Are you looking for a way to add a QR code for Stripe payments on your WordPress website?
QR codes, or Quick Response Codes, are a type of barcode that users can scan using their mobile phones. You can show a Stripe payment form using QR codes and help customers easily purchase a product or service.
In this article, we will show you how to add Stripe QR code payment in WordPress.
Why Add Stripe QR Code Payment in WordPress?
Stripe is a popular payment gateway that lets you accept online payments on your WordPress site or eCommerce store. It makes it very easy for customers to pay using their credit cards.
The best part is that customers don’t have to go through a lengthy signup process. They can simply enter their credit card on the website to make a purchase.
Adding Stripe QR code payments to your site gives customers the flexibility to complete a purchase quickly. Customers can simply scan the code to open the payment link.
This makes the checkout process very simple and fast. It helps people to easily buy a product and service on your online store. As a result, you’ll see a boost in conversions and reduced cart abandonments.
That said, let’s look at how you can add a Stripe QR code payment to your WordPress website.
Create a Stripe Payment Form in WordPress
First, you’ll need to add a Stripe payment form on your website to accept online payments from customers.
The best way to do that is using WPForms. It is the best contact form plugin for WordPress that’s super easy to use and easily integrates with Stripe. There are many form templates to choose from, and you can customize them using the drag-and-drop builder.
For this tutorial, you’ll need the WPForms Pro license because it includes the Stripe addon. There’s also a WPForms Lite version that you can use for free. It allows you to accept Stripe payments, but there’s a 3% transaction fee for payments made through your forms.
To start, you’ll need to download and install the WPForms plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you can go to WPForms » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and enter the license key. You can find the key in your account area on the WPForms website.
Simply enter the key and click the ‘Verify Key’ button.
Once that’s done, you’ll need to go to the WPForms » Addons page and install the Stripe addon.
Go ahead and click the ‘Install Addon’ button, and WPForms will automatically install and activate it.
From here, you can head to WPForms » Settings from the WordPress admin panel and go to the ‘ Payments’ tab.
Next, simply click the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button and follow the onscreen instructions to connect your account with WPForms.
Once Stripe is connected, you can go to WPForms » Add New to create a new form.
WPForms offers lots of form templates to choose from. You can select a simple contact form, an order form, or a Stripe payment form and customize it.
For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Stripe Payment Form’ template.
Next, you can customize your form using the drag-and-drop form builder. By default, you’ll see different form fields in the template.
However, WPForms lets you add more form fields to the template, like a dropdown, checkboxes, email, phone, address, website, and more.
You can also click any form field on the template to customize it further.
For instance, we changed the text for each item on your demo form and enabled the option to show prices after the item label.
Once you’re done editing the form, simply switch to the ‘Payments’ tab and select ‘Stripe’ from the menu on the left.
From here, ensure the ‘Enable Stripe payments’ option is enabled.
Next, you can switch to the Settings tab. Here, you’ll see options to change the notification and confirmation settings.
For instance, you can select what action should take place once a user submits a form. WPForms lets you show a message or a page or even redirect users to a URL.
You’re now ready to display your Stripe payment form on your website.
Simply click the ‘Save’ button to store your changes and then click the ‘Embed’ button at the top.
Next, WPForms will show a popup where you can choose an existing page or create a new one to embed your form.
We will choose the ‘Select Existing Page’ option for this tutorial.
Next, you’ll need to enter a name for your new page.
Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Let’s Go’ button.
You can go ahead and publish the page and visit the website to see it in action.
Now go ahead and copy the link of your payment form page, as you’ll need it to create a QR code.
Alternative Method: You can also create a Stripe payment form using WP Simple Pay. It is the best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress and helps you collect online payments without setting up a shopping cart.
WP Simple Pay is a more straightforward option compared to WPForms. It is perfect if you’re just looking to create a basic form to accept credit card payments.
However, if you’re looking for more customization options and form templates, then we recommend using WPForms.
Now that your Stripe payment form is ready, you can create a QR code for it and display it anywhere on your site.
There are 2 ways you can add a QR code to your site. You can use the Google Chrome browser’s feature or use a WordPress plugin.
1. Create QR Codes using Google Chrome
If you’re using the Google Chrome browser, then you can use it to share a webpage via a QR code.
First, you’ll need to open the Stripe payment form page in a new tab or window.
Next, you can click the share icon in the top right corner of the site address bar. From here, simply select the ‘Create QR Code’ option.
After that, Google Chrome will generate a QR code for your Stripe payment form page.
You can go ahead and download the QR code as an image.
Next, simply place the image anywhere on your site.
For example, you can show the QR code on product pages, so customers can quickly scan them and open the form to make a purchase.
2. Create a Stripe Payment QR Code using a WordPress Plugin
You can also add QR codes to your site using a WordPress plugin like Shortcodes Ultimate. It is a free plugin that lets you create over 50 different types of shortcodes, including QR codes.
Upon activation, you will see the Shortcode Ultimate welcome screen.
Next, you’ll need to edit a page or post to add your QR code.
Once you’re in the content editor, simply add a shortcode block.
After that, you should see an ‘Insert shortcode’ option.
You can simply click the double brackets icon to add your QR code.
Next, the plugin will display different shortcode options for your site.
Go ahead and select the ‘QR Code’ option.
After that, you’ll see options to enter details for your QR code.
In the Data field, you can enter the URL of your Stripe payment form that you created earlier.
Besides that, there is an option to enter a title for the code, which acts as an alt-text. You can also adjust the size of your QR code.
If you scroll down, then you’ll see more options to customize your QR code. For instance, you can change the primary color, background color, and more.
Once you’re done, simply click the ‘Insert shortcode’ button.
The plugin also lets you see a live preview of the code on your blog post or landing page.
Go ahead and publish your page to see the Stripe payment form QR code in action.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking for the best WPForms alternatives?
WPForms is the powerful drag and drop WordPress forms plugin out there. It lets you quickly create contact forms, payment forms, surveys, and more without any coding at all. However, there are a lot of other forms plugins out there, and we want to help you find the one that works best for your site.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the best alternatives to WPForms.
Is There a Free Alternative to WPForms?
Yes, there’s a free version of WPForms! WPForms Lite gives you the most important features you need to get started with creating forms.
With WPForms Lite, you can access ready-made templates and create unlimited forms right in the form builder.
That said, let’s look at the best WPForms Pro alternatives.Â
We do think that WPForms is the best form builder available, and if you’re not ready to purchase a license just yet, we suggest that you give WPForms Lite a shot.
It is the best alternative WordPress form plugin to WPForms Pro and offers plenty of features for free. With over 6 million professionals using the product on their websites, it’s one of the most popular plugins available.
You can use WPForms Lite to:
Build unlimited forms without writing a single line of code
Get unlimited responses
Protect your forms against spam
Receive entry notifications by mail
Create payment and subscription forms with Stripe integration
Building forms only takes a few minutes, too. WPForms Lite lets you build many types quickly with its user-friendly drag and drop interface.
Simply choose your template and drag any field you want from left to right.
The Lite version alone has plenty of field options, including multiple choice, dropdown, reCAPTCHA, payment fields, and a GDPR agreement.
Also, with the free version, you can email users when forms are completed for confirmation or direct them to the next steps.
WPForms Lite can connect with Constant Contact for lead generation, too. Once users submit their information through a newsletter form, the new contact will be added to your email list. Newsletter signup and user registration forms are a powerful way to get more leads from your WordPress site.
You will want to use WPForms Pro to connect with other email marketing services like Mailchimp, GetResponse, AWeber, Drip, and others.
WPForms Lite also easily integrates popular page builders SeedProd and Divi so that you can create and embed contact forms without complex shortcodes.
