FormSpring Blog » Contact Forms

Keep Your Form from Becoming a Dead Zone

Erica — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:17:02 +0000

Using online forms for customer service is a great way to interact with your customers – if you are doing it the right way! People often times shy away from submitting their information into an online form because they believe they are not contacting a real person and therefore they won’t be receiving a response, especially right away.

There are several key things for you to do so your online form doesn’t become a dead zone on your site.

Set Expectations:

First, place a short message above the form letting your customer know details about what will happen after they submit their information. By being upfront about the level of service they can expect they will have a realistic time frame and won’t make assumptions about how the information will be processed.

Be Smart:

Make sure the form is being submitted to the correct person so that the form can be responded to. Smart Routing allows the form to be routed to the proper person or team based on information that is selected in the form. For instance, if you have a lead generation form for three different regions, East Coast, Mid West and West Coast, you can route proper submissions to each areas sales manager. Making sure that the information is handled by the proper person and information can be acted upon much quicker.

Take Action:

Last, take action! Make sure you stay true to your word and let customers know you are really behind that form and are ready to help them.

How We Do It

At FormSpring, above our customer support form we tell the customer that someone will contact them as soon as possible – always within 24 hours in our case. We also give them other options of contacting us if they aren’t comfortable filling out the online form. After the form has been submitted, a screen pops up telling them thank you and we will contact them right away just so they are even more confident that we will reply.

By following all of these key items your customers will trust that you will always reply when they fill out y our form and also decrease your chances of your form from becoming a dead zone.

There are several key things for you to do so your online form doesn’t become a dead zone on your site.

Set Expectations:

Be Smart:

Take Action:

Last, take action! Make sure you stay true to your word and let customers know you are really behind that form and are ready to help them.

How We Do It

At FormSpring, above our customer support form we tell the customer that someone will contact them as soon as possible – always within 24 hours in our case and usually sooner than that. We also give them other options of contacting us if they aren’t comfortable filling out the online form. After the form has been submitted, a screen pops up telling them thank you and we will contact them right away just so they are even more confident that we will reply.

By following all of these key items your customers will trust that you will always reply when they fill out your form and also decrease your chances of your form from becoming a dead zone.Recent Posts:

5 Reasons Why Your Website Needs A Contact Form

ryan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:04:50 +0000

1. Spam – Placing your email address on a contact page allows spam bots to find it and greatly increases the amount of spam you receive.

2. Appearance – A contact form simply looks more professional than slapping your email address on a page. You want your website to look as nice as possible, right?

3. User friendliness – Why make the user open their email client, cut and paste your email address, open a new message and compose an email? Think how much more convenient it is for them to just fill out a form and hit “Submit”. What if they’re not using their own computer, and they don’t have a web-based email account? They’ll have to remember to visit your site again once they have access to their email account.

4. Accurate delivery – Your contact form can have a drop-down menu of all the departments in your organization. The user chooses the department they want to contact and their email is sent there. If you just list the email addresses of 30 departments or employees on your contact page, lazy users are going to email either the first address they see or maybe even all of the addresses on the list rather than search for the correct department or employee.

5. Convenience – With a form, you can control the subject line of the emails users send you, you can control the email address those emails are sent from. You can store the emails you receive in a database in addition to receiving them via your email client. All of this will make it easier for you to find specific emails, search them, gather statistics on your users and keep better track of who is contacting you and why.

So what’s your excuse for not having a contact form on your website? Too difficult? Not enough technical knowledge? Well, I’ve created a video that shows how you can build a contact form and place it on your website in two minutes flat using a FormSpring form. Watch below:

It’s as easy as that. If you just sign up for an account with FormSpring, you can have a contact form on your site in a few minutes. Let us know below if you have any comments or questions.Recent Posts:

FormSpring As A Simple CRM Tool

chris — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:45:05 +0000

Support requests are always a great asset for us at FormSpring, they shed light on user problems but also give us an interesting look at how our form builder can be used outside of just an online form tool.

Someone recently inquired if FormSpring had a way to act as a simple CRM, or Customer Relationship Management tool. In fact there is an easy way to use your form data and the online database as a simple CRM solution. While we wouldn’t suggest this as an alternate to Salesforce, High Rise, or other industry leading tools, it is perfect if you are a small organization that needs to keep track of leads, sales calls or other customer data in one central place.

The first step in creating a simple CRM solution is by adding a hidden field in your form. For instance if you have built a simple contact or lead generation form you can add a hidden Long Answer field titled “Follow Up Notes” to your form

Then as customers or potential leads submit their information you can go back into the FormSpring database and view their submissions. You can click on any submission and Edit that submission quickly.

You can then add notes in the hidden field you created and monitor that lead throughout a sales process, a customer service inquiry or other touch points.

You can hide any field so you could even put in date fields, file upload fields to attach documents to a lead, and other fields to create a more complete tracking system. While it is a basic solution to the more advanced CRM systems, for small and medium organzations this is an effective short-term solution.Recent Posts:

The Customer is Engaging…Now What?

chris — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:52:42 +0000

We wrap up our 5 Day blog series with a look at what do with your customer once you have collected their information. This is written by Jason Gallic of Email Center Pro. Learn more about Jason and Email Center Pro below this post.

