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A complete database of client questionnaires for every stage of a project — discovery, kick-off, brand voice, SEO, email, and offboarding — plus guidance on when to send them, what tool to use, and how to actually put the answers to work.
OnboardingDiscovery Calls
If you've ever finished a client call and realized you forgot to ask something important — or spent three rounds of revisions trying to reverse-engineer what the client actually wanted — this lesson is for you.
Client questionnaires are one of the simplest systems you can put in place to make your freelance business run more smoothly. They reduce back-and-forth, surface information you wouldn't have thought to ask for, and make you look significantly more professional from day one. Sometimes the answers clients give you will do a big chunk of the thinking for you before you've written a single word!
Throughout a typical client relationship, I send up to two questionnaires — one at kick-off and one at offboarding. But sometimes, I’ll also send one before discovery if the request seems complex (or if you want to avoid discovery calls, you can use forms for that, too – like Polly Clover does!
For certain service types, like brand voice or SEO, I have dedicated intake forms that go deeper than a standard kick-off questionnaire, too.
Before we go any further: do not send your client every question in this guide.
This is a database — a resource you pull from, not a form you send wholesale. Aim for 10–15 questions per questionnaire, max (unless it’s an in-depth kickoff questionnaire, and even then keep it as concise as possible).
Too many questions and clients either won't fill it out, or they'll rush through it and give you low-quality answers. Both outcomes cost you more time than the questionnaire was supposed to save.
Also worth doing before you send anything: look at the client's website first. You can often answer several questions yourself, which means fewer hoops for your client and a better first impression for you.
What tool should I use to send questionnaires?
I use Tally but you can also just use Google Forms if you’d prefer. Both let you build multi-question forms that are easy for clients to fill out on their own time.
I'd steer clear of Typeform. It shows one question at a time by default, which sounds sleek but tends to frustrate clients — they can't see how long the form is, which makes people more likely to abandon it halfway through. It also locks a lot of useful features behind a paywall.
Whichever tool you use, send your client a live link — not a PDF. A fillable form is easier to complete, easier for you to reference later, and keeps everything in one place.
When should I send questionnaires?
Timing matters more than most people think. Here's how I handle it:
I send the questionnaire at the same time I send the kick-off call booking link. That way the client has one clear action: fill out the form and book the call. I tell them upfront how far in advance I need the form completed, and I ask them to book the call for after that deadline — so I have time to actually read their answers before we talk.
For most projects: I ask clients to submit the form about a week after I’ve sent it and then book the kick-off call for 3-7 days after that deadline. That's usually enough time for one person to sit down and fill it out without it feeling urgent.
For projects with multiple stakeholders: I give the whole team two weeks to submit their forms, and I ask them to book the kick-off call a week after that deadline. This builds in buffer time for anyone on their team who lags — which someone always does.
The exact timing will depend on your project and how busy things are. The important thing is that you set the expectation upfront.
These questionnaires are for projects where you're spearheading the work. If you've been brought onto a larger company's existing content team — where there's already a content manager, a brief process, and established workflows — you generally don't need to send intake forms like these. Their process replaces yours. Focus on getting what you need to do great work within their system.
What if a client doesn't fill out the form?
It happens. Here's how I handle it:
I follow up on the deadline — just a friendly reminder with the form link. If I still don't hear back, I follow up every three days after that until they submit. If the project isn't urgent and I'm fully booked, I give it a little more breathing room.
The key is to normalize the follow-up by setting the expectation in your original message. Something like: "I'll follow up if I haven't heard from you by [date]" removes any awkwardness and signals that this is a real step in your process, not optional paperwork.
If they still don't fill it out after another week or two of following up, I will let them know that I will be putting our contract on pause until they can fill it out.
Once they've filled it out, I'll give them a new timeline for their project and work it back into my schedule. Basically, I just move them to the wait list until they can complete it.
I'll also offer to do an extra call with them to help them fill it out if they're really struggling with it (if I like the client). I do charge them for that extra call, and I make it clear that it is for an additional fee. I just charge my hourly consulting rate for them.
Don't let one person hold you hostage!! If one of these forms is necessary for you to do your job, like creating a brand voice guide or an SEO strategy, etc., then they need to do their part and fill it out. This is part of why I outline my client expectations in my contract and proposal so they know what they need to do in order to work with me.
I also provide time estimates at the top of every form I send so that they know how long it will likely take them and they can set aside time accordingly. I share that time in an email as well when I send them the form!