But what if you want to connect your forms to a service that doesn’t have an addon? WPForms Lite connects with Uncanny Automator, which allows you to send WPForms submissions to other plugins and services.
Unlike most free plugins which lack proper customer support, WPForms Lite provides support in the WordPress.org forums, and you can expect a typical response time of 1 to 3 business days.
If you’re a Pro member, you get help even faster since you can open a support ticket and expect a response within 1 business day.
While it’s missing some advanced features like conditional logic and multi-page forms, WPForms Lite is the perfect tool for freelancers, creatives, or other business owners who only need simple forms.
Pricing: WPForms Lite is completely free to use. If you want to upgrade to the Pro version, WPBeginner users can enjoy an exclusive 50% OFF discount on all plans by using our WPForms coupon.
Formidable Forms is an advanced WordPress form builder and a great alternative to WPForms if you’re looking to create complex forms.
WPForms and Formidable Forms share many similarities. For instance, both have user-friendly drop form builders to create forms.
That said, Formidable Forms tends to favor developers and brands requiring complex forms with advanced functionality, while WPForms specializes in powerful forms that are easy to design and embed.
Formidable Forms lets you create calculation forms, which is very useful for businesses like real estate or finance businesses.
You also get unique templates like car payment, paycheck, and mortgage calculations (along with many others), making Formidable Forms really stand out.
Besides that, you can turn your form results into user-generated content. They create eye-catching reports, graphs, and charts using form submission data. The plugin can also export the data into many different formats, such as proposals, invoices, certifications, and more.
Pricing: Formidable form plans start at $39.50 per year. However, you can also use the free version of the plugin as an alternative to WPForms.
WP Simple Pay is a plugin that makes creating and accepting payment forms on your WordPress site super easy.
Your forms can capture one-time payments or recurring subscriptions to fit your needs. This is perfect for business owners, freelancers, and agency owners who want to accept payments on their site without the fuss of creating an online store.
With WP Simple Pay, you can accept over 10 different payment methods, including credit or debit cards, ACH, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and other payment methods. This is more than just any other payment form builder, including WPForms.
If you need to take payments or donations on your site, then WP Simple Pay is a great alternative to using WPForms payment forms.
Pricing: Pricing plans start at $49.50 per year, giving you access to unlimited payment forms and no monthly fees. Higher plans offer features like Buy Now, Pay Later installment plans, and dedicated landing pages to help boost conversions.
WP Charitable is the best plugin for building non-profit donation forms and fundraising campaigns.
Collecting and managing donations in WordPress can be difficult since most donation and fundraising plugins are either too pricey or too limited. Expensive platform fees can quickly add up and eat into your fundraising efforts.
If you’re building donation forms, WP Charitable is the best choice. Since the platform doesn’t charge transaction fees, you can be assured that your donors’ generous donations won’t be taxed on your website.
With WP Charitable, you can create unlimited fundraising campaigns and set goals for each cause.
The free version of WP Charitable supports PayPal donations and offline payments. With the paid plans, you can add other payment gateways like Authorize.net and Stripe.
Pricing: Plans start at $99 per year with access to unlimited campaigns and donors. With higher plans, you will get addons such as recurring donations, peer-to-peer fundraising and crowdfunding, and newsletter software integration.
Typeform is a popular form builder that allows you to create forms, applications, quizzes, and even surveys or polls.
Like WPForms, there’s no coding involved. There are over 120+ integration options, and everything from logos to videos can be edited in the Typeform software, so you can build an appealing form.
You can also choose from 100+ templates based on different industries and use cases, including ecommerce sites, medical institutions, and more.
That said, Typeform does have some drawbacks. The biggest downside is the cost. The Basic plan starts from $25 per month to create unlimited forms. That’s something WPForms Lite can do for absolutely free.
There’s also a cap on how many monthly responses you can receive based on the type of plan you choose. The Basic plan only captures a mere 100 responses, which isn’t enough for most small businesses.
Plus, the most expensive plans run $996 USD per year, which drives up the cost of running a website by a lot.
Also, it’s a SaaS (software as a service) tool, meaning it stores data onto external services. This can be a security threat since you’ll be leaving your customer’s personal data in someone else’s hands.
Pricing: Typeform’s Basic plan starts at $300 per year with a small limit of 100 responses. The most advanced plan costs $996 per year and gives you extra features like conversion tracking, custom branding, and priority support.
HubSpot Form Builder allows you to create simple contact forms. It is a great alternative to WPForms if you already use other HubSpot products like the HubSpot customer relationship management (CRM), email marketing, or live chat tool.
What’s unique about HubSpot Form Builder is that you can create custom forms that meet your website need and automatically sync your new contacts collected from your forms into the HubSpot CRM.
You can create embedded forms, popup box forms, forms as standalone pages, or as dropdown banners. As a result, you can place lead generation forms at the right time and place in the customer journey.
Also, the plugin has an automation feature, allowing you to send emails to the user once they’ve submitted your forms. However, it’s only available as part of paid plans.
One of the biggest disadvantages is that the HubSpot Form Builder is quite limited in form templates, giving users only a handful of templates to work with. So if there isn’t a template to match your needs, you’ll have to create the form from scratch.
HubSpot Form Builder is part of a larger ecosystem of tools, meaning you don’t have to use third-party tools like Google Analytics for insights. You will have a built-in analytics dashboard to see how your forms are performing. And best of all, you can create a HubSpot form right in WordPress.
Pricing: The HubSpot Form Builder is free. However, if you want to access some of the other tools along with the form builder, pricing starts at $216 per year.
Gravity Forms is a powerful solution to create custom forms in WordPress.
With this plugin, you can build contact forms, surveys, and quizzes for your website with ease.
It comes with plenty of advanced features like conditional formatting, which shows or hides certain questions based on the user’s previous answer.
Gravity Forms also offers many addons to help you get the most out of the plugin. You can track users by geolocation, allow signatures, and collect partial form entries.
That said, Gravity Forms does fall short when compared to WPForms. It only comes with 15 templates and lacks a free version. If you’re using Gravity Forms on multiple sites, the licenses still provide a decent value for money.
Pricing: The Basic license starts at $59 per year, providing only access to 1 site and a few integrations.
Ninja Forms is another WPForms alternative you can start using for free. It features a drag and drop form builder so you can build interactive online forms without coding.
The plugin offers a wide range of addons for purchase, such as conditional logic, file uploads, Excel export, and multi-step forms. Unfortunately, you have to buy each one separately, which can quickly rack up, especially when buying more than one or two addons.
Out of this list, Ninja Forms offers some of the most integrations out of any tool. For example, you can connect them with different payment apps like Stripe and PayPal, CRMs like Salesforce, and other tools like webhooks and Slack.
Pricing: The base plugin is free to download in the official WordPress repository. However, you can buy a subscription with additional features starting at $99 per year or purchase individual addons.
Contact Form 7 rounds out our list because it is the oldest and most downloaded contact form plugin in the official WordPress plugin directory.
It is a WPForms alternative, but we don’t recommend that you use it. The only real benefit of using Contact Form 7 is that it’s free to use, and you can create simple forms. WPForms Lite does everything it can and more.
That said, Contact Form 7 is not user-friendly. There are no drag and drop builders or templates to use. Instead, you have to copy shortcodes to embed forms and toggle with dynamic merge tags to build the most basic contact forms.
Additionally, all forms are styled plainly. You can’t customize the style of your forms, making it hard to match the form’s design to your WordPress theme.
If you’re looking for a free WordPress contact form plugin, then WPForms Lite, Ninja Forms, and Formidable Forms Lite are all considerably better solutions than Contact Form 7.
Pricing: It’s a free plugin. However, it lacks many basic features, no real customization is available, and you get limited support.
