How to Create a Contact Form in WordPress (Step by Step)

How to Easily Create a Contact Form in WordPress (Step by Step)

Are you looking to add a contact form to your WordPress website? Every business site needs a way for potential customers to get in touch. While you could just put your email address on your site, contact forms provide a better user experience and help you stay organized.

Fortunately, creating a contact form in WordPress is easy – you don‘t need to hire a developer or touch a line of code. With the right plugin, you can build a professional contact form in just a few clicks.

In this step-by-step guide, we‘ll show you how to create a WordPress contact form, configure the settings and notifications, and add it anywhere on your site. We‘ll also share some tips and best practices for designing high-converting contact forms.

But first, let‘s look at why using a contact form on your WordPress site is smart move.

The Benefits of Using a Contact Form in WordPress

Some website owners simply put their email address on their contact page and call it a day. However, there are several reasons why using a contact form plugin is a better approach:

• Convenience – A well-designed contact form makes it easy for users to reach out to you without leaving their browser. They don‘t need to open their email app or copy and paste your address.

• Organization – Contact form submissions go directly to your inbox with all the info you need. You can easily sort them into folders to stay organized. With a shared email address, messages can slip through the cracks.

• Spam Prevention – Putting your email address on your site is an invitation for spam bots to flood your inbox with junk. Contact forms add a layer of protection with reCAPTCHA and other spam-fighting features.

• Lead Capture – Want to grow your email list? You can add an opt-in checkbox to your contact form to get consent to send marketing emails to interested leads.

• Contextualized Messaging – With a contact form, you can customize the fields based on the page topic or intent. For example, you might add a "Product Interest" dropdown on a contact form on your product pages.

• Time Savings – Contact forms can suggest answers as the user types, provide links to relevant info, or even answer common questions via chatbot. This can reduce low-value inquiries to your team.

Now that you understand the power of contact forms, let‘s look at how to easily create one on your WordPress site.

Step 1: Choose the Best WordPress Contact Form Plugin

To create a contact form in WordPress, you‘ll need a form plugin. While there are dozens of free and premium options, we recommend WPForms. It‘s the most user-friendly contact form plugin and is active on over 5 million sites.

WPForms comes in a free lite version and a paid Pro version. The free plugin has everything you need to make a basic contact form, while the Pro version adds advanced features like multi-page forms, conditional logic, file uploads, user registration forms, and more.

For this tutorial, we‘ll use the WPForms Lite plugin. You can always upgrade later if you need more advanced functionality.

To install WPForms Lite:

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard
2. Go to Plugins > Add New
3. Search for "WPForms"
4. Click "Install Now"
5. Click "Activate"

Once activated, you‘ll see a new "WPForms" menu item in your WordPress sidebar.

Step 2: Create a New Contact Form

With the plugin installed, you‘re ready to build your first form. WPForms makes this incredibly easy with its drag-and-drop form builder.

To create a contact form:

1. Go to WPForms > Add New in your WordPress dashboard
2. Enter a name for your form and select the "Simple Contact Form" template
3. Customize the form fields as needed using the drag-and-drop builder
4. Click "Save"

Let‘s break this down further:

Choosing a Form Template

WPForms comes with over 100 pre-built templates for various use cases, from simple contact forms to event registrations, surveys, payment forms, and more.

For a basic contact form, the "Simple Contact Form" template is a great starting point. It includes fields for the user‘s name, email address, and message. You can easily add, remove, or rearrange fields as needed.

Using the Form Builder

The WPForms drag-and-drop builder makes customizing your form layout a breeze. To edit a field, simply click on it. You can change the label, set the field to required, add a default value, and more in the Field Options panel.

To rearrange fields, simply drag them up or down with your mouse. You can also add new fields by dragging them from the left-hand panel into your form.

Some of the most commonly used fields for contact forms include:

• Name (Single or First/Last)
• Email Address
• Message / Comment Box
• Dropdown (e.g. "Reason for Contact", "Product Interest", "Department", etc.)
• Website / URL (e.g. for link exchange requests, guest post submissions, etc.)
• Phone Number (if you prefer phone contact)
• File Upload (e.g. for attachments, resumes, screenshots, etc.)

With WPForms Pro, you can also add more advanced fields like datepickers, rating scales, signatures, and hidden fields to track referral source, user ID, etc.

Customizing the Submit Button

By default, the submit button will say "Submit". However, research shows that using more descriptive, action-oriented label like "Send Message" can boost conversions.

To customize the submit button:

1. Click on the Submit Button field in the form builder
2. Customize the button text in the Field Options panel
3. Optionally style the button color, alignment, and width

Review and Publish

Before publishing your form, preview it to make sure everything looks right. You can also test submitting the form to ensure the confirmation and notifications are working properly (more on those later).

When you‘re happy with your form, click Save.

Step 3: Configure Your Contact Form Settings

While the default WPForms settings will work for most contact forms, it‘s a good idea to review them and make any necessary changes. To access your form settings, click on the "Settings" tab in the form builder.

Some key settings to review include:

• Spam Prevention: WPForms adds a honeypot and CAPTCHA to your forms by default to stop spambots. However, you can add additional protection with Akismet or Google reCAPTCHA if needed (requires Pro addon).

