How to Use QR Codes to Deliver Online Forms to Mobile Users

As more users are accessing online forms through a mobile device, we’ve added two ways to share a form with mobile users. Each form now comes with it own QR code and short URL, to be found in the Form Publishing Options screen of the form creator. We’ve also made it easier to embed a form on Facebook.

Why Mobile Users Are Important

  • Users are increasingly accessing online forms on the go through their iPhone, smartphone, iPad or other tablet. Recent figures from market research firm IDC suggest that by 2015 more US users will access the Internet through mobile devices than through traditional PCs.
  • Online form publishers can and should take advantage of the QR code scanning functionality available on mobile devices to bridge the gap between offline and online content. A QR code is a type of two-dimensional (2D) barcode popular in the mobile industry and for which free scanning apps are readily available for (if not built in) most mobile platforms. By printing the QR code provided by the form builder on ads, posters, fliers, and any paper form or document (mobile tagging), you’re allowing mobile users to access an online form without typing, simply by scanning its QR code with their phone. Avoiding typing is a convenience for users, and it also eliminates the risk of errors when entering the URL.

Share a mobile form with its QR Code

QR Code vs. Short URL

For those cases where distributing a QR code is not practicable and for mobile users who haven’t yet installed a QR code scanner on their phone or don’t know how to use it, we’ve also made all online forms accessible via a short URL such as https://f8s.co/7kb. If this doesn’t fully eliminate typing, it at least makes typing a form URL a less frustrating experience and shows mobile users you do care. And again, it reduces the risk of making an error when typing the URL.

Posted on Oct 3, 2011 in form builder.
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One Response to “How to Use QR Codes to Deliver Online Forms to Mobile Users”

The button circled in the screenshot above doesn’t show up on iPad and iPad 2. As a result, the Form Publishing Info screen is not accessible on those devices. We will fix this ASAP.

FormSmarts Posted by: FormSmarts | Oct 16th, 2011 3:21 pm

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About the Form Builder Blog

The Online Form Builder Blog is published by FormSmarts, a web form service providing all you need to create a form and publish it online in minutes. FormSmarts makes it easy to build a form and embed it on your site. You can then get form submissions by email or store them on FormSmarts and download an Excel report. Learn more about the many other benefits of FormSmarts.

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