8 Elements of Having a “Contact Us” Form on Your Website:
1) The Contact Us Page in WordPress. This is a page on your site.
2) The Contact Form you add to that page. This is a form that you create with the Ninja plugin.
3) The “Thank You” Page your visitor gets taken to. This is a page on your site.
4) The Email Confirmation your VISITORS get, letting them know they filled out the form correctly. This is an email message that gets sent to them via email.
5) The Email Notification YOU get, letting you know someone has filled out your form. This is an email message that gets sent to YOU via email.
6) The email address that the email confirmation is sent from. This would be your email address. For example christina@websitecreationworkshop.com
7) The email address that the email notification is sent to. This could be your email address or an assistant’s email. For example support@websitecreationworkshop.com
8) The Form Entries inside your WordPress site after they fill out the form.
Watch this Short Video that Explains the 5 Elements
Benefits of Using a Contact Form
1) Provides a Convenient and Secure Way to Communicate
If you put your phone number and/or email address on a public website, you’ll most likely start receiving unwanted sales calls and spam emails. The World Wide Web, unfortunately, is always crawled by bots looking for personal information. Using a contact form instead gives people a way to contact you while providing more security.
2) Accessible Anytime
People can submit a contact form at any time of the day, 7 days a week. They don’t need to worry about waking you up in the middle of the night. And you can check the form submissions when it’s convenient for you.
3) Easy to Use
Contact forms are user-friendly. Your web visitors can simply fill out a form and press a submit button. Much easier than dialing a phone number or composing an email.
4) Streamlines the communication process
You can efficiently collect the information that you need by including appropriate questions in your contact form. This will allow you to be more prepared and efficient when you get back to them. It will also help you collect the info you need to help your visitors.
5) Helps Organize Incoming Inquiries
A contact form can be used to filter incoming inquiries, which will help you determine the next steps. By being strategic about this, a contact form can be a part of your marketing funnel.
Top WordPress Contact Form Plugins
While many WordPress contact form plugins are available, here are three popular ones:
1) Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is my favorite premium (paid) plugin. This plugin lets you easily create different types of forms without any technical know-how. You can customize the forms to match your style and add fields like name, email, and message. The basic license for one website is $59 per year.
2) Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms is a popular free plugin for small business owners who want to add forms to their websites. With Ninja Forms, you can create all sorts of forms, like contact or order forms. It’s easy to use and customize, allowing you to add fields for names, emails, or any other information you need. Ninja Forms is a fantastic alternative if you don’t want to pay for Gravity Forms. Some features are only available as paid add-ons.
3) Contact Forms by WPForms
WPForms is a powerful and user-friendly WordPress plugin designed to simplify creating forms on websites. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface lets users quickly build contact forms, surveys, feedback forms, and more. The plugin also offers various pre-built templates and advanced features like conditional logic, spam protection, and integration with popular email marketing services.
Final Thoughts…
