==== Originally published on the IT Arsenal Newsletter ====
Hey!
This month, we’re going to cover creating unique forms for your website to cut down on your e-mail, save you time, and streamline your business…in other words, eliminate a bunch of unnecessary manual labor.
Software and easy to follow instructions are included in this e-mail.
We’ll be using Gravity Forms, which is one of the $40 value freebies you get for signing up to receive these monthly e-mails and being my client or user, so you should have that in your business files, if not, here’s the free download and most recent version. [the concepts apply to most other form software too]
Okay, onto the time saving, streamlining, intake form goodness for your website.
First, why have intake forms? What are they? Who cares?
Honestly it’s just a form, which purpose is to act as a bit of a pre-qualifier or work flow funnel for your business.
Here’s why you’re wasting time if you don’t have one [or many] -> The more you can cut through the junk out there, ask standard questions you always ask, get information you always need and put prospects into “action buckets” before you actually have to have any interaction with them, the faster you’ll be able to do business, scale, and ultimately increase profits.
If you’re in a service business, it’s pretty much the only way you can scale without hiring people and I’d argue, they are essential. If you sell digital products or memberships, you’ll still find value in using forms for the sales process, funneling support questions, and feedback.
If you get e-mails that start with, do you do X, and what’s your rate? I’d implore you to put a few of these in place pronto for a big productivity boost.
Use cases: Contact forms, the checkout process, new client/user questionnaire, scheduling communication, autoresponders, product development, etc.
How to video
This video is roughly 10 minutes long, and will walk you through the process using Gravity Forms and a WordPress website, even if you just would like to get a handle on how Gravity Forms or embedding forms on your site works in general, you’ll find this incredibly helpful.
Steps
- Create form
- Place form on website
- Create response e-mail
- Integrate into applicable business processes
- put on contact page
- put in sales process
- put in feedback process
- add link to form page for clients/users who buy from you to ask pertinent questions
- add link to form page in a newsletter e-mail
- create email filters for response e-mails
If you find these tasks daunting and need someone to just set them up, check out the link below.
I sincerely hope this e-mail was useful, and want to know about it if it wasn’t, just hit reply!
-r
