Client Questionnaire

[rusti_knight]

I've seen in some discussions some of the freelancers on here mention they have a questionnaire for clients for projects.

I'm curious as to what questions those of you who have them ask on them, both for print/branding design and for web design. Would any of you be willing to share?

Comments

[cuasterixt]

Sure. http://berganblue.com.au/forms/identity-creative-brief & http://berganblue.com.au/forms/web-design-creative-brief

You need to step through them to progress, but you're welcome to enter x's until you get to the last page if you want to see them all.

[tactful_cactus]

Those are very well laid out, and somehow very intimidating considering all of the questions. I really like it.

Actually, your whole site is great. So clean and cheerful.

[cuasterixt]

Wow, thanks! I really appreciate it. :)

[tactful_cactus]

Oh, duh. Hopefully you knew I meant unintimidating, not intimidating!

[tactful_cactus]

I'm a little form-crazy when it comes to projects. I warn my (potential) clients about this from the get-go, because there's a lot to fill out, but I really want them to *think* about the important things up-front. If they prefer, I meet with them (via phone or email) and discuss each question w/ them and fill it out myself, but mostly I just leave them w/ the forms and then we talk about them when their complete.

Step I (Request for Proposal)
Before I give an estimate I have them fill out one of these:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2890872/forms/NewSite_RFP_StudioAl.pdf
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2890872/forms/WebRedesign_RFP_StudioAl.pdf
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2890872/forms/Print_RFP_StudioAl.pdf

Step 2 (Creative Brief, etc)*New* clients fill out a brand

[cuasterixt]

We tend to get the same thing, and even worse - clients who resent having to fill out a form at all and simply put a dash or x in the answer field.

We tend to follow up with a phone call to walk through the entire brief with them, which makes it harder for them to disregard the questions and easier for us to explain what the question means.

[cuasterixt]

PS. I really like the paragraph at the top of your creative brief. It's probably a better approach to take with clients whinging about the brief rather than "we won't proceed without it." LOL

[tactful_cactus]

I still end up apologizing and explaining to them beforehand! I've never had any complaints, but I've definitely seen "reservation" in some faces!

I had considered putting together an online form such as yours a while ago, but then just decided to go w/ the PDFs for logistic reasons. Because of that, I always end up talking to potential clients, first, before they have to fill out a big form. I'm curious if you know if you've had any lost opportunities from clients who saw the form, and decided it was too much, before talking to you. That'd be my fear. Not sure how you'd know for sure anyway, maybe analytics-people who abandon on that page? Dunno. Just curious if you have any data/learnings behind that.