What questions should a venue inquiry form ask?

Qualifying a venue inquiry means deciding, from a few answers, whether the event fits your space and your dates. These five steps work for any venue that hosts both weddings and corporate events.

Who is this for?#

This is for a venue that gets two kinds of inquiry through one website. A couple writes about a date next summer. An office manager writes about a team dinner in three weeks. Both land in the same inbox.

A couple needs to tell you the season, the ceremony plans, and the budget. An office manager needs to tell you the date, the kind of event, and what the room needs. If both get the same list, each one answers questions that do not apply to them.

If you host only one kind of event, one set of questions is enough. See the page for venues.

1. What should every venue inquiry ask first?#

Ask two things before anything else:

1. What kind of event is it? Give a short list to pick from: "Wedding," "Corporate event," and "Another kind of event."
2. Roughly how many guests? A number, like "80."

The event type decides which questions come next. The guest count matters the same way for every event, because the room holds the same number of people on any day.

Do not score the event type. Its job is to pick the next questions, not to rank the inquiry. Score the guest count against what the room holds.

In Qualiform, the Event or wedding venue template writes the questions, scoring, wording, and rules for you. While you build it, the template asks up to three things only you know.

2. Why split weddings and corporate events?#

The two kinds of inquiry need different facts. The same fact can also mean different things.

The date shows the problem most clearly. A wedding booked 14 months out is a strong inquiry. If one shared date question gives top credit to dates far away, a dinner next month scores low for a reason that has nothing to do with fit.

Splitting the questions fixes this. Each event type gets its own date question with its own settings. A visitor is asked only the questions for the event type they picked. The questions they skip never count for or against them.

In Qualiform, make the event type a Pick one question. Use an answer's Add question to ask a question only of visitors who pick it. This works one level deep. A question added under an answer cannot have questions of its own.

3. Which questions should a wedding inquiry ask?#

Ask three or four questions, each tied to a rule you can write down. These are examples. Change them to fit your venue.

1. "Do you have a date or a season in mind?" Set Which dates score best to later dates. Set Too soon under to the shortest notice you can take, such as six months. Answers sooner than this get no credit.
2. "Would the ceremony be here too, or only the reception?" Give a list: "Ceremony and reception," "Reception only," and "Not sure yet." Grade each answer from Best fit down to Not a fit.
3. "Which day of the week are you thinking of?" Give a list: "Saturday," "Friday or Sunday," and "A weekday." Grade them by how much you want to fill each day.
4. "Do you have a rough budget for the venue?" Set it to Ask if you can. Score it against your smallest wedding, such as $6,000.

Some couples have not picked a date yet. In Qualiform, an answer that is missing, or that the date question cannot read, is left out of the score. It is not counted as a zero, so the couple is not marked down for it.

Some couples do not know their budget yet either. Pressing them can end the conversation. Read should a contact form ask for budget before you add this question.

4. Which questions should a corporate event inquiry ask?#

Ask three or four different questions. These are examples too.

1. "When is the event?" Corporate events are often booked weeks ahead, not years. Set Too soon under much lower than for weddings, such as 14 days.
2. "What kind of event is it?" Give a list: "Meeting or workshop," "Conference," "Dinner," and "Party." Grade each by how well your space suits it.
3. "Does the room need anything, like catering, a screen, or overnight rooms?" Visitors answer in their own words. You can give credit when they mention words you list, like "catering." This is a rough check, so make it count only a little.
4. "What is the company called?" Useful for your reply. Leave it out of the score. This says nothing about whether the work is a fit.

Skip a budget question here unless you need it. The person writing is often not the person who pays. To learn who approves the booking, add that question and set it to Infer only. The AI never asks it directly. It picks up the answer when someone says "I need to check with my manager."

5. How do you set a score cutoff for each type?#

A score cutoff is the number a lead must reach to get a certain reply. Set one for weddings and one for corporate events, because the replies cost you different amounts of time. A wedding viewing can take an hour. A corporate inquiry might need only a quote by email.

These numbers are an example to start from, not a measurement.

In Qualiform, the score is out of 100. Code works it out from your own questions, not the AI. Cutoffs are set per form, on the Routing tab, under What happens at each score. No rule offers a time until you save the Booking tab once.

That leaves two ways to set it up:

1. One form with both sets of questions. Each visitor is scored only on the questions they were asked. The Answered percent beside the score also counts only those questions. Both event types share the same cutoffs.
2. Two forms, one for weddings and one for corporate events. Each form has its own cutoffs. Put a "Plan a wedding" link and a "Book a corporate event" link on your site, each going to its own form. The Free plan keeps one live form, so this needs a different plan. Starter, Growth, and Scale all allow unlimited forms.

The guide to lead routing rules covers what to say at each level.

What does the full question set look like?#

This example is for a venue that holds up to 150 guests. Every question, level, and number is an example to change. The levels are Qualiform's names for how much a question counts.

A wedding visitor is asked seven questions. A corporate visitor is asked seven.

What are the common mistakes?#

1. Grading the event type. If "Wedding" is Best fit, every corporate inquiry starts lower. Leave it unscored and let each set of questions do the work.
2. Keeping numbers you did not choose. A guest limit or a smallest job that came with a question is only an example. Open each scored question on the Questions tab. Check that the sentence under Scoring shows your numbers.
3. Turning away small parties by accident. On a count, "Turn away anyone who earns no credit" turns away everyone who scores nothing. In the example, that is anyone over 150 and anyone under 36. Read the sentence under it. It names the numbers it covers.
4. Forgetting the budget turn-away. On a money question, an empty Turn a lead away under box means a quarter of the full-credit amount. At $6,000, anyone who says under $1,500 is turned away. Type 0 to turn nobody away. Only the first money question in the form's order that is switched on does this.
5. Asking the date twice. If each event type has its own date question, do not also ask a shared one.
6. Making each set too long. Every extra question adds a round of back and forth. Three or four per event type is enough.

When is this not worth doing?#

Splitting the questions is not always worth it.

• You host one kind of event. One short set of questions is enough.
• You get a handful of inquiries a month. If you answer each one the same day anyway, a score adds little.
• Most bookings start on the phone. A form few people use will not change much.
• Your weddings and corporate events look alike. If both book months ahead, at similar sizes and prices, one set of questions with one cutoff is simpler.

A plain form with a date box and a guest box can still be the right choice. See when a plain form is better than a chatbot.

How do you know it is working?#

Run two checks.

First, try both sets of questions yourself. In Qualiform, press Save, then press Preview. Pick "Wedding" once and "Corporate event" once. Check that each one asks only its own questions. Preview saves nothing and sends nothing, and each one counts toward a daily limit. Each button in Endings shows the closing for one routing rule that is switched on.

Second, after a month, read your wedding inquiries and your corporate inquiries as two separate lists. Mark which ones booked. If a corporate booking scored under its cutoff, the cutoff is too high, or a question is scoring the wrong thing. If wedding inquiries that never booked scored high, raise the wedding cutoff.

For a general contact form, read which questions a contact form should ask to qualify a lead.