To build your first intake form you'll need 3 tools: Google Forms, Zapier, and Asana (note: you can use any PM software you like; note #2: I know a lot of these tools have their own form builders, but none of them are as flexible as Google Forms for me). 

Building the Form

A good form is easy to navigate but still forces the user to think. The biggest issue with an intake form (I want to get ahead of this) is that it makes requests "free." Anyone can open up a form link, fill in a few questions, and submit it into the queue. We're trying to avoid this behavior by making the form responses required more thoughtful.

A good form is also organized and digestible so I like to break it down into four sections (with a bonus fifth for self-service):

Section 1 - The Intro

The goal of this section is to ease people in and give them an idea of what's going on—as you can see it's pretty much exclusively text.

This section should include relevant links: Brand HQ, SLAs (you should have a general idea of how long most projects will take), and a Self-Service pitch.

That last one here is the big one and this is actually the first question of the form: Have you tried using Self-Service for this project? It leads to a fork in the road. If a user says "no" then the form should take them to the bonus self-service resources section that provides additional info and encourages them to try before submitting the form (the form itself shouldn't submit from this section).

Section 2 - Project Details

I know the urge is to jump into the specs and motivation and fun parts of the work but before we get started on the work we need to understand who's involved and the timelines associated. One of the biggest issues when working on any project is balancing the big vision with the reality of time. This gets ahead of that. 

The questions I want to draw your attention to are:

1. Additional Stakeholders - this is all about the DACI and making sure the right people are involved from the beginning.
2. Is there an executive level sponsor for this project? - this is an extension of the DACI question and is really about making sure you know who the actual decision maker is. Also, if there isn't a sponsor you'll know it's usually low priority (s/o Matt Eonta on this one).
3. What business priority is this supporting? - you should have company and marketing team level goals. All work should be supporting those. If a project isn't supporting a top level goal and it doesn't have an exec sponsor... Adios!
4. What is driving this deadline? - deadlines are usually made up so this gets to the heart of that. If there isn't a real deadline then you know you can reprioritize the task.

Some of these are super annoying and that's on purpose. It's not that I don't want people filling out the form but I do want thoughtful submissions so that my team can work on what's important not just any random task (that's what self-service is for).

Section 3 - Additional Project Details

This is my favorite section of the form and we still haven't even gotten to the fun creative stuff. If the previous section was about who and when then this one is all about the why.

Why should you care about the why? Because you're not looking to build a team of order takers. You want a team of problem solvers! To solve problems effectively you need to know about the problem and why it's worth solving.

Questions to pay attention to (it's all of them):

1. Who is your target audience? - most businesses will have defined personas or ICPs but you can't make everything for everyone so getting specific is important.
2. Why are we doing this work? - in the legendary words of Jim Calhoun (another Eonta gem), "get some facts and come and see me!" Before taking on any kind of project, you need the data and insights. Without them you're assuming someone else did their work and you know what happens when you assume.
3. What are the goals for this project? - are we looking for leads? Clicks? Awareness? Defining success ahead of time means you'll do the right work.
4. Do you have budget? - the scope of the work grows and shrinks based on budget (and I'm a firm believer in the requesting team paying for their work).

I really do love this section because it forces everyone (you and the requesting team) to really think about the business need. This is what will make the work stronger and ensure you're not wasting time on the wrong thing.

Section 4 - Project Specs

Section four feels like a pretty good time to get to the actual work. Let's talk deliverables. Specs, file formats, key messages, etc. This is the what and how.

I've seen lots of different intake forms take different approaches here. Some go really heavy and technical. They demand specific dimensions and channels. And that works for informed stakeholders but sometimes people just need a "vertical TikTok video" and you know what? That's ok!

Questions to pay attention to:

1. Can you please describe the project? - this is the first time we're actually asking what someone needs. This is important so that you understand what the stakeholder is thinking but remember, this is just the starting line.
2. Any specs or requirements? - similar to the above, this is about understanding the starting point. That said, I like to keep this question open-ended because the stakeholders that know they need a 540x540 static image or a 1920x1080 30 second mp4 will tell you. Everyone else will tell you they need a square image or landscape video. Be the pro here and help them out.
3. Any key messages to be aware of? - if this is a campaign and the campaign has a tag line and that tag line is featured all over the place then you better know that. You'll definitely want to know this first especially if you don't have a copywriter on staff.

After this section you know who's working on the project and when it's due, what and how you're doing it, and most importantly why you're doing it. You could make the form way more complex but I think as a starting point this is solid.

The important thing to remember about intake forms is that as you start getting requests and working on them you're going to understand what's missing or what's unnecessary. Knowing that will allow you to iterate which you should be doing constantly.

Let everyone know

Now that you have a form, you need to make sure everyone knows you have a form. It's the reverse Las Vegas playbook... tell everyone!

When you get one of those slacks or emails, share that link. When someone in a meeting mentions a project, share that link. When people aren't sure if they should submit a form, share the link. People can't remember the link? Create a redirect. yourdomain[.]com/creative-request is perfect.

In the words of Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg, "repetition doesn't ruin the prayer."

Receiving the form submissions

It's all good and well that you now have people submitting a form instead of tapping you on the shoulder constantly but you're not about to start dealing with spreadsheet rows, are you? Nah, don't worry I got you.

Set up a zap with Zapier

This is where automation truly kicks in. I love Zapier (they do not pay me to say that). I think it's one of the best pieces of technology ever invented and it's perfect for automating things like this.

The goal behind automating your intake form is twofold. First, you want to create tickets in your PM software that are shareable and create transparency. Second, you want to be able to email the requester relevant details about their project and what to expect. This second point is really important as many intake forms are considered a "black box." None of that here.

New form response

The trigger here is the form submission. That's what will kick off the zap. Once a form gets submitted what happens is that a row gets added to a Google sheet (hopefully one you never have to see). That row is read by Zapier and translated into something easier to work with which takes you to the next step.

Create Task

I'm using Asana but again you can use whatever you want (Monday.com, ClickUp, Airtable, whatever). The goal of this step is to create a new ticket. It should include all of the information from the form and it should also assign the ticket to your project manager so that they can triage and prioritize the ticket appropriately. 

Find user and Format name (these are optional)

I like to personalize my outreach so this step looks the person up in Asana. If they don't have a record (meaning they don't have a license) then the personalization will default to "Hey there." Nothing groundbreaking but always something nice about seeing "Hey Dmitry" in a form email.

Send email

This is how we avoid the black box. We email a thank you note to the requester with their ticket details, a link to the ticket, those SLAs from the intro section of the form, and who to reach out to with questions. It's simple but effective and makes the recipient feel like they have clarity into what's going on.

Next steps

As mentioned above, this is just the beginning. Your team may have different requirements, different questions, different workflows, and probably different software. Use this as a jumpoff point, modify what you need to, and learn from it. 

Don't be limited by project work either. You can use this for pretty much anything that requires taking in a ton of inputs from all different directions and putting structure around it.

In my opinion, your intake process is the difference between failure and success. The best teams I've ever been a part had a consistent process that was easy to follow and started with a single starting point (seriously, make that link super easy to remember).

Now is the perfect time to get yourself up and running for the new year. If you need help setting up the entry level intake process above or you want to create a more custom process, get in touch. You'll be shocked at how helpful this can actually be.