Writing requests clients finish

Clients finish short, clear requests that ask only for what you need. Every extra question is another reason to put the form down. Here is what tends to work, and the settings that help.

Ask only for what you will use#

Before you add a question, ask what you will do with the answer. If you will not use it, or already hold it, leave it out.

For clients you have worked with before, questions linked to a client's profile arrive filled in with what you already have on file. The Annual review update starter form is built this way. Your client just checks their details and changes anything that is out of date. Only facts someone at your firm has accepted are used to fill in a form.

Keep required questions to a minimum#

A required question a client cannot answer does not slow them down. It stops them.

• Make a question Required only if you truly cannot start without it.
• Leave most document requests optional. Clients can then send what they have now and the rest later.
• On a named request, each document request has Ask about this, I do not have this and I’ll send it later buttons. A client who is stuck can tell you so, and you see it on the request. That tells you far more than silence.

Write questions the way clients talk#

• Name documents the way clients know them. "Your Social Security statement" works better than "benefit estimate". "Latest statements for accounts we do not manage" works better than "held-away account statements".
• Put one thing in each question. If you need two answers, ask two questions.
• Use Help text (optional) under a question to say where to find something or why you need it.
• Use Section heading to break a long form into parts. With How clients see it set to Step by step, clients see one section at a time, with a summary before they send. This needs at least two sections.

Only ask follow-up questions when they apply#

Turn on Ask this question only for some answers to show a question only after a particular answer. For example, ask for the spouse's details only if the client chose Married. Everyone else never sees that question, so their form stays shorter.

Make document requests easy#

• Leave image formats in Accepted file types. Most clients photograph documents with their phone. The default is pdf, jpg, png and heic.
• Check This should be on a document request is the kind of document you expect. It is filled in from the question's wording where that names one kind, and you can change it. Once Cartenda has read an upload, it can tell the client on the form if the upload looks like a different document, or if a statement looks out of date. They can fix it before they send, instead of hearing about it a week later. This needs document reading turned on.
• Turn on Allow more than one file for anything that comes in several parts.

Tell clients why, and by when#

When you send a request, write a short note saying why you are asking. Clients are far more likely to reply when they know the reason. Your note appears in the email and at the top of the form.

The email also says roughly how long the form should take and how many documents it asks for. Cartenda works this out from the form itself. A short form gets a small number, and that helps people start.

If a deadline matters, give one. When you send, to one client or many, fill in Ask for a reply by. "Please send this by" and the date appear at the top of the client's form, and the date is repeated in the email and every reminder. If you agree a new date with a client, open the request and press Change reply-by date. Turn on reminders so nobody has to remember to chase. Reminders stop on their own once the client has sent everything. See Reminders and expiry.

Try it before you send it#

Send the form to yourself and fill it in on your phone, as a client would. If a question makes you stop and think, it will make your client stop too. See Building a form for previewing and publishing.