Top 12 Coaching Intake Form Questions (+Free template)

I still remember how nervous I was before my very first coaching call—after all, that single call can make or break your entire client relationship! If you’ve ever sat in front of your screen panicking that you’re just winging it, the secret is to have the right type of coaching intake form in place before you ever hit “Join Meeting.”

The thing is: Being a great coach isn’t about knowing all the information in the world—it’s about knowing how to customize what you know for your client’s world.

After coaching thousands of entrepreneurs over the last decade, I can tell you that a great onboarding questionnaire does the heavy lifting for you. It gives you an exact roadmap to blow your client away and get testimonials right away. 

If you’re anything like I was, you might be overthinking this or making it way more complicated than it needs to be. Don’t worry—let’s break down how to create your intake form!

What is a coaching intake form?

A coaching intake form is a form that your client fills out before your first coaching session together.

Most new coaches make a serious mistake by treating it as a data-collection exercise (the more boxes filled, the better prepared they’ll be). It’s not. 

Your intake form’s real job is to give you just enough insight, on the right things, to walk into session one already speaking your client’s language.

Because the secret to an amazing first coaching call, and a coaching business that helps clients achieve their results, isn’t about knowing everything about your client. Great coaching is a function of customized connection. 

Done well, an intake form gives you insight into:

• Who your client is
• What they need from you
• What matters most (and doesn’t matter) to them
• Where they’d like to be by the end of your time together

Simply put, a coaching intake form is an easy way to collect the type of detailed information that will help you determine the approach you’re going to take with a client.

Here below, I’m sharing what I’ve learned about intake forms after having worked with coaching clients for over 10 years. Read on!

(PS: Want to learn how to get the right clients? It all starts with finding your coaching niche and creating a coaching package…and knowing how to attract high-ticket coaching clients.)

Do I need an intake form?

Yes – having a good coaching intake form matters for both your prospective clients and your business.

For your clients: An intake form allows them to get as much value as possible from the very first session — because you’re not spending that time on generic get-to-know-you questions. 

Without a coaching questionnaire, it’s impossible to be truly prepared for your first session with a new client. Instead, you’ll spend that time trying to get to know your clients and thinking of follow-up questions on the spot — and chances are, they’ll pick up on this and leave feeling as though they didn’t get anything out of the session. 

For example: a client who arrives with a vague answer to “what’s holding you back” leaves session one with generic encouragement, while a client who names something specific — say, a fear of speaking in front of their bosses at work — leaves with an actual plan. 

For your business: A coaching intake form standardizes your onboarding process, which helps you deliver a consistent experience for every client, regardless of who they are or when they signed up. 

It also sets the right expectations for the coaching relationship and outlines what you and your client have agreed upon — both of which are crucial to a healthy coaching relationship. 

And because the form gives you what you need to map out each client’s journey ahead of time, adding one to your onboarding process helps you create a repeatable, streamlined process — something you’ll be especially thankful for as your business (and client list) grows.

When should you share your coaching intake form?

Send it as soon as you send the contract — and ask your client to complete it at least two business days before your first call.

Sending it alongside the contract means it becomes part of the natural next step after they sign, rather than an extra email they have to remember to open later. 

And giving yourself a two-day buffer before the first session gives you enough time to actually map out their client journey and plan session one around their answers, instead of reading the form five minutes before you hop on the call.

Next, let’s take a look at the questions to include in your form. 

What questions should be on a coaching intake form?

Now that we’ve covered what a coaching intake form is and why it’s important for every coach to have one, it’s time to explore the types of questions you should include.

How many questions should a coaching intake form have?

There’s no single, mandatory number of questions you should include. More isn’t automatically better — what matters is that every question gives you something you’ll actually use in session one. 

