General Enquiry Form Template
A plain-language enquiry form for organizations that serve everyone — clear categories, an optional phone line, and room for follow-up references.
Send us your enquiry and it will reach the right person. Every enquiry receives a response — plain answers, without the runaround.
Only used if a call genuinely resolves things faster than writing.
From a previous letter, email, or case — leave blank if this is new.
Some organizations get to choose their audience; a council office, a school district, a clinic, a community organization does not. Their enquiry form must work for a teenager on a phone and an eighty-year-old on a library computer, in a second language, on a bad day. This template is designed to that standard — which turns out to make it better for everyone.
Why these fields. The optional phone field is a quiet act of respect: some people genuinely resolve things better by voice, and its description promises the number is used only when calling actually helps — a promise that prevents both the fear of cold calls and the expectation of them. The category dropdown includes lanes most organizations avoid, and shouldn't: an explicit complaints lane signals accountability (complaints that lack a channel become reviews and letters to the editor), and an accessibility lane tells people with accommodation needs they were considered before they asked. The reference-number field is the institutional memory question — follow-ups arrive constantly, and matching them to prior correspondence is the difference between a resolution and a restart. The message placeholder says "plain language is welcome," releasing people from the formal-letter anxiety that public institutions accidentally induce.
What we left out. Proof-of-identity demands, address fields, and date-of-birth — identity verification belongs in the reply process for cases that need it, not as a toll at the door. Also department pickers full of internal org-chart names: "nature of enquiry" categories describe the person's need, not your structure, and routing is your job.
Who uses this. Local government service desks, school and district offices, clinics and community health organizations, libraries, utilities, and nonprofits — any front door where "the public" means everyone.
Make it yours. Rewrite categories in your community's words and keep the list to six or fewer. Turn on notifications and agree internally who owns each category — the form logs; humans must answer. The responses view timestamps every enquiry, and CSV export builds the response-time report your board or ombudsman asks about. In Document mode the form reads like a single calm page, which suits institutional trust; the theme can carry your organization's colors so the form feels official without feeling cold.
The response promise. The intro says every enquiry receives a response, and the ending confirms it was logged. For institutions, those two sentences are the service standard in miniature — publish them only if you mean them, and this form makes meaning them easier.
Frequently asked questions
Why offer a phone field if email is the main channel?
Because for some people — and some matters — a call genuinely works better. Making it optional with an honest explanation serves them without pressuring everyone else.
How do complaints get treated differently?
The category answer travels with every response, so you can filter the responses view by complaints, prioritize them, and report on their handling times from the CSV export.
Can this form meet our plain-language and accessibility goals?
The template is written in plain language throughout, and every field label states its purpose. Keep your customizations in the same register — short labels, explained purposes.
How do we connect follow-ups to earlier correspondence?
The reference-number field lets people cite prior cases. Search the responses view for the reference to see the thread of related enquiries in one place.