Whether you are a real estate agent, psychologist, or a business owner, generating leads and making money are probably your main concerns. There are several strategies available for lead generation that can benefit your business. One of the ways of boosting lead generation is intake forms. These forms play a significant role in collecting vital information from potential leads.

In this article, we will explore what intake forms are and why you need intake forms for your business. Additionally, you will learn how to create intake forms in the most efficient way and what you should include in an intake form to enhance engagement and get better results.   

What is an intake form?

An intake form is a document that is designed to collect information from the leads at the beginning of a process. Intake forms’ primary purpose is to make the data collection process easier. There are many types of intake forms, such as client intake forms, patient intake forms, massage intake forms, and therapy intake forms.

Why do you need intake forms?

Imagine a scenario where you don’t use intake forms; you need to use telephones or emails to gather information, which is quite time-consuming and confusing for most people. Instead of this, intake forms can be used for several benefits. Here are some significant advantages: 

1. Give them a way to contact you

Although you create a professional website for your business, this may not be enough for your clients. Intake forms can be embedded on websites to facilitate communication with potential clients. You can obtain the personal information and contact numbers of clients for further details.

2. Get the information you need upfront

Knowing your customers’ preferences before they arrive is a great way to impress them. For example, as a massage therapist, it is important to gather customers’ medical history before starting any session. You can instantly inform your customers about other sessions and the process during the massage.  

3. Make time for yourself and save your money

As we stated before, gathering client information in other ways like telephone, emails, or face-to-face meetings is a time-consuming process for both parties. You will also have to spend extra money for these methods because you need to compile the information you collect and save it in files. Online intake forms can be created anywhere and be filled at any time. You both won’t waste paper and have time for doing other tasks.   

4. Ease your workload

After obtaining relevant information from customers, you may need to arrange a meeting date, create a treatment plan, or rewrite the basic information like full name and contact numbers in Excel. Many online form builders offer direct integrations with popular tools such as Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Excel, etc. So, you can automate your workload by integrating your intake forms with these tools easily and quickly. 

What to ask in an intake form?

Intake forms can be used in different industries, and that’s why the questions may vary. However, there are some points you definitely need to include in your forms. The main part is about the client:

• Name
• Surname
• Contact number
• Email address 
• Home address, etc.

Another important part is about their specific needs. You can ask them why they would like to visit you and what their expectations are. Lastly, you need to include demographic questions such as occupation, education level, marital status, and household size. Plus, you can also add a note box for the ones who want to provide additional information. 

How to create online intake forms (in 5 steps) 

Creating online intake forms is much easier with online form builder tools. Many tools have user-friendly interfaces and help you save time. With these steps, everyone can create online intake forms without experiencing any hardships. You can even do intake form counseling for those who want to learn how to create forms, thanks to the steps below. 

1. Choose a form builder tool 

You have several options for creating an online intake form, including Google Forms, Typeform, Jotform, and forms.app. We will show how to create online intake forms with forms.app. 

2. Create your intake form from scratch or with ready-made templates 

After choosing the right form builder, you can create your form from scratch, which can be boring and time-consuming for some. Alternatively, you can also choose one of the intake form templates and adjust it according to your needs.  

💡Expert tip: There are form builders that offer AI form generator features. You can use these tools and create your own intake form in less than a minute, thanks to AI. 

3. Customize your form template 

Stunning forms will always attract more attention from your clients. You shouldn’t choose plain colors like gray, white or black.

💡Expert tip: Choosing animated backgrounds can make your intake forms more interesting.

4. Add related form fields

You gather personal information in intake forms, and you may need to add terms and conditions not to deal with legal issues. Also, adding your logo may seem more professional. 

 💡Expert tip: It may be useful to get help from a lawyer when writing terms and conditions.

5. Share your intake forms with your customers

The best way to share intake forms is by embedding them into websites. However, you can also think of other options depending on your customers.

💡Expert tip: You can attract more attention by sharing the form link all across social media.  

Use cases: When to use intake forms?

You can see many examples of intake forms in your daily life since they are widely used by various industries. Healthcare, human resources, real estate, educational institutions, and event planning are some situations where intake forms are significant. Here are some intake form examples and use cases: 

1. Medical intake form

Healthcare-related intake forms can be used to gather patient information, insurance details, medical history, and consent forms.  

2. Event planner consultation form

Organizers can use event intake forms to understand customer expectations, location, and timing of the event. They will have a chance to show their former related works to the customers.  

3. Customer information form

While creating a client intake form, you definitely need to collect information like contact numbers, email addresses, and date of birth. It is an efficient way to generate leads. 

4. Massage therapy intake form

Massage therapy forms are significant for learning the patient’s older treatments, injuries, areas of pain, and allergies beforehand. Chiropractors can apply treatments tailored to patients’ needs. 

Final words

To generate leads for a business, you definitely need customers’ names, contact numbers, and emails. In light of this information, you can prepare special offers for the clients which are mostly appreciated by most of them. 

Plus, it will ease your client intake process and boost your customer satisfaction rates. To gain more clients and grow your business, you need to utilize intake forms. Creating forms becomes a simpler task when using online form builder tools. So it takes little time to create intake forms and generate leads! 

Author bio – Ebru Çelik:

Ebru is an Outreach Operations Specialist and content writer at forms.app. Writing is her passion, particularly on topics such as eCommerce, social media, customer engagement, surveys, and online forms. During her free time, Ebru enjoys watching movies and exploring new destinations.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebru-çelik2/