Client Intake Questionnaire Generator for Coaches

A weak intake form costs you the first session. You spend the first 20 minutes asking what you should already know, the client repeats themselves, and you start coaching half-blind. A good coaching intake form does the opposite: it surfaces the real goal, the obstacles underneath it, and how this person actually wants to be coached, all before you ever get on the call.

This prompt builds that form for you. You give the AI your niche, the program the client is entering, and what you need to learn, and it returns a complete, sectioned questionnaire in your tone. By the end of this page you’ll also understand why it works, so your next prompt is sharper.

When to use this

• You’re onboarding new 1:1 clients and want a consistent starting point.
• You’re launching a new program and need an intake that matches it.
• Your current form is a patchwork you’ve never sat down to fix.
• You want to walk into the first session already knowing what matters.
• You’re handing onboarding to an assistant and need it documented.

The prompt

Copy this whole block into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini:

You are an experienced coaching-operations consultant who designs client intake questionnaires for professional coaches. Your job is to create one complete, ready-to-send new-client intake form.

Before writing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if anything below is unclear. Otherwise, proceed.

CONTEXT
- My niche: {{NICHE}}
- The program or package the client is entering: {{PROGRAM}}
- What I need this form to surface: {{GOAL_OF_INTAKE}}
- The tone of the questions: {{TONE}}
- Desired length: {{LENGTH}}

TASK
Write ONE intake questionnaire that:
1. Opens with a short, warm 2-3 sentence intro explaining why I'm asking and how long it takes.
2. Groups questions into clearly labeled sections (e.g. Goals, Current Situation, History & Context, Working Style, Logistics).
3. Mixes question types: short-answer, scale (1-10), and a few multiple-choice where it speeds things up.
4. Surfaces the goal, the real obstacles, relevant history, and how the client likes to be coached.
5. Includes one open question that invites anything they're nervous to say.
6. Ends with logistics: preferred contact method, scheduling, and consent to store their answers.

CONSTRAINTS
- Match my tone. No clinical or corporate jargon, no 'in today's fast-paced world'.
- Keep it within the requested length and respect the client's time.
- Mark any question that is required vs optional.
- Do not give medical, legal, or financial advice in the form text.

After the questionnaire, add a short note listing which 3 answers I should read most closely before the first session, and why.

How to customize it

Replace the five {{VARIABLES}} before you send it:

See it in action (full example)

Here is the exact prompt, filled in for a health and habit coach. This is the whole input, nothing hidden:

You are an experienced coaching-operations consultant who designs client intake questionnaires for professional coaches. Your job is to create one complete, ready-to-send new-client intake form.

Before writing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if anything below is unclear. Otherwise, proceed.

CONTEXT
- My niche: health and habit coaching for busy professionals
- The program or package the client is entering: a 12-week 1:1 habit-reset program
- What I need this form to surface: their real goal, current obstacles, health history, and how they like to be coached
- The tone of the questions: warm, plain-spoken, non-clinical
- Desired length: 12-18 questions, completable in under 15 minutes

TASK
Write ONE intake questionnaire that:
1. Opens with a short, warm 2-3 sentence intro explaining why I'm asking and how long it takes.
2. Groups questions into clearly labeled sections (e.g. Goals, Current Situation, History & Context, Working Style, Logistics).
3. Mixes question types: short-answer, scale (1-10), and a few multiple-choice where it speeds things up.
4. Surfaces the goal, the real obstacles, relevant history, and how the client likes to be coached.
5. Includes one open question that invites anything they're nervous to say.
6. Ends with logistics: preferred contact method, scheduling, and consent to store their answers.

CONSTRAINTS
- Match my tone. No clinical or corporate jargon, no 'in today's fast-paced world'.
- Keep it within the requested length and respect the client's time.
- Mark any question that is required vs optional.
- Do not give medical, legal, or financial advice in the form text.

After the questionnaire, add a short note listing which 3 answers I should read most closely before the first session, and why.

And here is the complete output the model returns:

Welcome — let’s get you set up.

Before our first session, I’d love to understand where you’re starting from so we don’t waste a minute of our time together. This takes about 12 minutes. Answer honestly; there are no wrong answers, and everything you share stays between us.

