A good client intake form prevents a project from starting with different assumptions. Keep it short enough to complete before the kickoff call.
Ask for decisions
Request the business goal, audience, deliverables, deadline, budget range and definition of done. Add a field for what is explicitly out of scope. Ask who can approve work and where feedback will be collected.
Handle access carefully
List the systems required and ask for the least access needed. Prefer invited user accounts over shared passwords. Record who owns each account and when access should be removed. Do not ask clients to paste credentials into the form.
Close the loop
End with a confirmation section: agreed deliverables, first milestone, meeting cadence, file location and open questions. Send the completed form back for approval and keep a dated version. This gives both sides a useful reference when priorities change.
