Form Setup
To create a form, simply navigate to the Forms icon (located off the Settings Tab). From the Manage Forms screen choose the link named "Add Form."
You will now give your form a distinctive name. Giving the form a name will take you to the form edit screen. The most essential aspect of form creation is choosing the fields that are appropriate to the type of information you wish to collect. You may also choose the add descriptive text option so that you may describe/clarify the purpose of a form field before the prospect enters data. To add fields to your form, click on the "Attach More Fields" link located directly below the Form Fields box. From this list you may choose any of the general fields that were automatically created within your account as well as any custom fields you have designed along the way. Note that if you need to create fields in the process of constructing your form you may do so by choosing the "Add New Field" box located at the bottom of the menu that results when you click the "Attach More Fields" link. Once you have added all the fields you need you may preview the look of your for by clicking on the "Preview Form" link located directly below the Form Detail header.
I. Customizing Your Form
Under the "Form Detail" header you will see a number of rows with custom options for your form. What follows is a brief description of each row.
Name
Clicking on this row allows you the chance to change the name of your form at any time. Description
This option allows you to describe the basic purpose of your form. It can be a valuable reminder to others and yourself as to when the form should be used and for what purpose.
Style
Choosing a custom stylegives you the ability to give your form the design and feel of your own website. Please see the entry for Managing Styles for more information on creating a style.
Redirect To
If you wish to place your form on your company website this feature can be useful. A redirect page will take the prospect who fills out your form to a page of your choice. This can be either another website or a landing page created by your website designer. Landing page are typically used to thank prospects for filling out the form or providing them other useful information about your product/service. NOTE: Redirect does not work if you are using the iFrame option for deploying your form. You must use the hosted version with a custom style or use the Form Source (HTML) version of the form in order for this feature to function.
If you elect to leave this blank, the redirect is to a generic Open Leads thank you page.
Apply Workflow
You have the option of attaching a created workflow directly to your form. This means that whenever a prospect fills out your form a workflow will be automatically applied to the lead. This is useful in starting the sales process because a workflow allows you the ability organize and manage the process.
Private
Making a form private means that the URL generated by creation of your form cannot be used to access your form from outside of your account. This option is set to No by default.
Auto Group Incoming Leads
This feature, when set to yes, performs an automatic grouping of leads when they match on email address. This is useful to serve as a potential duplicate finder, and to capture multiple points of contact from the same person. When enabled, and a match on email address is found, the first lead chronologically is made the Primary Lead, and any subsequent matches are labeled as secondary leads. This option is set to no by default.
Lead Tracking
This is an interactive feature that allows a lead the ability to see the progress of the sales process. If the lead fills out a valid email address within your form they will receive a clickable link by email upon form submission. This link allows the prospect to track their status, and see the individual who as been assigned to their inquiry.
From your perspective you have the ability to make comments within this lead's history section, located in their lead detail screen. You also have the option of posting either public or private comments about your interactions with this lead. Public comments can be seen by the lead by clicking on their tracking link. However, they will not be able to see comments marked private.
Captcha
Clicking yes on this option requires form respondents to successfully enter an alphanumeric code presented to them at the bottom of form before being able to successfully submit the form. This option is helpful in ensuring that real people are filling out your form. Use discretion in enacting this feature as a part of your form.
II. Using Your Form
Once you have successfully created and customized your form it comes time to decide how you wish to apply it. You have three distinct options:
Link Form to Your Website
Whenever you create a form within Open, you will automatically generate a custom HTML link. This link will be present in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. Copying and Pasting this link into a web browser will present you with the form you just created. In this instance your form is being hosted on Open's server. From a programming standpoint, if you wish to include your form on the company website, the link must be written into your source code website designer. If you simply wish to provide a link to your form to interested prospects you need only provide the custom HTML link to them. Once they have that, they can fill out the form and the results will automatically be written into your Open Leads account.
Embed your Form
To integrate your form into your website you may choose this option. Whenever you create a form distinct Iframe code is generated. This code can be copied and pasted into your existing website code. The IFrame's parameters may also be adjusted to mesh with the look of your website. If you wish to use this option you may need to enlist the assistance of your website designer. All they will need is the IFrame generated within and displayed at the bottom of the form edit screen.
Form Source
Web designers also have the option of getting the entire form source code for the purpose of hosting the form on their website. To access the entire form source click the link at the bottom right of the screen named "View Form Source"
It should also be mentioned that once you have created your form within Open you may also use the form internally to fill out lead information if you so choose. The easiest way to use the form internally is to navigate to the lead list screen(off the leads tab), choose "Add Lead", and then select the appropriate form from the resulting drop menu. This is useful because you can enter data for all your fields from just one screen.