Online Client Intake Forms
I know many of you are interested in creating on-line Client Intake Forms. Working with clients in a “virtual” environment virtually (ha!) demands it.
But setting up online forms can be tricky, especially if you want to do it right (i.e., have your clients’ information saved to a database or spreadsheet for easy querying and reporting; have different kinds of inputs on the form itself — text boxes, multiple choice, list boxes, etc.)
Well, would you believe I created this simple online Client Intake Form in about 15 minutes, and it does all the “right” things — saves data to a spreadsheet, can accommodate different types of inputs, and you can choose from over 60 different “themes” to give the form itself a unique and professional appearance.
Oh — and wait, there’s more! It’s all free.
I’d love to create a tutorial that shows you how to do this — if you’re interested, post a comment! If enough people ask for it, I’m happy to do it!
And many thanks to Kristin Hoppe at Food Therapy, a San Francisco-based holistic nutrition coaching and education company for letting me use this Client Intake Form!
November 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
This is great! Very easy to do. A few features I would need to use this in my practice. 1) Once my client submits the data… I see all the info in an excel spreadsheet. For our session, I like to have the info printed in the original form, so I can go though the form with them and jot down notes from our session. 2) Is there a way for the client to save and then go back & edit the data they submit? I am thinking for longer, more comprehensive health history forms once we get going in a program— or food journals for example…. thoughts?
yay google docs! FYI, other things I am doing in my practice is creating shared recipe and handout folders that clients gain access to once enrolled in my program.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 am
Aren’t these forms great? I love the fact that they are easy to use, free, shareable and that they are online and managed by google!
But, they are somewhat limited. The online form I pulled together is really a “data collection” form — it was designed to gather data from clients/customers and dump their responses into a spreadsheet for further analysis. Preserving the data in the original form isn’t possible (as far as I know). And, the user could go back and edit the data but they’d have to do it in the spreadsheet, which would have to be shared and probably awkward for the client.
I was thinking about what you are looking for Kristin — a client intake form system with a bit more sophistication. I was also thinking that a more sophisticated document management system could be used by the practitioner during the engagement — to post assignments, give instructions, provide in-session forms (like food journals) to hold the client accountable. And, the client could go back and edit their information, and give the practitioner feedback about how their assignment went.
I’m going to keep looking for the right tools for all of you! I really believe that building on-line programs for a target market can be a powerful way to build your businesses!
Stay tuned!!
December 15th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I can’t wait to get this form on my website plus all the other forms you mentioned, Tom! I am really excited about having clients online and having a form for them to fill out looks professional and saves time. Diet logs will also be great to have online. Would those be filled out on the website as the client went or would they be downloadable, too? Having something online that the client fills out now and then sends in everyday would be wonderful! That seems to be a problem with my clients – doing the diet logs. And actually bringing them to meetings.
Thanks for this form – a great idea.
December 15th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Hi Cathy! Yes these tools are wonderful! Clients can fill them out and download them. You can have shared folders that are accessible only to you and the client. I’d be happy to show you how this all works when the time is right for you.
Tom
January 30th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Thanks for this info, Tom. I am building an intake form and daily check-in sheet for a homeless shelter. If I use these forms on a faux server (the intake/check-in computer itself), then I should be able to keep all this info — vitals, picture, med history, etc. — strictly local, yes?
February 1st, 2010 at 10:47 am
Hi Billy! Thanks for the posting. The way google forms works is that it keeps all the data on their (online) servers, so in answer to your question — no, the forms and the data you collect will be “in the cloud” and managed by google. There are numerous advantages to having google manage the forms and the data (if your local computer crashes, you lose all your data — but when its stored on a remote computer by google, they make sure the data is backed up, etc.) But I can understand that you might have some concerns about privacy or connectivity (you have to have a reliable and available internet connection to get to the forms and data).
Drop me a line at tom@tomrauch.com and we can talk about this some more if you like!
Take care, Tom