A typical quote enquiry from a small business website says “Please send me a price” and gives a name and a phone number. Before you can answer, you have to call back and ask what they need, where, how big and by when. Often the call goes to voicemail, and by the time you reach them they have asked someone else.
A good quote request form collects those answers up front, without becoming so long that people give up halfway. This post covers choosing the questions, building the form in WordPress and what happens after someone sends it.
Start with the questions you already ask on the phone
The best field list is not in a template. It is in your own head. Think about the last few quotes you gave and write down every question you had to ask before you could name a price. Then sort them into two piles:
- Must know before quoting: without this, you cannot give even a rough figure.
- Useful but can wait: details you can confirm on the call or at the site visit.
Only the first pile belongs on the form as required fields. A few from the second pile can be optional. Everything else stays off.
Fields that help you price a job
Most service businesses end up with a version of this list:
- Type of work. A dropdown or radio buttons with your main services, plus “Something else”. Fixed choices are quicker for the visitor and easier for you to sort than a typed description.
- Size or quantity. Rooms, square feet or metres, number of people, number of pages, units. Whatever measure drives your price, ask for it in that unit.
- Location. A town or postcode is usually enough to judge travel or delivery. The full address can come later.
- Timing. A dropdown such as “As soon as possible”, “Within a month”, “Just planning” tells you how urgent the lead is. A date field suits event-based work.
- Short description. One free-text box for anything the other fields did not cover.
- Contact details. Name, email and phone, with a question about how they prefer to be contacted.
Should you ask about budget?
It helps in some trades, especially where the same job can be done at very different levels. Make it optional, offer ranges rather than a blank box, and include “Not sure yet”. A required budget field puts off people who genuinely do not know what things cost.
Keeping the quote request form short
Every extra required field is a reason to stop. A few ways to keep the form easy:
- Use dropdowns and radio buttons wherever the answers are predictable.
- Mark only the essentials as required and say clearly which ones they are.
- Do not ask for the same thing twice, such as a phone number in two places.
- Write labels in the visitor’s language: “How many rooms?” rather than “Unit quantity”.
- Look at it on a phone. If it feels long there, it is too long.
If you genuinely need many questions, splitting the form into steps can help, and our guide to forms with several steps covers when that works.
Showing the right questions for each service
If you offer different services, the questions for one may not apply to another. A cleaning company needs the number of rooms for a home but floor area for an office. Rather than showing every field to everyone, use conditional fields: pick a service, and only that service’s questions appear.
Most form plugins support this, some in their free versions and some as a paid feature. Our post on fields that appear based on an answer explains how to set it up and, just as important, how to test every combination.
Letting people send photos or plans
For trades where a picture saves a site visit, such as repairs, renovations, printing or signage, a file upload field is worth adding. Keep it optional, say which file types you accept and keep the size limit realistic for photos taken on a phone. Files raise their own questions about storage and security, which are covered in our post on letting customers upload files.
Building the form in WordPress
- In your form plugin, create a new form. Many builders include a quote request template you can start from. Otherwise, duplicate your contact form and add fields to it.
- Add the fields from your list, in the order you would ask them on the phone. Put the contact details last, after the visitor has already invested in describing the job.
- Set the notification email to go to the person who prepares quotes. Include the service in the subject line using the field’s tag, so quotes can be sorted at a glance.
- Set the Reply-To to the visitor’s email field so you can reply directly.
- Write the on-screen confirmation message: thank them and say what happens next.
- Create a page for the form, such as “Request a quote”, and add the form using your plugin’s block or shortcode.
- Link to that page from each service page and from a button in the header or menu, depending on your theme.
- Submit a test for each service option and check what arrives.
On each service page, you can also embed the same form with the service already picked, if your plugin lets you set a default value. That saves the visitor one choice.
What happens after someone asks for a quote
The form is only half the process. The other half is what you do with the request.
- Keep a copy on the site. Quote requests are worth more than general enquiries, so make sure each one is stored as well as emailed. See saving form entries on your site for how.
- Reply with the price or the next step. If you need a site visit, offer times. If you can price from the form, say what is included and what is not.
- Track the outcome. A simple sheet with the date, service, value and whether it was accepted tells you over time which services and pages bring work that converts.
- Review the questions. If you keep asking the same follow-up question, add it to the form. If a field is always left blank or answered “not sure”, consider removing it.
Mistakes to avoid
- Sending quote requests through the general contact form, then having to ring every lead back for the basics.
- A long form with every field required.
- A free-text “Describe your project” box as the only question.
- Asking for a full postal address and date of birth before you have even quoted.
- Sending quote requests to the same inbox as job applications and supplier pitches.
Our overview of WordPress forms covers delivery, spam and testing for every form on the site, and the complete WordPress guide shows how forms connect to the rest of looking after a business site.
Frequently asked questions
Should I show prices on the quote form itself?
Only if they are fixed and you are happy to stand by them. A starting price near the form can filter out people looking for something much cheaper, which saves time on both sides. If prices vary a lot, it is better to explain what affects the price on the page and leave the figure for your reply.
Is a separate quote form better than a contact form with a dropdown?
Usually yes. A contact form has to suit every kind of message, so it stays general. A dedicated quote form can ask pricing questions without confusing people who only want to ask about opening times. Keep the contact form short and send people who want a price to the quote form.
How can I tell which page a quote request came from?
Most form plugins have a tag or hidden field that adds the page address to the notification. Contact Form 7 and WPForms both have one. Add it to the email body, and you will see whether requests come from the home page, a service page or a blog post, which helps when deciding where to improve.
What if someone asks for a quote for a service I do not offer?
Reply anyway, briefly and politely, and if you can, suggest where they could go. Then check the wording on your service pages and the dropdown options. Repeated requests for the same missing service can be a sign the site is unclear, or a sign of demand you might consider.
You know which questions decide your prices; turning them into a working form is the fiddly part. Our WordPress support team can build that form on your existing site and go through the test submissions with you.
Next in this series: File Upload Forms in WordPress: Let Customers Send Files
