Name, role, company and preferred contact method. What does the business do, in a sentence or two?
02
What you need
What do you need help with, what has prompted it now and what would success look like in six months?
03
Timing and budget
Is there a deadline or key date? Do you have a budget range in mind? Ranges are fine.
04
People and decisions
Who will be the day-to-day contact, and who gives the final approval?
Client intake form vs onboarding questionnaire
A client intake form collects the information you need before work starts: who the client is, what they need, who makes decisions and what they’ll provide. The terms overlap with onboarding, but it helps to separate two steps:
Intake happens first, sometimes before the client has signed. It answers: who is this, what do they need and are we the right fit?
Onboarding happens after signing. It collects the detailed inputs, files and access needed to start the agreed work.
The download includes these sections ready to copy into your form tool. Delete anything you don’t need: a short form that gets finished beats a thorough one that doesn’t.
Ask for documents through a secure upload after the client has signed, not as email attachments. If you’re choosing a tool for this, see the guide to the best client portals for accountants.
Law firms
Names of all parties involved (needed for your conflict check before you take on the matter)
Type of matter and a brief summary
Key dates and deadlines (court dates, limitation periods, contract deadlines)
How the matter arose and the outcome the client is looking for
Law firm intake carries professional obligations around conflicts, identity checks and confidentiality that vary by jurisdiction. Use this list as a starting point and adapt it to your regulator’s requirements. For portals that handle legal client communication, see the best client portals for law firms.
How to get clients to finish it
Keep the first form under five minutes. Ask only what you need to decide whether to take the work and to prepare for the first call.
Explain why you’re asking. “We ask about your year end so we can plan deadlines” gets better answers than an unexplained field.
Mark what’s optional. Clients abandon forms when they think they need answers they don’t have yet.
Allow “not sure yet”. Guesses lead to bad information.
Don’t ask for sensitive files in the first form. Collect documents after the client agrees to work with you, through a document request rather than email attachments.
Never ask for passwords. Ask clients to invite you to tools directly with your own login.
What to do with the answers
Review before the first call. Use the answers to prepare questions, not to repeat them.
Note the gaps. Anything unanswered becomes a question for the call or an item for onboarding.
Confirm the approver. If the day-to-day contact isn’t the decision-maker, agree how approvals will work before the project starts.
Turn it into an onboarding plan. Once the client signs, convert what you’ve learned into specific requests with owners and dates.
Angelwood is built for that last step. Bring onboarding, document requests and reviewed project updates into one client portal, so clients know what’s needed and your team can see what’s still outstanding before kickoff.
Use it in Word, Google Docs or PDF
Microsoft Word
Download the Word (.docx) file and open it. If Word opens it in Protected View, select Enable Editing.
Use Find (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) and search for “[” to jump between the placeholders you need to replace.
Save a clean copy as a Word template (File → Save As → Word Template) so every new document starts from it.
Google Docs
Upload the .docx file to Google Drive.
Right-click it and choose Open with → Google Docs, then File → Save as Google Docs to keep an editable copy.
Use File → Make a copy for each new client so your master stays clean.
PDF
Fill it in Word or Google Docs, then export it: File → Save As → PDF in Word, or File → Download → PDF document in Google Docs.
MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU
Useful structure. Your way of working.
01
Ask less, earlier.
The intake form decides whether you’re a fit and prepares the first conversation. Leave detailed requirements, files and access for onboarding, after the client has signed.
02
Find the decision-maker early.
Ask who gives the final approval as well as who the day-to-day contact is. Knowing both before the project starts prevents the most common cause of stalled reviews.
03
Add your industry’s questions.
The download includes extra questions for agencies, consultants, accountants and law firms. Adapt regulated questions, such as conflict checks, to your own professional obligations.
Contact details, a short description of the business, what the client needs and why now, what success looks like, timing and budget, who the day-to-day contact and approver are, and consent to contact them. Add industry-specific questions as needed.
How long should a client intake form be?+
Short enough to finish in about five minutes. Move detailed questions, files and access requests to onboarding after the client has signed.
What’s the difference between intake and onboarding?+
Intake qualifies the client and prepares the first conversation. Onboarding collects the detailed information, documents and access you need to start the agreed work.
Can I edit this template in Word or Google Docs?+
Yes. Download the Word (.docx) file and open it in Microsoft Word, or upload it to Google Drive and choose Open with → Google Docs. There’s also a Markdown version for any text editor. No account or email address is needed.
How do I save it as a PDF?+
Fill it in, then export it: File → Save As → PDF in Word, or File → Download → PDF document in Google Docs. On this page you can also print just the template or save it as a PDF from your browser’s print dialog.