What to Look for in an Online Form Builder
When you’re on the hunt for an online form builder for your WordPress website, there are many features and factors to consider.
Fortunately, WPForms offers all of these features and then some. This makes it the most comprehensive form builder plugin on the market.
Let’s look at a few of them.
Pre-built Templates
The best online form builders have pre-built form templates, allowing you to set up the forms you need in minutes. You never have to start from scratch as you do with plugins like Contact Form 7.
Instead, look for a form builder with a template gallery that includes the most popular forms needed for WordPress websites, like contact forms, newsletter signup forms, application forms, donation forms, order forms, and more.
In fact, the WPForms Lite version alone has 900+ form templates, meaning there’s a form to fit almost anything you could need.
Conditional Logic
In some cases, you may want to show or hide specific fields to users based on their responses.
That way, your visitors won’t see tons of empty fields that don’t apply to them.
You can use conditional logic to create dynamic forms that adapt as your visitor fills out the form. For example, you may want to:
Filter your survey questions based on a demographic question
Process payments only when certain conditions are met
Provide customized support based on the type of issues your customers are experiencing
Surveys & Polls
A good form builder should also include the ability to create survey forms, polls, and quizzes.
Unlike most professional survey tools, WPForms Pro lets you easily embed surveys and polls onto your site. This helps you share and distribute them to a wider audience.
Everything is housed and stored within WordPress, meaning all your survey responses will be stored on your website, so you don’t have to log into different platforms and you can ensure your users’ data is secure.
Also, you’ll see survey charts to visually see how responses are segmented. You can also download MonsterInsights, the best Google Analytics plugin, to measure your form completion rates as well.
Conversational Forms
Static forms can feel plain, which increases the likelihood of form abandonment. Online form builders should be able to create conversational forms.
This is a more interactive layout that only focuses on one question at a time rather than showing all of the questions at once.
Also, conversational forms can be completed using a keyboard only, making them more suitable for mobile users.
Multi-Page Forms
Long forms can be overwhelming, causing users to abandon the form altogether. However, creating multi-page forms splits your single-page form into smaller sections with a progress bar to help reduce fatigue.
Respondents are more likely to finish the form when separated into pages rather than seeing one long form.
Spam Protection
Online forms are vulnerable to spam bots that crawl through websites to find ways to email you through a non-secure form.
Since website owners often don’t give out their email addresses, forms are an easy way for hackers to add spam comments, send phishing links, and spread malware.
That’s why you need built-in security features in your online form builder to prevent spam emails.
WPForms features the latest spam defense methods. For example, you can add a CAPTCHA to bypass spambots so that only humans can submit your forms.
Which WPForms Pro Alternative is the Best?Â
In our experience, the best alternative to WPForms Pro is WPForms Lite. For many users, the options in the free version can get them started with their website or business. Â
It is a powerful and easy-to-use plugin that lets you build just about any type of form. The Lite version can do all of the basic functions users need without any of the bloat other contact form plugins have.
There simply is no other free forms plugin that has the same ease of use and number of features as WPForms Lite.
However, if you need direct CRM integration, HubSpot Form Builder is the way to go.
For more complex forms or calculations, Formidable Forms is the clear winner.
If you want to be able to choose and pay for only the features you will use the most, then we think that Ninja Forms is your best option.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking for the best way to host and manage a virtual event?
Maybe you’d like to hold your next conference online or run a webinar about your products and services. You may be worried that it will be too expensive, or you won’t have the technical knowledge to pull it off.
In this article, we’ll list all of the equipment on online services you’ll need, and teach you everything you need to host a virtual event in WordPress. Plus, if your business doesn’t have a website, then we will cover that too.
Why Host Virtual Events?
Are you looking to host a conference to build your authority in your niche, or invite users to a webinar where you can demonstrate your products and services? You can use your WordPress website as a launchpad for virtual events.
A virtual event is an online gathering where people connect using computers and mobile devices instead of meeting in the same physical location. These events can range from small gatherings to full-scale conferences with thousands of attendees.
They are a good way to generate leads, boost user engagement, and even make money through sponsorship opportunities, selling premium tickets, and offering paid membership.
There are many benefits to running these events online. You won’t need to worry about paying for a venue, and your users won’t have to worry about transport. You also won’t be so affected by time zone differences.
These benefits mean that you’ll likely have a larger attendance at the event. However, virtual events are also more prone to technical problems and difficulties. Organizing an event will always require effort, planning, and the right resources, even when you hold it online.
Are you ready to learn how to host a virtual event using your WordPress website? We’ll walk you through each step.
Here’s a quick outline that you can use to easily browse the article:
If you already have a WordPress website set up, then you can click skip this section. If you like, you can simply use your business website. For big events, you might like to create a landing page on a separate website.
Once your website is set up, the next step is to choose and install an event plugin.
Choosing and Installing a WordPress Event Plugin
You can add the features you need to host an event to your WordPress site by installing a WordPress event plugin. The plugin you choose will depend on your needs, such as whether your users need to purchase a ticket or simply register or RSVP to attend the event.
You should start by deciding whether you want to display an RSVP form, event calendar, or event registration page on your website.
Create an RSVP Form in WordPress
If you simply want your users to RSVP to your event, you can use the free plugin WPForms Lite to create a simple RSVP form on your website.
This will let you keep track of who will be attending and give you an idea of the number of participants you will have.
An event calendar is an easy way to let your users know about the events you are running. Depending on the plugin you choose, you will be able to display your events, let users RSVP to events, sell tickets, add and manage venues, and much more.
For example, The Events Calendar is a feature-rich event management system that makes it easy to add all your event details, including a separate page for venues and organizers.
You have multiple different views for displaying your event calendar on the front end, including day, week, or month. You can even spotlight events to increase engagement on the events you want the most attention on.
Plus, you can add filtering, so your users can find the exact events they’re looking for, and they offer several addons for selling tickets.
Create an Event Registration Page in WordPress
If you decide to sell tickets to your event, you will quickly discover that many third-party event registration and ticketing services will charge a small fee for each ticket you sell.
You can avoid some of these issues by creating your own event registration page in WordPress. This will allow you to collect online payments directly, store attendee information on your website, and use your own brand name when promoting the event.
You can easily create an event registration page using WPForms.
The free Lite version supports Stripe credit card payments, and you can unlock additional payment methods such as PayPal, Square, and Authorize.net by upgrading to the Pro plan.
Now that you have a way that users can let you know they will attend your event, you should create a landing page. This is a carefully designed page that lets your visitors know about your event and encourages them to sign up.
It should contain a clear call to action that is linked to the RSVP form, event calendar, or event registration page that you created.
In our guide on how to create a landing page with WordPress, we show you how to use the top three solutions for creating landing pages in WordPress. These landing page builders are easy to use, optimized for speed, and affordable for small businesses. You can pick the solution that best fits your needs.
Once you have a landing page for your event, you can start to promote it. You can start by linking to your event landing page in your email newsletter and social media.
Getting the Right Audio and Video Equipment
Unless you’re getting started on a really tight budget, you and the speakers at the event shouldn’t use the built-in webcam and microphone on your computer. Your users will instantly notice the low audio and video quality and may decide not to attend future events.
Your most important choice of equipment will be your microphone. We recommend you choose a USB mic so you can plug it straight into your computer without the need for extra gear. Here are three popular microphone choices:
The Samson C01U is a good entry-level USB microphone.
The Rode NT-USB is a high-quality USB microphone that comes with a desktop mount and pop filter.
The Heil PR-40 is what the pros use. It has the standard XLR connection instead of USB, so you’ll need to buy a 3.5mm to XLR Cable, audio interface, or mixer as well.