I have had clients sign a contract to work with me and then never fill out the form, and we don't end up actually working together, and I have to cancel the contract. It does happen; it's very rare, but it does happen. And in those cases I just bill them if I’ve done anything and move on! It’s all you can do.
What do I do with the answers?
Read through them before you do anything else. Seriously — block time to go through the responses before your kick-off call, not during it. When you've read the form in advance, you can use the call to go deeper on things that need clarification instead of spending the whole time covering basics.
A few other ways to use questionnaire responses:
→ Use them as a brief. For content and copy projects, client answers often contain the core messaging, key phrases, and positioning you'll build the work around. You're not starting from scratch — you're synthesizing what they told you.
→ Pull direct quotes. Clients often describe their audience, their product, or their brand in language that's more natural and specific than anything you'd come up with on your own. Save those phrases.
→ Flag gaps before the call. If a question was left blank or the answer was vague, you know exactly what to ask about on the kick-off call.
→ Keep them on file. Your questionnaire responses are part of your client record. Store them with your other project docs so you can reference them throughout the engagement.
→ Dissect dissonance if you’ve got multiple people submitting the same form so you can see where things aren’t aligned and work through that on the kickoff call.
The Questionnaires
Feel free to steal any and all of these questionnaires for your business! Don’t forget to cut down some of the questions so it’s easy for your client to get through.
The discovery questionnaire is about understanding the basics before anyone commits to anything. You're trying to get a sense of scope, budget, timeline, and how the client works — so you can figure out whether this is a good fit and what it would actually take to deliver.
General questions:
→ What led you to hire a freelancer for this project?
→ Have you worked with a freelancer on this before? What did that yield, and is there anything you'd like to do differently this time?
→ When will you need the deliverable(s) by?
→ What's your budget for this project? Are you looking for a one-time engagement or ongoing support?
→ About how long or large should the deliverable(s) be?
→ Are we starting from scratch, or will I be refreshing or building on existing work?
→ Do you have a project management tool you'd like me to use, or one you can add me to?
→ Do you already have a project plan with review rounds mapped out, or will you need help structuring that?
→ Do you have an existing audience persona or customer research I can reference?
→ What's your preferred form of communication? (Skip this if you have a process you prefer — clients can adapt to your methods.)
For website copywriting projects:
→ Do you already have wireframes or page outlines in place?
→ Is there a designer or developer I'll be working alongside?
For larger organizations or team projects:
→ Who will be my primary point of contact?
→ Who else is a stakeholder in this project?
→ Who will be involved in reviewing and approving deliverables?
→ How involved will your product or leadership team be?
The kick-off questionnaire is where you go deeper. The contract is signed, the project is scoped — now you need the details that will actually shape the work. This is where you gather brand assets, audience context, goals, and tone.
This questionnaire applies to most project types. For brand voice and SEO projects specifically, I use dedicated intake forms — those are covered in their own sections below.
General questions:
→ Do you have a style guide, brand voice guide, or existing content I can reference?
→ Do you have any boilerplate copy, stock messaging, or standard brand statements I should have access to?
→ Tell me about the range of work you do, the products or services you offer, and any content you've already created.
→ What makes your business unique or compelling to your audience?
→ Describe your ideal client or customer.
→ When your ideal client finds you, what frame of mind are they typically in?
→ What do you want them to do or feel after engaging with your content?
→ How would you describe the tone you want to convey?
→ Tell me about your industry and how you fit into it — are you a newcomer or established? Local, regional, or national? Niche or broad market?
→ What brands or individuals inspire you? What do you admire about how they show up?
→ Who do you consider your main competitors?
→ What is your tagline or motto, if you have one?
→ What are your top three goals for this project?
→ Do you have existing client testimonials or social proof I can reference?
→ Is there an ideal completion date for this project?
Content Writing and SEO Kick-Off
A content brief makes everyone's life easier — yours and the client's. It keeps the work aligned before you've written a single word and reduces revision rounds significantly.
If the client has a standard brief template, ask them to share it and use it. A solid brief should include the target keyword and supporting phrases, proposed title and subheadings, tone or style notes, any backlink requirements, a CTA with a destination link, and any boilerplate or brand language that needs to be woven in.
If the client doesn't have a brief template, make your own and ask them to fill it in when they assign topics. If you're building the content plan yourself, fill it in yourself and get their approval before you start writing. Having a brief in place before you write protects both of you and dramatically reduces the "this isn't quite what I was imagining" revision spiral.
