New Website Client Intake Surveys: Strategies for Client Success

Bringing on new website clients is exciting, but also requires careful planning.

Your client intake process is what allows you to do your best work, deliver results, and meet client expectations early on. 

But what questions should you be asking new clients?

By the end you'll have a deep understanding of the processes to use specifically for web design and web dev projects. 

We'll break down the best practices from client intake to post onboarding survey questions.

client after onboarding survey questionsonboarding survey questions

Let's dive into what I've learned after 200+ website projects.

Onboarding Information for New Website Projects Can Make or Break your project

The right survey questions lead to better results and happier clients.

Let's explore the top questions to include in your new client onboarding survey.

And as we go through them, think about what is the most useful for design and what is the most useful for copywriting.

Also, don't forget to ask them for account access, timelines, and any existing brand guidelines.

Free AI Prompt to Copy/Paste

You’re a seasoned UX researcher with over 15 years of experience in creating effective onboarding survey questions. Your expertise lies in understanding user behaviors and crafting questions that provide valuable insights into their experiences and expectations.



Your task is to generate a set of onboarding survey questions tailored for a website project for my client. The questions should focus on user experience, satisfaction, and areas for improvement.

Consider the following details as you create these questions:
- Platform Type:
- Target Audience:
- Key Features to Highlight:
- Specific Goals for the Onboarding Process:

Keep in mind that the questions should be engaging, concise, and easy for users to understand, aiming to gather honest and actionable feedback that will help improve the onboarding experience.

Top 5 Client Onboarding Survey Questions to Ask

1.) What is the Goal of Website?

I always kick off with "What does wild success look like for this project?"

This opens the floodgates for clients to share their motivations for hiring you and what they hope to get out of it.

Plus, the site goals play a crucial role in how you develop your strategy, and plan different aspects of the website, including:

1. Navigation & sitemap
2. Length and structure of each page
3. Copywriting
4. Design & imagery
5. Overall page performance

By tapping into these deeper aspirations, I'm able to position myself as a  partner who cares about the results I deliver.

This approach has led to a 50% increase in long-term retainer contracts.

2.) Please Provide Copywriting From Ads & Traffic Sources

Where is your client's website traffic currently coming from?

Reviewing their existing marketing channels and ad copy is insightful, because it reveals their current messaging and allows you to maintain consistency across channels.

You can match user intent by ensuring copywriting and promotions are the same across platforms. 

The worst thing you can do is confuse website visitors by making the website seem different from the source/medium.

So if your client is running ads, ensure the ad text aligns with the landing page text.

It's especially important to align the website to any specific offers or discounts, that users may have seen somewhere else.

3.) Unique Selling Propositions & Features to Highlight

Every business offers something unique that sets them apart.

Ask the client about their product or services key benefits and differentiators.

This information is good for design and content writing because it gives you insight into the benefits your client wants you to communicate.

It also tells you how many feature pages are appropriate to build out for the website and how to position the website for success.

4.) Describe Your Customers or Ideal Target Audience

Understanding the target audience allows you to design for them.

The website's messaging, visuals, and user experience should resonate.

Gather details on demographics, interests, pain points, and more.

Example question:

"Please describe your ideal customer persona(s) in detail (age, gender, interests, etc)."

5.) Design References and Websites That You Like

Visuals set the first impression and shape the user experience.

Asking for design inspiration ensures you're aligned on look and feel.

This avoids costly revisions down the road.

Example question:

"Please list 2-3 websites you really like the design of and what you like about them."

SEO Statistic Takeaway: The hand-written blog scores 27.8% higher on the Flesch Reading Ease scale compared to the AI-generated blog (60.14 vs. 47.08).

Best Forms to Send Digital Marketing Clients

Project Based Intake Form

A project-based intake form is great for one-off digital marketing projects like:

- Website design or development

- SEO audits or consulting

- Pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns

- Social media marketing pushes

Key sections to include:

- Company info and background

- Primary goals and KPIs

- Target audiences and buyer personas

- Competitors and market landscape

- Existing marketing efforts

- Project scope and deliverables

- Timeline and budget

Digital Marketing Questionnaire

A detailed digital marketing questionnaire can replace or supplement other intake forms.

This gives you a comprehensive look at the client's business and goals.

Key sections to include:

- Company overview and history

- Product/service details

- Target customer profiles

- Competitive landscape

- Existing marketing efforts

- Primary marketing goals

- Metrics for success

- Roles and responsibilities

The more thorough your upfront intake process, the smoother long-term engagements will be.

Post Onboarding Client Survey

For long-term digital marketing retainers, send a post-onboarding survey.

This allows you to gather additional context after initial meetings.

Questions to ask:

- What are your biggest marketing challenges currently?

- What marketing channels are you using or want to explore?

- How do you currently measure marketing performance?

- What does your sales process look like?

- Who are your main competitors?

- What makes your product/service unique?

Getting this level of detail upfront leads to better marketing strategies.

Insight/Experience For Delivering Winning Websites

With the survey results in hand, you have a clear roadmap for success.

You understand the client's goals, audience, differentiators, and visual preferences.

This insight allows you to craft an experience tailored for success.

Leverage your team's expertise in user experience, conversion optimization, and SEO best practices.

Combine that with the client's industry knowledge and vision.



The result is a high-converting website that drives real business results.

Reduce Your Workload by 68% With Performify

Performify let's the client write the content for you  and automates content creation with our AI form onboarding survey tool.

It meets client expectations and uses form insights to deliver copywriting and content your client will love.