HomeHelp CentreLead Form vs Onboarding Form: When to Use Each
Help Centre Guide

Lead Form vs Onboarding Form: When to Use Each

Use lead forms to capture new prospects at scale and onboarding forms to collect deeper data from known clients.

Choosing the right form at the right stage increases completion rates and keeps your client records accurate from first contact to readiness review.

4 min readlead form for personal traineronboarding form for personal training clientslead form vs intake form fitness business

Before you start

  • Know your goal: capture demand, qualify leads, or complete client onboarding.
  • Identify whether the respondent already exists in your client list.
  • Decide which destination route you need: public open form or invite-only form.

Step 1: Map each form to a funnel stage

Lead form: top-of-funnel capture from website, social, or referral traffic.

Lead invite form: direct outreach to a specific prospect via single-use email invite.

Onboarding questionnaire: post-conversation data collection for a known client before programming begins.

Help Centre guide cards for lead form and onboarding workflows.
Different form types serve different stages of your client acquisition and readiness workflow.

Step 2: Pick the correct route type in Simple PAR-Q

Use open lead routes (/f/@handle/slug) when you want broad lead capture.

Use invite routes (/f/invite/{token}) for lead invite forms and onboarding questionnaires sent to a specific person.

Manage open forms in /app/leads and track onboarding completion in /app/onboarding.

Form routes and invite links managed from trainer form detail.
Open and invite routes are operationally different and should be selected intentionally.

Step 3: Keep each form short and role-specific

Lead forms should prioritize minimal friction: core contact and consent.

Onboarding forms can collect more detail because trust is already established.

Onboarding questionnaires with readiness checks should remain focused on risk and medical clearance signals.

Public form completion experience emphasizing low-friction fields.
Completion rates improve when form length matches client intent at that stage.

Step 4: Close the loop from form completion to next action

After lead submission, move quickly: review in /app/leads/[id] and convert in /app/clients.

After onboarding submission, verify status in /app/onboarding and update client follow-up tasks.

After readiness questionnaire completion, review flagged answers and document decisions.

Clients workspace showing lead conversion and onboarding follow-up workflow.
Operational follow-up is what turns completed forms into paying, safe-to-train clients.

Common issues and fixes

Using open forms for existing clients

Open forms create lead records. For known clients, use invite links so responses map correctly.

Lead form asks too many questions

Shorten top-of-funnel forms. Collect deeper detail later during onboarding.

Readiness questionnaire sent too early

Send readiness questionnaires when the client is entering active onboarding, not at initial discovery.

Next actions

Build your first lead formOpen Help Centre home

Related guides

How to Send Your First Lead Form

Create a public lead capture form, share it, and turn responses into qualified leads in your client pipeline.

How to Onboard an Existing Client

Take a client already in your list through profile checks, onboarding invite, questionnaire completion, and review-ready status.