Bottom line: A good project intake form protects margin by surfacing scope ambiguity, decision-maker friction, and timeline traps before you sign. The 30-field template below is what works for agencies running project-based engagements ($5K-$100K). It is shorter than a discovery questionnaire because the goal is qualification and scope clarity, not deep strategy.
Project intake forms have one job: turn an interested prospect into a properly scoped engagement without wasted sales cycles or post-signature surprises. The template below is sized for that job. 30 fields, 10-15 minutes to fill out, surfaces every common scope-creep trigger before it becomes your problem.
Quick-Scan Summary:
- 30 fields across 5 sections: Contact, Project basics, Scope and deliverables, Decision-making and timing, Budget and success criteria.
- Time to complete (client side): 10-15 minutes. Longer than that means your form is doing the job of a discovery questionnaire, which is the wrong tool.
- Use as the gate between lead and proposal. No completed intake = no proposal. Saves you from writing 6-hour proposals for unqualified prospects.
- Integrate with your productized services intake for self-service. The same template embedded as a checkout form qualifies and creates the request automatically.
- Common scope-creep triggers it catches: undefined deliverables, hidden stakeholders, fuzzy success criteria, unrealistic timelines, unstated dependencies.
When to Use an Intake Form (vs a Discovery Questionnaire)
| Use intake form when... | Use discovery questionnaire when... | |---|---| | Project-based engagement ($5K-$100K) | Retainer or strategic engagement (>$25K, >3 months) | | Productized service with mostly defined scope | Custom strategy work with discovery as part of the engagement | | Self-service lead capture | High-touch sales process | | You want to qualify before proposal | You have already qualified and need depth before kickoff |
For longer strategic engagements use the marketing questionnaire or branding questionnaire. For repeatable projects with defined scope, this intake form is the right tool.
The 5-Section Template (Copy-Paste)
Embed in your client portal, service catalog, website contact form, or as a Notion/Google Form. Submissions should create a request in your workspace automatically.
Section 1: Contact and Company Basics
1. Full name
2. Work email
3. Company name and website
4. Your role at the company
5. How did you hear about us? (Referral, search, content, event, social, other)
6. Phone or preferred contact method for follow-upSection 2: Project Basics
7. In one sentence, what do you want us to do?
8. What service or package are you interested in? (If using a productized catalog, the selected item)
9. What is the underlying business problem this project solves?
10. Is this a one-off project, the first phase of something larger, or part of an ongoing engagement?
11. Have you done this type of project before, internally or with another vendor? What was the outcome?
12. Why now? (Triggering event, deadline, opportunity)Section 3: Scope and Deliverables
13. Specific deliverables you expect at the end of the project. (List them as bullet points)
14. Anything you are NOT expecting us to produce that might be confused for our scope? (e.g., "we'll handle the development ourselves")
15. Quantities, formats, or specifications for each deliverable. (e.g., "3 logo concepts, final files in AI/SVG/PNG/PDF")
16. Existing assets we'll work from? (Brand guidelines, content, photography, briefs, prior work)
17. Anyone else producing parts of this project we need to coordinate with? (Other vendors, in-house teams, freelancers)
18. Approval gates and who signs off on each. (e.g., "concept approval by founder, final delivery by marketing director")
Section 4: Decision-Making and Timing
19. Who is the final decision-maker on this project?
20. Are there other stakeholders whose feedback we need to incorporate? Name them and their role.
21. What is your internal approval workflow? (Single owner, team review, committee, board)
22. What is the absolute hard deadline, and what triggers it? (Launch date, event, fiscal milestone)
23. What is the ideal start date?
24. Realistic feedback cadence from your side? (Same day, 48 hours, weekly review)
25. Communication channel preference? (Email, Slack, [client portal](/platform/client-portal), call)Section 5: Budget and Success Criteria
26. Approved budget range for this project? (Specific range, not "TBD")
27. Has the budget been signed off internally, or is it pending approval?
28. What does a successful outcome look like, specifically?
29. How will you measure success? (Metrics, milestones, qualitative criteria)
30. Anything else we should know before we propose?How the Intake Form Prevents Scope Creep
The intake form is not a sales tool. It is a margin-protection tool. Every field in the template above maps to a specific scope-creep pattern.
| Common scope creep | The field that catches it | |---|---| | "Oh, we also wanted X" added mid-project | Field 13 (specific deliverables) + Field 14 (explicit exclusions) | | Stakeholder you didn't know about kills work in review | Field 20 (other stakeholders named upfront) | | "When can you start? We need it next week" surprise | Field 22 (hard deadline) + Field 23 (ideal start date) | | Endless approval delays | Field 21 (approval workflow) + Field 24 (feedback cadence) | | Budget renegotiation mid-project | Field 26 (specific budget range) + Field 27 (sign-off status) | | Vague success criteria become moving targets | Field 28 (success looks like) + Field 29 (how measured) | | "Oh, our developer was supposed to do that" coordination failure | Field 17 (other vendors/teams) |
If any of these come up after signature, you have an intake form gap. Refine the template after each project.
