Forms

Ask once, at the moment it matters

Half the back-and-forth at the start of new work is the same handful of questions, asked by email and answered in pieces. Zendo asks them at the moment the answer is needed, when a client sends a request, buys a service or opens the intake form you sent, and files the answers with the work they belong to. Your team starts with the brief instead of a search through the inbox.

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Request and order forms

Put the questions where the work starts

A client writes "can we change a few things?" and the next two days go to finding out which engagement they mean, what exactly should change and where the document they mentioned is. In Zendo, the questions come with the door the client walks through. Ask for work and they fill in the brief for that kind of request; buy a service and they answer what you need before they pay.

Every request arrives with its brief

Each request type has its own form, so a change request asks what should change, for which engagement and by when, while a support ticket asks what happened and how urgent it is. The client fills it in as they send the request, from their portal or from your Front Desk, and the answers and files sit on the request where your team works. When you open a request on a client's behalf, you fill in the same form yourself, so the request that started on a call looks like every other one.

How requests and request types work

Collect what you need to start, at checkout

A paid engagement can't start without a few basics: the company's legal details, the person who signs off on their side and the documents you'll be working from. Put those questions on the service's order form and the client answers them on the checkout page before paying, so the order arrives ready to work on. The answers stay with the order, next to what was bought and what's been paid, and anything uploaded goes into the client's files.

Let clients start from your Front Desk

Intake forms

Send a form whenever you need an answer

Some questions don't belong to one request or one purchase. A new client's onboarding questionnaire, who on their side approves invoices, a quarterly check-in on how things are going: you need the answers, but there's no request to hang them on. An intake form stands on its own, so you build it once and send it as often, and to as many clients, as you like.

Send it to a client or their whole team

Pick Lumen Bakery, or the whole Northwind Retail team, and the form waits on their dashboard under Waiting for you, with an email if their notifications are on. Everyone in a client team can fill it in, and the form's list of shares shows who has answered and who hasn't yet.

Let an automation send it

Add "Send intake form" to a request type's automations and the form goes out on its own, for example with every new request of that type or when one is archived. Put your onboarding questionnaire on the Client onboarding request type, and every new client who gets that request gets the questionnaire with it, shown as shared by System.

See automations

Share a link or put it on your website

Every intake form has its own link to paste into an email, and once your website is on the list of embeddable domains, the form can sit on your contact page too. Switch on submissions from people without an account and it doubles as your inquiry form: a prospect fills it in on your site, and the answers land in the form's responses next to your clients' ones.

Ask inside a request

When an automation sends the form with a request, it arrives as a card in that request's thread. The client fills it in right there, and the answers stay in the conversation next to everything else you know about the work.

The builder

Ask only what this client needs to answer

Long forms are where good briefs go to die, because the client skims, skips and types "see my email". Request forms and intake forms share one builder, made for forms that stay short and still cover every case. A question shows up only when an earlier answer calls for it, and the whole form wears your logo and colors, so filling it in feels like the first step of working with you.

Questions that appear only when they're needed

Ask "Is anyone else involved on your side?" and the fields for their name and email appear only for the people who say yes. One onboarding questionnaire can ask which service the client bought and branch from there, so a retainer client answers about monthly reporting and a one-off client about scope and deadline.

The right field for each answer

Tiles with a picture for each package, an uploader for the signed contract, a date for the deadline, stars for the feedback form, an address or phone field that expects exactly that. Headings, short paragraphs, images and dividers explain why you're asking, so the client never wonders what a question is for.

Your logo on every form

Each form carries your logo, your button colors, your own submit label and your background color or image, and every intake form has its own link. Someone filling it in sees the same brand as the rest of your portal.

Every response in one list, corrections marked

Each intake form keeps its own list of responses, from clients and from people who filled it in without an account. When a client calls to say they gave the wrong billing contact, your team corrects the response and Zendo marks it as edited, so nobody mistakes the fix for the original answer.

Answers

Keep every answer next to the work it's about

A form only helps if the answers end up where someone will look for them. Request form answers live on the request, order form answers on the order, and intake responses in one list per form, or in the request you sent the form to. Files from any of them go into that client's files, so the signed engagement letter from the onboarding questionnaire is right where your project manager expects it.

Know which forms are still out

A form you've sent sits on your dashboard under Waiting for client until it comes back, and on the client's dashboard under Waiting for you until they fill it in. The form's Shares list shows the same thing per form, so you can see at a glance which clients still owe you answers. Once a client submits, your team gets a notification and the response waits on your side of the dashboard for someone to read it.

Which form when

Request form

Belongs to a request type

Order form

Belongs to a service

Intake form

Stands on its own

Use it for

The brief for one kind of work: a new project, a change request, a support ticket

What you need to start a service: company details, contacts, documents

Anything else: onboarding questionnaires, documents, feedback, inquiries

The client fills it in

When they send a request of that type, or inside a request opened after a purchase

On the service's checkout page, before paying

When you send it, when an automation sends it, or from a link or your website

The answers end up

On the request

On the order

In the form's responses, and in the request if you sent it there

Uploaded files

In the request and the client's files

In the client's files

Conditional logic

Yes

Your Questions Answered

Forms questions

What's the difference between request, order and intake forms?

A request form belongs to a request type and collects the brief when a client asks for work. An order form belongs to a service and collects what you need at checkout, before the client pays. An intake form stands on its own: you send it to clients, share it as a link or let an automation send it whenever you need answers that aren't tied to one request or purchase.

Can people fill in a form without an account?

Yes. Turn on "Unregistered users can submit" and an intake form accepts answers from people who don't have an account, so it works as an inquiry form on your website. Request types you show on your Front Desk can also be submitted by visitors, through the Submit request button.

Can I embed a form on my website?

Yes, intake forms. Add your website to Embeddable domains in your workspace settings, and the form can then be shown on your pages in an iframe. Other forms stay inside the portal and the checkout.

Do Zendo forms have conditional logic?

Yes, request forms and intake forms do. A rule shows or hides a field depending on an earlier answer. Order forms don't branch, so keep checkout questions short and ask anything conditional in a request form or an intake form.

Where do the answers and uploaded files go?

Request form answers stay on the request and order form answers on the order. Intake responses are listed per form, and also appear in the request if you sent the form there. Uploaded files go into the client's files in every case.

Can a form be sent automatically?

Yes. Add the "Send intake form" action to a request type's automations, for example when a new request of that type is created or when one is archived, and the client receives the form without anyone sending it by hand. Automations

Can submitted answers be corrected?

Yes, for intake forms. Your team can edit a submitted response, and Zendo marks it as edited so everyone can tell the corrected version from the client's original answer.

Ask once, then get to work

Build the brief for your most common request, put the start-up questions on a service, and send your onboarding questionnaire to the next new client. Free for 3 clients.

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