How to Expand Your Small Business using Web Forms in 2023

In the contemporary day and age, thanks to digitization, artificial intelligence, and the Internet as a whole;

The world is as interconnected as it can be;

Making the opportunities to grow, network, and expand, limitless possibilities.

And as explorable as these opportunities are;

It isn't easy to make the most out of them.

The sinew of these new-age opportunities are concepts like digital transformation and automation;

And it would be fair to say that if one wants to progress their business, adopting these concepts, becomes inevitable.

That said, let's discuss one such powerful tool that enables digital transformation and can help scale your small business to reach new and greater potentials;

And that tool is...

Online Web Forms 

It is a common misconception that web forms aren't something new;

Just forms made available on the Internet.

The presumability perhaps arises, because of the ease and simplicity, with which web forms are created and offered.

However, what most fail to recognize here is that the same simplicity and ease make a product get a boost on the Internet.

People are free to browse whatever they want, and plenty of options exist for any given product/service. 

At the end of the day, it all comes down to quickness, ease, simplicity, and, most importantly, customer serviceability and association.

It is essential to create meaningful relationships with your customers;

If you succeed in creating a brand that connects with your audience;

Then you will have successfully won 50% of the battle.

All these factors, become more significant when it comes to small businesses;

Who have just started out, or are looking to expand and grow.

Personalization, customer feedback and customer connection become key factors of brand success, especially for small businesses.

That said, let's discuss...

Why Your Small Business Needs Web Forms

1. Data Collection

The most crucial functionality a web form offers any business is data collection. 

Web forms are the most efficient means of gathering user data, digitally.

They are designed to carry out data collection over a range of domains, such as 

• Customer Feedback
• Product Reviews
• Product Surveys
• Suggestions
• Customer Inquiries 
• FAQs

Survey forms, contact forms, Feedback forms, etc., will effectively meet your needs, in this regard.

2. Lead Generation and Customer Acquisition

If you know about the concept of a Sales Funnel, you might be aware of the importance of lead generation.

A Lead generation web form is designed to collect information from your website visitors.

These website visitors are people who have shown interest or curiosity toward your product/service.

The obtained lead information, is stored in a CRM system and can be used to create personalized experiences for them and have a greater opportunity of turning them into customers. 

3. Emailing List

Web forms of any kind cater to collecting atleast basic contact information such as email addresses.

This can be converted into an emailing list, which in turn serves several purposes, such as:

• Personalized Marketing
• Promotions
• Advertising
• Offers and Discounts
• Newsletters
• Blog subscriptions, etc.

An extensive email list comes with plenty of benefits.

4. Payment Integrations

With web forms in place, you don't even have to set-up a website to start selling.

Your web forms can be integrated with several third-party payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, etc., so you can start receiving payments, without having to incur the cost rendered by an e-commerce website.

All you have to do is collect payments!

5. Business Process Automation

Having a web form on your website solves a lot of problems that come with manual operations and labour.

You are more likely to gather accurate and error-free information, since it is directly being entered by the users themselves.

Also, it eliminates the transmission errors which occur when using a phone/IVR.

Moreover, your users will be more well-equipped to communicate with you, as they have the choice of written presentation.

They can also provide the proper context, reason for contact, and any other additional information that has a chance of being overlooked.

The other aspect of automation comes into play, when you have to respond to your users, after receiving any submission.

Acknowledging the response from your customers and showing them gratitude, for reaching out to you, is a small gesture that goes a long way.

And you don't have to be on this job, 24/7. Web-form Auto-Responders, automate this process for you.

Setting up an auto-responder helps you send out instant acknowledgment messages and keep your users, informed and engaged.

Moreover, with form-builders like Formester, you get Auto-Responders that allow you to curate personalized acknowledgment messages/emails.

The most important contribution of an Auto-responder, therefore, is the fact that they help you eliminate redundant processes and automate monotonous ones;

Thereby, increasing resource efficiency and conservation.

6. Platform Integrations

As a business, it is understandable that you don't just deal with web forms and work with multiple third-party platforms and applications to fulfil your business needs.

You'd be delighted to know that web forms can be easily integrated with such platforms, using technologies such as Zapier integration.

This includes integration with Google Sheets for data storage, Slack for communication, Salesforce, and many more.

7. Ease of Creation, Use and Accessibility

There are plenty of web form builders available in the market.

With the no-code, drag-and-drop and intuitive interface, creating web forms becomes child's play.

You don't need to have any coding expertise, for both creating a web form, as well as integrating it with your website.

On the users' side, this materializes, as web forms that are easy to access and interesting to fill out. 

8. Template Customizations

Quality form builders, such as Formester, have a vast collection of pre-built, well-thought-out, customizable Form Templates.

So if it's your first time developing a web form, or you're running at the eleventh hour, just pick a Template as per the type of form you need and customize it as per your brand theme.

Creating web forms literally couldn't have been easier.

