Agency Outreach Client Intake Questionnaire
A practical questionnaire for capturing agency outreach goals, ICP, exclusions, proof points, data sources, and client approval rights.
Product & Engineering · September 25, 2026 · 2 min read
Before you start
A useful agency intake questionnaire produces decisions the delivery team can act on: who to contact, why the message is relevant, who must be excluded, what may be claimed, and who can approve changes. Copy the worksheet below into the client workspace and mark each answer confirmed, needs evidence, or blocked.
Client intake worksheet
| Status | Question | Required evidence or answer |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | What business conversation should the campaign start? | One outcome and a definition of a qualified reply |
| ☐ | Which companies and roles fit the ICP? | Firmographic and role boundaries, with exclusions |
| ☐ | Which regions, languages, or recipient types are out of scope? | Country, sector, customer, competitor, and personal-address exclusions |
| ☐ | What problem and offer are being presented? | Plain-language offer and a contact-appropriate CTA |
| ☐ | Which claims and proof points are approved? | Source, owner, date, and permitted wording |
| ☐ | Where did the audience data come from? | Provider/source, collection date, validation and use constraints |
| ☐ | Which contacts must never be mailed? | Existing customers, opt-outs, complaints, competitors, and internal exclusions |
| ☐ | Who approves audience, copy, identity, and launch? | Named primary and backup for each decision |
| ☐ | What sender identity will recipients recognize? | From name, domain, reply path, postal address, and escalation mailbox |
| ☐ | What counts as a stop signal? | Complaint, bounce pattern, provider notice, factual error, or client request |
Field triage
Required fields block launch when blank: objective, ICP, exclusions, data provenance, sender identity, opt-out owner, and approvers. Optional fields can improve context but should not delay a safe first test. Red flags route to review: personal addresses in a B2B list, unverifiable claims, unclear ownership of the list, no suppression source, or a request to hide the sender.
The personalization data checklist adds source, freshness, relevance, and fallback checks after the questionnaire. The list verification guide covers the separate question of whether an address is deliverable.
Decision-rights record
| Decision | Client approves | Agency prepares | Escalate when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audience and exclusions | ☐ | ☐ | ICP or suppression conflict |
| Claims and proof | ☐ | ☐ | Source is missing or stale |
| Sequence and CTA | ☐ | ☐ | Message differs from approved offer |
| Launch | ☐ | ☐ | Any required field remains blocked |
Do not infer that an answered questionnaire is a compliance approval. Record uncertainty beside the field and route jurisdictional or contractual questions to the appropriate reviewer.
Sources
Resources in this guide
- Record the owner, scope, evidence link, status, and checked date for each control.
- Mark the item HOLD when required evidence is missing or a decision is uncertain.
- Attach the completed record to the client or incident review before proceeding.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Making every interesting detail a required field.
- Accepting “target everyone” as an ICP definition.
- Skipping the source and checked date for audience or personalization claims.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum useful intake?
Objective, audience, exclusions, offer, proof points, sender identity, data source, opt-out handling, and named approvers are a workable minimum.
Do more questionnaire fields improve a campaign?
No. Extra fields increase collection and review work. Keep a field only when it changes targeting, copy, suppression, approval, or measurement.
Continue learning
Next: validate personalization data
Turn approved answers into source-backed fields.