Inquiry services
An inquiry service asks the client for their details and what they want, and sends it to you. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged. You reply, work out the details, and create the booking when you're both ready.
Use it for anything where the price or the plan depends on a conversation: weddings, commercial work, anything unusual.
What happens
- A client finds the service on your booking page and fills in the form.
- It lands in Inquiries with everything they entered.
- They land on a receipt page headed Inquiry received, listing their name, the service and the date it was submitted. An acknowledgement email arrives too, so they know it got through.
- You reply, attaching your rate card or sample work if that's what's needed.
- When you've agreed, you turn the inquiry into a booking or a proposal.
Your calendar stays untouched until step five. Inquiring is not booking.
What the form asks
The client sees a single step headed Contact Info. First name, last name and email are always collected. Beyond that, an inquiry form can include:
- Phone
- Location, where the service asks the client for one
- Anything we should know?, a free-text box
- How did you hear about us?, a menu you fill with your own options
Phone, notes and referral source each have their own on and off switch. You'll find them on the Inquiry flow tab, step 1 Client details. Each one also has a tick box that makes the field required. See The booking flow.
The button that sends it reads Send inquiry.
There's no date field. An inquiry is a conversation, not a booking, so nothing on the form asks them to pick a day.
That surprises people, so plan around it. If the date is the first thing you need to know, add a questionnaire to the service and ask for it there. A questionnaire is also the only way a client can send you a file as part of inquiring.
Adding a questionnaire
Open the Inquiry flow tab, expand step 2 Questionnaire, turn on Include questionnaire and click Build questionnaire. The client answers them as a second step, right after their contact details.
Use it for the details you always need and would otherwise ask for by email: the date they have in mind, the venue, how many people, what they're celebrating.
Keep it short. A twenty-question form between someone and a conversation is a form that loses you inquiries.
The acknowledgement
Step 3 Confirmation on the Inquiry flow tab holds the message the client sees on the receipt page and receives by email. Write it in the editor there, and choose Client's first name from the Variables menu to greet everyone by name.
Use it to set expectations: when you'll reply, what you'll need from them, whether you're currently booking a season ahead. It's the difference between someone waiting patiently and someone emailing three other photographers.
Leave it blank and the account-wide auto-reply from Bookings → Settings → Emails is used instead. See Booking emails.
An acknowledgement email goes out either way. Switch the auto-reply off under Bookings settings and clients still get a plain receipt. What they lose is your words, not the email.
What an inquiry service doesn't have
No price is charged, no contract is signed, no slot is held, and no deposit is taken. Money, paperwork and dates arrive afterwards, in the proposal or the booking you create from the conversation.
The service can still carry a price as a signal. See Pricing and deposits.
When to use something else
If your price is fixed and you'd be happy for someone to book without speaking to you, an inquiry service is an unnecessary step. Use direct booking instead and let the booking happen while you're asleep.