Turn quote requests into draft invoices
An order enquiry arrives in Square as a draft invoice addressed to the buyer, with the spec and the figure already on it.
New submission on your "Request a quote" form
Create Invoice in Square as an unsent draft, addressed to the customer, at the amount requested
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
A quote request already carries everything an invoice needs — who is asking, what they want and the figure they have in mind — and then somebody retypes it into Square an hour later. This flow builds the draft while the enquiry is fresh, leaving only the price to check.
Makers who quote every job separately get the most out of it: furniture builders, sign painters, framers. The invoice stays a draft until you have read the spec and decided the number is right, so nothing goes to a customer unseen.
Setting it up
- 1
Publish the quote request form with Estimated Budget and Project Description on it, since those two answers become the invoice amount and the description the buyer reads back.
- 2
In Zapier, start a Zap from formformform's New Submission trigger and pick the quote form rather than the general contact form.
- 3
Add a Square Find Customer step that searches on Email Address, so a returning buyer keeps one profile instead of gaining a second.
- 4
Behind a Zapier filter for the no-match case, add Create Customer mapping Full Name, Email Address and Phone Number.
- 5
Add the Square Create Invoice action, point it at that customer ID, and leave the delivery setting so the invoice is created but not sent.
- 6
Build one line item: Service Type as the name, Estimated Budget as the amount, Project Description in the invoice message.
- 7
Set the due date from Project Timeline, or fix it at a standard number of days if your terms never change.
- 8
Run a test enquiry, open the draft in Square Invoices, correct the figure by hand, and only then turn the Zap on.
What maps where
Using the Quote Request Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | Square |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Customer name on the invoice, split into Square's given and family name fields |
| Email Address | Invoice delivery address, and the value the Find Customer step matches on |
| Phone Number | Phone number on the customer profile, for chasing a quote that goes quiet |
| Service Type | Name of the single line item on the draft invoice |
| Estimated Budget | Line item amount — a starting figure you overwrite before sending |
| Project Description | Invoice message, so the buyer sees the spec in their own words |
Variations worth knowing
Put a Zapier filter on Service Type so only the categories you actually build reach Square. Everything else still lands in your formformform responses and can be answered by email, without cluttering the invoice list with jobs you will turn down.
Add a second Square step that appends the submission to the customer note. The original brief and the invoice then sit together, which matters a year later when the same buyer asks for a second piece to match the first.
If something isn't arriving
That is deliberate — the step creates a draft, and drafts do not send themselves. Price it in Square Invoices and send from there. If you genuinely quote at a fixed rate, switch the step over to sending automatically.
Estimated Budget arrives as text, so a currency symbol, a comma or a range like "2,000-3,000" will not parse. Add a Zapier formatter step that strips everything but the digits before the invoice step, and constrain the field on the form if you can.
Frequently asked questions
Can the buyer pay straight from the form?
Yes. Add products and priced options to the form, then collect payment through secure hosted checkout with Stripe, PayPal, or Square. Payment status is tracked alongside the response.
What if the budget on the form is nowhere near the real price?
That is exactly why it lands as a draft. Estimated Budget is what the buyer hoped to spend, not what the job costs. Open the draft, replace the figure with your own quote, then send it.
Will a repeat client get a duplicate profile?
Not if the Find Customer step runs first. It searches Square on the email address and hands the existing customer ID to the invoice step, so the second job attaches to the record you already have rather than a new one.
Related automations
- Add counter signups to your Customer Directory
A signup at the till or on your site becomes a Square customer profile straight away, spelled the way the customer typed it.
- Add new members to a customer group
Each membership signup creates the customer in Square and drops them into the group your discounts and campaigns point at.
- Build a pickup pre-order the counter can ring up
A weekend pre-order arrives in Square as an open order with the right items, so staff prep it and ring it up at the register.
- Log catering enquiries as a customer and a draft invoice
Every catering enquiry lands in Square as a named customer and a draft invoice with the event details already on it.
- Record workshop registrations as customers
A class registration becomes a Square customer tagged with the workshop they booked, so invoicing and follow-up start from a real record.
- Add new clients to your QuickBooks customer list
Every new client who fills in your intake form arrives in QuickBooks as a customer record, ready to invoice.
Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
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