How to Build a Client Intake Form in WordPress (Templates Included)

A client intake form in WordPress is the first real touchpoint in your client relationship. It's more than a contact form — it's a structured questionnaire that collects the specific information you need to start working with a new client. Done right, it saves hours of back-and-forth emails. Done wrong, it either scares people off or leaves you chasing missing details for weeks.

This guide covers everything: what a client intake form is, why it matters, the exact fields to include for different industries, how to build one with a WordPress form plugin, and how to connect it to a CRM so every new client flows directly into your pipeline.

What Is a Client Intake Form?

A client intake form is a questionnaire that new clients fill out before you begin working together. Unlike a simple contact form, which just opens a conversation, an intake form collects the structured data you need to:

• Understand the project scope — What do they need, by when, and at what budget?
• Qualify the client — Is this a good fit for your services?
• Prepare for the first meeting — Walk in already knowing the basics
• Create a paper trail — Document agreements, preferences, and requirements from day one
• Streamline onboarding — Skip the 45-minute "tell me about your business" call

Think of it as the difference between a doctor asking "what brings you in today?" in the waiting room versus reviewing your medical history before the appointment. The second approach leads to a better experience for everyone.

Why Your Intake Process Matters

First impressions

Your intake form is often the first "work product" a new client sees from you. A messy Google Form with Comic Sans doesn't inspire confidence. A clean, professional, well-organized intake form signals that you know what you're doing.

Time savings

The average service business spends 2-4 hours per new client gathering basic information through emails and calls. A well-designed intake form reduces this to 15-20 minutes of the client's time and 5 minutes of your review time.

Consistency

When you rely on calls and emails for intake, every client experience is different. Some get thorough onboarding, others get whatever you remember to ask. A form ensures every client answers the same essential questions.

Qualification

Not every inquiry becomes a client. Your intake form can include qualifying questions (budget range, timeline, project type) that help you identify serious prospects before investing time in a sales call. This ties directly into your lead generation strategy.

Essential Fields by Industry

The specific fields on your intake form depend entirely on your business. Here are field templates for the most common service industries:

Agency intake form (web design, marketing, creative)

Contact information:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Company name
• Website URL (if existing)

Project details:

• What services are you interested in? (checkbox: web design, SEO, branding, content, social media, PPC, other)
• Describe your project in 2-3 sentences (textarea)
• What's the primary goal? (radio: generate leads, increase sales, build brand awareness, launch new product, redesign existing site)
• Do you have existing brand guidelines? (yes/no)
• Do you have a preferred launch date? (date field)

Budget and timeline:

• Budget range (select: Under $2,500 / $2,500-$5,000 / $5,000-$10,000 / $10,000-$25,000 / $25,000+)
• Timeline (select: ASAP / 1-2 months / 3-6 months / 6+ months / Flexible)
• Have you worked with an agency before? (yes/no)

Decision making:

• Who will be the primary point of contact?
• Are there other stakeholders who need to approve the work? (textarea)
• How did you hear about us? (select: Google search, referral, social media, blog, other)

Consultant intake form (business, strategy, coaching)

Contact information:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Company/organization name
• Job title/role
• LinkedIn profile (optional)

Business context:

• Industry (select or text)
• Company size (select: Solo / 2-10 / 11-50 / 51-200 / 200+)
• Annual revenue range (select: Pre-revenue / Under $100K / $100K-$500K / $500K-$1M / $1M+)
• How long have you been in business? (select: Less than 1 year / 1-3 years / 3-5 years / 5+ years)

Engagement details:

• What challenge or goal brought you here? (textarea)
• What have you already tried to address this? (textarea)
• What would success look like for this engagement? (textarea)
• What's your availability for sessions? (checkbox: mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends)
• Preferred session format (radio: video call, phone, in-person, email-based)

Investment:

• Budget range for consulting (select ranges)
• Expected engagement length (select: One-time session / Monthly retainer / 3-month program / 6-month program / Ongoing)

Legal intake form (law firms, legal services)

Client information:

• Full legal name
• Date of birth
• Email address
• Phone number
• Mailing address (full address fields)
• Preferred method of contact (radio: email, phone, text)
• Best time to reach you (select: morning, afternoon, evening)

Case information:

• Type of legal matter (select: family law, personal injury, business law, estate planning, criminal defense, immigration, real estate, employment, other)
• Brief description of your legal matter (textarea)
• Is this matter time-sensitive? (yes/no)
• If yes, please explain any upcoming deadlines (textarea)
• Have you consulted with another attorney about this matter? (yes/no)

Additional details:

• Are there any pending court dates? (yes/no + date field)
• Do you have relevant documents to share? (file upload)
• How did you hear about our firm? (select)
• Any conflicts of interest to disclose? (textarea)

Important note: Legal intake forms often need a confidentiality disclaimer at the top stating that submitting the form does not create an attorney-client relationship. Include this as a static text block above the form.

