Creating a Coaching Intake Form That Saves You Time

Not everyone who books a session is the right fit. Some want help with problems outside your expertise. Others are not ready to act on advice. A few will drain your energy without getting results.

Intake questions surface these mismatches early. If someone's response to "What's your biggest challenge right now?" describes a problem you don't solve, you can redirect them to a better resource before spending an hour on a call that helps neither of you.

It filters for readiness and commitment

There is a difference between someone exploring coaching and someone ready to invest in it. A question like "On a scale of 1-10, how committed are you to making changes in this area?" reveals that difference without being awkward. A "3" tells you something. A "9" tells you something different. Both are useful.

It signals professionalism before the session starts

The intake form is often the first real interaction a client has with your process. A thoughtful, well-structured form communicates that you take your work seriously and that sessions with you are focused and intentional. It sets the tone for everything that follows.

It saves time at scale

If you run 10 sessions a week and spend 12 minutes gathering background information in each one, that is two hours of admin work disguised as coaching. Over a year, that is more than 100 hours. An intake form reclaims most of that time.

The Core Questions Every Coaching Intake Form Needs

Not all intake questions are equally valuable. The ones below consistently deliver the most useful information across coaching niches. Mix and match based on your work.

Goals and desired outcomes

This is the single most important question on your intake form.

• "What is the number one thing you want to accomplish in this session?"
• "If this session went perfectly, what would be different for you afterward?"
• "What goal are you currently working toward?"

Frame it around one specific thing, not everything. "What are your goals?" invites a rambling answer. "What is the single most important thing you want to walk away with?" forces useful clarity.

Current situation and challenges

Understanding where a client is stuck tells you where to direct the conversation.

• "What is the biggest obstacle standing in your way right now?"
• "What have you already tried that hasn't worked?"
• "Describe where you are now versus where you want to be."

The "what have you already tried" question is especially useful. It prevents you from suggesting things the client has already done, and it shows you how resourceful they are. A client who has tried five things and failed needs different support than one who hasn't tried anything yet.

Background and context

You do not need a life story. You need enough to speak their language from the first minute.

• "Briefly describe your current situation (role, industry, experience level)."
• "Is there any context I should know before we meet?"

Keep these optional. Some clients will write a paragraph. Others will skip them. Both are fine. The goal is to make the optional information easy to provide, not to require it.

Previous coaching experience

Knowing whether someone is new to coaching changes how you approach the session.

• "Have you worked with a coach before? If yes, what did you find most helpful?"

A client who has been through three coaches has different needs than someone booking their first session. The former may need you to get right to the point. The latter may need more orientation to the process.

Readiness and commitment

These questions are especially useful for discovery calls or first sessions where you are evaluating fit.

• "On a scale of 1-10, how committed are you to making changes in this area?"
• "Is there a specific deadline or event driving this timing?"
• "Are you looking for a single session or ongoing coaching support?"

The deadline question is underrated. A client who says "I have a board presentation in two weeks" needs something very different from one who is exploring with no urgency. Knowing this lets you calibrate the session accordingly.

Intake Form Templates by Coaching Niche

Generic questions produce generic sessions. The best intake forms are tailored to what you specifically help clients with. Here are templates for three common coaching categories.

Life coaching intake form

1. "What area of your life do you most want to improve right now?" (Required, select: Career, Relationships, Health and wellness, Personal growth, Life transition, Other)
2. "Describe where you are now and where you want to be." (Required, text area)
3. "What has held you back from making this change on your own?" (Optional, text area)
4. "Have you worked with a life coach before? If yes, what did you find most helpful?" (Optional, text)

Why this works: The select question immediately categorizes the client so you can prepare relevant frameworks before the call. The second question gives you the gap between current and desired state, which is the foundation of every life coaching conversation.