That said, you do need to cover certain bases. Every questionnaire, regardless of industry, needs to gather your client’s personal details. Be sure to ask for their:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Marital status
• Children & ages
• Email
• Phone number
• Address
• Website (if applicable)

But you need to dig deeper than the basics. Consider questions (or variations of them) like the following:

• What are your long-term goals?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• What are your main motivations when thinking about those goals?
• What’s holding you back from reaching those goals?
• How can I support you?
• What does a successful coaching relationship look like to you?

The questions I use on my own intake form

Beyond the standard goal-setting questions, there are four questions I’ve come to rely on because they reveal not just a client’s goals, but how to coach them.

“What are your goals for our coaching in 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months?”

Asking for goals at three specific time horizons — rather than one open-ended “what are your goals” question — forces the client to define concrete, time-sensitive outcomes instead of vague desires. It’s a small wording change with an outsized effect on the quality of the answer.

“What do you think are your biggest strengths and weaknesses related to your goal?” and “What do you think will be your biggest obstacles to success?”

I have these two questions specifically to gauge a client’s self-awareness, humility, and willingness to be guided — three things that predict coaching success far more reliably than the goal itself does.

“What coaching style do you respond to best, and what do you want from me specifically?”

I learned the importance of this question the hard way. Early in my career, I naturally coached with a “tough love” style — until a client stopped me mid-call and told me I was “so mean.” That moment taught me that great coaches don’t assume their default style works for everyone; they ask upfront how a client needs to be communicated with, and adjust accordingly.

“What money stories did you learn from your parents?”

This “origin story” question is one I customize to match the client’s specific niche (see below). It’s all about understanding the client’s beliefs and obstacles. 

Of course, your intake form questions will differ based on your niche more broadly, too. Let’s look at some example questions for popular niches.

Life coaching intake form questions

When creating your life coach intake form, remember to focus your questions on your specific niche — not just life coaching in general. Your life coaching client is looking for a specific result, so offer them that.

A few questions that tend to work irrespective of niche are:

• What do you currently value the most in your life?
• What would you like your life to look like in one month? Three months? Six months?
• What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses when it comes to reaching the life you want? What do you think will get in your way?
• What has your biggest success been so far, and what did you do to accomplish it?
• What coaching style do you respond to best — do you want direct challenge, gentle encouragement, or something in between?
• On a scale of one to five, how would you rate the quality of your life?
• What beliefs about success and happiness did you absorb from your family growing up?

But, as said, life coaching intake forms should focus on your core niche…and we’ll look at a few niches here below.

Health coaching intake form questions 

Health coaches could include the following on their intake questionnaire:

• What are your three biggest concerns when it comes to your health and wellness?
• What are your health and wellness goals for the next month? Three months? Six months?
• What do you think are your biggest strengths and weaknesses when it comes to making these changes stick? What’s most likely to get in the way?
• What, if anything, have you tried in the past to change your health and wellness? What worked? What didn’t?
• What kind of support helps you most — accountability check-ins, gentle encouragement, or someone who pushes you when you want to quit?
• What are three changes you’d like to work toward together?
• What did mealtimes and health look like in your household growing up?

A note on privacy for health coaches: Health-related intake answers count as sensitive personal information. Store responses in a secure, access-controlled system rather than a shared drive, avoid asking for more detail than you actually need to coach effectively, and check whether your state or country’s privacy regulations apply to how you collect and retain this kind of data.

Career coaching intake form questions

Career coaches can include the following on their intake form:

• What type of work environment excites you?
• What are your career goals for the next month? Three months? Six months?
• What do you think are your biggest strengths and weaknesses in reaching your career goals? What obstacles do you expect to run into?
• When you think about your career, what has been your most fulfilling position? Why?
• What kind of feedback style works best for you — direct and blunt, or more measured and encouraging?
• How long have you been in the workforce?
• What did your parents teach you, directly or indirectly, about work and work-life balance?

