What to ask on a tattoo booking form

A good booking form is short enough that a client finishes it on the bus and complete enough that you can quote from it without a follow-up. Most forms fail on the second part. They ask for a name and an idea and leave everything that determines the price to a DM later.

Here is what a form needs, roughly in the order a client is happy to answer it.

The piece

The idea, in their words. A free-text box, and make it the first real question. People have been rehearsing this sentence for months.

Custom or flash. If you sell flash, let the client pick a design from your sheet instead of describing it. The rest of the form should change: a flash request does not need a style question.

Placement. A short list of body areas is faster than a text field and easier to filter later. Leave room for "somewhere else" with a note.

Size. Ask in inches with a few anchors, like "about the size of a palm." Clients guess badly, but they guess better with anchors.

Color or black and grey. One tap.

Style. Optional for most, useful if you work in several.

Reference images. Up to three or four. Ask for images of tattoos or artwork, not of the client's own drawing unless they are set on it.

Cover-up or rework. A yes or no, and a photo of the existing work if yes. This is the question most often left off, and the one that most often changes the price.

The person

Name and email. Email, not just a handle, because the quote needs to reach them when Instagram is not open.

Phone. Optional, for day-of contact.

Instagram handle. So you can see who you are talking to.

Date of birth. Confirm they are of age before you spend time drawing.

Anything medical. Skin conditions, medications, pregnancy. Keep it to one box and tell them why you ask.

The logistics

Budget range. People are shy about this, and it is the single most useful answer on the form. Offer ranges rather than a blank.

Availability. Days of the week and rough times. You will offer actual slots later; this tells you which ones to offer.

Timeframe. "Soon" versus "sometime this year" changes how you triage.

How they found you. One tap, and worth more than it looks like once you have a hundred requests.

What to leave off

• Exact dates before you have quoted. They will pick one you cannot do.
• Long medical histories. That belongs on the consent form the day of.
• A deposit before a quote for custom work. Show the deposit amount, but collect it once the client has accepted a price and a time.
• Anything you do not use. Every question you skip is a client who finishes.

Before they start

Put the deposit amount, the reply time, and the rules above the first question. A client who reads "deposits are non-refundable, I reply within a few days" before typing does not argue about either later.

If you use a tool, look for one that changes the questions based on the answers, so flash skips the style question and cover-ups get the photo prompt. That is how Etchra's form works, and the reason every request that comes through it arrives ready to quote.