• Form Submissions: Unless disabled, all form submissions are stored in your WordPress database. This allows you to view them in the backend even if the email notification fails. For GDPR compliance, you can disable storing entry info or enable the Form Locker (Pro) to automatically close the form after a set number of entries.

• Confirmation Type: By default, users who submit the form will see a generic "Thanks for contacting us! We will be in touch with you shortly" message. However, you can customize this message or redirect them to a thank you page.

• Form Notifications: By default, contact form submissions will be emailed to your WordPress admin email address. However, you can change the recipient(s), customize the email subject line, include the body of the form email, and enable additional email notifications if needed.

Step 4: Add Your Contact Form to Your Website

With your contact form built, you need to embed it on your site. The most common placement is on a dedicated "Contact" page in your main navigation. However, you can put contact forms in the sidebar, footer, or any other widget-ready area of your site.

To add the form to a page:

1. Edit or create a new page where you want the form to appear
2. Click the "+" button to add a new block
3. Search for "WPForms" and add the WPForms block
4. In the block settings, select your contact form from the dropdown
5. Publish or Update the page

Your contact form should now appear on the front-end of that page.

You can also use the WPForms widget to add your form to the sidebar or other widget areas. To do this:

1. Go to Appearance > Widgets
2. Add the WPForms widget to your chosen widget area
3. In the widget settings, select your contact form from the dropdown
4. Click "Save"

For more control over the form styling to match your theme, you can use the WPForms shortcode to embed the form directly in your page or post content. Simply copy the form shortcode from the WPForms > All Forms screen and paste it into the WordPress editor where you want the form to appear.

Step 5: Test and Refine Your Contact Form

With your contact form now live on your site, it‘s important to thoroughly test it to make sure it‘s working properly. Here‘s a quick testing checklist:

• Fill out and submit the form with test data
• Check that you received the email notification with the correct information
• Confirm that you see the entry in the WordPress backend under WPForms > Entries
• Test the form on different devices (desktop, tablet, mobile) and in different browsers
• Check the confirmation message or thank you page loads properly
• Verify the form submissions are not going to spam by checking your spam/junk folder

If everything is working, congratulations! You‘ve successfully created a contact form in WordPress.

Best Practices for Optimizing Contact Forms

Creating a contact form is easy with WPForms. However, there‘s more to an effective form than just putting some fields on a page. Here are some tips and best practices to consider:

1. Keep it Short – In general, shorter forms get more responses. Only ask for the information you really need. Every extra field lowers your conversion rate.

2. Use Placeholder Text – Placeholder text inside form fields provides an example of what the user should enter, reducing confusion.

3. Use Conditional Logic (Pro) – With conditional logic, you can show/hide fields based on the user‘s previous answers. This allows you to keep your form short while gathering important contextual info.

4. Leverage Field Validation – WPForms can automatically validate field entries before the form is submitted, ensuring you get properly formatted data (e.g. valid email address format).

5. Enable AJAX Form Submission – By default, contact forms will reload the page on submit. Enable AJAX to submit forms without reloading the page, creating a smoother user experience.

6. Customize the Submit Button – Generic submit buttons like "Submit" or "Send" have lower conversion rates than descriptive, action-oriented copy like "Send Message" or "Request Quote".

7. Confirm Success – After the user submits the form, display a confirmation message or redirect them to a thank you page. This reassures them their message was received.

8. Optimize for Mobile – With more than 50% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, it‘s crucial that your contact form looks and functions great on small screens. WPForms is responsive out of the box.

9. Integrate with Other Tools – Connecting your contact form to your email marketing service or CRM can help you manage leads more efficiently. WPForms integrates with over 2000+ popular services.

10. Troubleshoot Issues – If you‘re not receiving form submissions, double-check your "From Email" settings, check your spam folder, and ensure your host is not blocking form submissions. See WPForms‘ complete troubleshooting guide for more help.

Advanced Contact Form Ideas

A contact form doesn‘t have to be boring. With the right tools and creativity, you can build forms that engage visitors and generate more leads.

Here are some ideas:

• Multi-Step Forms – Break long forms into multiple steps to reduce friction and boost completions. Use WPForms‘ Smart Form Builder to easily create multi-step forms.

• Conversational Forms – Make your forms feel like a one-on-one conversation with WPForms‘ Conversational Forms addon. Great for quizzes and surveys.

• Conditional Logic – Show/hide fields based on previous answers to keep forms relevant and concise. For example, if a user chooses "Other" in a dropdown, show a text field asking them to specify.

• Abandoned Form Recovery – Not everyone who starts filling out your form will complete it. WPForms can capture partial entries so you can follow up and recover those lost leads.

• Polls and Surveys – Gather customer feedback by embedding polls and surveys on your site. WPForms makes it easy to create engaging, mobile-responsive surveys.

• Drip Content – Place contact forms throughout your content to capture leads in context. For example, add a "Download Now" form within a blog post discussing that resource.

Final Thoughts

Adding a contact form to your WordPress site is one of the best ways to engage visitors and capture leads. With WPForms, you can easily create professional forms without hiring a developer or messing with code.

The key is to keep your forms simple, user-friendly, and optimized for conversions. Use the tips and best practices outlined above as a starting point, then test and refine your forms over time.

Whether you‘re a small business, blogger, or non-profit, every website can benefit from a well-crafted contact form. So what are you waiting for? Get started with WPForms today and take your lead generation to the next level!