Onboarding · Discovery
The 9 client onboarding questions to ask before any project starts
This isn't a form builder or a downloadable template — it's the actual list of questions. Most agency briefs run 30+ of them and see completion rates in the single digits. The 9 below are built to get answered same-day. The difference isn't thoroughness—it's that every question earns its place.
Run this exact brief in-line, mobile-optimized, as step 1 of your onboarding flow.
Get startedThe 9 questions, in order
- 1
In one sentence, what are we building?
Forces a single, sharable answer instead of a paragraph nobody will re-read before the deadline.
- 2
Who is it for? (1 customer persona, no fluff)
One concrete persona beats three vague ones—design and copy decisions get easier immediately.
- 3
What does success look like in 90 days?
Anchors the whole engagement to an outcome, not a deliverable list.
- 4
What's the deadline — and what happens if we miss it?
Surfaces real stakes (a launch event, a funding deadline) that change how you prioritize.
- 5
Show us 3 references you love. (Links work)
Gives you visual and tonal direction without a lengthy briefing call.
- 6
Show us 1 reference you hate. (More useful)
The single highest-leverage question in the list—see below.
- 7
Who has final sign-off?
Names the real decision-maker before feedback rounds start, not after the third revision.
- 8
What's our communication channel? (Pick one)
Prevents parallel threads across email, Slack, and WhatsApp that nobody fully reads.
- 9
Anything we should not do? (Critical)
Catches the landmines—brand colors that are off-limits, a competitor to never be compared to—before they blow up mid-project.
Why question 6 does the most work
Question 6—show us one reference you hate—is the single highest-leverage question in the list. Clients rarely volunteer what they dislike; asked directly, they name specific colors, layouts, or tones they want avoided. That one answer routinely prevents multiple rounds of revision later, because you've already ruled out an entire direction before you spent a single hour designing it.
Question 9—anything we should not do—plays a similar role for scope. It catches the landmines: a competitor they never want mentioned, a stakeholder whose opinion overrides everyone else's, a feature that sounds reasonable but is politically off-limits internally. Both questions cost the client ten extra seconds to answer and can save you days of rework.
One addition that lifts completion further
Add a short (under 3-minute) intro video at the top of the form, before question 1. Introduce yourself, explain why each answer matters, and set expectations for what happens next. Completion rates jump when there's a person attached to the form instead of a blank document—clients move faster for humans than for forms.
Put it to work
This brief is step 1 of the full onboarding sequence—see how to onboard a new client in 30 minutes for what comes after the brief is submitted, and 5 email templates for the messages that surround it, and the guide directory for a version tailored to your profession.
Frequently asked questions
- How many questions should a client intake form have?
- Around 9 focused questions outperforms longer forms. Completion rate drops sharply as question count rises past a certain point—long-form briefs (30+ questions) commonly see single-digit same-day completion, while a tight 9-question version can clear 80%+.
- Why is asking for a reference the client hates more useful than one they love?
- References they love describe a direction; a reference they hate describes a boundary. Boundaries prevent entire categories of revision—clients rarely articulate what they dislike unprompted, so asking directly heads off rework you'd otherwise discover after a full draft.
- Should the intake form ask about budget?
- Only if budget wasn't already settled in the proposal stage. If pricing is locked before onboarding starts, spend the 9 questions on scope and success criteria instead—budget questions at this stage tend to reopen a negotiation that should already be closed.
- Does adding a short video to the brief actually help?
- Yes—a short intro video at the top of the form, where you introduce yourself and the process in under 3 minutes, meaningfully lifts completion. Clients fill out forms faster when there's a person attached to them, not just a static document.
- What if the client doesn't answer question 9 (what not to do)?
- Follow up on that one specifically before kickoff—it's the question most likely to get skipped because it requires the client to think adversarially about their own project, and it's also the one most likely to save you a late-stage revision cycle.
Turn this into a live intake form
Pre-saved answers, mobile-optimized, part of the same flow as files, contract, and payment.
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