Your microphone will sound best if you purchase a few more items, such as a microphone arm, shock mount, and pop filter. For example, if you are using the Rode NT-USB microphone, you will need the Rode SM6 shock mount with a built-in pop filter and Rode PSA1 boom arm.
The Rode Podcaster kit is good value and comes with a mic arm and shock mount, and we use this at WPBeginner.
If you don’t want to buy all of your equipment at once, then you could use your built-in webcam while you get started, but you will likely get better video quality out of your smartphone’s camera.
You will need to mount your phone on a tripod, and the GripTight GorillaPod Stand PRO is a good option for any type of phone. It has adjustable legs that can be attached to any surface.
Eventually, you can upgrade to a 4K webcam like the Logitech BRIO Webcam. This camera is perfect for video conferencing and easily clips onto any computer. It has excellent video quality even in low light.
You’ll also need decent headphones so that the audio from your speakers isn’t picked up by your microphone. Headphones that plug in are more reliable than Bluetooth headphones. A good option is the Sony MDR7506.
Choosing and Integrating a Video Conferencing Service
You will need to choose an online service that allows you to run virtual events. You can check our list of the best webinar software platforms and compare their features so you can choose the best webinar platform to fit your needs and budget.
We believe that GoToWebinar, LiveStorm, and EasyWebinar are good options because they offer all the powerful webinar features that you need with high-quality video streaming and affordable pricing plans.
If you’re just starting out, then we recommend Zoom because it is easy to use, well-known, and mobile-friendly. Zoom lets you schedule meetings in advance and provides a unique link for each event that you can share with the participants and include on your website.
It is also easy to integrate Zoom with WordPress but to do that you need at least the Pro version of Zoom and the Zoom webinar addon. There is a free version, but you’ll need to have a paid account in order to set up the integration.
You will need to set up Zoom correctly and then connect your account with your WordPress website. Once you’ve done that, you can set up a workflow using Uncanny Automator to automatically register your users with Zoom once they sign up or purchase a ticket.
Before you know it, the time will arrive to run your event. If you’ve chosen the right webinar software platform, you will have all of the features you need, along with reliable, high-quality video and audio.
You will be able to feature multiple presenters and hosts and share your screen with the participants for demonstrations.
We recommend that you mute everyone by default. However, using your platform’s built-in chat feature, participants will be able to interact with you and one another during the event.
They will also be able to ask and answer questions, and you can have them fill in polls to provide you with feedback. We recommend UserFeedback by MonsterInsights for this sort of interaction.
Event Follow Up
After the event is finished, you should follow up with your participants as soon as possible, while they are most interested and the event is still fresh in their minds.
Because you have their contact details from when they registered, you can send them a follow-up email. In that email, you can ask for their feedback. You might like to follow our guide on how to create a survey form in WordPress.
You can follow up with further emails to let them know about the events you have coming up and to gauge their interest in different topics by creating an interactive poll.
Most webinar services will allow you to record the event, and some can even create transcripts. This will allow users who couldn’t attend the live event to see the content.
Finally, most webinar services include actionable analytics so you can see what’s working and what’s not. They will show you who attended, gauge the audience’s interest, list the questions that were asked, and more. This will allow you to fine-tune your event in the future for maximum conversions.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking to add a Mailchimp subscribe form to your WordPress website?
Mailchimp is a popular email marketing tool that offers a form builder. However, this builder has limited features and customization options. Adding a custom subscribe form gives you more flexibility and helps grow your email list.
In this article, we will show you how to create a Mailchimp subscribe form in WordPress with custom fields.
Why Add a Custom Mailchimp Subscribe Form in WordPress?
Adding a subscription form to your WordPress website is a great way of communicating with your users.
You can send newsletters, new product releases, announcements, and other information while creating a direct connection with your audience.
Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing services. It helps you build an email list, send emails, and set up automated email campaigns. Plus, it also offers a form builder that you can use to create a subscription form and embed it on your website.
However, Mailchimp’s form builder is very basic and doesn’t offer a lot of customization options. You get limited form fields to choose from, and there are no settings to change color, font, and more. It also adds Mailchimp branding at the bottom.
Creating a custom Mailchimp subscribe form gives you more flexibility and control. You can add all types of form fields, edit their appearance, add conditional logic to show fields based on the user’s responses, and more.
That being said, let’s look at how you can create a Mailchimp subscription form with custom fields.
How to Create a Mailchimp Subscribe Form in WordPress
The easiest way of adding a Mailchimp subscribe form in WordPress is by using WPForms. It is the best contact form plugin for WordPress that’s used by over 5 million professionals.
WPForms is a beginner-friendly plugin that offers a drag-and-drop form builder, prebuilt templates, and lots of customization options. The best part is it easily integrates with Mailchimp.
Note: For this tutorial, we will be using the WPForms Pro version because it includes the Mailchimp addon and custom form fields. There is also the WPForms Lite version that is available for free, but it doesn’t offer a Mailchimp integration.
Step 1: Connect Mailchimp With WPForms
First, you will need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you will need to go to WPForms » Settings and add the license key. You can find the key in your WPForms account area.
After entering the license key, go ahead and click the ‘Verify Key’ button.
Next, you will need to install the Mailchimp addon.
You can do that by going to WPForms » Addons from the WordPress admin panel. From here, navigate to the Mailchimp addon and click the ‘Install Addon’ button.
The addon should now install and activate.
Once that’s done, simply go to WPForms » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and switch to the ‘Integrations’ tab.
Next, you can expand the Mailchimp settings and then click the ‘+ Add New Account’ button under Mailchimp.
As soon as you do that, you will see more options. To integrate Mailchimp, you must enter the API key and account nickname. This will allow WPForms to communicate with your Mailchimp account.
Creating Mailchimp API Keys for WPForms Integration
To create an API key to connect WPForms, you will first need to log in to your Mailchimp account.
Once you are logged in, simply click on your avatar in the top right corner and select the ‘Account & billing’ option.
On the next page, you will see different account settings.
Simply click the ‘Extras’ dropdown menu and then select the ‘API keys’ option.
Next, you can copy an existing API key to use for your WPForms integration.
If you haven’t generated a key previously, then simply click the ‘Create A Key’ button.
After that, you can enter a name for your new API key.
Once that’s done, just click the ‘Generate Key’ button.
Next, you will see the new API key.
Go ahead and copy the key and click the ‘Done’ button.
You can now return to the browser tab or window with your WPFroms integration settings.
From here, simply paste the key into the ‘API Key’ field. You can also add a Mailchimp account nickname to remember which account you are connected to.
After entering the key, go ahead and click the ‘Connect to Mailchimp’ button.
You should now see a green ‘Connected’ button next to the Mailchimp settings, showing that the email marketing tool is successfully integrated with WPForms.
Step 2: Design a Mailchimp Subscribe Form With Custom Fields
Now that you have integrated Mailchimp with WPForms, the next step is to create a subscription form with custom fields.
First, you will need to go to WPForms » Add New from the WordPress dashboard. Next, you can enter a name at the top and select a form template.
WPFomrs offers lots of prebuilt form templates, so you can quickly pick one and customize it.
It even offers form templates for Mailchimp. For instance, you can create a signup contact form, newsletter signup form, or email marketing form.
For this tutorial, we will choose the Mailchimp Newsletter Signup Form template.
On the next screen, you will see the WPForms drag-and-drop form builder. Here, you can customize the form and add custom fields from the menu on the left.
The default form template will come with a Name and Email field.
However, you can simply drag any form field and drop it onto the template. There are fields to add text, dropdown options, multiple choice, phone number, address, date and time, website, password, and more.
For instance, if you are using a business phone service, then you can add a Phone field. This will help you send SMS messages or reach out to subscribers via phone calls.
You can add a checkbox field and allow users to select their interests. This way, you can segment your subscribers and send them targeted emails.
