What to ask on a freelance inquiry form (before the first call)

An inquiry form sits on your website or link in bio and settles one thing before anyone books your time: is this worth a call? It isn't the place for a full brief. Ask too little and the first call goes on basics; ask too much and people leave halfway. This post is part of the winning clients hub.

Which fields to include, and which to make required

Each field should change what you do next: reply or not, which call to offer, which price range to quote. If an answer wouldn't change anything before the first call, it belongs on the onboarding form you send after the client signs.

That's 10 fields with 5 required. If you sell one service, drop the service question and the phone field and you're at 8. The "How did you hear about me?" answer is worth keeping even when it's optional: it's the only way to tie a paying client to a post or a referral, as explained in tracking which post brought a client.

What to leave for the onboarding form

• Billing address, tax details and who pays the invoices.
• Logins and access to their tools. Never collect passwords in a form; ask for an invite to their account instead.
• Brand files, photos and existing content. Ask for a link to a shared folder.
• Detailed scope (every page, every deliverable). The discovery call and the proposal settle that.
• Anything that belongs in the contract, such as payment terms or usage rights.

Example inquiry form for a web designer

PROJECT INQUIRY
Tell me about your project and I'll reply within one business day. Fields marked (required) need an answer; the rest are optional.

1. Your name (required)
2. Email (required)
3. Company and website
4. What do you need help with? (required, choose one)
   ( ) New website
   ( ) Redesign of an existing site
   ( ) Landing page
   ( ) Updates and support
   ( ) Something else
5. How many pages do you expect? (shown for New website or Redesign)
   ( ) 1 to 5   ( ) 6 to 15   ( ) More than 15   ( ) Not sure
6. Address of your current site (shown for Redesign)
7. What should this project achieve? (required)
   Two or three sentences: who it's for and what should change.
8. Budget range (required, choose one)
   ( ) Under $2,000
   ( ) $2,000 to $5,000
   ( ) $5,000 to $10,000
   ( ) $10,000 or more
   ( ) Not sure yet
9. When do you need it live? (date)
10. How did you hear about me?
   ( ) Referral   ( ) Search   ( ) Social media   ( ) Other

Thank-you message:
Thanks! I've got your details and I'll reply by email within one business day.

How to word the budget question

Budget is the field freelancers hesitate over most, and the wording decides whether you get an answer you can use. Here are four ways to ask, from least to most useful for a one-person business.

Use ranges, end the first one at your minimum project price, and add "Not sure yet" so nobody has to invent a number to submit the form. Someone who picks the lowest band hasn't wasted your time: you can reply with a smaller package or a useful resource instead of a call. Once you're talking, the discovery call questions cover how to ask about budget out loud.

Conditional questions: one form, several paths

Conditional logic shows a question only when an earlier answer calls for it, so one form can serve every service without making people scroll past questions that don't apply to them. Base conditions on choice questions, where answers are exact, and keep each path to one or two extra questions.

Accessibility basics for labels and required fields

An inquiry form that a screen reader user can't finish is a lead you never see. The W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative sets out the basics in its forms tutorial, and none of them take extra time once you know them.

• Give every field a visible label tied to the field in the code. The W3C's labeling tutorial recommends a label element whose for attribute matches the field's id.
• Don't use placeholder text as the label. It disappears once someone starts typing, and screen readers don't treat it as a label (W3C form instructions).
• Say which fields are required in words, for example "(required)" in the label. If you use an asterisk, explain it at the top of the form, as W3C technique H90 advises, and don't mark required fields by color alone (W3C Easy Checks).
• Group choice questions. A set of radio buttons or checkboxes belongs in a fieldset with the question as its legend, so the question is read along with the options (W3C grouping controls).
• Write error messages that say what went wrong and how to fix it, next to the field (W3C user notification). "Enter an email address like [email protected]" helps; "Invalid input" doesn't.

Build and test the form in six steps

1. Write down your services and your minimum project price. They become the service options and the lowest budget band.
2. Add the five required fields, then only the optional ones you'll actually read.
3. Add one or two conditional questions per service, each based on the service answer.
4. Decide what happens after submitting: a thank-you message with your reply time, or a booking page chosen by budget.
5. Fill the form out on your phone, then again using only the keyboard (Tab to move between fields, arrow keys or Space to choose an option).
6. Submit it once with a required field empty and check that the error message names the field and says how to fix it.

Build the inquiry form in SoloWOS

In SoloWOS you can build client intake forms from the Project inquiry template or a blank form, with text, email, phone, number, date and choice fields, each required or optional. A question can appear only when earlier answers match (is, is not, contains, is answered, is empty), with all or any of up to 10 conditions, and a hidden question is never required. Routing rules then send people to one of your meeting types with name and email filled in. Each response can email you and create or update a contact in your freelance client pipeline. Every label is tied to its field and screen readers announce required fields, which appear on screen with an asterisk, so add "Fields marked * are required" to the form's description. There's no file upload field; ask for a shared folder link. Solo includes 10 forms and 1,000 responses a month. To copy the questions into any tool, use the client intake form template.