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SharpSpring Forms Overview

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Taylor Glass
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Lead generation relies on forms. With so many forms out there, it is important that your forms stand out. You can build, customize, and reorder fields with SharpSpring's drag-and-drop form editor. This article will detail how to create a SharpSpring form.

Important: As forms establish tracking, it is considered best practice to include the GDPR Consent field to be in compliance with The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The following user roles can create and manage SharpSpring forms:

  • Administrators
  • Marketing Managers


Article Contents


Creating SharpSpring Forms

To create a SharpSpring form, do the following:

  1. In SharpSpring's top toolbar, click
    New > Form. 
  2. In the modal window that appears, enter a name for the form.
  3. Select SharpSpring Form.
  4. Choose the appropriate lead status to assign to leads that fill out this form. 
  5. Click Continue. 
  


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Editing SharpSpring Forms

To edit an existing form, do the following:

  1. In SharpSpring's top toolbar, click
    Content > Forms.
  2. In the left panel, click
    cog.png  Options > Manage Forms.
  3. Locate the desired form.
  4. Next to the form's Last Active entry, click
    cog.png  Options > Edit Form.
  5. Edit the form as necessary.
  6. Click Save Changes.
  


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Adding Form Fields: The Fields Tab

The Fields tab contains the options necessary in inserting, modifying, and customizing form fields.

You must have at least one field before you can save a form. To add fields to your SharpSpring form, do the following:

  1. In a SharpSpring form, click  
    cog.png  Options > Edit Form.
  2. Click the Fields tab.
  3. Click the Fields drop-down menu.
  4. Select applicable fields to include in your form.
  5. Click the Elements drop-down menu.
  6. Select appropriate elements to add to your form.
  7. Click the Referral Fields drop-down menu.
  8. Add appropriate referral fields to your form, if necessary. 
  9. Click the Special Fields drop-down menu.
  10. Add appropriate Persona and GDPR Consent fields.
  11. Rearrange fields as needed.
  12. Optionally, click the Ask How Did You Hear About Us checkbox.
  13. Click Save Changes. 
  


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Important: An email address is required for SharpSpring to be able to gather form data.
Note: The first time you save a form, an embed code modal window will appear. To continue editing the form, click Close.

 


Rearranging Fields

At any time during the form creation process, you can rearrange or otherwise modify the fields inserted into the form. Hovering over a field will display the following three icons:

compass.png Reorder:   Drag-and-drops fields to reorder their placement in the form.
xgongiveittoya.png Delete:   Removes the field from the form.
caret.png Options:   Additional options, including hidden specification, default value, and lead type.


Fields Best Practices

When adding fields to SharpSpring forms, it is important to keep the following in mind:

  • Forms should contain a maximum of four or five fields. Listing more fields is usually too much, as too many fields bloat the form in both style and substance.

  • You can choose for some fields to Always Show or only show if a lead has not filled out that field before. 

  • Check the Autofill Data toggle to have associated fields auto-populate with a visitor's information if they have already filled out that field.

  • Click on the Create Custom Fields link to better customize and specialize forms. 

  • When using referral fields, be aware that the fields do not establish tracking. Referral fields do create a second contact record for that referral.  When using referral fields, send an email to that referral stating that they were referred. This  encourages the referred visitor to visit your website and/or fill out a form to establish tracking.

  • When using the How Did You Hear About Us feature, the option will add a field at the end of the form where your visitor can add themselves to a campaign in SharpSpring. This feature is available just in case one of your current campaigns did not catch them.

  • You can integrate SharpSpring forms with both WebEx and GoToWebinar. This allows you to add events or webinars as form fields. This way, when visitors fill out your form, they are also registered in WebEx or GoToWebinar. 


