The intake form is the most expensive piece of UI on a broker website. Every extra field costs you applications. Every missing field costs you a productive first call. Most brokers err in both directions on the same form.
What to keep.
- Loan purpose (purchase, refinance, renewal). One radio, no typing.
- Estimated price or balance, as a range. Borrowers don’t know the exact number.
- Timeline (this month, this quarter, exploring). Routes urgency before the call.
- Name, phone, and email. Phone first, because that’s how you’ll reach them.
- How they found you. A single dropdown that powers your attribution forever.
What to cut.
Credit score, employment details, current rate, downpayment percentage. Anything that asks the borrower to do math before they trust you. Those fields belong in the discovery call, not in the qualifying form.
“An intake form is a promise: ‘give me ninety seconds and I’ll give you a real answer.’ Five fields keep that promise. Twelve fields break it.”