WordPress Form Plugins: Which One is Best for Your Site?
Contact forms are a great way to connect with your users, even if you already provide an email address or phone number on your site. They’re incredibly convenient because they allow customers to send you a message without opening up their email client, at any time of the day. We all know that communication is key, and by providing this super user-friendly means of communication, your customers are sure to get in touch with you, which will greatly benefit you as a WordPress site owner.
Before we dive into some of the most popular WordPress form plugins, let’s go over why contact forms are essential for your site.
Contact Forms can Improve Your Customer Service
Knowing your customers is very important when providing great service. With a contact form, because you can provide the desired form fields with field types of your choosing, you’ll learn more information about your customer, rather than just the email address their inquiry came from. If your form has fields where the user fills out their name, address, phone number, and any other information, thanks to that knowledge, you can follow up with the lead more effectively.
Knowing that, you can really use form fields to your advantage. We all know that waiting is not what customers like doing. Let’s say they are having a site issue and really need assistance – a prompt response is what they are seeking. A great way to initiate help could be a form dropdown that describes what issue they are facing. On the business side, this allows you to route the inquiry to whoever will best help the customer. Especially if you’re using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, the contact form data can usually be entered into the system, which saves time on the business end and improves customer relationships.
Contact Forms can Increase Security
Security and reliability are key when it comes to forms. In general, data submitted by a form is better encrypted than data in an email. There are exceptions to this rule, but forms are generally a pretty secure option.
Plus, we’ve all had important messages go to our spam folder, even though they weren’t spam. With forms, that frustrating experience can be avoided. A contact form solution helps ensure that you receive the message and that it won’t unintentionally end up in the spam folder.
Contact Forms can Keep Data Organized
Staying organized is key for any business. The nice thing about using a contact form is that you can choose which email address the form data gets sent to, and having all of that data in one place makes it much easier to monitor inquiries. Some people prefer to also use inquiries as an opportunity to analyze customer data. You can see patterns about which type of customer is inquiring, questions or concerns, or any feedback.
Form Plugins for WordPress
Now that we know how important forms are for customers, it’s important to know the capabilities of specific form plugins. All of the plugins below are great options for forms on your website. They offer both basic and advanced features, so it really just depends on what you need to accomplish with your form.
Contact Form 7
This is a very popular download; it’s one of the most downloaded plugins the WordPress Plugin Directory. In addition to being popular amongst users, it is also very well supported. To keep it short: it has all the basic features that are needed for a simple form.
Pros
Price and usage are a great selling point to Contact Form 7. It is a completely free plugin, making it a great alternative to some of the paid solutions. Plus, since there is no cost to use it, you’re free to install it on as many sites as you need. It’s a pretty basic plugin, but there are several third-party plugins that act as add-ons for Contact Form 7. A good portion of those are also free.
When looking for a third-party add-on, it might be difficult to know what you need and the options that are available. For starters, check out this round-up.
Cons
My only complaint is that it was a little difficult to set up. At that time, I had not worked with forms much, but once you set it up once, you will feel much more confident with it. Additionally, support can be somewhat limited (since it is a free plugin), but it’s generally pretty well supported.
WPForms
If you’re new to WordPress or new to forms in general, WPForms is very beginner friendly. It is both easy to use and powerful, so it’s a fantastic solution to consider.
Pros
Ease of use is apparent in the drag and drop form editor. With simple building, you’ll be up and running with a functional form in no time. If you’re looking for a basic form without many bells and whistles, WPForms Lite will be perfect for you. It’s available for free and can be installed on as many sites as you’d like.
If you need more than just the basics, there is a premium version that gives you the ability to add functionality for email subscriptions, payments, order forms, and more.
If you’re looking for something easy to use, it’s worth checking out QPForms. In my opinion, they do a great job with documentation, so if you get stuck, you are likely to find an answer to your question.
Cons
If you need more options than the lite version provides, there is a cost associated with the Pro version with the powerful features. Other than that, no real cons!
Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is a paid contact form plugin that has a lot of options and a lot of functionality. I can also say from experience that their service is really prompt and very helpful.
Pros
Gravity Forms is a plugin that can help with a lot of additional tasks besides being a great contact form solution. It’s hard to list everything this plugin can do, but surveys, quizzes, and user submitted content are some of the most widely know.
Support is great and they have lots of good resources to reference if you get stuck, so if something goes wrong, you will get your questions answered and be back up and running in no time. With a drag and drop component, this tool is easy to use and configure, making it very easy to do basic things. There are also a lot of add-ons that can be used to connect to CRM systems, email clients, send notifications, and more.
Cons
There is not a free option with this tool. If a basic form is all you need, one of the other plugins is probably a better choice.
Ninja Forms
You’ll be a form Ninja in no time with Ninja Forms. This plugin is easy to use and allows you to create forms with a simple drag and drop.
Pros
For the basic features, there is no need to spend money. The basic version is available for free, and can be installed on as many sites as you need. If you’re looking for an easy way to connect with email solutions, CRM, and send notifications, this is a great option. The community is also very supportive, so you are sure to find what you need if any issues arise.
Cons
Even though the basic version is free, costs can add up quick with all the extensions. In other words, if you need a lot of extensions, you might want to consider a different option.
Formidable Pro
This well-liked solution allows you to create forms with ease. With Formidable Pro, you can quickly create beautiful contact forms with the intuitive visual styler.
Pros
You can get up and running quickly with this builder and it is free for basic use. If you need more advanced functionality, you can integrate with email tools, Twilio, MailChimp, Basecamp, and many other tools that you might regularly use. There are many add-ons that come with the standard and unlimited plans.
Cons
Like the other forms that offer both a free and paid solution, there is the risk of paying for extra features that you may not actually need. Knowing which features are vital for your site is necessary to ensure you choose the right plugin solution.
Bonus: Hubspot
This great marketing integration is exactly the kind of plugin you need in order to grow your business!
Pros
The Hubspot form builder is a simple, streamlined tool for creating and implementing forms and capturing leads on your WordPress site. No matter what form plugin you use, you can capture all your leads and automatically add them into your contact database.
Cons
While this integration seems great, you do need a HubSpot account in order to connect the two and launch your forms live on your website.
Forms are an important addition to any business website, but the most important consideration is the user who will be interacting with them. By thinking about your user, you’ll find the solution that is best for you.
What contact form plugins have you tried? Which ones are your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