---

Section 1 — Your Goals

1. In one or two sentences, what do you most want to be different 12 weeks from now? (Required)
2. Why does that matter to you right now, as opposed to a year ago or a year from now? (Required)
3. On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that you can make this change? (Required)
4. When you picture this going well, what does a normal Tuesday look like? (Optional)

Section 2 — Your Current Situation

5. Walk me through a typical day, from waking up to going to bed. (Required)
6. Which of these feel like your biggest obstacles right now? (Select all that apply) (Required) – Time / a packed schedule – Energy and sleep – Stress or mood – Food and eating patterns – Movement / exercise – Consistency and follow-through – Other (please describe)
7. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your energy on an average day? (Required)
8. What have you tried before, and what happened? (Optional)

Section 3 — History & Context

9. Is there anything in your health history I should be aware of as we set goals together? (You don’t need to go into detail; just flag anything relevant.) (Required)
10. Are you currently working with any other professionals on this (a doctor, therapist, trainer, dietitian)? (Optional)
11. What’s happening in the rest of your life over the next 12 weeks that might help or get in the way? (Optional)

Section 4 — How You Like to Be Coached

12. When you’re trying to build a habit, what helps you most? (Select up to two) (Required) – Clear structure and a plan – Gentle accountability check-ins – Being challenged and pushed – Flexibility to figure it out my way
13. How do you tend to respond when you fall off track? (Optional)
14. Is there anything you’re a little nervous to tell me, or anything you’d want me to handle gently? There’s no pressure to answer — this space is just here if you want it. (Optional)

Section 5 — Logistics

15. What’s the best way to reach you between sessions? (Required) – Email – Text / WhatsApp – In-app messaging
16. What days and times generally work best for our weekly calls? (Required)
17. Do you consent to me storing these answers securely so I can prepare for and tailor our sessions? (Required) — Yes / No

Thank you. I’ll read every word before we meet, and we’ll hit the ground running.

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Note for the coach — the 3 answers to read most closely: 1. Question 2 (why now). Their motivation tells you whether this goal is theirs or borrowed. It’s the lever you’ll come back to every time they wobble. 2. Question 6 (biggest obstacles). This is where the program design happens. If they pick “time” you build differently than if they pick “consistency.” 3. Question 12 (how they like to be coached). Match your style to this from session one and you’ll build trust far faster than a generic approach.

That is ready to drop into a Google Form, Typeform, or your onboarding email. A two-minute pass to match your exact wording and it’s live.

Why this works

Three LLM principles are doing the heavy lifting. Learn them and every prompt you write gets better:

1. Role priming. The opening line (“You are an experienced coaching-operations consultant who designs client intake questionnaires”) tells the model which slice of its knowledge to use. “Write me some intake questions” pulls from the bland internet average; naming a specific expert role pulls from the good stuff. Always assign a role.
2. Specificity in, specificity out. The model can only be as precise as your input. “Make a form” yields generic boxes; telling it the program is a 12-week habit-reset and you need obstacles and coaching preferences yields questions that actually fit your work. The quality of the output is capped by the quality of your {{CONTEXT}}.
3. Constraints are quality control. The numbered rules and the “no jargon / no medical advice / mark required vs optional” lines aren’t decoration — each one removes a common failure mode. And the “ask me up to 3 clarifying questions first” line lets the model fill gaps by asking instead of guessing, which is the single biggest fix for generic AI output. Keep that line.

Do this now

1. Copy the prompt above into ChatGPT or Claude.
2. Replace the five variables with your real niche, program, intake goal, tone, and length.
3. Send it. If it asks clarifying questions, answer them honestly.
4. Paste the result into Google Forms or Typeform, tweak the wording to sound like you, and send it to your next new client.

Pro tips

• Name the program precisely. “12-week 1:1 habit-reset” produces better questions than “my coaching.” The more concrete the program, the more relevant the form.
• Keep the clarifying-questions line. It’s the difference between a form that fits your practice and one that fits nobody’s.
• Ask for two lengths. Generate a short “quick start” version and a full version, then pick based on the client.
• Reuse the coach note. The “3 answers to read most closely” section doubles as a prep checklist before every first session.

Related

• New Client Intake Questionnaire Builder for Coaches
• New Client Intake Form Question Builder for Coaches
• Client Intake & Onboarding SOP Builder for Coaches
• Client Readiness & Coachability Assessment