News & Tips About FormSmarts Web Form Platform

How to Advertise Your Form to a Mailing List

Tue, 13 May 2008 20:53 GMT

A number of users take advantage of our flexible web form platform to advertise a FormSmarts-hosted survey form or event registration form by email.

There are a few things to keep in mind if you wish to include a form URL in a newsletter or mailing campaign:

as specified in the terms of use, FormSmarts only allows advertising of a form URL by email for strict opt-in mailing lists
you must be a verified form owner
you may only reference the form by including its URL, and must not attempt to embed the form in an HTML email

If you intend to email more than 1,000 subscribers, ask for a permission beforehand. We may ask you to schedule your mailing at a specific time if the expected click-stream is high. When contacting FormSmarts, please indicate:

the rough number of subscribers of your list
whether this is a one off or recurring mailing
the date/time of your mailing(s)
whether advertising the form is the main purpose of the mail
whether you offer any incentives for form submissions

This information will help us estimate the server load to expect.

Building Successful Web Forms, Part 1

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:21 GMT

Web forms play a key role for visitor (and customer) interaction on many sites. However, many web designers don't realize that there may be huge differences in form abandonment ratio, depending on how well the form is designed. In this post and follow ups, we'll give you some tips to help you make your web forms an effective communication channel.

Always provide form filling instructions.

Don't assume that all of your visitors will understand how to submit a form without further explanation. Short and clear form filling instructions can reduce form abandonment, and increase the quality of the information collected.

include a call to action phrase like "Please fill out this form to contact XYZ"
indicate the purpose of the form and the recipient of the information collected
if applicable, confirm that you will reply, and give an indication of the time frame

Select the correct data type for each input field.

Because of necessary form validation, choosing and incorrect data type may prevent a form user from submitting valid information. When this happens, it is likely to lead to form abandonment.
For example, if you specify that a form field can only contain a Number, it may not work for a phone number. 1233456789 will work, but not 123-345-6789. So use the Phone type instead. In many cases, the form builder will pre-select a type for you, but not always. Read more about selecting an input field data type in the form builder documentation.

Choose the most appropriate input field widget.

Don't restrict yourself to text boxes and drop-down lists. Take advantage of the full range of HTML form fields with radio buttons and checkboxes. Learn when to use each one.
Using a drop-down list for a yes/no question will slow down the form user, and increase the chances (s)he gives up. Use radio buttons instead. Read tips about choosing the best input field widget in the form builder documentation.

Brand your forms for instant visual recognition.

Always brand your web forms with your own logo. This helps visitors recognize at first sight who they are about to send information to.

Why Does Submitting a Form Require Two Steps?

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:59 GMT

Many form processors let visitors submit a form in only one step: users fill in the form, and are done after pressing the submit button. With FormSmarts, there is an extra confirmation step, during which users are invited to review and confirm the information submitted. There are two strong reasons why we added the confirmation step.

The first reason is quality. FormSmarts is typically used for transaction where the information submitted is important. Important because the information collected is intended to be read by humans, rather than machines. Important because this information is often intended to be acted upon.

By allowing users to review and modify their submission, we increase the accuracy of the information you get in the end.

Form users understand that, and it increases their confidence that you value the information they are sending you. Most of times, confirmation will only add a few seconds to the whole transaction.

The second reason is security and usability. Many form submissions are automated, or even manual spamming attempts, known as form spam or comment spam.

When a user presses the submit button, a lot more happens on the server than you may suspect. If we spot a likely spamming attempt, we'll ask the user to complete one or more tests (e.g. CAPTCHA test) on the confirmation page. But in the same time, the bulk of users will never be asked to waste time on a CAPTCHA test.

Getting Help on FormSmarts

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:15 GMT

At FormSmarts, we are pleased to let you use our web form platform absolutely free. However, whenever we have to help you in person, we ask you to spend a few minutes publicizing FormSmarts, before we take some of our time to help you.

post a video on YouTube showing how you use FormSmarts on your website, blog, MySpace, etc.
post a video on YouTube about a specific FormSmarts feature
write a review on HotScripts
write a review on CGI Resource Index
write a review on Scripts.com
post a substantial comment about a FormSmarts demo video on YouTube

Posting a video gets you manual ownership verification and logo validation of all your websites. Please write at least two or three lines per review.

About Writing Reviews & Comments

We ask you to write reviews and comments that are useful to readers, not spam. If you're using FormSmarts, there must be reasons: talking about features you like about FormSmarts is probably a good start.

Form Fields Now Editable

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:29 GMT

The form builder now allows field modification. Click on the icon to edit a field.