Relationship coaching intake form questions

These questions for relationship coaches can apply to any type of relationship, including partner, spouse, friend, and family member:

• What are the most challenging topics to discuss with your partner/spouse/friend/family member?
• What would you like this relationship to look like in one month? Three months? Six months?
• What do you think are your biggest strengths and weaknesses in this relationship? What patterns tend to get in the way?
• Are there any repeating patterns that you would like to see change in your relationship with your partner/spouse/friend/family member?
• How do you prefer to be coached through a hard conversation — talked through it in the moment, or given space to reflect first?
• What are three things you admire about your partner/spouse/friend/family member?
• What did you learn about relationships and conflict from watching your parents or family growing up?

Mindset coaching intake form questions

Intake questions for mindset coaches: 

• What do you most want to achieve for yourself throughout your life and/or career?
• What mindset shifts are you hoping to make in the next month? Three months? Six months?
• What do you think are your biggest strengths and weaknesses when it comes to shifting your mindset? What’s most likely to hold you back?
• What are three things you feel that you’re tolerating in your life right now?
• Do you respond better to being challenged on your limiting beliefs, or supported through unpacking them?
• What is your current biggest frustration in your life?
• What beliefs about who you were “supposed” to become did you absorb growing up?

How do you structure a coaching intake form?

The clearest way to structure a coaching intake form is around four sections: Goal setting, self-awareness and obstacles, underlying beliefs, and coaching style alignment. 

After collecting the basics (name, date of birth, contact info, and so on), organizing the rest of your form this way ensures you’re gathering the right information, in an order that mirrors how you’ll actually use it in session one.

Here’s how I structure my own welcome questionnaire, and what each section is really for.

Section 1: Goal setting

The first section is goal setting. Because a client’s goals will be what guides your time together, understanding them — with real specificity — is crucial.

The core question I ask here is: “What are your goals for our coaching in 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months?” You can round this section out with:

• What are the biggest roadblocks when it comes to reaching your goals?
• Where do you see yourself when our time together ends? What will make this experience a success for you?

Section 2: Self-awareness and obstacles

The second section covers self-awareness and obstacles. This is where you learn how a client thinks about their own path — which tells you far more about coaching success than the goal itself does.

I use the questions “What do you think are your biggest strengths and weaknesses related to your goal?” and “What do you think will be your biggest obstacles to success?” here. 

You can add:

• When you think of your life, what has been your biggest success? What did you do to accomplish it?
• Have you put in work to reach your goals before? What worked for you, and what didn’t?

Section 3: Underlying beliefs and origin stories

The third section digs into underlying beliefs — the “origin story” behind the goal. My core question here is “What money stories did you learn from your parents?” 

Section 4: Coaching style alignment

The fourth and final section is coaching style alignment. The question I include here is: “What do you want from me specifically as your coach throughout this process, and what coaching style do you respond to best?” You can round this out with:

• When working toward a goal, what motivates you? What hinders your progress?
• How often do you need to review your progress? How would you like to review it?

Getting your questionnaire ready

As you write your own version of these questions, keep in mind that a client may or may not have explored coaching before — so frame each question in plain language, not coaching jargon. And emphasize how important detail is, both when you send the form and in the form itself. The more specific the answer, the more useful it is to you.

What tool should you use to create your coaching intake form? 

I keep the technology dead simple: I host my entire questionnaire on a plain Google Form. There are more full-featured tools out there — Wufoo, Typeform, Cognito Forms, or Jotform — but I’ve found a simple form does everything I actually need, without adding another tool to manage.

On Google Docs, you can simply share your document by clicking on “Share.”To share your link, click on “Share.”

Then, choose “General Access,” “Anyone with the link,” and select “Editor” so that your clients are able to edit your file and add their answers. 

Use this coaching intake form template

Finally, I’ve included a template you can use to quickly set up your intake form, built around this exact four-section structure.

Here’s the coaching intake form template!

How to use these answers to plan the first session

The intake form helps you prep for your first session. I use a framework I call the “Three S’s” to turn a client’s answers into an actual session plan: Share, Strategy, and Specific actions. With this, you have a complete system for walking into session #1 already coaching, instead of still getting to know each other.