Additional questions for content writing projects:
→ Do you have a standard content brief template you use?
→ Do you have an SEO brief or keyword research I can reference?
→ What does your current content calendar or publishing cadence look like?
→ Who will be responsible for publishing and formatting the final content?
→ What email platform are you using?
→ What's the goal of this sequence or campaign — nurture, conversion, re-engagement, winback, something else?
→ Who is this going to, and where are they in the customer journey?
→ What action do you want the reader to take at the end of this email or sequence?
→ Do you have existing emails I can reference for tone and format?
→ What's your typical send cadence, and how does this project fit into it?
→ Do you have segmentation set up, or is this going to your full list?
→ Are there any automations or triggers tied to this sequence I should know about?
→ What does success look like for this campaign — open rate, clicks, conversions, something else?
This form is specifically for brand voice guide projects — when a client has hired you to document how their brand sounds, what it stands for, and how to write in their voice consistently.
This one runs longer than a typical kick-off questionnaire, and that's intentional. A brand voice guide lives and dies by the quality of the input you get upfront. Budget your client 30–45 minutes to fill it out, and ask them to do it alone — no committee input before submitting. You want their unfiltered perspective, not a consensus document. Tell them upfront there are no wrong answers, and you're looking for real, specific responses — not polished PR language.
If multiple people on the client's team are contributing to the guide, send them each the form separately and do the synthesis yourself. That's your job, not theirs.
Before they start, ask them to share a Google Drive folder of content they're proud of — blogs, emails, ads, social posts, screenshots, anything that went out and felt right. This gives you real examples to draw from when building the guide.
Section 1: Brand Context
→ What's the origin story — how did this brand start, and why? Even a rough version is useful.
→ What does this brand genuinely believe — the conviction that drives everything? Not a tagline. The actual point of view the brand would defend in an argument.
→ What are the brand's core values, and what do they look like in practice? List 3–5, but don't stop at the word — describe what each one means in action. (E.g., "Simplicity — we cut features before we add them. If it doesn't make the product better, it doesn't ship.")
→ Why does this brand exist beyond making money? What would be lost if it disappeared tomorrow?
Section 2: Competitive Landscape
→ Name 2–3 brands your audience would also consider alongside yours — not necessarily direct competitors, just brands in the same consideration space.
→ What do those brands do well in their marketing that you respect?
→ What are you tired of seeing in your category's marketing? What feels overused, hollow, or off?
→ Finish this sentence: "We're not like other [category] brands because ___."
Section 3: The Customer
→ Describe your ideal customer as a person, not a demographic. Who are they? What do they care about? What do they think about before they go to sleep?
→ What problem, frustration, or gap does your brand solve for them specifically — not just for the category?
→ What words and phrases does your customer use to describe their own problem or need? What do they Google? What do they say in reviews or forums?
→ What do customers sometimes complain about or misunderstand about your brand?
→ What does your customer believe about themselves that your brand affirms?
Section 4: Positioning and Proof
→ What are your top 3 differentiators — the things your brand does or stands for that competitors don't or can't? ("Quality" and "customer service" don't count unless you can prove them specifically.)
→ What are your brand's non-negotiables — the lines you won't cross, no matter what?
→ What's the transformation your brand enables? Think before and after — not just functionally, but what does it make possible for the customer?
Section 5: The Language
→ List 10–15 words or phrases that feel native to your brand — things you'd actually say. Product terms, attitude words, community language, founder phrases, anything that sounds like you.
→ List words or phrases you'd never use. What makes you cringe? What sounds like someone else's brand?
→ Are there any insider terms, industry language, or community-specific words your audience uses that outsiders might not know?
→ If your brand were a person at a gathering, how would they talk? What would they definitely not say?
Section 6: Voice and Tone
→ Where has your brand voice felt inconsistent, unclear, or hard to maintain internally?
→ Choose 4–5 words that describe how your brand communicates. For each one, add what it does NOT mean. (E.g., "Direct — but not blunt or dismissive." This step is important — it prevents the guide from being interpreted too broadly.)
→ On a scale of 0–10, how formal is your brand — and does that shift by channel?
→ What emotion do you want your audience to feel after reading your content? Be specific — "confident and capable" is more useful than "inspired."
→ What emotion do you never want your audience to feel?
Section 7: Anti-Examples
→ Name 1–3 brands whose voice or marketing you actively dislike, and explain why. What specifically bothers you — the tone, the claims, the imagery?
