The test for whether a field belongs
Ask: does this field change who the lead goes to, how urgently, or what the first message says? If not, it's not worth requiring at intake — see Lead Routing Automation for how routing logic actually consumes these fields.
Fields most service businesses actually need
- Contact detail and preferred channel (email/WhatsApp/phone)
- What they're looking to get done (free text is fine)
- A qualifying signal specific to your business (budget band, timeline, business type)
- Source page / campaign, so you know which channel is producing real inquiries
- Qualification status (a field the AI or your team sets, not the visitor)
Fields that sound useful but usually aren't
Detailed company size, exact revenue figures, or multi-select checklists of every possible service — these add friction without changing the next action in most setups. Add them only if a specific process genuinely depends on the answer.
How this connects to intake and CRM integration
See What Data Should an AI Intake Collect for the visitor-facing side of this, and Website CRM Integration for how the data actually lands in the CRM automatically.
Questions
Should lead source always be tracked?+
Yes — it's one of the highest-value fields for understanding which channels actually produce qualified leads.
Is qualification status set by the AI or a person?+
Either, depending on setup — the AI can pre-score it, with a person able to override.
What if my CRM already has 40 fields defined?+
Not all of them need to be required at intake — this page is about the minimum that changes what happens next, not an audit of your whole CRM schema.