Guide · Template
A client request form template.
Eleven questions that give a small agency or practice everything it needs to start on a client request, without a back-and-forth first. Copy it as text and use it anywhere: a document, an email reply or your website's form builder.
The template
Client request form
Free to copy and change. No sign-up, and nothing is recorded when you copy it.
About you
- 01Your nameShort text · requiredSo we know who to reply to.
- 02Your emailEmail · requiredUpdates on this request go here.
- 03OrganisationShort textThe business this request is for, if you work with us for more than one.
The request
- 04What do you need?Short text · requiredOne line, for example: Update the opening hours on the contact page.
- 05What kind of request is it?Choice · requiredPick the closest.New workA change to existing workSomething is wrongA questionSomething else
- 06DetailsLong text · requiredWhat should happen, where, and anything we should know. Links to the page, file or account help.
- 07Needed byDateLeave blank if there is no date.
- 08What happens if it is later?Short textOptional. A launch, a filing deadline, a board meeting. This is how we order the work.
Files and people
- 09FilesAttachmentsAttach files, or paste links to a shared folder.
- 10Who else should hear about it?Short textEmail addresses of anyone to keep copied in on replies.
- 11Who signs off on the result?Short textOptional. Only if someone other than you needs to approve it.
Why no priority
Ask when it is needed, not how urgent it is
A priority question asks the client to rank their request against work they cannot see, and from where they sit their request is the important one. A date and a reason tell you when the work is needed and why, which is what you actually order the work by.
Keep both optional. A request with no date is still a request, and a blank answer is better than an invented deadline.
Using it
Make it yours
The template is a starting point. A few rules keep a form short enough to finish:
- Ask only what you act on. If an answer never changes what you do, drop the question.
- Require only what blocks the start. Name, email, the one-line summary and the details are usually enough.
- One form per kind of request. A website change and a document lodgement need different follow-up questions. Keep the shared ones and add two or three specific ones to each.
- Use the client's words. Name the request kinds the way your clients describe them, not the way your team files them.
In Tend
The same form, built into your desk
In Tend, each kind of request is a request type with its own form, set up under Settings > Request types. Clients fill it in on your portal, and the answers arrive on the request.
- About you is already answered. Clients sign in to the portal with an emailed link, so their name, email and organisation come from who they are. The form only asks for a name until Tend knows it.
- What do you need? is the subject. Every form has a required subject that becomes the request's title, followed by Details and Attachments.
- Your own questions. Add up to twenty: short or long text, choices, checkboxes, dates and section headings. A question can show only when another answer matches, such as a follow-up for Something is wrong.
- What kind of request is it? chooses the form. When a queue has more than one request type, the portal form asks which kind first, and the questions that follow belong to that kind.
- Sign-off is a step, not a field. A request type can require an approval from someone on your team before the request can be resolved.
- Email still works. Clients who would rather email can keep doing so. Their message becomes a request too, and anyone they copy in keeps receiving your public replies.
Tend has no priority field either. Requests are ordered by status, response targets and age, and a request can carry a due date. Start a free trial to build this form in your own portal. It is US$29 per agent per month after 14 days, and clients use the portal free.
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