Next, you can further edit each form field in the template. Simply choose a field, and you will see more options in the left panel.
For example, we changed the options in the Checkboxes form field.
You can also edit the label of the form field, make it a required field, add images to the checkbox options, and more.
Once you have finished adding custom form fields, switch to the ‘Settings’ tab from the left menu. In the General settings, you can change the form’s name and description, add tags, edit the submit button text, and more.
Next, you can switch to the ‘Confirmations’ tab and choose what subscribers will see once they submit a form.
WPForms lets you show a message, a specific page like a thank you page, or redirect users to a URL.
After that, you can go to the ‘Marketing’ tab from the left panel and then select Mailchimp.
From here, simply click the ‘Add New Connection’ button.
Next, a small popup will open where you will need to enter the Mailchimp nickname.
After entering it, go ahead and click the ‘OK’ button.
Next, you can pick the Mailchimp account that you connected to earlier.
Simply click the ‘Select Account’ dropdown menu and choose your account.
After that, more options will appear.
You can go ahead and select the audience from the dropdown menu to which the new subscribers will be added.
There are different actions to choose from, but we will select the ‘Subscribe’ option for this tutorial. This will add the user as a new contact to your Mailchimp account.
Next, you can scroll down to see additional settings. For instance, there is an option to choose the WPForms field where users can enter their email addresses.
You also have options to add tags to new subscribers and a note to the user’s profile.
If you scroll down further, then you will see more optional settings. For instance, you can enable double opt-in, mark the subscriber as VIP, update their profile if the contact is already in an audience, and more.
Now, you are ready to add your Mailchimp subscribe form to your WordPress blog or website.
In the WPForms form builder, you will see an ‘Embed’ option at the top. Go ahead and click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes, and then click the ‘Embed’ button.
Next, a popup will open where you will need to select an existing page or create a new page.
For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Create New Page’ option.
After that, you will need to enter a name for your new page.
Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Let’s Go!’ button.
You can then click the ‘Publish’ button at the top to make your Mailchimp subscribe form live.
You have now successfully created a Mailchimp subscribe form with custom fields.
You can go ahead and visit your website to see the form in action.
You can also do a lot more with Mailchimp and WordPress. For instance, you can integrate it with OptinMonster and show your subscribe forms in popup campaigns.
We hope this article helped you learn how to create a Mailchimp subscribe form in WordPress with custom fields. You may also want to see our guide on easy ways to grow your email list faster andour expert picks for the must have WordPress plugins to grow your website.
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Are you looking for a comparison between WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms?
These three are the best WordPress form plugins in the market. However, picking the right form builder can be challenging for many website owners.
In this article, we’ll compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms and show which is the best.
Introduction to WordPress Form Plugins
WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are among the most popular WordPress form plugins that you can use. Each of them offers unique features and allows you to add different forms to your website.
WPForms was launched in 2016 by Syed Balkhi (founder of WPBeginner) and Jared Atchison. Since its launch, over 5 million WordPress sites have been using the plugin. The goal of creating WPForms was to offer an easy and powerful form plugin. It takes the pain out of creating online forms by making the process beginner friendly.
Gravity Forms is created by the team at Rocketgenius. It is a WordPress plugin that lets you add forms to your WordPress site. The plugin also specializes in helping developers build complex form-related solutions.
Formidable Forms is another powerful WordPress form builder created by Steph Wells and Steve Wells. You can use it to create a wide range of forms from simple contact forms to advanced solutions-focused forms like mortgage calculators, directories, listing forms, and more. Formidable Forms is part of WPBeginner Growth Fund companies.
That being said, let’s compare these WordPress form plugins and find out which is the best for your use case. In our research, we tried dozens of WordPress form plugins, and have decided to compare these top 3 form plugins in the following criteria:
When it comes to picking a WordPress form plugin, it is essential to choose a tool that is easy to use. The form builder should allow users to easily customize their forms without the need to edit code or hire a developer.
Let’s see how the 3 plugins compare to each other for ease of use.
WPForms – Ease of Use
WPForms is a beginner-friendly form plugin for WordPress. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder that is very super simple to use.
You can easily customize any form by adding multiple form fields from the menu on your left. All you have to do is drag the field and drop it onto the form template.
WPForms also makes it very easy to add your forms anywhere on the WordPress website. The best part, you can do all this within the form builder. You can click the embed button, and WPForms will show you options for adding your form.
For instance, you can create a new page or select an existing one to embed your forms.
You can also manually add your form to any page or post using the WordPress block. Besides that, the plugin lets you use shortcodes to add a form to your WordPress website.
Gravity Forms – Ease of Use
Gravity Forms also offers a drag-and-drop form builder, and it lets you create all types of forms without editing code.
You can quickly rework your form from inside the WordPress dashboard. The form builder offers different form fields that you can add by simply placing them onto the template.
After creating a form, Gravity Forms also lets you easily embed it on your website. Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you get an option inside the drag-and-drop builder to add your form.
Gravity Forms also offers a WordPress block to easily embed your forms on any page or post. Plus, you can use shortcodes or add the forms manually anywhere on your site.
Formidable Forms – Ease of Use
Formidable Forms is a user-friendly plugin that to lets you customize your forms using a drag-and-drop form builder, just like WPForms and Gravity Forms.
You can simply drag any form field from the options on your left and place them on the template. The plugin also lets you rearrange the order of the fields by simply moving them up or down or side to side.
Formidable Forms makes it very easy to embed your forms anywhere on your website. You can use the Formidable Forms block to add the form to any post or page. Or click the embed button in the form builder to embed your forms.
Winner – Tie
When it comes to ease, all 3 plugins perform equally well. Each of them offers a drag-and-drop functionality, which lets you edit and customize forms with editing code easily. Plus, each plugin makes it very easy to embed the forms anywhere on the website.
WPForms has a slight edge because it leans on decisions over options by giving you over 600+ form templates and easy-to-use choices whereas Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms are built more for developers.
Form Templates
Form templates are another important factor to consider when choosing a form plugin for WordPress.
Templates help save time as you don’t have to create a form from scratch. You can quickly edit it according to your requirements or simply use the default template to add a form to your website.
Let’s see how WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms stack up in terms of form templates.
WPForms – Form Templates
With WPForms, you get over 600 prebuilt form templates. Whether you’re looking to create a simple contact form, feedback form, request a quote form, payment form, or registration form, WPForms has you covered.
The plugin categorizes form templates into different categories in the form builder. For instance, you can find different templates for business operations, customer service, education, entertainment, event planning, feedback, health and wellness, and more.
Even in the free version of WPForms, you get a lot of form templates to get started.
Gravity Forms – Form Templates
Gravity Forms offers limited prebuilt form templates compared to WPForms and Formidable Forms.
You only get 15 form templates in the form builder. Some of these include a simple contact form, advanced contact form, donation form, eCommerce form, event registration form, survey, newsletter signup form, and more.
Formidable Forms – Form Templates
Formidable Forms offers over 175 WordPress form templates and examples you can use for your website.
What makes it different is that you get templates for advanced forms. For instance, you can create an advanced mortgage calculator form, net promoter score (NPS) survey form, car payment calculator form, life insurance calculator form, doctor visit form, signature forms, and more.
Besides that, you can find forms for payment collection, health and wellness, customer service, education, donations, event planning, and more.
Winner – WPForms
WPForms is a standout winner compared to Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms. You get the largest form template library in WPForms, with over 600 choices available. There are prebuilt templates for just about any type of form you want to create for your website.
Customization Options
A WordPress form plugin should allow you to edit and customize your form with ease. When selecting the right tool, you should look at the customization options the plugin offers.
Here’s a look at the different features offered by WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms.