Healthcare intake form (therapists, coaches, practitioners)

Patient/client information:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Email address
• Phone number
• Emergency contact name and phone
• Address

Health information:

• Reason for seeking services (textarea)
• Current symptoms or concerns (checkbox list relevant to your practice)
• Are you currently seeing another provider for this concern? (yes/no)
• Current medications (textarea)
• Relevant medical history (textarea)
• Allergies (text)

Insurance and payment:

• Insurance provider (text or select)
• Policy number (text)
• Preferred payment method (radio: insurance, self-pay, sliding scale)

Scheduling:

• Preferred appointment days (checkbox: Mon-Fri)
• Preferred times (checkbox: early morning, morning, afternoon, late afternoon, evening)
• In-person or telehealth preference (radio)

Important note: Healthcare intake forms must comply with HIPAA if you're in the US. This means encrypted submission, secure storage, and a privacy notice. WordPress self-hosted forms can meet these requirements, but you need proper SSL, encrypted database storage, and a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with your hosting provider.

Building Your Intake Form with SkunkForms

Now let's actually build one. We'll use the agency intake form template as our example.

Step 1: Plan your sections

Before touching WordPress, outline your form in sections:

1. Contact information (5 fields)
2. Project details (5 fields)
3. Budget and timeline (3 fields)
4. Decision making (3 fields)

That's 16 fields — more than a typical contact form, but acceptable for an intake form because the client is already committed to working with you (or seriously considering it). The rules about keeping forms short apply less to intake forms because the intent level is much higher.

Step 2: Create the form

1. Install and activate SkunkForms if you haven't already (it's free)
2. Create a new page titled "New Client Intake" or "Get Started"
3. Add a SkunkForms block
4. Choose Blank Form (we'll build this one from scratch)

Step 3: Add your fields section by section

Section 1: Contact information

Add a heading block inside the form: "About You"

Then add these fields:

• Text field → Label: "Full Name" → Required: Yes → Width: 50%
• Email field → Label: "Email Address" → Required: Yes → Width: 50%
• Phone field → Label: "Phone Number" → Required: No → Width: 50%
• Text field → Label: "Company Name" → Required: No → Width: 50%
• URL field → Label: "Current Website" → Placeholder: "https://..." → Required: No → Width: 100%

Section 2: Project details

Add another heading: "Your Project"

• Checkbox field → Label: "What services are you interested in?" → Options: Web Design, SEO, Branding, Content Marketing, Social Media, PPC, Other → Required: Yes
• Textarea → Label: "Describe your project" → Placeholder: "Tell us about your project in a few sentences..." → Required: Yes
• Radio field → Label: "Primary goal" → Options: Generate leads, Increase sales, Build brand awareness, Launch new product, Redesign existing site, Other → Required: Yes
• Radio field → Label: "Do you have existing brand guidelines?" → Options: Yes, No, Partially → Required: No
• Date field → Label: "Target launch date" → Required: No

Section 3: Budget and timeline

Add heading: "Budget & Timeline"

• Select field → Label: "Budget range" → Options: Under $2,500 / $2,500-$5,000 / $5,000-$10,000 / $10,000-$25,000 / $25,000+ / Not sure yet → Required: Yes
• Select field → Label: "Timeline" → Options: ASAP / 1-2 months / 3-6 months / 6+ months / Flexible → Required: Yes
• Radio field → Label: "Have you worked with an agency before?" → Options: Yes / No → Required: No

Section 4: Decision making

Add heading: "Final Details"

• Text field → Label: "Primary point of contact" → Required: No → Width: 100%
• Textarea → Label: "Other stakeholders or approvers" → Required: No
• Select field → Label: "How did you hear about us?" → Options: Google search, Referral, Social media, Blog post, Other → Required: No

Step 4: Configure the submit button

• Button text: "Submit Intake Form"
• Success message: "Thank you! We've received your information and will be in touch within one business day to discuss next steps."

Step 5: Set up notifications

Configure two notifications:

Admin notification:

• To: your email (or your team's intake email)
• Subject: "New client intake: {company_name} — {full_name}"
• Reply-to: {email}
• Body: All submitted fields

Client auto-responder:

• To: {email}
• Subject: "We received your project details"
• Body: "Hi {full_name}, thanks for taking the time to fill out our intake form. We'll review your project details and be in touch within one business day. In the meantime, feel free to reply to this email with any additional information."

