Services page questions to ask your client: PageIntake

“Curtain alterations” could mean shortening a pair, replacing the lining, or fitting them back in the customer’s home. Before you write your client’s services page, ask which of those jobs they actually sell, what the customer receives, and what changes the quote. A service name isn’t a scope of work.

That gap matters in the draft. Write “We take care of everything” and you’ve quietly included work nobody confirmed. Write “Contact us for details” under every heading and you’ve left the visitor to do the same investigation you’re doing now.

Use the questions below to collect the facts for each agreed service. They cover the decisions that turn a service label into a page a prospective customer can use.

What should you confirm before sending the questions?

Start with the service list in your agreed sitemap. Mark which offers share a Services overview and which already have their own detail pages. You’re collecting content for that plan; an unexpected new offer needs a scope discussion before it becomes another page.

Prefill confirmed facts. The client shouldn’t have to repeat the business’s location or explain its entire audience again. Ask them to correct anything that differs for this particular service, such as a smaller delivery area or a different inquiry route.

Assume your agency has agreed to write the copy from these answers. If someone else owns the writing, name them in the request. For the broader reason to collect facts rather than ask for polished paragraphs, see why clients struggle to write website copy.

Put this introduction above the questions you select:

Answer for this service only. Short notes are enough; we’ll draft the page. Use “not offered,” “not decided,” or “need to check” where appropriate. If an existing estimate or service sheet answers a question, point us to the relevant part and tell us whether it’s current.

Which questions should you ask for every service?

Repeat this block for each offer. Keep service-specific answers together when you gather them in a shared document or a content collection brief for each service, including any files that support the answers.

Question to send your client	What you need for the page
What do customers call this service when they ask for it?	A recognizable public name, with internal package names explained.
What has usually happened when someone starts looking for it?	A buying situation the opening can address.
Who or what is suitable for this service, and what would you turn away?	Fit criteria and meaningful boundaries.
What work is included in the normal job?	Specific tasks or deliverables, with quantities or limits where they matter.
What do customers often assume is included that isn’t?	Exclusions and optional additions, kept distinct.
What do you need from the customer before you can agree the work?	Measurements, access, files, decisions, or an assessment.
How is the price decided, and what changes it?	A confirmed pricing approach with its conditions.
What affects when you can start and finish?	The dependencies behind an honest timing statement.
What can we show that demonstrates this particular service?	Relevant work, source material, and the claim it supports.
What should a visitor do next, and what happens after that?	An accurate button, destination, and explanation.

Don’t send every follow-up below to every client. Use them where an answer leaves the writer guessing. “We shorten curtains” may be enough to name the service; it still doesn’t tell you whether the customer measures the drop or whether someone visits to measure it.

How do you separate inclusions, extras, and exclusions?

Ask your client to walk through a normal job from receipt to handover. Then ask what changes when the job is unusual. That sequence helps you separate the standard offer from work the business sometimes accepts by arrangement.

For each uncertain task, ask:

Is this included in the normal price, quoted separately, or not offered?
Does the answer change with the material, quantity, condition, or location?
What does the customer receive when this part is finished?

Consider a fictional curtain alteration studio, Foldline. The owner says it handles curtain shortening. Your follow-ups establish that the service covers shortening existing fabric curtains and pressing the new hems. Replacement lining is quoted separately. Taking curtains down and rehanging them aren’t offered.

Those distinctions belong in different places. Shortening and pressing describe the core work. Replacement lining is an option with its own quote. Rehanging is a boundary someone should know before arranging delivery. Combining all of them into “full curtain care” would change the offer.

Ask about unsuitable work too. Foldline might decline heavily deteriorated fabric because it can’t reliably sew a new hem. You don’t need a paragraph cataloguing every rejection, but a condition that regularly changes whether the studio can accept a job deserves a clear answer.

What should you ask about prices and timing?

“Prices vary” tells you there’s uncertainty. It doesn’t explain it. Ask which facts the business uses to prepare a quote and which of those facts a visitor can supply before contacting the team.