WPForms – Customization Options
WPForms offers lots of customization options for your form. For starters, it offers different form fields that you can simply drag and drop from the menu on your left onto the template.
For instance, it offers standard fields like paragraph text, multiple choice, checkboxes, and more. Plus, you can add fancier fields like phone number, address, file upload, date/time, website, and more.
If you click on an existing form field, then you’ll see more options for customization.
You can edit the label of the field, make it a mandatory field, add smart logic, and more. For example, you can choose which payment methods to show in an order form and rearrange their order.
Instead of asking multiple questions at once, you can take the one-question-at-a-time approach. It will look like having a conversation face to face with a human, and boost form conversions.
Similarly, you can also use the lead forms addon to increase form conversions. It basically allows you to embed conversational forms on any page on your WordPress site.
WPForms offers more customization features like custom form landing pages similar to Google forms. You can create a distraction-free landing page for your form and get more conversions.
The plugin lets you add a title and description for the page, a header logo, and edit the page URL. You also get to change the background color of the page and choose a style to make your forms more appealing.
Other customization options offered by WPForms include a save and continue feature. This lets your users save the progress while filling out a form and continue later to complete it. You can allow users to sign your online forms using their mouse or touchscreen.
If you have lengthy forms, then you can use the multi-page feature to split them into different pages. Or you can use conditional logic to show different form fields based on the user’s responses.
Besides that, you can also customize the notification and confirmation settings for your form. In the notification settings, you can edit details like email addresses, subject lines, names, messages, and more.
Similarly, you can also edit the confirmation message a user will see when they submit a form. You can show a thank you message, show a page, or redirect people to a specific URL.
Gravity Forms – Customization Options
Gravity Forms offers different form fields to customize your form template.
These include standard fields, advanced fields, post fields, and pricing fields.
Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you can click on existing form fields to edit them further.
However, you’ll see a slight difference in the customization options. There are general settings for a field where you can change its label and add a description.
Other than that, you can edit the appearance of the field, change advanced settings like enabling field autocomplete, and add conditional logic.
Other than that, you also get control over different form settings. For example, you can edit the notifications and confirmations settings in the form builder.
You can also configure ‘Personal Data’ settings similar to WPForms. These allow you to prevent the storage of IP addresses during form submission. Plus, you can enable integration with other tools for exporting and erasing personal data, which is helpful in complying with data regulations like GDPR.
Formidable Forms – Customization Options
With the Formidable Forms drag-and-drop builder, you can easily customize your form with options such as prebuilt form fields that you add to your template.
What makes the plugin different from others is that it offers multiple form fields that will help you create advanced forms. For instance, you can add a user ID field, captcha, hidden field, appointments, lookup field, and more.
Besides that, you can easily edit each existing field in the template.
There are general options to change the label, add a CSS class, and more. Or you can view the advanced options to add a placeholder text, and description, edit the field size and allow maximum characters.
What’s different about Formidable Forms compared to WPForms and Gravity Forms is that it also offers different styles for your forms.
You can use the default style or choose from various options. This way, you can change the appearance of your forms without having to enter CSS code.
Other than that, you can also customize the form settings. For instance, the plugin lets you change the notification settings, and form permissions, and also allows form scheduling.
Winner – WPForms
After comparing all 3 plugins, we found WPForms to be the clear winner. It offers more customization features compared to Formidable Forms and Gravity Forms.
You can add different form fields, change their settings, rearrange them, and more using the drag-and-drop builder. Besides that, WPForms offers tons of features to make your form more appealing and boost conversions.
Additional Features and Integrations
Now that we’ve covered ease of use, templates, and customization options, let’s see how WPForms, Formidable Forms, and Gravity Forms compare in terms of additional features and integrations.
As a website owner, you’d want a WordPress plugin that easily works with third-party tools, payment services, and email marketing services. Here’s what each plugin has to offer.
WPForms – Additional Features and Integrations
WPForms offers lots of premium addons and integrations that extend its functionality and benefits.
For instance, you can accept file uploads with its post-submission addon. This way, users can easily submit content on the front end of your site without requiring access to the WordPress dashboard.
Similarly, you get addons for geolocation data and see where your form users are from. The user journey addon can show you the pages and posts people visited before submitting a form.
The plugin also offers a form abandonment addon that captures partial entries for a form. You can then recover those entries and encourage users to complete a form.
Aside from this, WPForms provides more addons for creating custom Captcha, allowing digital signatures, locking WordPress forms, creating interactive form layouts, and more.
Another advantage of using WPForms compared to other plugins is that it easily integrates with different tools and plugins. For example, you can use it with popular email marketing tools like Drip, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact.
The plugin also supports payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.Net. You can also integrate WPForms with CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot.
Gravity Forms – Additional Features and Integrations
Gravity Forms also offers different addons that can help you get the most out of the plugin. However, the list is not as expansive as WPForms, and you’d have to pay extra to use third-party extensions.
You get additional features for setting up user registrations, creating surveys and polls, tracking users’ geolocation, collecting partial form entries, allowing signatures, and more.
Besides that, Gravity Forms also offers integrations with different tools and plugins.
You can easily integrate email marketing tools like AWeber, Constant Contact, Mailgun, and more. Plus, you can add anti-spam solutions like Akismet and reCAPTCHA.
Other integrations include Google Analytics, Dropbox, Zapier, Trello, ActiveCampaign, HelpScout, PayPal Checkout, 2Checkout, and Stripe.
Formidable Forms – Additional Features and Integrations
Formidable Forms offers different addons and integration features. Most of the additional features are similar to WPForms and Gravity Forms.
However, what makes Formidable Forms different is that you get several powerful features to create advanced forms, set up web applications, show stats on the front end, and more.
For instance, the plugin offers a form action automation feature to schedule email notifications, SMS messages, and other actions. It also offers API webhooks that let you send submissions to REST APIs.
It also offers a visual views addon that lets you display data from form entries on the front end of your website. You can create web apps to display form submissions in tables, grids, calendars, and other views.
This is great for showing testimonials and product reviews, adding a user-submitted events calendar, and displaying useful statistics.
Besides that, Formidable Forms also lets you create applications for your website. It offers prebuilt templates that include different forms, views, and pages for your application. Simply select a template, and the plugin will take care of the rest.
You can create different applications, such as product reviews, real estate listings, testimonials, restaurant menus, certificates, and more.
For example, you can offer professional certificates in just a few clicks. Simply choose the certificate application template, and Formidable Forms will automatically add a form with a certificate generator on your website.
It will also add views for the certificate and certificate of completion, which users can see on the front end.
Other advanced features offered by Formidable Forms include converting WordPress forms to PDF, mapping form fields to PDF form fields, quizzes, repeater fields, SMS voting, front-end editing, and more.
Other than that, you can also integrate Formidable Forms with different payment services, email marketing tools, CRMs, and third-party plugins. It even works with Uncanny Automator and Zapier, so you can connect Formidable Forms to services like Asana, Slack, and Dropbox.
The best part about using Formidable Forms is that you get all the advanced features in one place, with everything included in a single pricing plan. If you were to use Gravity Forms, then you’d need to subscribe to multiple third-party addons.
For example, you’d need the basic Gravity Forms plan along with other extensions like Gravity PDF, File Upload Pro, Gravity View, Gravity Math, and so on. This can add to your overall cost and make it very expensive to use Gravity Forms.
Winner – Formidable Forms
While each plugin offers multiple additional features and integrations, Formidable Forms is the standout winner. It offers more advanced features that you can use to display form results on the front end, create complex forms, convert forms to PDF, create web applications, and use various addons to help users create form solutions for any scenario.
WPForms gets an honorary mention for marketing-related features, like form abandonment and digital signatures. It also integrates with popular email services, CRM software, tracking tools, payment gateways, and other plugins.