Editing Form Metadata: The General Tab

The General tab contains options to edit metadata and other important pieces of form information. To modify a form's metadata, do the following:

  1. In a SharpSpring form, click  
    cog.png  Options > Edit Form.
  2. Click the General tab.
  3. Change the form name in the Form Information section.
  4. Adjust the following settings in the Thank You Page section:

    Thank You
    Page URL    :    		   Insert the desired URL that you want the form to redirect to upon submission. This page is typically hosted on your website or a landing page and usually says "Thanks for filling out our form." The page redirects the user to your website. By default, SharpSpring will automatically display a generic Thank You page for anyone who fills out the form if the Thank You Page URL field is left blank.
    Submit Data
    to My "Thank
    You" Page:    		   This setting will generate a postback URL to the Thank you Page designated for the form. This postback URL will allow for a developer with code knowledge to implement code that can utilize the form data from the postback URL accordingly.
    Show "Thank
    You" Page
    within iFrame:    		   Choose for the Thank You page to open in a new page, or in an iFrame on the same webpage.
    Use Custom
    "Thank You"
    Page:    		   Click  pencil.png  Edit to modify the HTML for the default Thank You page. This allows you to still utilize the basic Thank You page while modifying it to your liking if you choose to not insert a Thank You page URL.
  5. Adjust the following settings in the Form Data section:

    Lead
    Status:    		   Give visitors who fill out this form a lead status.
    Double
    Opt-In:    		 Clicking this checkbox enables the double opt-in feature. This feature sends a confirmation email to those who fill out this form, allowing them to explicitly opt-in to receiving emails. 
    Postback
    URL:    		 Enter a Postback URL if you have a third-party service you want SharpSpring to post the form data to.  
  6. Toggle the switch in the Invisible reCAPTCHA section to add security protection to your form.
  7. In the Settings section, choose one of the following Form Language options:

    •   English
    •   Spanish
    •   French
    •   Italian
    •   German    		 •   Dutch
    •   Portuguese
    •   Romanian
    •   Turkish
    •   Slovak 
  8. Click Save Changes. 
  


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Note: Google's invisible reCAPTCHA tool protects your forms from spam and other types of automated abuse. This happens behind the scenes without requiring a user to click a checkbox. Only the most suspicious traffic will be prompted to solve a captcha.


Editing CSS: The Styles Tab

The Styles tab contains a list of options pertaining to using CSS stylesheets and buttons with a form. To modify Styles settings, do the following:

  1. In a SharpSpring form, click  
    cog.png  Options > Edit Form.
  2. Click the Styles tab.
  3. In the Form CSS section, do one of the following:

    External
    CSS URL:    		   Paste a CSS URL. This is necessary only if you have a stylesheet that is already associated with your site and want the form to have the same look and feel. 
    Current
    Stylesheets:    		   Create, edit, and delete stylesheets. 
  4. In the Submit Button Style section, do one of the following:

    Create
    New Button:    		   Create a custom Submit button.  
    Existing
    Buttons:    		   Choose from any of the existing default buttons.
    Click  pencil.png  Edit to modify the button, or  close.png  Delete to remove the button from the list of choices. 
  5. Click Save Changes.
  


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Creating Stylesheets

To create a stylesheet and apply it to the form, do the following:

  1. Click Add Stylesheet.
  2. In the window that appears, name the stylesheet.
  3. Edit the stylesheet as necessary.
  4. Click Save Stylesheet.
  5. Select the created stylesheet radio button. 
  


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Editing Stylesheets

To edit existing stylesheets, do the following:

  1. Hover over an existing stylesheet.
  2. Click  pencil.png  Edit.
  3. Edit the stylesheet as necessary.
  4. Click Save Stylesheet.
  


Click to enlarge.


Deleting Stylesheets

To delete stylesheets, do the following:

  1. Hover over a stylesheet.
  2. Click  close.png  Delete.
  3. In the modal window that appears, click Delete.
  


Click to enlarge.

Stylesheets cannot be deleted if they are associated with a form. The associated form does not need to be the form you are currently creating or editing. 
 


Native and Third-Party Forms

In addition to SharpSpring forms, SharpSpring also allows you to create two other types of forms: native or third-party. For information on the processes involved in creating these forms, refer to Connecting Native and Third-Party Forms.


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