For Foldline, the quote could depend on the number of panels, fabric construction, lining, and the requested change in length. Ask whether the studio can quote from photographs or needs to inspect the curtains. The answer determines whether the page should invite a quote request or an assessment appointment.

If your client wants to publish a price, ask what it applies to. Is it per panel, per pair, per visit, or per project? Which version of the job qualifies? What is charged separately? Confirm the currency and treatment of applicable taxes before drafting the number. A starting price needs a defined starting job.

Timing needs the same care. Separate how long the work takes from how long someone waits for an available slot. Ask what starts the clock: the inquiry, acceptance of a quote, receipt of materials, or another event. Then ask which conditions can change the estimate.

You may discover that the business can’t support a public turnaround promise. Write the confirmed process instead: completion timing is agreed after inspection. Don’t turn an owner’s recollection of a quick job into a standard service commitment.

Which questions uncover the customer’s part of the job?

A process section is incomplete if it lists only what the business does. Ask what the customer has to do for each stage to happen.

For a physical service, that may mean making items accessible, supplying measurements, or arranging transport. For a professional service, it may mean sending records or naming someone who can make decisions. Collect the requirement that actually applies rather than publishing a generic “discovery, delivery, support” sequence.

For the curtain studio, ask:

Do customers bring the curtains in, send them, or arrange a visit?
Who supplies the finished drop, and how should it be communicated?
What must be confirmed before cutting, and who agrees collection?

Suppose Foldline accepts drop-offs by appointment and asks customers to provide the required finished drop. Its team checks the fabric before quoting and confirms the alteration before cutting. Now you can explain the service without implying an at-home measuring visit.

Keep these responsibilities near the relevant step in the draft. A measurement requirement buried in a general FAQ won’t help someone who has already arrived expecting the studio to measure their windows.

What evidence and images should you request?

Ask for one completed job that matches the service you’re describing. Request the starting condition, the work done, and the visible or documented result. A general company testimonial may say the team is helpful without demonstrating that it delivers this particular offer.

For Foldline, suitable source material might show the original hem and the finished alteration. Ask the owner to identify both images, explain what changed, and supply the original files. Check permission to publish, attribution, and any claims against the source once, before selecting the material.

A neatly finished hem can demonstrate the work. It doesn’t establish that the studio can alter every fabric or finish every order within the same period. Keep captions tied to what the example actually shows.

If relevant proof isn’t available, leave that section open while you draft the confirmed service details. Request a specific missing item rather than asking for “more content.” You need a matching example, not a folder of unrelated business photographs.

How do these answers become a service description?

Here’s a compact handoff for the fictional Foldline project. These are illustrative business decisions, not facts about an operating studio.

Confirmed answer	Treatment in the draft
A customer has six existing curtain panels that need shortening by 8 cm.	Use a concrete alteration job to check whether the description covers the offer.
Shortening and pressing the new hems are included.	Name the work instead of promising general curtain care.
Replacement lining is separately quoted; removal and rehanging aren’t offered.	Separate an available addition from work the studio doesn’t do.
Customers supply the required finished drop and bring curtains by appointment.	Explain preparation and the delivery route.
The studio inspects the fabric before quoting and agrees completion timing afterward.	Invite an inspection appointment without publishing an invented price or deadline.

The page opening could read:

Curtain shortening for an existing pair or set

Have your fabric curtains shortened to your required finished drop, with the new hems pressed before collection. Bring your curtains by appointment so we can check the fabric and confirm a quote.

Replacement lining can be quoted separately. Taking down and rehanging curtains aren’t included.

Arrange a curtain inspection

Tell us how many panels you have and the change you need. Bring your required finished-drop measurements to the appointment. We’ll confirm the alteration and completion timing before work begins.

Below that opening, the page can explain the accepted materials, the inspection and collection steps, and a relevant finished example. Each section now has a factual job. You don’t need to fill it with another version of “expert service.”

Before handing the draft to your designer, return to the questions that could change a customer’s decision. Can you say what they get, what they need to contribute, how cost and timing are agreed, and what the next action requests? Resolve those gaps with the person responsible for the service. The page is ready to review when its description matches the job your client will actually accept.