Work backwards from the conversation you need to have.
A useful enquiry lets the right person make a sensible next move. That might be checking coverage, asking for a photograph, arranging a visit or explaining which service fits. Write down that move before choosing the fields.
For every proposed question, ask: what will we do differently because we know this? A general location can tell a visiting business whether the job is in reach. A compulsory company size field on a home-cleaning form probably cannot. GOV.UK’s form-planning guidance uses a question protocol to examine why each piece of information is needed and how it will be used.
A quote request is also different from an instant quote. If someone must inspect the job before confirming a price, explain that. The form can start the process without pretending to finish it.
A garden-maintenance enquiry, with a reason for each question.
This is a planning example for a business that checks the job before quoting. Adapt it to your own work and reply process; it is not a live form.
| Question | Why ask it now? |
|---|---|
| Your name | Gives the reply a person to address. A full legal name is unlikely to be necessary for this first conversation. |
| Email for our reply | Provides the contact route this business has chosen. If telephone is the working route instead, explain that and design around it. |
| Where is the garden? | A town or postal area can establish coverage. Ask for the full address later if it is needed to arrange a visit. |
| What would you like help with? | Offer relevant choices such as regular maintenance, a one-off tidy or “I’m not sure”, with space to explain. |
| Anything useful to know? | Invite a short description of the garden and the work. A prompt helps more than an unexplained box labelled “Details”. |
| When are you hoping to start? (optional) | Allows a preferred period or “No fixed date”. It should not imply that a requested date is available. |
There is no universal correct number of fields. A garden design project may need different information from recurring maintenance. Keep a question required only when the first step genuinely depends on its answer.
Let people describe the problem in their own words.
Someone may know the lawn is difficult to manage without knowing whether they need drainage, new planting or a different maintenance routine. Give them a way to say that. A forced technical choice can leave you with a neat answer that means very little.
Budget can help with some projects, but explain why you are asking and allow an honest unknown where appropriate. If a published minimum already determines whether the work fits, put it beside the service explanation instead of making people complete a form to discover it.
Ask for photographs when they will help. They can be optional or requested in the reply if uploads make the first enquiry difficult. Do not ask a visitor to include access codes, payment information or private documents in a general message.
Give the customer something to judge before asking them to enquire.
The service page should explain the work, where you work and how you quote. Put a relevant project beside that explanation so someone can see what a similar job involved. That gives them something to ask about when they reach the form.
Use the service-page guide for that wider explanation and the case-study guide for gathering project evidence. Keep the form focused on starting the right conversation.
Make the reply process part of the form.
Before the send button, say how the business will respond and what happens before a price or appointment is agreed. For the garden example, useful wording could be: “We’ll reply by email to check the work and discuss whether a visit is needed before quoting.” Use it only if that is how the business operates.
Give a response window only when someone can reliably own it, including holidays and time zones where relevant. “Within one working day” is a commitment, not decorative reassurance.
The confirmation should describe what the system has actually confirmed. A recorded request is not an agreed job, and a requested visit is not a booked appointment. If submission fails, say so and give the person a supported way to try again or contact you. W3C’s form notification guidance covers understandable success and error feedback.
Read and complete it on a phone.
Keep labels visible while someone types. Mark optional questions, put useful instructions beside the relevant field and explain how to correct an error without clearing the person's other answers. W3C’s form instructions guidance explains why placeholder text alone is not a substitute for a label.
Ask someone unfamiliar with the business to read the page and explain what they expect after pressing send. Then use a clearly labelled test to check the complete route. Our enquiry diagnostic covers message delivery, mobile access and who handles the reply.
Put the decisions into your website brief.
Record these points before asking a designer to build the form:
- The first useful action your team takes when an enquiry arrives.
- Each question, why you need the answer and whether it is required.
- How someone can answer when they are unsure.
- The reply route, responsible person and any realistic response window.
- What success, error and unavailable-service messages should explain.
- How you will verify receipt and review whether enquiries contain useful information.
Once it is running, look at the enquiries you can legitimately review. If staff repeatedly ask the same follow-up question, decide whether it belongs on the page, in the form or in the conversation. More fields are not automatically the answer.
Tell us how an enquiry becomes a job.
We can plan a new website around the services you sell and the conversation your customers need. Bring the questions you usually ask and the steps your team follows. We’ll use those to agree the pages and enquiry route.