Client Intake Form for a Digital Agency

A client intake form gives a small agency a consistent starting point for a new enquiry. Its purpose is to identify the organization, the main contact, the work requested and the next decision. Keep it short enough for a prospective client to complete and detailed enough for your team to decide who should follow up.

This guide describes a reusable process. Adapt the questions to your services, privacy obligations and the stage of the client relationship.

What an intake form should collect

Start with the information needed to respond:

• Contact: name, work email and preferred way to be contacted.
• Organization: company name and website, if available.
• Request: a short description of the service or problem the client wants to discuss.
• Timing: a desired start date or decision window, if known.
• Budget: an optional indicative range, if it helps your team assess fit.
• Next step: permission to reply to the enquiry and a clear explanation of what happens after submission.

Avoid requesting passwords, financial account details, identity documents or other sensitive files in a general intake form. If access or documents are needed later, agree on an appropriate secure method and request only what is necessary.

A simple form you can adapt

Use these questions as a starting point:

1. What is your name and work email?
2. What is your organization called? What is its website, if it has one?
3. What would you like help with?
4. What outcome are you hoping to achieve?
5. When would you like the work to start?
6. Is there an indicative budget or range you would like us to consider? (Optional.)
7. Is there anything else that would help us prepare for a first conversation? (Optional.)

Mark only genuinely necessary questions as required. Explain how you will use the information and link to your applicable privacy notice before making the form available.

Intake form or onboarding questionnaire?

An intake form supports the first response and basic qualification. A more detailed onboarding questionnaire comes after you have agreed to work together: it can cover strategy, audiences, existing materials, stakeholders and project-specific constraints.

Do not ask a prospective client to complete a long strategy brief before you know whether the project is a fit. Once the scope is agreed, use the client onboarding checklist to assign owners, dates and next steps.

Decide what happens after submission

Assign one person to review new enquiries and a backup for absences. Agree internally on a response target you can actually meet; do not promise a response time until your team has committed to it.

A simple workflow is:

1. Record the request and assign an owner.
2. Check the service request, timing and any missing essential information.
3. Decide whether to arrange a conversation, ask a follow-up question or decline politely.
4. Record the decision and next action in your approved system.
5. Delete or retain the data according to your documented policy and applicable requirements.

A confirmation message should say only what has happened. For example, say the enquiry was received after it is recorded; do not imply that a meeting is booked or a proposal approved.

Handle missing information and poor fit

If a required field is missing, ask a specific follow-up question rather than restarting the entire form. If the request is outside your services, respond respectfully and avoid promising a referral unless you have one to offer. If timing is unclear, discuss it before committing resources.

Check the form before using it

Submit a test entry marked as such and verify that the right person can find it, required fields work and the confirmation message is accurate. Test invalid email addresses and the anti-spam protection where available. Remove test data according to your process. Check the form on mobile and with a keyboard, and review its privacy notice and retention settings before sharing it publicly.

A short intake form is useful when it leads to a clear decision. Review the questions periodically and remove fields your team does not use.

Get the client intake form template