Step 6: Publish and link

Publish the page and add it to key locations:

• As a CTA button on your services pages: "Ready to get started? → Fill out our intake form"
• In your auto-reply to contact form submissions: "Thanks for reaching out! Please complete our [intake form] so we can prepare for our conversation."
• In your email signature during the sales process

Connecting Your Intake Form to a CRM

Here's where intake forms become powerful. When a new client submits their intake form, that data shouldn't just sit in your email — it should:

1. Create a CRM contact with all their information populated
2. Create a deal at the "Intake Received" stage of your pipeline
3. Apply tags based on their answers (e.g., "Web Design", "Budget: $5K-$10K")
4. Log the full submission on the contact's activity timeline
5. Trigger a notification to the team member responsible for new client onboarding

With SkunkForms + SkunkCRM, steps 1-4 happen automatically. No Zapier, no manual data entry, no middleware connecting disparate tools. The form submission creates the contact, populates the fields, creates the deal, and applies the tags. You just need to set up your pipeline stages and field mappings once.

For more on why this integrated approach matters, see our deep dive on form plugins with built-in CRM.

Pipeline stages for client onboarding

Here's a recommended pipeline for service businesses:

1. Intake Received — Form submitted, not yet reviewed
2. Under Review — Reviewing the intake form, checking fit
3. Discovery Call Scheduled — Meeting booked
4. Proposal Sent — Scope and quote delivered
5. Negotiation — Client reviewing, follow-ups happening
6. Contract Signed — Deal closed, ready to onboard
7. In Progress — Actively working on the project
8. Completed — Project delivered

Each stage should have a clear action associated with it. When you move a deal from "Intake Received" to "Under Review," you've committed to reviewing their submission within your SLA (ideally within 24 hours).

Intake Form Best Practices

Use conditional logic

Not every client needs to answer every question. Use conditional fields to show relevant follow-up questions:

• If "Services interested in" includes "Web Design" → Show "Do you have brand guidelines?"
• If "Have you worked with an agency before?" is "Yes" → Show "What went well/poorly with your previous agency?"
• If "Budget range" is "Not sure yet" → Show "Would you like us to provide a range of options?"

This keeps the form from feeling overwhelming while still capturing detailed information when relevant. Conditional logic is available in SkunkForms Pro.

Make long forms feel shorter

16 fields looks intimidating as a single page. Break it up:

• Multi-step forms — Split into 3-4 steps with a progress bar. Each step shows only 4-5 fields. Psychologically easier to complete.
• Section headings — Group related fields under clear headings. This creates visual breathing room.
• Progressive disclosure — Show basic fields first, then reveal detailed fields based on initial answers.

Set expectations at the top

Before the first field, include a brief note:

"This form takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. Your answers help us prepare a tailored proposal for your project. All information is kept confidential."

This reduces abandonment because people know what they're committing to.

Offer a save-and-continue option

Long intake forms benefit from letting users save progress and return later. If your form plugin supports it, enable this feature. The client might want to gather budget approval or project details before finishing.

Test with real clients

Before deploying your intake form widely, ask 2-3 trusted clients or colleagues to fill it out. Watch for:

• Confusing questions
• Fields that feel redundant
• Missing questions you always have to follow up on
• Mobile usability issues

Intake Form Templates Summary

Here's a quick reference for the fields covered in each industry template:

Agency (16 fields)

Contact info (5) + Project details (5) + Budget/timeline (3) + Decision making (3)

Consultant (14 fields)

Contact info (6) + Business context (4) + Engagement details (5) + Investment (2)

Legal (13 fields)

Client info (7) + Case information (5) + Additional details (4) + Confidentiality disclaimer

Healthcare (14 fields)

Patient info (6) + Health information (5) + Insurance (3) + Scheduling (3) + Privacy notice

Adapt these to your specific needs. The field suggestions above are starting points — add what's relevant, remove what isn't, and refine based on client feedback over time.

Getting Started

1. Pick the template closest to your industry from the suggestions above
2. Install SkunkForms on your WordPress site (free)
3. Build your form following the step-by-step instructions above
4. Set up notifications so you're alerted immediately when a new intake comes in
5. Connect to CRM — automatic with SkunkCRM, or configure your preferred CRM via our integration guides
6. Test thoroughly on desktop and mobile before sharing with clients
7. Link the form from your contact page, services pages, and email sequences

A great client intake form doesn't just collect information — it starts the client relationship on the right foot. Invest the time to build it properly and you'll save hours on every new project, qualify leads faster, and deliver a more professional experience from the very first interaction.

Need help with forms beyond intake? Check out our complete WordPress contact form tutorial or explore the full SkunkForms documentation.