→ Is there content your brand has put out in the past that felt off? What was wrong about it?
→ Have you worked with agencies or freelancers on brand voice before? If so, what feedback did you find yourself giving over and over that just wasn't landing?
→ Complete this sentence: "We would never describe ourselves as ___."
The SEO onboarding form is different from a typical kick-off questionnaire — it's less about creative direction and more about access, context, and logistics. You need the right tools connected and the right information in hand before you can do anything meaningful with an SEO project.
If the client already has their tools set up and can locate their access details, this should take them 5–8 minutes. If they need to set things up from scratch, budget up to 15 minutes and give them a heads up so they're not surprised.
One thing to make explicit in this form: project timelines begin once all required access has been granted. Put that in writing so there's no ambiguity if things get delayed on their end.
Business context:
→ Who is the primary point of contact for this project? (Name, email, business)
→ What are your primary revenue drivers? (Products, services, affiliate revenue, membership, events, other)
→ What percentage of your revenue currently comes from organic search? (Estimate is fine.)
→ What are your top 3 priorities for the next 6–12 months?
→ Are there any major launches, site migrations, or rebrands happening in the next 90 days?
→ Who are your top 3–5 competitors — either direct organic competitors or brands you're most often compared to?
Website and tool access:
→ What's your website URL?
→ What CMS are you on? (Shopify, WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, other)
→ Please grant GA4 Analyst access to [your email]. (If GA4 isn't set up, note that — setup assistance may be available at an additional rate.)
→ Please grant Full User access to your Google Search Console property. (Settings → Users and Permissions → Add User → Full User)
→ Please provide backend CMS access. (Shopify: Staff account. WordPress: Admin account. Other CMS: note it and discuss on the kick-off call.)
→ Who is responsible for implementing technical changes on your site? (Name and email of your developer, agency, or in-house contact)
→ Do you currently use any SEO tools? (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, Screaming Frog, Clearscope, Profound, KeySearch, or other)
→ Are you currently optimizing for AI search — ChatGPT, Perplexity, or similar platforms?
Historical context:
→ In the past 12 months, have you experienced any of the following: a traffic drop, a domain migration, a major redesign, or a product pivot?
→ Is there anything specific you're concerned about — certain pages, changes you've made, things you've noticed but aren't sure how to interpret?
Content and team:
→ Do you currently have any of the following: an in-house writer, freelancers, a content or marketing agency, contributors (guest bloggers, partners, ambassadors), or a regularly published newsletter, podcast, or YouTube channel?
→ Who approves content before it goes live?
After the form is submitted, ask clients to send any of the following that apply:
→ Brand or visual identity guidelines
→ Editorial or style guides
→ Past SEO, CRO, or performance audits
→ Revenue breakdown by channel (if comfortable sharing)
→ Best sellers, seasonal inventory notes, or upcoming launches
→ Technical documentation — sitemap files, migration history, redirect maps
→ Editorial calendar, content briefs, or publishing workflow documentation
Offboarding Questionnaire
When a project wraps up, a short offboarding questionnaire is one of the most valuable things you can send. Done well, it gets you a testimonial, surfaces feedback you can actually use, and opens the door to referrals and future work — all without an awkward conversation.
Keep this one short. Three to five questions is plenty. Include fields for their name and business info at the top, and add a checkbox asking for their consent to use their response for marketing purposes.
Here's a warm example intro from freelancer Polly Clover that sets the right tone:
"Thank you for choosing Polly Clover Writes! Your honest feedback means a lot as I continue to grow and improve. Please feel free to share any and all thoughts — I'm always happy to keep doing what works and make changes where needed."
Questions to choose from:
→ What did you enjoy most about working together?
→ How has this project helped you or your business?
→ Would you be willing to write a short testimonial I can use on my website or in my marketing? Even two sentences is incredibly helpful — just share whatever feels true.
→ Did you have any hesitations before hiring a freelancer for this? What helped you make the decision?
→ Do you have any suggestions for how I could improve my services?
→ Do you know anyone who might be looking for support with [your service area]? Referrals are one of the best ways people find me, and I always make it worth your while. (If you offer a referral incentive — like a discount on a future project — mention it here.)
→ Is there anything else you'd like to share?
One more tip: if you don't hear back on your offboarding form, follow up. Send a reminder on the deadline, then every few days after that until you hear something. Most clients aren't ignoring you — they're just busy. One friendly nudge usually does it.