How to Use the Intake Form
The flow that works for project-based engagements:
- Embed the intake form in your service catalog page, productized service checkout, or website contact form.
- New leads complete the intake before you spend any sales time. Half of unqualified leads bounce here. Good.
- Score completed intakes against the fit framework below. If green, schedule a 30-minute call. If yellow, schedule a 15-minute qualifying call. If red, send a polite "not the right fit" note with a referral if possible.
- For green-flag intakes, write the proposal with confidence that scope is clear.
- The intake form answers become the scope appendix to the SOW. This locks in what was promised.
Scoring Intake Submissions for Fit
| Criterion | Green flag | Yellow flag | Red flag | |---|---|---|---| | Scope clarity | Specific deliverables listed, exclusions named | Vague deliverables, no exclusions | "Just tell us what we need" or "everything" | | Decision authority | Single decision-maker named, sign-off status clear | Multiple stakeholders without tiebreaker | Form completed by an intern or assistant | | Budget reality | Specific range, signed off | Range provided, sign-off pending | "Whatever it takes" or below your minimum tier | | Timeline reality | Hard deadline with credible trigger, realistic start date | Tight timeline but feasible | "ASAP" or unrealistic compression |
Two red flags = decline politely. One red flag in budget or decision authority = sales call before proposal.
Integrating With Productized Services
If you run a productized service catalog, the intake form becomes part of the checkout flow rather than a separate document. The pattern that works:
- Service catalog page lists your packages with fixed scope and pricing.
- Client clicks "buy" or "request" on a package.
- The intake form appears as the checkout-style form. Fields 1-12 are pre-filled if they have an account. Fields 13-30 capture the project-specific details.
- Form submission creates a project automatically in your workspace, pre-filled with the package's standard tasks plus the client's specific intake details.
- Your team reviews and confirms scope, then starts work.
See our productized services platform for the operational model.
Common Mistakes
1. Making the form too long. Anything over 30 fields kills completion rate. If you need deeper discovery, the project is too complex for an intake form and you need a discovery questionnaire instead.
2. No exclusions field. Without Field 14, scope creep starts on day 2.
3. Vague "budget" field. "What's your budget?" gets non-answers. Force a range. Force a sign-off status.
4. Not surfacing stakeholders. If you discover a CEO who has veto power after signature, the engagement is on borrowed time. Field 20 forces stakeholder disclosure upfront.
5. Sending the intake form via email. Friction kills response rates. Make it a form embedded in your portal or website. Submissions should create the project in your workspace automatically, not arrive as PDF attachments.
Not For You
This intake form is not for you if:
- You sell strategic retainer work above $25K/month. Use a discovery questionnaire instead.
- You exclusively work referral-based with extensive sales calls before any paperwork. Intake forms feel impersonal in that context.
- You sell pure consulting hours without packaged scope. The form does not fit.
It is for you if you sell project-based engagements ($5K-$100K) or productized services, and you want to qualify leads before writing proposals.
FAQ
What should a project intake form include?
Five sections: contact and company basics (5-6 fields), project basics (5-6 fields), scope and deliverables (5-6 fields), decision-making and timing (5-7 fields), budget and success criteria (4-5 fields). Total 25-30 fields. Shorter loses signal; longer kills completion rate.
How long should a project intake form take to complete?
10-15 minutes for a prospect who has the answers. If it takes longer than 20 minutes, the form is either too long, asks for data they have to dig up, or includes questions that belong in a discovery call. Watch your completion rate; if it drops below 60%, the form is too long.
How is an intake form different from a discovery questionnaire?
Intake forms are short qualification documents (25-30 fields, 10-15 minutes) used at the lead stage to qualify and define scope. Discovery questionnaires are longer (45-60 questions, 25-40 minutes) used after a contract is signed to inform strategy. Different stages, different depth, different purpose.
Should the intake form be a Google Form, a Typeform, or an embedded form on my site?
Embedded on your site or in your client portal, with submissions creating projects in your workspace automatically. Google Forms work but lose the project-creation integration. Typeform has higher completion rates but adds friction if budgets are constrained. The optimal setup is intake-form-to-project-creation in one flow.
How do I prevent the intake form from feeling impersonal?
Three things: (1) keep the tone conversational, write the questions in plain English; (2) explain at the top why each section matters and how long it takes; (3) follow up within 4 business hours with a personal note from a human (not just an auto-response). The intake form is the structured input; the relationship is built in the follow-up.
What if a prospect won't complete the intake form?
Two reads: either the form is too long (fix the form), or the prospect is not serious (let them go). Agencies that require completed intakes before proposals see lower lead-to-proposal rates but dramatically higher proposal-to-close rates. The qualification step is doing its job.
What To Do Next
To deploy this intake form:
- Copy the 30 fields into your preferred form builder, client portal, or productized service checkout.
- Add an intro paragraph explaining what you do and what happens after they submit.
- Test with one real prospect. Adjust questions that produce non-answers.
- Add the form as the gate between leads and proposals. No completed intake, no proposal.
- Refine the template after every project where scope creep happened. Add the question that would have caught it.
The agencies with healthy margins are the ones that qualify ruthlessly at intake.
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