If you’re already managing a crucial component of your online communication technique with Formspring, then congratulations. You understand what it means to reach out to members or potential members of your community.

If you’re not yet using forms for things like initial contact, surveys, event registration or order fulfillment, don’t worry. Now is the time to consider doing so.

And why is that important, you ask? Because aside from the obvious benefit of streamlining information transfer and encouraging customer engagement, what forms really allow you to do is start a relationship.

From the contact page form to the order payment processing to newsletter sign up, a form simplifies the initial encounter and significantly lowers the barrier to entry for those interested in your company or organization.

Initiating this first touch, however, is only half the battle. Once the conversation is started, it’s incumbent upon you to continue it. Not doing so can jeopardize sales opportunities, brand equity and customer or member confidence. And, based on the channel through which information is changing hands, the most appropriate vehicle for continuing or developing that relationship is email.

Email is versatile for many reasons — most of which you already know, but which get lost in the shuffle of negativity that afflicts it. As it piles mercilessly in your inbox, email might look to you like a necessary evil. In fact, if managed effectively, it can provide the strongest building blocks for the relationships you want to create — the ones that will benefit your bottom line. So what’s it going to take to do this right?

Reply to messages or submissions: I know this one sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not. The number of people to whom I’ve spoken who admit to this being an issue might surprise you.
Reply promptly: It’s hard to impress an existing or potential customer/member more than you will if you respond to them quickly. Talk about making a deposit in the credibility bank.
Reply accurately: Don’t let your need for speed trump the inarguable mandate for accuracy. Failure to do so will mean quickly suffering a credibility withdraw.
Build continuity: Email is a chance to create one-on-one relationships. Don’t blow that.

While this list isn’t necessarily rocket science in action, it’s often overlooked in magnitude of importance. What you do with customer engagement AFTER the first volley will go a long way toward determing the degree of loyalty shown to your organization.

But the management of email is not easy, you say. It’s an inexact science. For many, this is true, but it needn’t be. You can bring order to your email, and effectively execute on the four-point list above, by using an email management service that accomplishes the following:

Centralizes business-related email messages (those that come into boxes like info@, sales@ and help@)
Makes those messages transparent to everyone in your organization
Provides collaborative tools for improving the quality of your team’s response

Once your business begins this approach to email, you’ll find an undeniable lift both to your customer engagements and to your bottom line.

Jason Gallic is the Product Marketing Manager for Email Center Pro. He can be reached at jason (at) paloalto (dot) com and directly at 541.284.1221. Email Center Pro is the smartest, most affordable way to provide customer service support and email management. Whether you’re a company of 4, 40 or 400, this service provides all of the tools you need to more efficiently operate your business. With features like message assignment, collaborative notes, contact management and email analytics you’ll increase productivity, decrease operational costs and improve your customers’ experience. It’s time to start thinking about email as actual people.Recent Posts:

Sending Form Data from One Form to Another

ryan — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:00:38 +0000

There may be times when you want to collect a small bit of information on one form and then redirect the user on to a second, longer form to collect more information. On the second form, you don’t want them to have to fill out any of the same info from the first form, so you want to pass on that data from one form to another.

Note: This method of forwarding form data from one form to another only works if you are linking to your forms on FormSpring.com. It will not work if you have the forms embedded on your own website.

First, we need to learn how to pre-populate a form with data. The following URL, used to link to a form, will pre-populate it with the name “John Doe” and the phone number “555-5555”.

http://www.formspring.com/forms/example-form?name=John+Doe&phone=555-5555

A form URL like:

http://www.formspring.com/forms/?12345-ABCDEF

will need to be expanded into something like the following in order to accept appended data:

http://www.formspring.com/forms/?form=12345&viewkey=ABCDEF&name=John+Doe&phone=555-5555

To view the field names that are available for your form, go the Use page and click on Form Forwarding. Field names are generally lowercase versions of the field label, with the spaces and other special characters removed.

Now that we know how to pre-populate form data, we can move on to passing on data from one form to another. First build both of your forms. Next, create a submit action for your first form by going to Settings > E-mails & Redirects > After the Form is Submitted and creating a new submit action that says “Redirect to URL”. The URL you want to redirect to will be your second form’s URL with your data appended and will look something like this:

http://www.formspring.com/forms/?form=12345&viewkey=ABCDEF&name={$name}&phone={$phone}

The $name and $phone variables are taken from the field names, so whatever is typed into those fields on the first form will be passed on to the second form.

In this example, the data from the name and phone number fields from form #1 would be passed on to those same fields in form #2. You can pass on data from certain fields or all your fields, it’s up to you. You can also pass data from one field into a different field on form #2 if you’d like. For example, you could pass the name field data on to the phone number field if you wanted to for some reason.

For a real world example, say you want to create an online lead generation form. You wan to collect some information up front; name, phone number and email address, but would like to get all their information as well, like address, etc. You could collect this important information on the first form and then pass it on to the second form. If the user decides not to give you any additional info on the second form, at least you have the bare essentials you need to contact them.