Pricing Plans
The next parameter we will compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms is that of pricing. Let’s see which plugin offers the most value for money.
WPForms – Pricing
WPForms offers 4 different pricing plans suitable for all types of businesses. These include a Basic plan, which costs $49.50 per year, and you can use it for 1 website. It also offers all the essential features like premium templates, entry management, and file uploads.
If you want to use the plugin on more websites and require marketing integrations, then WPForms offers a Plus plan for $99.50 per year.
On the other hand, there is a Pro plan that includes everything from the Basic and Plus plans. It includes payment addons, conversion tools, and other advanced form features. This will close you $199.50 per year.
Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, which has everything. You get to use it on unlimited websites and get all the features and integrations WPForms has to offer. Each premium plan comes with 14-day money back guarantee.
The best part, there is also a WPForms Lite version you can use for free. You get multiple form templates, standard fields for customization, spam protection, and other features.
Gravity Forms – Pricing Plans
Gravity Forms offer 3 premium plans, which include the Basic License, Pro License, and Elite License.
With the Basic License plan, you can use the plugin on 1 website. You also get addons for email marketing tools and spam protection services. This plan will cost you $59 per year.
Next, there is a Pro License plan that offers more addons. For instance, you get to integrate more email marketing services, CRMs, payment gateways, and third-party services. This plan will cost $159 per year.
Lastly, Gravity Forms offers an Elite License plan that includes all the features from the Basic and Pro plans. In addition to that, Elite plan users also get access to features like polls, quizzes, digital signatures, surveys, geolocation, and more. The Elite plan is available for $259 per year.
That said, Gravity Forms doesn’t offer a free version, like WPForms or Formidable Forms. You’d also need to pay extra to use different third-party addons and extensions.
Formidable Forms – Pricing Plans
Formidable Forms lets you choose from 4 pricing plans. It starts with a Basic plan, costing $39.50 per year. You get 50+ form templates and basic features like conditional logic and file uploads.
Besides that, there is a Plus plan for $99.50 per year, and it offers more form templates and features. For instance, you get the Formidable Views feature, landing pages, and integration with Mailchimp, MailPoet Newsletters, and AWeber.
Next, it offers a Business plan that includes over 150 form templates, premium addons, more integrations, and additional features. This plan will cost you $199.50 per year.
Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, and it includes all the features and integrations. You get all the templates and support for third-party tools like Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot.
Formidable Forms also offers a free version. You can get started for free and get features like drag and drop form builder, basic form templates, and standard form fields for customization.
Winner – WPForms and Formidable Forms
When it comes to offering the most value for money, both WPForms and Formidable Forms clearly stand out when compared to Gravity Forms.
Both of them offer 4 different pricing plans for businesses of all sizes. Plus, you get a free version, which helps small website owners, bloggers, and others to create WordPress forms without a considerable investment. You also don’t have to pay more to use multiple addons and advanced features.
Which is the Best WordPress Form Plugin?
WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are some of the best WordPress form plugins you can get your hands on today.
However, we believe that WPForms is the best plugin for creating forms for your WordPress website. It is super easy to use and offers tons of features.
You get over 600 form templates, a drag-and-drop form builder, multiple form fields for customization, and additional settings to edit your form. Plus, there are different premium addons that allow you to expand the functionality of WPForms.
Not to mention, there is a WPForms Lite version available for free. It also includes lots of form templates and customization features. You can quickly create forms for your website using the free plugin.
On the other hand, if you’re a developer looking to save time on developing complex and advanced WordPress forms, then Formidable Forms is the perfect solution. You can create calculators and web applications, convert forms to PDF, and much more without editing code.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Do you want to create a restaurant website with WordPress?
A restaurant website can help attract new customers and grow your business. It can also provide a better experience for your existing customers and keep them coming back to your restaurant, cafe, takeaway, or similar business.
In this article, we will show you how to create a restaurant website with WordPress.
Why Create a Restaurant Website?
A website is one of the best ways to market your restaurant to new customers and provide a better experience for your existing clients.
By creating an online presence for your restaurant, you can introduce your business to people who are looking for venues and food just like yours.
After a potential customer discovers your business, a professionally-designed and helpful restaurant website will tell them everything they need to know about your business. They can then decide whether your restaurant is right for them.
Even if you have lots of loyal customers and a positive reputation in the local area, a restaurant website can help you improve the customer experience.
For example, it can allow customers to book a table online, send you questions using a convenient contact form, check out the latest menu, and much more.
In this way, a restaurant website can keep your customers happy, so they carry on visiting you for months, or even years to come.
That said, let’s see how you can easily create a restaurant website with WordPress.
Which Is the Best Website Builder for Your Restaurant?
There are many website builders that can help you create a restaurant website but we recommend using WordPress.
According to our blogging research statistics, WordPress is the most popular website platform in the world. It powers nearly 43% of all websites on the internet including many top restaurant websites.
WordPress is also open-source and free. For more on this topic, see our article on why WordPress is free.
However, it’s important to realize that there are two types of WordPress software, so you don’t choose the wrong one.
First, there is WordPress.com, which is a blog hosting platform. Then, there is WordPress.org which is also known as self-hosted WordPress.
For a restaurant website, we recommend using WordPress.org because it gives you complete ownership of your site and allows you to install third-party plugins, including plenty that are designed specifically for restaurant owners.
To learn more about why we recommend WordPress to all our readers, please see our complete WordPress review with pros and cons.
A domain name is your website’s address on the internet. This is what customers will type into their browsers to reach your website, such as justeat.com or tacobell.com.
Web hosting is where your website lives online. To help you out, we’ve hand-picked some of the best WordPress hosting that you can buy for a restaurant website.
Although the WordPress software is free, hosting and domain names are where the costs can really start to add up.
A domain name typically costs $14.99/year and hosting costs start from $7.99/month. This is a lot for restaurants that already have bills and expenses to pay.
Thankfully, Bluehost has offers a free domain name, and our readers can get 60% off on web hosting. Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and an official WordPress-recommended hosting partner.
They’re also offering our readers a free SSL certificate. If you want to accept payments online, then an SSL certificate will help keep the customer’s credit and debit card information safe.
You can click the button below to get started for as little as $2.75 per month.
Once there, you will need to go to the Bluehost website in a new tab and click on the green ‘Get Started Now’ button.
This will bring you to a pricing page where you can choose a hosting plan for your website.
We recommend choosing a Basic or Plus plan, as they’re the most popular web hosting plans among our readers.
After selecting a plan, click on ‘Continue.’
On the next screen, you’ll need to choose a domain name.
Ideally, the domain name will be easy to pronounce and spell, easy to remember, and related to your business. The name of your restaurant is a great place to start, but sometimes that domain may already be taken by another business.
In that case, you can try extending the domain name by adding your restaurant’s location, your own name, or the type of food you serve.
After choosing a name, click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.
Now you’ll need to provide your account information such as your name and email address. After that, you’ll also see optional extras that you can purchase.
We generally don’t recommend purchasing these extras straight away, as you can always add them later on if you need them.
After that, simply type in your payment information to complete the purchase.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to login to your web hosting control panel. This is your hosting account dashboard where you can manage your restaurant website, including setting up email notifications and asking for WordPress support.
It’s also where you’ll install the WordPress software.
Step 2. Create a New WordPress Website
When you signup with Bluehost using our link, Bluehost installs WordPress on your domain name automatically.
If you want to create a different WordPress website, then you can simply click on the ‘My Sites’ tab in the Bluehost dashboard.
Next, just click on the ‘Add Site’ button and select ‘Create New Site.’
The Bluehost wizard will now guide you through the setup process.
First, you’ll need to type in a site title and optional tagline.