Business coaching intake form

1. "What type of business do you run, and how long have you been running it?" (Required, text)
2. "What is your most pressing business challenge right now?" (Required, select: Revenue growth, Operations and systems, Team management, Marketing and sales, Product development, Burnout and work-life balance)
3. "What is your current monthly revenue range?" (Optional, select: Pre-revenue, Under $5K, $5K-$20K, $20K-$50K, $50K-$100K, $100K+)
4. "What would make this session a success for you?" (Required, text area)

Why this works: Knowing business stage and revenue range lets you calibrate your advice. You wouldn't give the same recommendation to someone doing $3K/month as you would to someone at $80K/month. The challenge selector lets you prepare specific strategies before the call rather than exploring blind.

Health and wellness coaching intake form

1. "What health or wellness goal are you focused on?" (Required, select: Weight management, Nutrition, Fitness, Stress and sleep, Chronic condition management, General wellness)
2. "Describe your current daily routine around food, movement, and sleep." (Required, text area)
3. "Do you have any medical conditions, injuries, or dietary restrictions I should know about?" (Required, text area)
4. "What have you tried before that didn't stick? What got in the way?" (Optional, text area)

Why this works: Health coaching requires understanding someone's baseline habits and any medical considerations. The last question reveals patterns (they've tried four diets, they always quit after three weeks) that point directly to what actually needs to change.

Career coaching intake form

1. "What career situation brings you here today?" (Required, select: Job search, Career change, Promotion and advancement, Leadership development, Work-life balance, Starting a business)
2. "Describe your current role and how long you have been in it." (Required, text)
3. "What have you already tried to move forward?" (Optional, text area)
4. "What would a successful outcome from this session look like?" (Required, text area)

Why this works: The situation selector immediately orients you. You prepare differently for a job search client than for someone trying to get promoted. The final question anchors the session to a concrete outcome.

How Many Questions to Ask

This is where most coaches make their biggest intake form mistake. They build a 12-question form because they want to know everything before the session. The client opens it, sees a wall of questions, and abandons the booking.

The right range: 3 to 5 questions

• Fewer than 3: You get some information but often miss a key piece that would have changed your preparation.
• 3 to 5: Clients complete quickly, you get the essentials, and the booking flow stays smooth.
• More than 5: Completion rates drop. Clients feel like they are filling out a medical history. Some will leave the booking page entirely.

Start with 3 questions. Add one more only if you consistently find yourself missing a specific piece of information session after session.

Put your most important question first

If a client fills out only one question and leaves the rest blank, make sure you still have the information that matters most. For most coaches, that question is: "What is the number one thing you want to accomplish in this session?"

Even a partial intake response is more useful than none. Designing the form with the most critical question first ensures you get something useful even from clients who rush through it.

Required vs. Optional: Getting the Balance Right

Making every question required feels thorough but creates friction. Making everything optional leaves you with sparse forms. The right approach is straightforward.

Make 1 to 2 questions required. The goal or outcome question should always be required. This is the minimum information you need to prepare for a productive session. If there is a niche-specific question that is equally critical (like medical considerations for health coaches), make that required too.

Make the rest optional. Background questions, previous experience, and timeline details should be optional. Clients who are detail-oriented will fill them in. Clients who are quick decision-makers will skip them. Both can still have a great session.

Label optional questions clearly. Add "(Optional)" in the question label, or use helper text like "Skip this if you'd prefer to discuss it on the call." Clients are more likely to complete optional questions when they don't feel pressured to answer everything perfectly.

Use helper text generously. A question like "Describe your current situation" can feel overwhelming without guidance. "2-3 sentences is enough" or "Just a quick overview" makes the question feel approachable and calibrates the expected response length.

Common Intake Form Mistakes to Avoid

Asking questions you won't use. If you ask for something in the intake form but never reference it during sessions, remove it. Every question should have a direct impact on how you prepare or run the session.

Being too vague. "Tell me about yourself" is not an intake question. It is an invitation to write a biography. Be specific: "What do you do for work, and how long have you been doing it?"

Being too personal too early. Questions like "What is your deepest fear?" or "Describe your relationship with your parents" might be appropriate after several sessions of established trust. They are not appropriate in a pre-booking form from a stranger. Keep intake questions focused on the professional context of the upcoming session.

