."
Where the form lives so it gets done
The form lives in the welcome email, in one link, with a time estimate and a due date: "5 minutes, by Thursday at noon." See the templates in welcome email to a new client. Use whatever form tool you already have; the point is that the answers arrive in one place and you get a notification. Open it within a day, reply "got it" and list any gaps. If the client hasn't filled it by the due date, a short reminder with the one missing item is enough: the approach is in email to a client requesting documents.
Intake only matters if clients keep arriving. Rocketship finds the buyers, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the meeting on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and both Launch and Frontier start with a 7-day free trial, card required. Related pages: scope of work template, say goodbye to onboarding calls and how to ask for a deposit.