Description
Online forms enable businesses to create a standard form where other people can enter their details (saves on data entry via phone calls) at any time of the day and from anywhere. The data is captured in a database and can be acted on via a group message (like a mail merge) or by a customer service or sales agent making contact to follow-up.
Microsoft Forms is included in most versions of Microsoft Office.
Uses for Microsoft Online Forms
Online forms are used for almost anything where you need to collect someone’s details. According to Microsoft the popular, trending uses include:
- Employee satisfaction surveys
- Office facility request form
- Community volunteer registration form
- Competitive analysis study
- Attendee confirmation survey
- Post-event feedback form
The beauty of online forms is the ability to have customers or staff enter their details and choose the options they want no matter where they are or the time of the day.
Embedded or via an Email Link
These forms can be emailed as a link or embedded into a website or social media page to make them easy to access. An email link is easy to create with a couple of clicks but embedding the form into a website takes a little more effort.
To embed the form into a website you need to have admin and publishing access to your website (we offer WordPress training courses to help with that). The benefit of this is that you can direct more people to your website and increase website traffic and conversions.
One of the biggest goals for a business website is to convert anonymous website visitors into real people and the best way is by using an online form. In our Selling Your Property real estate agent case study a form is used to capture leads from vendors who are interested in selling their property.
Data Entry and Database Building
Once the data is entered into the form and submitted several things can happen:
- A thank you message is displayed (or you can be redirected to a confirmation page)
- An email confirmation message can be sent to the customer
- A notification is sent to the form administrator and collaborators
- A database of contacts and information is gathered
The most important thing about your online Microsoft Form is that you build a database that you can use to take action on. Depending on the purpose of the form your actions will be different.
In our real estate agent case study the Microsoft Form is used to convert website traffic into leads that are then contacted by the sales agent.
Actions after a form details are submitted
Once the details in a form are submitted the real work begins. It’s the starting point for a chain of events that has a pre defined purpose and below are some of the important actions that happen as a direct result.
- An email confirmation reassures the customer that their details have been received
- Respondents know that they can reply to that email address if they want to follow-up
- A dedicated thank you page can be used to display important information, contact details or the next steps for the person to take
- A dedicated thank you/confirmation page can be an important website traffic analytics metric for the marketing department
- A text message can be sent to the customer to confirm they actually submitted their details
- The customer details can be placed into a CRM ready for a sales or customer service person to make contact
