Are you looking for an online form builder to create online forms for your business? Choosing the right software for your needs is crucial but the amount of solutions on offer can be overwhelming. Once you look closer though, the tools on offer provide very different features, ranging from very basic to more advanced. To help you compare online form software, we’ve put together a list of things to look out for so you can find the right tool for your needs.

Assess your needs

  1. Do you want to retain the look of your existing paper forms? Check out the design capabilities of the form software you’re evaluating.  Will it let you easily format your form exactly the way you want? Will you be able to use tables, images, shapes?
  2. Do your forms have sections that only certain users need to fill in? Make it easier for your user to fill in your form by choosing a tool with dynamic paging and/or conditional display logic, so that only the pages or fields relevant to the user are displayed.
  3. Do you need your users to attach files with their submission? (such as proof of ID, photos, references…) You’ll need to make sure the form software you choose allows for attachments.
  4. Do you need your users to sign your forms? Look for a tool that lets you insert Signature fields in your form so your users can sign electronically.
  5. Do you need to collect complete form data that is error-free? Add forced-error checking on a page-by-page or form-by-form basis. Users will have to fix errors before they could proceed to the next page or submit the form.

Once you’ve assessed what you need to transform your current forms into online forms, the next step is to consider whether your current paper forms could be optimised to fully harness the power of online forms.

Optimise your online forms

  1. Do you have information on the form that could be customised based on your user’s answers? Using a Dynamic text feature could make the form more legible for the user, or save them time by pre-filling certain fields based on their answers.
  2. What do you do with the data from your filled-in forms? Are there any calculations that could be applied on the user’s answers to save you time? You could save a lot of time by choosing a tool that lets you apply calculations on the data provided by the user.
  3. Do some of your user’s answers need to be in a very specific format? Look for a tool that lets you set validation rules on fields so that your users can’t submit incorrect data.
  4. Do you want to provide your users help as they fill out the form? Add help pop-ups that will display beside any fields within your form pages.
  5. Think about what you would like to do with the responses to your form. How long do you need to store them for? Do you need them in a print-friendly format?

The right tool will not only allow you to easily turn your existing paper forms into online forms, but it will also allow your business to harness the full power of online forms. If you answered Yes to at least one of the questions above, make sure you try out VF Creator as it provides all the previously mentioned features including a whole lot more.