1. Pre-identify your “Share” takeaways

Before the call, I review the form specifically to spot gaps and patterns I can point out immediately. 

I then open the call by sharing these takeaways — the patterns and insights I noticed in their answers. Pointing out something specific and custom to them, right at the start, proves I actually thought about their situation before we got on the call. 

2. Map out a tentative “Strategy”

Instead of pitching a generic coaching process, I use the client’s own answers to their 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month goal questions to reverse-engineer a results-oriented plan.

On the call, I present this as a tentative roadmap: here’s the Month 1 focus, here are the Month 2 milestones. This step directly answers the doubt every new client has: “Is this actually going to work for me?” 

3. Select targeted “Specific actions”

The third step is turning their self-reported obstacles and weaknesses into their first homework assignment. If a client told you their biggest obstacle is inconsistency, don’t hand them a broad, open-ended task — hand them one small, specific action that addresses that exact fear.

Matching a bite-sized task to a client’s named bottleneck does two things: it builds immediate momentum, and it shifts them from hoping coaching will work to actively proving it’s working.

For more on delivering your first coaching session, take a look at my short video here: 

How to create a coaching intake form for group programs

A welcome questionnaire belongs in your group program too — not just your one-on-one coaching. Even when I ran group programs with hundreds of members, every new participant filled out an in-depth welcome form before the program started. I read every single one before the program kicks off, so I walk in with full context on each person’s business or situation.

A lot of coaches assume that moving to a group model means trading away personalized support for scale. I built my group onboarding questionnaire specifically to solve that exact problem.

The “psychic” coach method

Here’s what reading all those intake forms before a program begins actually gets you: the ability to sound like you already know someone, the moment they speak up.

When a student asks a question in a group forum or on a live call, I don’t need to ask them to explain their business or backstory first. I already read it. That means I can respond with a genuinely customized, high-value answer in two sentences — instead of spending five minutes gathering context I could have had ahead of time.

Rapid-fire customization at scale

Because I already know a student’s context from their form, I can give a sharp, specific answer and immediately point them to the exact module in the core curriculum that solves their problem — rather than trying to solve it live, from scratch, in the group thread. 

That combination does three things at once: it protects my time, it keeps the coaching scalable across hundreds of students instead of a handful, and it makes each individual student feel like they’re getting one-on-one attention.

Other steps to set up your coaching services

Beyond your intake form, there are two other essentials you need before you can officially onboard a new client: a contract and a payment link. Both should go out at the same time as your intake form, so your client can handle everything in one sitting instead of getting a drip of separate emails.

1. A contract

Every client relationship needs a signed contract before you start working together — it protects both you and your client by setting clear terms upfront. You don’t need to write one from scratch: a coaching contract template makes this step fast and straightforward. I cover exactly what to include in this post on coaching agreements.

2. A payment link

The second essential is a payment link. Two reliable options are Stripe and PayPal — both let you invoice the full coaching fee upfront or split it into monthly payments, depending on how you’ve structured your pricing.

Send your contract, payment link, and intake form together, as a single onboarding package. That’s what turns “client signed” into a client who’s actually ready for session one.

 

Your coaching intake form is just the first step

A great coaching intake form isn’t about how many questions you ask — it’s about how well you use the answers. The form itself is just paper (or in my case, a plain Google Form). What makes it powerful is what you do with it before your client ever gets on a call with you.

A shorter, sharper form that you actually read and plan around will always outperform a long one that sits in your inbox until five minutes before the session.

Of course, an intake form is just one piece of a much bigger system. If you’re ready to build the entire coaching business around it — how to land your first clients, price your offer, and grow from side income to a full-time replacement for your 9-to-5 — that’s exactly what I walk through in my free 9-to-5 Exit Plan.

Get your free 9-to-5 Exit Plan here.

Now I’d love to hear from you: what’s your #1 question about intake forms? Let me know in the comments below!