Form 1:

Form 2:
Recent Posts:

Integrating Online Forms with Your Website

chris — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:00:08 +0000

Two questions that we are often asked is the best way to integrate your online forms with your website and how to get the forms to match the “look and feel” of your site.

FormSpring gives you a few different options to integrate your web forms. The first is by using a simple link. Each form that you create in the form builder automatically generates a URL for that form. By using that URL you can easily link the form from anywhere on your site, use the link in an email newsletter or post on third party websites, without having to generate a new form for each instance. When using the URL you can choose a standard template (we offer 6 basic templates) or you can create your template.

To create a new template simply scroll down to the bottom of the main admin panel after you have signed into your account.

Choose “Create a New Style Template”. You will then see the general Template Settings where you can name the template and also set your template as the default template for all your forms.

If you click on the Styles tab you can then start editing the look and feel of the template. Here you can add a header and footer, change the background and form colors, change the fonts. You can also change the field colors, the label fonts and colors and more. You can do all of this by simply clicking on the area you want to edit.

Creating templates is any easy way to maintain the look you want with your forms without having to do too much work. Style templates allow you to match the look of your website (logo, color, etc.) without having to actually embed the form right within your web page. It is also great to use Style templates if you are going to be using the form from multiple sites (landing pages, home page, Third Party/partner websites, etc) or if you want to use the URL in email campaigns.

The other option that incorporates your form directly into your site is using our JavaScript Embed method.

Just like the URL, each form you create automatically generates a snippet of code (JavaScript) that can be placed inside any web page and will allow the form to work just as if it were its own seperate page (like the URL). The JavaScript also automatically updates any changes on your form, so you do not have to touch the code again once you place it inside your website.

To access the JavaScript embed option go to your forms “Use” area and click on the JavaScript tab. You will see some code. Simply copy the code. You can then paste that bit of code into the code of your web page. One thing to remember is that any styles that you created will not carry over when using the JavaScript embed. Only the actual form elements will show up, however you can style the form in the CSS of your web page.

The JavaScript embed option is perfect for those who want to their website visitors to have seamless interaction on their site (not sending visitors to the FormSpring URL). This also allows the form to simply “melt” right inside of your existing pages without any extra work on your part.

Both options give you flexibility in using your forms and will allow you to use FormSpring but still maintain the integrity of your business or organizational branding.

Recent Posts:

Make Your Contact Form Work for You

chris — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:00:29 +0000

We were asked the other day for tips on how you can use your online contact forms and online lead generation forms in smarter ways to really create value for you and your business. Some of the tips below might seem basic but ofter overlooked by the majority of people who are creating their online forms.

Don’t make them intimidating: Many people try to gather too much information. Only collect the real valuable stuff (Name, Email, Phone if you need it). If you feel like you need a longer form use functionality like “Conditional Logic” that allows you to show or hide information based on how someone answers a question. That way you can control what information gets shown to whom.

Use Redirects: As soon as someone clicks submit don’t leave them hanging. This is your opportunity to continue the conversation. Redirect to another page on your site for them to gain better insight about what you do. Send them to a special promo page, whatever it is keep them engaged on your site. They just submitted information to you – they want to interact – keep them engaged.

Do something with the information you collect: Don’t sit on the information. Respond to it right away. Even sending a confirmation message as soon as they fill out your form can go a long way in keeping communication going.

Use Data Intelligently: FormSpring allows you to use Smart Routing to “route” data to different people depending on how questions are answered. For Example: You have a sales lead form and the user can select a region; East Coast, West Coast and Midwest. Depending on what region the user chooses, route form submissions to the proper Sales Manager. Having that information routed to the right person allows you to act on the data quicker.

Have other tips on how to create a better contact form? Let us know in the comments below, or better yet, sign up for our user profile series and tell your FormSpring story.Recent Posts:

Simple Contact Forms for Lead Generation

chris — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:36:20 +0000

Our friends over at Hanapin Marketing have a great post about the importance of simple contact forms when using them as a lead generation source. While we may not be PPC Heroes, we do know something about creating easy to use web forms.

From their blog post:

The contact form is typically the gateway to allow people to submit their information to a company. This is the gateway for the consumer to initiate a conversion with your company. You need to keep your contact form simple.

We couldn’t agree more. That is why you can create a simple form in seconds using our drag and drop form builder. And while the form is the first step, one of the advantages of FormSpring is the ability to collect and quickly manage all that data you receive.

So, what are you waiting for? Check out our demo or create an account and see how you can start using contact forms as a lead generation source!Recent Posts:

FormSpring Blog » Contact Forms

Keep Your Form from Becoming a Dead Zone

Other Related Posts

5 Reasons Why Your Website Needs A Contact Form

Other Related Posts

FormSpring As A Simple CRM Tool

Other Related Posts

The Customer is Engaging…Now What?

Other Related Posts

Sending Form Data from One Form to Another

Other Related Posts

Integrating Online Forms with Your Website

Other Related Posts

Make Your Contact Form Work for You

Other Related Posts

Simple Contact Forms for Lead Generation

Other Related Posts