It's tempting to judge a client intake form by one number: how many submissions came in this month. That number hides everyone who opened the form, typed a name, reached one question and closed the tab. In Zuko's benchmark of 739 forms, only about half of the people who started a form sent it. The fix is rarely a redesign. It is usually one question you can cut, shorten or move, and Form Studio in Atwork now shows you which one.
Why do people start your intake form and not finish it?
People abandon an intake form when one of its questions costs more to answer than they expect to get back. In Zuko's benchmarking research, covering 739 forms from January 2022 to April 2025, only 51.7% of the people who started a form completed it. For contact forms, the closest thing to an intake form, the figure was 47.4%.
Not every one of them was a client you lost. Zuko's write-up notes that some were browsing or found they weren't eligible, and names what pushes the rest out: "confusing questions, validation errors, excessive effort, technical problems or uncertainty about what happens after submission."
Contact forms also lose people before anyone types a word. Only 14.5% of the people who viewed one sent it, against 34.6% across all forms. Zuko puts a substantial part of that gap down to visitors who came for an address or a phone number.
Your submission count shows neither loss.
What should you measure besides submissions?
Besides submissions, measure views, starts, the median time to finish, and how many starters reached each question. Submissions divided by starts is your completion rate. The question where the count falls hardest is the one to fix, because everyone who stopped there had already decided to answer you.
| Number | What it tells you | When it looks wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Views | How many people opened the form | The link sits where clients never look |
| Started | Who began filling it in, as a share of views | They can't tell what they'll get for it |
| Submitted | Who sent it, as a share of starters | One question is costing you people |
| Median time to finish | How long the senders took | Long for a first conversation |
| Reach per question | How many starters got to each question | One bar falls harder than the rest |
In Atwork, all of this sits on a form's Responses step in Form Studio, next to Build and Share. Pick 7 days, 30 days or All time, and four tiles show the numbers. Below them, Where people stop draws one bar per question: how many of the people who started reached it. The question that loses the most people turns orange, with how many it lost and a suggested fix.
In the example, every step but one loses between two and nine people. Budget loses 63.
One question cost 63 people. All the other steps together cost 35.
Below the chart, Latest responses lists the ten newest submissions, with Download CSV and Open all 88 in the sheet for the rest.
Which intake questions usually lose people?
The intake questions that usually lose people ask for effort or commitment before you've given anything back: an exact budget, a long open answer, a file upload. None of them is wrong to ask. Each is often wrong to require, or to ask this early, before the person knows whether you're a fit.
Length matters too. After more than ten years of checkout research, Baymard Institute found that most sites need only 8 form fields for a checkout, yet the average in 2024 was 11.3. In Baymard's words, "what really matters to the overall UX of checkout is the number of form fields users must consider." An intake form is a checkout where the price is your prospect's time.
An exact budget
A required budget figure is a negotiation opener, and plenty of people won't make it in a form. Offer ranges as a single choice, make it optional, or ask on the call.
A long open answer
"Tell us about your project" as a required paragraph asks for the brief before you've earned it. Ask for one thing ("What do you need, and by when?") or make it optional.
A file upload
Requiring a file from someone on a phone between meetings loses them. Uploads land in a File List field, up to 50 MB per file. Make it optional, or use Show this field → When… so only people who picked Website see it.
Atwork's hint picks its fix from the type of question that loses the most people:
| The question that loses the most people | The fix the hint suggests |
|---|---|
| A choice | Fewer choices, or an "Other" choice |
| A long text answer | A shorter question, or make it optional |
| A required number, such as a budget | Make it optional, or offer ranges |
| Any other required question | Make it optional |
| An optional question | Move it later in the form |
What should someone see after pressing Send?
After pressing Send, people should see an answer to what they just asked: is this a fit, and what happens next. "Thanks, we got it" answers neither. In Atwork, a form's thank-you screen can show your message with their answers filled in, a short reply Dana writes from their answers, or a page on your website.
Dana's reply is the one that changes how the form feels. Under Write a reply with AI, you write what the reply should say and drop in answers. The example below thanks them by name, says from their services and timeline whether it fits, suggests the next step and leaves out prices. After Send, people see "Writing your reply…" for a few seconds, then the reply; past 15 seconds, or if AI is unavailable, they get your fallback message. Write a sample shows what Dana would write from made-up answers, and each reply uses AI credits from your workspace.
| After someone submits | Use it when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Show a message | Your next step is the same for everyone | Everyone reads the same words |
| Write a reply with AI | Whether you're a fit depends on the answers | Uses AI credits; set a fallback |
| Go to a web page | You want them on your booking page next | Your page replaces the screen |
Say what happens next up front, too. One line under the form's title, such as "You'll see whether we're a fit as soon as you press Send," answers the last item on Zuko's list before anyone starts. If the next step is a call, a discovery call booking page can be the page they land on.
Each submission becomes a row in the sheet behind the form. Following up on form submissions covers getting told when one arrives.
How do you share it so it gets opened?
Share an intake form where the conversation already happens, and tag each place so you can see which one sends people. In Atwork, the Share step gives the form a link that anyone can open without signing in, a QR code for posters and event desks, and links that fill hidden fields before the visitor arrives.
- Tag each link. Add
?source=newsletterto the link in your newsletter and?source=linkedinto the one on your profile. The Source column in Latest responses shows where each submission came from. - Choose who can fill it. Anyone with the link, or only members, specific people or portal customers.
- Meet existing clients where they look. The form can sit on your client portal or a space home.
- Let Share check it first. It confirms a visitor can fill every required field they see, and flags a thank-you screen you haven't set.
Build a form and collect responses walks through the setup.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good completion rate for a client intake form?
There is no universal target. As a reference point, Zuko's benchmark put the average at 51.7% of starters across all forms and 47.4% for contact forms. Compare your form against itself after each change, over the same range.
Should an intake form ask for a budget?
Yes, but as optional ranges, or later in the form. A required exact figure asks people to negotiate before they know you. If Budget is your biggest drop, make it optional for 30 days and compare the bars.
Can I see where people stop on a form I built before this release?
Yes. The Responses step works on existing forms. Progress per question counts from the November 2026 release onward, and the bars appear once at least ten people have started in the range you pick.
Which question should you cut first?
Start with the question that loses the most people: the orange one. Open your intake form's Responses step, set the range to 30 days and change only that question: make it optional, turn it into ranges, or move it later. Leave everything else alone for 30 days, so the next set of bars shows what that one change did.
Then give the people who do finish something back: a thank-you screen that answers them. Once they sign, your client onboarding checklist takes over. Everything else Form Studio does is on the forms page.
Open your intake form's Responses step and fix the question with the biggest drop. No form in Atwork yet? Build one free and see where people stop. Start free