It's easy to overlook the humble online form as a basic tool you use online. However, the truth is that forms are the building blocks of everything we experience online. Right from social media to making payments online are possible because of how essential and ubiquitous forms are.
If you run an online business or manage your website, it's likely that you’ve only used forms on your contact page. But you should know that online forms are a powerful tool that can do everything from collecting leads to driving sales - if you leverage them correctly.
And this is what this post is about; I am going to show you why you shouldn't just rely on free form plugins from the WordPress repository for your website. By the end of this post, you should seriously consider using a flexible and versatile form plugin to scale your business fast.
8 Ways Forms Will Grow Your Business
I have to make a disclaimer here, I am the founder of a premium WordPress form plugin that ranks as one the top downloaded WordPress plugins available today.
However, the only reason I ever considered building a form tool was that my audience kept asking for features that the available free online forms simply did not provide. As businesses grow, they needed forms to do more than just collect messages and emails from people.
The following uses of a form tool are the very features that people requested. As you’ll see, a simple form can carry out multiple functions. And it’s worth the investment to use it a dozen different ways (and more) on your website
1. Allow customers to get in touch
Here we begin with the most basic use of an online form i.e., to allow customers to get in touch with you for any reason.
The humble contact form is a critical feature of any website. if you don't have such a form, it will build distrust and make it less likely that customers will buy from you. You will also miss out on several opportunities to partner with other businesses.
People automatically look for a contact form or email when they want to reach out.
So, don't rule out the basic contact form as a critical element of a successful online brand.
2. Gather reviews and ratings
Your audience will not trust you based on your word alone. 83% of people would much rather get recommendations and reviews from their peers. It is important for you to actively gather ratings and reviews, and one way to do this is with an online form.
Simply add a form to your product pages or email your customers post purchase and request that they fill out a reviews and ratings form.
By gathering such information, you can add valuable testimonials, reviews, and other forms of social proof to your landing pages, product pages, and more. And this will skyrocket your conversions, especially leads and sales.
3. Send and collect surveys
Gathering data from your audience is a critical marketing activity if you want to understand what your audience wants.
One of the best ways to do this is to use online forms to create surveys. A good form plugin will allow you to create surveys like the Net Promoter Score survey, Customer Satisfaction Score, and so on.
There was a time when you would have had to higher experts and work with data collection agencies to carry out such activities. But, today, a basic form tool is all you need to collect valuable data from your target group.
With the right form tool, you can build aesthetically pleasing surveys and a good user experience that encourages people to provide all the information you need. In this way, you enrich your marketing data and show your audience that you run a professional brand.
4. Launch a store and collect payments
Do you want to sell something online but not create a full-blown eCommerce platform?
Forms will help as they are suitable for selling a small number of services, products, and digital downloads easily.
Today, you can link your payment gateway of choice with an online form and start selling your products and services instantly. Such a setup is great for anyone who is launching a new business, like online coaching, customized T-shirts, ebooks, or artwork.
So it's worth having an online form plugin for your WordPress site because you can leverage it to achieve almost any goal.
5. Collect donations
Similar to creating a simple online store, online forms are the perfect tools to collect donations for small organizations like nonprofits, churches, schools, and so on.
Create a simple contribution form and attach a payment gateway to it. then all you have to do a share link to the page with the donation form with your audience.
In this way, a simple form tool can make a profound difference in creating an impact in your society or community.
6. Collect entries for competitions (and other UGC)
Do you want to run a competition and collect entries in the form of stories, caption ideas, poems, artwork, and so on?
A form tool is capable of collecting large pieces of text as well as different file formats like PDFs, JPEGs, and more. So, you can gather any type of content from your audience.
Use a form plugin to collect user generator content and to even publish such content directly to your website. This is great if you want to automate collecting and publishing guest posts to your blog.
A form tool will help you run contests and get contributions from your audience with minimal hassle. And it will allow you to create a buzz and draw more attention to your brand.
7. Create booking and reservation forms
Every small business should use forms to streamline their booking and reservation process. Whether you run a massage service company, a Mom-and-pop restaurant, or any other kind of service-oriented business, a form tool is very useful.
With a form tool on your website, you can get in touch with your potential customers directly. You can avoid third-party platform fees, have control over your branding, and prices, and collect leads to nurture later.
You don't even have to invest in a complicated management system for your service business, especially if you have just launched and want to focus on getting people through the door.
Just use the form tool to get bookings and reservations on your website easily.
8. Build calculators
Ever wondered why and how some businesses have calculators for calculating BMIs, interest rates, rental prices, and so on?
These businesses offer free calculations because it's a great way to get to the top of search rankings for specific keywords. It’s also a good way to build leads since they can gate the final answer by asking people to drop their emails in exchange for the answer.
Calculators also take care of minor questions that people have and build trust too. They engage people, help them, and let them know about your brand.
So, it’s a natural step forward for people to reach out to your to meet their needs and buy your products or services.
And you guessed it, you can easily build calculators with the right form tool.
Other ways form tools can grow your business
I’ve elaborated on just a few ways that form tools can help your business. But that really isn’t all. Here are just a few more use cases for online tools:
- Gather product feature ideas from your audience
- Collect job applications
- Create client or patient intake forms to make onboarding easy
- Build event registration forms
- Collect employee feedback
- Create signup forms for newsletters and promotions
- Generate new leads through webinar and conference registrations
- Create questionnaires to better understand customer needs
- Design quizzes
And so on! There’s virtually no limit to what you can do with forms. And you can leverage them in multiple ways to help people, get leads, improve your services and products, and finally, get money.
Sure, you can stick to a single free contact form for your site. But you’re severely limiting how many people you can reach and how many people can reach you. So, consider using a top-notch form tool, and you’ll create a scale of growth like never before.