# Client intake questionnaire for marketing agencies

Twenty-two questions to send a new client on the day the contract is signed, each with why you ask it and the field of your client record where the answer goes, so nobody asks it twice.

RevSmith, updated 4 November 2026. Part of the client onboarding checklist at https://revsmith.in/templates/client-onboarding-checklist.

## How to use it

1. **Pre-fill before you send.** Copy in everything the sales calls already told you and ask the client to correct it. Asking a client what they said last week tells them nobody was listening.
2. **Send it with the access request, on day 0,** and give it a due date: working day 3 works for most retainers.
3. **Cut what you do not need.** A social-only client does not need the store questions. Fewer, sharper questions come back faster.
4. **Mark every answer** complete, partial or missing when it comes back. Every partial or missing answer becomes an item on the kickoff agenda (`kickoff-agenda.md`).
5. **Move each answer into the client record** the day it arrives, in the field named under each question. The form is a way in, not a place to keep answers.

## The cover note (paste above the questions)

> Hi [first name], these questions help us start on [start date] without asking you the same thing twice. We have filled in what we learned on our calls; please correct anything that is wrong and fill in the rest by [due date]. If a question does not apply, write "n/a". It takes about 30 minutes. Anything you are unsure of, leave it and we will cover it at the kickoff on [kickoff date].

## A. The business and its offer

**1. In one or two sentences, what do you sell, and to whom?**
Why we ask: every brief, ad and report starts from this sentence.
Goes to: Business summary.

**2. Which products or services matter most in the next six months, and why (margin, stock, a launch)?**
Why we ask: it decides where the budget and the first win go.
Goes to: Priorities.

**3. Why do customers choose you over the next option they consider?**
Why we ask: it is the core of the message, and the first thing to test.
Goes to: Value proposition.

## B. Goals and the one number

**4. What has to be true in 90 days for you to call this a success?**
Why we ask: it sets what the 30-day review and the first report measure against.
Goes to: Goals.

**5. Which one number will you judge us on (for example qualified leads, orders, cost per order, revenue), and where is it counted today?**
Why we ask: if the client counts it in their CRM and you count it in GA4, the two must agree before month one ends.
Goes to: Targets (the one number and its source).

**6. What is that number today, and what target do you have in mind?**
Why we ask: a target without a baseline cannot be met or missed.
Goes to: Targets (baseline and target).

## C. Budget and who pays

**7. What is the monthly media budget per channel, and may we move money between channels?**
Why we ask: it sets pacing, and who decides when one channel outperforms another.
Goes to: Budget.

**8. Whose card, invoice or payments profile pays each platform today?**
Why we ask: the client should pay the platforms directly. If a previous agency pays, billing must move before anything is unlinked, or ads can stop.
Goes to: Access log (payer) and Budget.

## D. Audience

**9. Who is your best customer (role or type, size, location, the problem they have)?**
Why we ask: it shapes targeting, creative and the words in every draft.
Goes to: Audience.

**10. Which customers, markets or segments are off-limits, or not worth the effort?**
Why we ask: exclusions stop wasted spend before it starts.
Goes to: Audience (exclusions).

## E. Brand voice and claims

**11. Give three words for how your brand sounds, and three words it should never use.**
Why we ask: it is the shortest brand guide that works, for people and for any AI tool that drafts.
Goes to: Brand voice.

**12. Which claims must we never make (regulated, legal, about competitors, prices)?**
Why we ask: a wrong claim can get an ad rejected or the client into trouble, and the client knows its rules better than you do.
Goes to: Brand voice (banned claims).

**13. Which proof may we use: reviews, awards, case figures, guarantees? Where is each one documented?**
Why we ask: approved proof makes ads and pages stronger, and the source protects both of us.
Goes to: Brand voice (approved claims).

## F. People and approvals

**14. Who approves our work and changes to the scope, and how quickly can they usually reply?**
Why we ask: the approver's reply time sets the real speed of the work.
Goes to: Approver.

**15. Who is our day-to-day contact, and who covers when they are away?**
Why we ask: the most cited reason clients leave in one 2026 agency survey was changes inside the client; a named backup keeps the work moving when people change.
Goes to: Contacts.

**16. Who at your company holds the admin or owner role on each platform we will use?**
Why we ask: only that person can grant our access. If nobody holds it, we fix that first.
Goes to: Access log (granted by).

## G. What came before

**17. What has been tried before in marketing, and what happened?**
Why we ask: it avoids repeating what failed and shows what the client already believes.
Goes to: History.

**18. If you worked with another agency or freelancer, why did it end, and do they still hold any users, links or billing on your accounts?**
Why we ask: old access often blocks week one, and the reason the last relationship ended is the risk to manage now.
Goes to: History and Access log.

## H. Tools

**19. Which tools do you use today (CRM, store, email, analytics, reporting, project tool, call tracking)?**
Why we ask: it completes the platform list and shows where the one number lives.
Goes to: Tools.

## I. Reporting

**20. How often do you want a report, in what format, and who reads it?**
Why we ask: a report for a founder and a report for a board are different reports.
Goes to: Reporting cadence.

**21. What decision should each report help you make?**
Why we ask: a report that answers a question gets read; a report that lists numbers gets filed.
Goes to: Reporting cadence (purpose).

## J. Constraints and dates

**22. Which dates, launches, seasons, holidays or quiet periods must we plan around?**
Why we ask: the first month's plan has to fit the client's calendar, not the agency's.
Goes to: Key dates.

## After it comes back

- [ ] Every answer marked complete, partial or missing.
- [ ] Partial and missing answers added to the kickoff agenda, each with the question number.
- [ ] Every answer copied into its field in the client record, with the date and who gave it.
- [ ] The one number and its source checked against the account itself during the week-1 tracking audit.
- [ ] Anything that contradicts what sales recorded flagged to the account lead before the kickoff.

## Notes

- The survey reference in question 15 is AgencyAnalytics, *2026 Marketing Agency Benchmarks Report* (494 agency professionals, February to April 2026): the most cited reason clients leave was "client-side internal changes" (37%). https://agencyanalytics.com/agency-benchmarks-2026
- This questionnaire is general guidance, not legal advice. Regulated categories (health, finance, alcohol and others) need the client's own legal sign-off on claims.