Client questionnaires and surveys

Most event pros send their clients a questionnaire at some point. A wedding photographer wants the couple's names as they like them written, the family formals list and the must-have shots. A caterer wants dietary requirements and final numbers. A DJ wants the first dance song and the list of songs never to play.

In 1pm, a client questionnaire (or client survey) is built from two features working together. Requests are the questions your client answers in their event portal. Fields are the details you want to keep on the client's contact record. Point a question at a field and the client's answer lands on their contact, where you can read it on the next booking without digging through old emails.

This article walks through it as a wedding photographer, then shows how a florist, a caterer and a DJ would set up the same thing.

The short version

1. Create the fields you want to keep on the contact, under Fields in the sidebar.
2. Build the questionnaire as a request pack, under Requests, then Request packs. Tick Only the client sees this on each question.
3. Add the pack to the booking, or let a lead type add it for you when the lead becomes a booking.
4. Open the client's event portal and email them the link. They answer the questionnaire there.
5. Read the answers on the booking's Requests panel, and on the client's contact record.

Step 1: create the fields you want to keep

Go to Fields in the sidebar. Each field is one detail you want stored against a contact. Give it a Field name, pick a Type and click Add field.

For a wedding photographer, a sensible set looks like this:

The type decides what the client sees when they answer: a text box, a list of options to pick from, a date picker, a number box, a time picker, or a file upload. The type cannot be changed once the field exists, so pick it with care.

Keep the answer on the contact, or on the booking only. Every field has a Don't save answers to the contact profile tick. Leave it unticked for details that belong to the person and are worth keeping ("How you found us"). Tick it for answers that only matter for one booking ("Song for the first dance"), so each answer stays on its own request instead of the contact's record. A good test: would you want to read this about the client a year from now? If yes, save it to the contact.

See custom contact fields for every field type in detail.

Step 2: build the questionnaire as a request pack

A request pack is a list of questions saved once and added to any booking in one click, so it is the natural home for a questionnaire you send to every client.

Go to Requests, click Request packs, type a name such as Wedding questionnaire and click Create. Open the pack and add the questions one by one. Each question is an "ask", and its kind decides what it collects:

• Contact field. The answer writes onto the client's contact record. Open the ask and choose the field under Which detail this updates. Use this for every question you set up a field for in step 1.
• Text. A written answer that stays on the request. Tick Give them a big box to write in for anything longer than a line, such as the family formals list or the must-have shots.
• Choice. The client picks from options you write, one per line. Tick They can pick more than one if more than one can apply.
• Upload. The client sends a file, such as a mood board or a signed release. Set Also save their file to a contact field to keep the latest file on their contact.
• Heading. Collects nothing. Use it to break a long questionnaire into parts, such as About you, The day and Family photos.

Every ask has an Instructions box. Use it to say exactly what you want, for example "List each group on its own line, with names, in the order you want them".

Tick They can't finish until this is done on the questions you must have answered. The client sees a completion bar that counts down what is left.

Tick Only the client sees this on every question in a client questionnaire. Requests on a booking are otherwise shown to everyone who holds a link to it, including your second shooter, who does not need to be asked for the couple's first dance song. With the tick, only the booking's client contact is asked the question. Crew don't see it, and it doesn't count towards their completion bar or their reminder emails. Tick it on your headings too, so crew don't see an empty Family photos heading. The list of questions in the pack shows a Client only badge on each one you have ticked.

The client's own description of the day. One Text ask can go one step further. Open it and set Save the answer onto the booking to Event brief, and the client's answer shows on the booking and prints at the top of the BEO. That question is always client only, so the tick shows checked and can't be changed. See the event brief.

A wedding photographer's pack might read:

• Heading: About you
• Contact field: Partner's name
• Contact field: Preferred names for the gallery
• Contact field: How you found us
• Heading: The day
• Contact field: Ceremony start time
• Text (event brief): Tell us about your day
• Text (big box): Must-have shots
• Heading: Family photos
• Contact field: Wedding party size
• Text (big box): Family formals list
• Upload: Photo release, saved to the Photo release signed copy field

Every item above has Only the client sees this ticked. A pack can also mix audiences: add an unticked Upload for your second shooter's insurance certificate, and each crew member is asked for their own.

See request packs for every setting on an ask.

Step 3: add the questionnaire to a booking

There are two ways to put the pack on a booking.

By hand. Open the booking, expand its Requests panel, choose the pack at the top and click Add pack. You are asked to confirm first, because every question in the pack becomes visible straight away.

Automatically, from a lead type. Go to Leads, then Lead Types, open the type you use for weddings and expand What you ask the client for. Choose your questionnaire pack. When a lead of that type becomes a booking, the questionnaire is already on it. A lead you add by hand has no lead type, so add the pack from the Requests panel instead.

You can also add single questions straight on the booking from the Requests panel. Pick Fields to ask a question that saves to a field, then choose the field under Custom or linked field. Tick Only the client sees this before you click Add to keep it off the crew's links.

Check who sees each question

On the booking's Requests panel, every client-only question carries a Client only badge and a Client only tick. Untick it to ask that question of everyone on the booking instead, or tick it on a question you added by hand. Answers already given stay on file either way.

Client-only questions go to whoever is set as the Client in the booking's Settings. If the booking has no client contact, nobody sees them, and the panel shows a warning until you set one.