Now that we've discussed why your business shouldn't miss out on web forms, let's discuss...

6 Important Types of Web Forms Your Website Should Feature

1. Contact Forms

Contact forms are the most fundamental types of forms that your business's website should essentially feature.

Apart from email ids, phone numbers, and physical addresses, contact forms are also a prime communication method, which you can offer your users.

Contact forms can be used for a variety of reasons:

• Tracking and Resolving user inquiries
• Answering FAQs
• Gathering user submissions
• Offering customer service and support

Include a few primary fields like Name, Email-ID, Reason for contact, and Additional Information. 

This will help your users provide detailed information regarding their inquiries.  

2. Registration Forms

Suppose you have any events, product/service sign-ups, memberships, subscriptions, reward programs and schemes, that require your users to register themselves. In that case, registration forms are a must-have on your website.

Your users can easily register themselves for any of the services, as mentioned above.

Registration forms introduce time and resource-saving, central data storage and management, better customer support and service, event process automation, etc. 

You have the choice of creating separate registration forms for each of your services or, a single registration form with a check-box against each service, which your users can choose from. 

3. Payment Forms

Payment forms are a gem for small businesses.

Even if you don't have a website or app for your business, you can start collecting payments for your services by simply setting up a Payment form.

A payment form is a tool that allows a business to collect payments using a form tool that enables integrations with payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, etc.

These forms help you cut down on the costs incurred by an E-commerce website.

4. Lead-Generation Forms

Lead generation forms, as formerly discussed, are used to convert your website visitors into leads and, ultimately, potential customers.

These forms offer an incentive or reward, in exchange for filling out the form.

Such incentives/reward elements result in greater response rates, thereby garnering more accurate and reliable user data, which can in turn be used for developing an emailing list and marketing strategies.

5. Feedback Forms

The importance of receiving feedbacks for your business doesn't need emphasizing.

Who doesn't want to showcase their quality of product and service and attract more and new customers!

And this is best accomplished by Customer Testimonials, Feedbacks and Reviews.

Not only do they display your product value, but also help showcase your credibility and build your brand presence.

Therefore, having feedback forms and requesting your customers to fill them, is a great way to gain initial traction and build your brand.

6. Survey Forms

Last but not the least, your small business should feature Survey forms.

Survey forms are a great way to gain data about several crucial factors, such as:

• Customer Satisfaction
• Brand Awareness
• Competitor Analysis
• Customer Experience and Expectation
• Product/Feature Development or Improvement

Survey forms are the best way to have your users convey what they expect from your business or where there is scope for improvement.

They are also capable of giving yo+u breakthrough ideas about new products and features, apart from optimizations for existing ones.++++++

These were a few basic types of web forms, every small business should strive to feature for their customers.

That said, let's come to our final topic for discussion, which will enable you to create effective web forms, regardless of which type they are...

10 Essential Tips for Your Web Forms

The following tips should be kept in mind when creating any web form, in order to have a higher submission rate, avoid abandoned forms and gather accurate and reliable data for analysis:

1. Design and Question Formation 

Create short and simple forms, with direct and open-ended questions, which don't bore the users, thereby ensuring higher response rates.

2. Conditional Logic

Consider form-builders that offer advanced features like conditional logic, which enable the creation of dynamic and intelligent forms.

3. Auto-Responder

Make sure your form builder also provides for setting up an auto-responder, which helps you keep track of your submissions and provide quality customer service.

4. Robust Analytics 

Have a robust analytics system in place that will help you analyze the data you receive from your submissions and gather actionable insights.

5. Spam Protection 

Ensure your form builder comes with a credible spam protection feature, with captcha and re-captcha integrations that stop bot responses and other spam.

6. Brand Theme Consistency

Maintain your brand theme and messaging, consistently throughout your web forms, including strategic positioning of your brand logo.

7. Straight-forward CTA

Have a direct and uncomplicated CTA, that your users can easily understand. For example, when signing up for your Newsletter, the form CTA should be Sign-up for Newsletter and not simply submit. 

8. Third-party Integrations

Make sure your web forms are integrated and work well with all your other systems.

9. Payment Integrations

Ensure that you only use credible third-party payment gateways as integrations with your payment forms.

10. Making Well-Informed and Balanced Decisions 

At last but certainly not the least, strive to take balanced and informed decisions based on the survey and feedback form responses you receive.

Conclusion

Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence are laying the foundation for exponential growth, in unconventional ways.

If these tools find the right usage, they can open the doors to multiple growth opportunities, for all kinds of businesses, regardless of their size or industry.

One such tool for digital transformation is Online Web forms.

Online forms are an affordable, easy to use and powerful tool, one can apply to enhance their business.

They come equipped with quite a few advanced features that enable automation of business processes, allow integrations and help in establishing a more meaningful connection with the customers.

At Formester, we strive to deliver the best-in-class web forms;

For Small Businesses with Big Ideas!