
—–Learning about Collecting Valuable Information with Contact Forms—–
Website contact forms are extremely powerful because they provide a direct and convenient way for website visitors to interact with a business or organization. They can be used to collect a wide range of information and serve various purposes. Here are some examples of different types of forms:
Contact Form: Contact forms allow users to send inquiries, feedback, or requests directly to a website’s owner or support team. They typically include fields for the user’s name, email address, subject, and message.
Registration Form: Registration forms are used to sign up for an account or membership on a website. They collect user information such as name, email, username, and password.
Sign-Up Form: Sign-up forms are often used for newsletter subscriptions or to join a mailing list. They collect email addresses to send updates, promotions, or newsletters.
Subscribe Form: Similar to sign-up forms, subscribe forms are used for users to opt-in to receive content, such as blog post notifications or updates. They collect email addresses for subscription purposes.
Support Form: Support forms are designed for users to request assistance or report issues. They may include fields for describing the problem, selecting the type of issue, and attaching relevant files.
Feedback Form: Feedback forms allow users to provide comments, suggestions, or ratings regarding a product, service, or website. They may include open-text fields and rating scales.
Order Form: Order forms are used for e-commerce websites to collect information needed for a purchase, such as product selection, quantity, shipping details, and payment information.
Survey Form: Survey forms are used to gather feedback and insights from users about specific topics. They can contain a variety of questions, including multiple-choice, open-ended, and rating questions.
Contact forms can be customized to collect specific data relevant to the website’s goals. They are a versatile tool for communication, data collection, and engagement with website users, making them a valuable asset for businesses and organizations.
—–How can you use the information—–
After collecting contact information, businesses and individuals can use it in several ways to benefit their goals and objectives, including:
Customer Communication: Contact information allows businesses to engage with customers through email, phone calls, or messaging, providing updates, promotions, and support.
Lead Nurturing: For sales and marketing purposes, contact information helps in nurturing leads through targeted content and personalized communication.
Customer Support: Businesses can use contact information to assist customers with inquiries, issues, and support requests.
Newsletter and Marketing Campaigns: Email addresses enable the distribution of newsletters, marketing campaigns, and product announcements to keep customers informed and engaged.
Event Invitations: Contact lists can be used to invite customers to events, webinars, or special promotions.
Market Research: Contact information can be used for surveys and market research to gather feedback and insights from customers.
Customer Segmentation: Segmentation of contact lists based on demographics or behaviors allows for more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.
E-commerce and Sales: Businesses can use contact details for order processing, shipping notifications, and transaction-related communication.
Business Networking: Individuals can use collected contact information for networking, collaboration, and building professional relationships.
Recruitment: For individuals or HR departments, contact information is crucial for reaching out to potential job candidates or employers.
Emergency Contact: Storing contact information for emergency purposes or notifications, like school or workplace emergencies.
It’s important to note that collecting and using contact information must comply with privacy and data protection regulations, and individuals’ consent should be obtained for communication purposes. Respecting privacy and providing options for opting out of communication is essential for maintaining trust and legality in data usage.
—–Connecting to Other Systems—–
Contact forms can be extended beyond simple data collection by leveraging APIs and Web Hooks. By integrating with external services and systems, contact forms become powerful tools for automating workflows and enhancing user experiences. APIs allow data submitted through forms to be seamlessly transferred to external databases, email marketing platforms, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and more. Web Hooks enable real-time communication, triggering events and actions when form submissions occur. This opens up possibilities for immediate notifications, lead management, and customized responses, making contact forms an integral part of streamlined and efficient online interactions, especially for businesses and organizations seeking to integrate and leverage diverse digital tools and services.
—–Wordpress Plugins—–
There are several popular contact form plugins for WordPress that make it easy to create and manage contact forms on your website. Some examples include:
WPForms: A user-friendly form builder with a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to create various forms, including contact forms, registration forms, and more.
Gravity Forms: A premium form builder plugin with advanced features, suitable for businesses and organizations that require complex forms.
Ninja Forms: A powerful and free form builder with many add-ons for extending its functionality.
Fluent Forms: Another powerful and free form builder.
Formidable Forms: A versatile form builder that offers advanced features and integrations, suitable for more complex form requirements.
Caldera Forms: A free and user-friendly form builder plugin with a range of add-ons and features for creating responsive forms.
HappyForms: A free and straightforward form builder with real-time previews for form design.
Contact Form 7: A widely used and free contact form plugin that offers flexibility and customization options.
These plugins provide various levels of functionality and ease of use, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your specific needs and skill level. They help you create contact forms and other types of forms without requiring extensive coding knowledge.
—–More Links—–
https://wpforms.com/8-reasons-why-you-need-a-contact-form/
https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/10-types-online-forms-use/
Discussion 3 - Exploring Form Fields
*Submit Discussion into D2L
Spend some time exploring a few websites and look for some creative ways that they are using form fields… Short forms, long forms, share a few links!
Assignment 3 - Board Game Website Forms
*Submit Assignment into D2L
Your board game website is taking off and attracting daily visitors! Create the following on your website…
Step 1: Contact Page with any Contact Form Plugin, suggested “Fluent Forms” plugins:
-Create a New Contact Form
-Add Phone Number field and make it required
-Add How did you heard about us? In a drop-down form selection box, however you need to come up with the options of how they heard about you, with one last option of Other
-Add the new form into a Contact Page
-Add Contact into your Website Menu as well
Step 2: Newsletter Signup Contact Form in a Widget:
-Create a new contact form with only an email address field, and add it into any area of your site…
-Change the Submit button to say Subscribe!
-Add a new Widget & Title the Widget Newsletter Signup
-Add the shortcode into any area on your website… Possibly a Sidebar or Footer to display on every page?
Step 3: Add a Menu Item/Category to the site called Upcoming Tournaments
-Create an Upcoming Tournaments category for your blog
-Add 2 simple posts in this new category with information about 2 upcoming tournaments
-Add this new category into the Navigation Menu
Step 4: Add a Suggest a New Game with a New Contact Form
-Create a New Page called Suggest a New Game
-Add this new page under the Navigation Menu item you just created above Upcoming Tournaments so it shows up in a drop down…
-On this new form submission page, create a new form with fields similar to the following on this page, feel free to change and add your own thoughtful fields as well:
-What game do you suggest adding to our store?
-Type of Game (Select Drop Down with Board Game, Card Game, Video Game, etc)
-What makes this game so good?
Step 5: Double Check all of your form settings
Make sure you have the emails all set up correctly… Test it yourself and make sure the emails include all of your fields. Give your emails a helpful title as well.
Submit into D2L when complete!
Sample Student Work