To ask something of one particular crew member rather than the client, use a Section limited to that person instead. See asking crew for documents and info.

Step 4: send the questionnaire to the client

The client answers in their event portal, the private page for their booking. It needs a booking with a Client contact set.

In the portals panel near the top of the booking, click Open event portal for your client. Tick Email [client] the link too first if you want 1pm to email the client their link in the same click. If the portal is already open, click Email the link to your client instead. You need a verified email address on your account, and the client contact needs an email address.

The client opens the link on their phone or computer, with no password and no account to create. The questions sit in the requests section of the page. Each one shows the right input for its type, and the completion bar tells them how many required questions are left.

Name the section. The client sees the questions under the heading "What we need from you". To call it something else, such as "Your wedding questionnaire", open the booking's Settings, go to the Wording tab and fill in Section heading. The heading you set there is shown to everyone on the booking, crew included. Add an Intro if you want to give a deadline, such as "Please fill this in by 1 May".

See your client portal for everything else the portal does.

Step 5: read the answers on the booking

On the booking's Requests panel, each question has a View button with a count of answers. Open it to see what the client wrote, picked or uploaded. Uploaded files can be approved or rejected there. Rejecting a file lets the client send a new one.

The Requests page in the sidebar shows what is still outstanding across all your bookings, so you can see which couples have not finished their questionnaire yet.

How the answers show on the contact record

Open the client from Contacts. On the Details tab, your fields sit below the standard ones (name, email, phone).

• An answered field shows its value. When the client wrote it from their portal, it carries a note such as "Updated by Sarah Chen 12 Mar 27", so you can tell their answer from one you typed.
• You can change any value. Click Edit to correct it, or Clear to remove it. If the client answers the same question again on a later booking, their new answer replaces the old one.
• An unanswered field still shows, with its own input, so you can fill it in yourself if the client tells you over the phone. An empty single-line Text field sits in the Add field value list at the bottom instead, to keep the page short.
• An Upload field shows the latest file the client sent that you have not rejected.
• Fields ticked Don't save answers to the contact profile do not appear on the contact at all. Their answers stay on the booking's requests.

Each field has a history button that lists every value it has held and where each came from: the client's portal, a lead form, or you.

The Requests tab on the same contact lists every question you have ever sent them, grouped by booking, with their answer in the Response column. That is where the answers that did not save to a field (the must-have shots, the formals list) can still be read from the contact. See a contact's request history.

Asking questions before they book

Some questions are worth asking on the enquiry form itself, such as the wedding date, the venue or how they found you. A lead type can include your custom fields, and they appear on the public form on your website. When the lead becomes a booking, those answers are saved onto the client's contact, and the field history marks them as coming from a lead form.

Keep this short. A long form puts people off before they have spoken to you, so save the full questionnaire for after they book. See capturing enquiries with a form.

How other event pros use it

The same setup works for any event pro who needs information from a client. Three examples follow, and in each one every question has Only the client sees this ticked, so the florist's delivery team, the caterer's floor staff and the DJ's lighting tech never see them.

A florist. A pack called Wedding flowers might ask:

• Choice (more than one): Colour palette, with options such as Whites and greens, Blush, Bold and bright, Dried and neutral.
• Upload (up to five files, fewest 0): Inspiration photos, so the client can send screenshots if they have them.
• Contact field (Number): Number of bridesmaids, and a second one for buttonholes.
• Text: Flowers you do not like or are allergic to.
• Contact field (Text): Venue florist contact, if the venue has rules about installs.

Allergies are a good candidate to save to the contact. The palette is not, so leave it as a plain Choice ask.

A caterer. A pack called Event catering might ask:

• Contact field (Number): Final guest numbers, using a field ticked Don't save answers to the contact profile, since the number belongs to this event. A Number field makes the client enter a real number rather than "about 80".
• Choice: Menu selection, from the options in your proposal.
• Text (big box): Dietary requirements, with names, for example "Tom Reed: coeliac".
• Choice (one option): "I confirm the final numbers are correct", which the client ticks as an acknowledgement.
• Contact field (Text): Billing contact at the company, for corporate clients you work with again.

If you want each guest to tell you their own dietary needs rather than the host collecting them, see collecting dietary requirements.

A DJ. A pack called Music questionnaire might ask:

• Text: First dance song, with the artist and the version.
• Text (big box): Must-play songs, one per line.
• Text (big box): Do not play list. Put "Songs you never want to hear, one per line" in the instructions, and tick They can't finish until this is done so it is never skipped.
• Choice: Music style for dinner, with options such as Jazz, Acoustic, Chart, Your choice.
• Contact field (Time): Latest finish time the venue allows.
• Upload (fewest 0): Entrance music, if they have their own edit.

Song lists belong to one event, so keep them as plain Text asks rather than saving them to the contact. A client who books you again for an anniversary party will want a different list.

Related articles

• Custom contact fields covers every field type and how to retire a field.
• Request packs covers building a pack and every setting on an ask.
• Asking crew for documents and info covers sections, answer-based conditions and each request type in full.
• The event brief covers the question whose answer lands on the booking and the BEO.
• Your client portal covers opening and emailing the event portal.
• A contact's request history covers the Requests tab on a contact.
• A wedding photographer walkthrough covers the rest of the booking, from lead to final payment.