Coaching Intake Forms: What to Ask Before the First Session

A useful coaching intake form gives you enough context to prepare and helps a new client decide where they want to begin. It should be easy to answer without writing a personal history or guessing what you want to hear.

Start with the questions you will actually use in the first session. Give each one a clear purpose, explain which answers are optional and make it obvious what happens after submission.

This guide focuses on preparation for an enrolled adult client in general career, business or life coaching. Adapt the questions to your agreed scope. Clinical assessments and regulated services need their own specialist processes.

Give the intake form one clear job

Write a sentence describing what the completed form will help you do. For example: “I will use these answers to understand the client's starting point, prepare relevant questions and agree on a first-session focus.”

Then test every proposed field against that sentence. If you cannot explain how an answer changes your preparation, leave it out for now.

An intake form can build on information gathered during an introductory conversation. Avoid making clients repeat a full application. Confirm anything that may have changed, and reserve detailed exploration for your conversation together.

Keep agreements, payment details and marketing subscriptions in their appropriate processes. Adding unrelated decisions makes a preparation form harder to understand.

Choose required fields carefully

“Required” should mean you genuinely need the information to identify the client or prepare responsibly. It should not mean you would enjoy having a complete profile.

Your form might require an identifying name, a contact email if it is not already available, and a brief first-session priority. Even that priority can include an answer such as “I'm not sure yet; I'd like help choosing.”

Background, previous attempts and working preferences can usually be optional in a general preparation form. A client may need time to think, or may prefer to discuss something privately. Make that a visible choice rather than forcing them to type “N/A.”

Explain required fields in their labels and keep instructions visible while someone types. The W3C's form-instructions guidance covers required and optional labels and explains why placeholder text alone is insufficient.

A short coaching intake form you can adapt

The following is a fictional example for a career coach working with an adult client who has already enrolled. The answers illustrate useful levels of detail; they are not a client story or a required way to respond.

Use the questions as a starting point. Remove anything you already know, and keep only what fits your service.

1. What name should I use in our sessions?

Suggested setting: required. If the form is not connected to an existing client record, also ask for the email used to enroll so you can match the response correctly.

Fictional answer: “Alex.”

Why ask: You need to know whose preparation you are reading and how they want to be addressed. A mailing address, birth date and employer name add little to this particular purpose.

2. What would you most like to focus on in our first session?

Suggested setting: required, with “I'm not sure yet” accepted. Add: “One or two sentences is enough.”

Fictional answer: “I'd like to decide what I need to learn before applying for a different kind of role.”

Why ask: This gives you an initial focus without demanding a fully formed goal. You can confirm or change it together at the start of the session.

3. What would make the first session useful to you?

Suggested setting: optional. Ask for something the client hopes to understand, consider or leave prepared to do.

Fictional answer: “A clearer list of questions to research before deciding whether to apply.”

Why ask: “Explore a possible career change” and “choose a new career today” create different expectations. The answer helps you discuss what is realistic within the session and your coaching scope.

4. What have you already tried or considered?

Suggested setting: optional. Invite a short summary rather than documents or screenshots.

Fictional answer: “I've compared job descriptions and spoken generally with someone who does that work.”

Why ask: You can avoid suggesting the same first step without understanding what the client learned from it. Names, private conversations and workplace records are unnecessary here.

5. Is there a practical deadline or constraint we should consider?

Suggested setting: optional. Explain that a broad description is enough.

Fictional answer: “Applications close next month. I can set aside one evening a week for research.”

Why ask: Relevant timing and available effort help you prepare a realistic discussion. There is no need to request salary, account balances or a detailed family schedule for this example.

6. What would help you participate comfortably in the online session?

Suggested setting: optional. Offer simple examples, such as written prompts or a moment to think before answering. Invite the client to contact you separately about arrangements.

Fictional answer: “It helps when I can see the main question in writing.”

Why ask: You can discuss practical support without requesting diagnoses or health history. Only offer arrangements you can provide, and confirm anything that needs planning.

7. Is there a question you want to ask before we meet?

Suggested setting: optional. Keep the prompt about the coaching process and preparation.

Fictional answer: “Should I bring the notes I've already made?”

Why ask: A small unanswered question can be resolved before the session. A focused prompt gives the client more guidance than an unrestricted “Tell me everything else.”

Explain who will read the answers

Put a short explanation above the first question. Identify who reviews responses, what they use them for and where clients can find your privacy information or ask questions.

Be specific about team roles. A scheduling assistant may only need to see whether intake is complete. The coach preparing the session may need the answers. Configure access to match those responsibilities rather than giving everyone the same view.

Check your tools before promising “only I can see this.” Form software, connected systems and authorized administrators may also process or access the information. The FTC's Start with Security guide explains the importance of limiting access and overseeing service providers.

Keep the information you collect under control

Add an instruction such as: “Please keep answers brief and leave out medical details, passwords, payment information and confidential information about other people.” Tailor it to the actual questions and service.

Review where submissions go, including notification emails, spreadsheets, exports and connected tools. A notification can say that a response is ready rather than copying every answer into another inbox.

Restrict response access, review your provider's security controls and decide how long records are needed. Include exported copies in your retention and disposal process. The FTC's guide to protecting personal information recommends collecting only what you need, limiting access and disposing of information securely when it is no longer needed. These are practical starting points, not a claim that one form satisfies every applicable requirement.

Decide what happens after submission

The client should see a clear confirmation that their answers were received. Tell them what happens next and how to correct something. Do not display their full answers on a publicly accessible confirmation page.

On your side, assign someone to review the response before the session. Read for the stated priority, questions to clarify and practical arrangements that need a reply. “Submitted” and “reviewed” are different statuses.

If something is missing, ask whether it is truly necessary before chasing it. Leave optional questions optional. If the client cannot use the form, offer an agreed alternative without asking them to send sensitive information through an unsuitable channel.

Test with fictional answers before using the form. Check the required fields, confirmation, response access and reviewer notification. Then remove the test record from your working client list.

Build the form around the conversation

A good intake form leaves you with a starting point and a few useful questions. Begin the session by checking whether that starting point still fits. The client may have thought differently since completing it.

For the surrounding welcome email and preparation instructions, Your Next Client's Welcome Pack provides adjacent templates. Use the question examples above to design your intake form.

If you need the form connected to scheduling, welcome messages and internal handoffs, explore Marketing PMP's Client Onboarding Systems for Coaches.