Duplicating information you already have. If your booking system collects the client's name, email, and the service they selected, don't ask for those again. Use intake questions for information that your booking system cannot capture.

Using the same form for every service type. A discovery call needs different intake questions than a deep-dive strategy session or an accountability check-in. If you want to improve how those discovery calls convert, our guide to turning discovery calls into paid clients covers the full call structure. Customize your form per service to keep questions relevant to what each session actually does.

Setting Up Your Coaching Intake Form on Talkspresso

If you are using Talkspresso, intake questions are built directly into the platform. There is no separate form tool, no Google Form link to manage, and no third-party survey to integrate.

Here is how it works:

Create questions from your dashboard. You can add text fields, text areas, dropdowns, multi-select options, radio buttons, and checkboxes. Each question type maps to a different kind of answer you need.

Mark questions required or optional per question. Toggle each question individually so you have full control over what is required versus what clients can skip.

Choose when questions appear. You can show intake questions during booking, when a client messages you, or both. This lets you collect the right information at the right moment in the client relationship.

Add helper text to any question. Guide clients on what you are looking for without adding length to the question itself. "2-3 sentences is perfect" or "No need to write an essay" keeps responses focused.

Review responses before the session. Client answers are attached to the booking record, so you can pull them up while preparing. No digging through email threads or separate spreadsheets.

Customize questions per service. Your discovery call can ask different questions than your ongoing coaching session. Clients who book multiple services with you do not answer the same intake questions repeatedly, which keeps the experience feeling thoughtful rather than bureaucratic.

The intake form appears seamlessly inside the booking flow. Clients answer questions right when they book, so there is no separate email to send, no link to share, and no follow-up required from you.

Set up your intake questions on Talkspresso

How to Actually Use Intake Responses

Collecting responses is half the equation. Using them well is the other half.

Review responses before every session. Block 5 to 10 minutes before each call to read through the client's answers and note 2 to 3 things you want to address. This is the whole point of the intake form: you show up knowing something instead of discovering it live.

Open the session by referencing what they shared. Start with something like: "I read through your notes before we got on, and I want to dig into the challenge you mentioned around managing your team during this growth phase." This immediately signals that you prepared, that their answers mattered, and that the session will be focused.

Use their language. The words clients use in intake forms are the exact words they use to describe their problems. Mirror that language back in the session and in any follow-up. "You mentioned feeling stuck" lands better than "I've noticed some resistance to change," because you are speaking their vocabulary, not yours.

Spot patterns over time. After a few months, review your intake responses as a group. If 70 percent of your clients struggle with the same three challenges, that is your next workshop topic, your content strategy, and your positioning all in one data set. The intake form is not just a session prep tool. It is a research engine for your business.

A Quick-Start Checklist

You do not need to overthink this. Here is a five-minute version to get started today:

1. Pick 3 questions from the examples in this guide that match your niche.
2. Make one required (use the goal or outcome question).
3. Make the other two optional, with helper text on at least one.
4. Add them to your booking flow.
5. Before your next session, read the responses and open the call by referencing something the client shared.

That is it. You will notice the difference in session quality immediately, and your clients will notice that you show up prepared.

The Bigger Picture

An intake form is a small operational change with outsized effects. It compresses the discovery portion of every session. It filters clients who aren't a fit before you invest an hour. It communicates professionalism before the session even starts. And it gives you a data set you can use to sharpen your positioning and build better content.

The coaches who run the tightest, highest-rated sessions are usually not doing anything dramatically different during the call itself. They are doing the prep work before it. A coaching intake form is one of the simplest ways to make that prep work systematic and automatic.

If you want a platform where intake forms are built into your booking flow alongside scheduling, payments, and video, Talkspresso has all of it in one place. Set your questions up once, and every client who books with you goes through your intake process automatically.

See the full feature breakdown on Talkspresso for Coaches, or read our step-by-step guide for creators selling paid video calls.

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