It may seem like the most insignificant part of your entire sales process, but what if I told you that your inquiry form sets the tone for your client experience? Done right, it can help you forge connection with potential clients, warm them further by showing you care, and increase your conversions significantly. There are 4 common inquiry form mistakes I uncover while working with creative, service-based business clients. Let’s walk through them… Goldilocks style!

It’s Too Long

Unless you’re preparing for a major operation, information-gathering forms such as an inquiry form should be enjoyable, not a chore. In fact, you may lose clients by asking too many questions because #aintnobodygottimeforthat.

Think about it… When you scroll on Instagram and see a massive chunk of text, more often than not, you’ll skim it or skip it. Potential clients will do the same thing with your “tell me your life story” style inquiry form.

Ditch all the irrelevant questions and instead, ask only what you truly need or want the answer to. Sounds too obvious to be helpful, but it’s true. You wouldn’t believe how many of my clients have asked generic questions like, “what are you hoping for out of your session?” When I ask them how they’d answer that, they kind of freeze, shrug, and immediately see my point.

If you’re not getting good responses, you’re probably not asking good questions, so either get rid of them or switch it up.

It’s Too Short

The potential client might be jacked about how easy it was to fill out, but you’re not going to be so excited when their inquiry form comes through and you are left scratching your head over what to say. People buy from people and the way to build connection is to ask questions that help you bridge the gap.

Ask specific questions to get more thorough answers. Things like, “how did he propose?” will get you much further than “tell me about your wedding plans.” When we’re not sure how to answer, we’ll be short because we don’t want to look stupid. Make it super easy for clients to know what to say.

And for the love of data, please start asking where people are finding you so you can make strategic marketing decisions in the future. Your time is precious — you should spend it where it is making the most magic for your business.

It’s Too Personal

Did you know that you could be preventing 33% of your possible inquiries from submitting their form just because you ask for their phone number? It sounds wild, but it’s not hard to figure out why. We’ve all become accustomed to deleting junk mail on the regular, but fielding spam calls? That’s a whole other beast that again, we just don’t have time or patience for.

Again, come back to what you really need to reach back out to them initially. For instance, I ask for an email and Instagram handle for my coaching clients so I can get to know their business before we chat. I only get their phone number once they sign up for a consult call via my HoneyBook scheduler (which requires it). By this point, I’m no longer an internet stranger because I’ve already built trust via email.

The same concept is true for going too deep in your questions. People rarely want to open up to strangers, so asking their deepest darkest fears is likely going to be met with their mouse hitting the x on your website tab.

*If you decide you still want to include these types of questions, at the very least don’t make them required. This is super easy to toggle on or off if you’re using something like a HoneyBook contact form.

It’s Too Hard to Find

Stop with the cheeky CTAs already! Know what breeds action? CLARITY! How many inquiries are you leaving on the table because they can’t find your form? And you may think… well, I have a contact button right at the top, isn’t that enough?

Theoretically, yes. But to increase your conversions, you want to make the path to every next step as simple as possible. So, instead of making them scroll all the way up to your menu to find the form, add a CTA to inquire throughout and at the bottom of your services & home pages. Again, they should not have to work hard to work with you!

Fix These Inquiry Form Mistakes in Minutes

This honestly should not take long to update, so don’t put it off. I’d hate for you to be losing out on potential clients because of something so impactful. If you can spend an hour making an Instagram reel, you can spend 10 minutes to fix these common inquiry form mistakes for your business.

And if you want to kick it up another notch, take this 60-second quiz to identify your sales personality, strengths, & weaknesses so you can stop sucking start crushing it at booking clients.