Click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.
After that, Bluehost will ask you to select a domain name and path for your restaurant website. If you’ve already purchased a domain name, then you can simply select it from the dropdown menu.
If you don’t have a domain name then you can buy one by visiting the ‘Domains’ page inside the Bluehost dashboard.
After choosing a domain name, you can leave the directory path blank and let Bluehost fill it in for you. The installer will also show a few must-have WordPress plugins that you may want to install on your restaurant website including OptinMonster.
After that, click on the ‘Next’ button and the installer will set up your restaurant site.
Once it’s finished, you’ll see a ‘WordPress installed successfully’ message with information about your new website. You can now go ahead and click on the ‘Log into WordPress’ button.
This will take you to your site’s admin area.
You can also log in to the WordPress dashboard by simply going to yoursite.com/wp-admin/ directly from your browser.
Your typical restaurant website needs special features, like the ability to show a menu, photos, location information, business hours, and more.
With that in mind, it makes sense to look for a theme that’s designed for the food or hospitality industry. To help you out, we’ve collected the best WordPress restaurant themes.
You can also use a website and landing page builder plugin such as SeedProd.
After installing your theme, you may want to customize it by going to Appearance » Customize in the WordPress dashboard.
This will launch the theme customizer where you can fine-tune the theme settings and see your changes in the live preview.
If you’re using one of the newer full site editing themes, then you’ll see the option for Appearance »Editor, which uses blocks similar to the content editor to customize your site.
Pro Tip: No matter what theme you’re using, neither the default WordPress customizer nor the full site editing offers a user-friendly drag and drop customization experience. For that reason, we recommend using a page builder like SeedProd to customize your theme.
Just remember that you can always return to this screen and continue customizing your theme. You can even completely change your WordPress theme at any point.
Step 4. Create a Custom Home Page
WordPress has two two default content types called posts and pages.
You’ll typically use posts to create articles and blogs. By default, the home page shows these posts in reverse chronological order, so the newest content appears at the top of the list.
You might use a blog to build a stronger relationship with their customers, improve your WordPress SEO, and get more traffic to your restaurant website. For example, you could write about recipes, share cooking tips, or blog about the latest restaurant industry news.
However, even if you plan to publish blog posts, you typically won’t show these on the home page. Instead, we recommend creating a custom home page that introduces your business to new visitors.
Once you’re happy with the page’s design, it’s time to set it as your home page. To do this, go to Settings » Reading in the WordPress dashboard.
Here, scroll to ‘Your homepage settings’ and select ‘A static page.’
Next, open the ‘Homepage’ dropdown and choose the page that you want to use.
Then, simply scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save Changes.’ Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the new home page in action.
If you are going to write blogs, then make sure you create a separate blog page to display your posts. If you don’t, then customers will struggle to find your latest WordPress blogs.
Step 5. Create an Online Restaurant Menu
Even long-term, loyal customers may want to look at your menu from time to time. By publishing your menu online, customers can look at it any time of day or night.
Publishing a menu can also help convince new customers to visit your restaurant.
It is possible to upload PDF files to your WordPress website. However, downloading a PDF menu can be difficult depending on the customer’s data plan and internet connection, and they’re non-responsive so they can be hard to read on some devices.
Plus, if you add new dishes or change your pricing, then you’ll also need to upload a completely new PDF.
For that reason, we recommend using SeedProd to add an online menu to your WordPress website. SeedProd also allows you to create a mobile responsive menu that looks great on every device.
You can also easily update the menu as you add new dishes, change the prices, remove dishes, and more.
SeedProd even comes with a ‘Menu Sales Page’ template that’s perfect for creating a menu.
Many restaurants allow customers to order food online. For example, you might give customers the option to pre-order their meal or place an order for delivery.
It may sound technical, but you can easily add online food ordering to your website using the WPForms plugin.
WPForms is the best WordPress form builder that allows you to create online order forms for all kinds of products and services.
It even comes with a ready-made ‘Takeout Order Form’ that you can customize to suit your restaurant website.
Every time someone completes the form, WPForms will notify you automatically so you can start working on that order straight away.
If you don’t want to accept cash on delivery, then WPForms supports all of the best payment gateways including PayPal and Stripe. This allows you to accept payments securely online, which is quick and convenient for your customers.
Today, most people expect to be able to book appointments through an automated system.
By adding a booking form to your restaurant website, you can accept reservations at any time of the day or night. You’ll never lose another customer just because you weren’t around to answer the phone.
Booking forms can also automate a lot of the booking process. This includes collecting payments and emailing your customers to remind them about their upcoming booking.
You can easily add a restaurant booking form to your website using WPForms. This plugin has a ready-made dinner reservation form template that you can customize for your restaurant.
WPForms also integrates with all of the top email marketing providers. This makes it easy to send reservation confirmation emails to your customers.
As their booking approaches, you can even send the customer a reminder email, ask them to share any dietary requirements, send a pre-order form, and more.
While visitors could ring your phone number or send a message to your business email address, we always recommend adding a contact form to your website.
Most of the best contact form plugins come with built-in spam protection, so you won’t get any contact form spam. A form will also collect consistent information from visitors, so you’ll have all the data you need to write a helpful reply.
The easiest way to add a contact form to your WordPress website is by using the free WPForms plugin.
This free plugin comes with a built-in Simple Contact Form template that you can quickly customize using the drag and drop editor.
Then, simply add the form to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the ready-made WPForms block.
Once you’ve added some content to your restaurant website, you’ll want to help visitors find their way around those pages and posts by adding a navigation menu.
No matter what theme you’re using, WordPress makes it really easy to add menus and sub-menus to your restaurant website.
Step 10. Add Social Proof to Your Restaurant Website
Social proof is one of the best ways to earn customer trust, and convince new people to visit your restaurant. After all, we’re more likely to try things that we see other people buying, using, or recommending.
Using this plugin, you can create a hashtag feed and show photos that customers have tagged your account in. This includes photos of your food, venue, and shots of customers having fun at your restaurant.
Customer reviews and testimonials can provide visitors with more information, and may even solve any question or worries customers have about visiting your restaurant.
If you want to show reviews from other platforms like Yelp or Google My Business, then there’s also plenty of customer review plugins for WordPress that you can use.
These plugins will collect reviews automatically and then organize them into a nice layout on your restaurant website.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to create a restaurant website with WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide and our expert pick of the must have WordPress plugins that you should install on all business sites.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking a Typeform alternative for your website?
Typeform is a tool that lets you create different types of forms. However, it is expensive software, especially for small businesses. There are other WordPress form plugins and other alternatives that offer more features and are extremely affordable.
In this article, we’ll show you the best Typeform alternatives. We’ll include free and paid options so that you can choose the best plugin for your business.
Why Do You Need a Typeform Alternative?
Typeform is a popular software for creating different forms for your WordPress website. You can use it to make a survey or a poll for your business. It also allows you to create quizzes, application forms, and order forms.
While Typeform offers many features and form templates, it has some drawbacks. For instance, because Typeform is a SaaS (software as a service) tool, it stores data on its external servers. This can be a security vulnerability, as you’ll be trusting someone else with your customer’s personal data.
Another drawback of using Typeform is the cost. The basic plan starts from $25 per month, which can be expensive for small businesses. Plus, you cannot remove the Typeform branding in the basic plan.
If you want more features and integrations, or if you want to use your own branding, then you’ll need to upgrade to a higher pricing plan. Not to mention that they restrict the number of responses you can collect in a month. For example if you want more than 100 responses a month, you’ll be paying $600 per year, and then the next level up is $996 per year.
This will significantly drive up the cost of running a website and make Typeform less attractive for WordPress users.
There is also a free version of Typeform, but it lacks many features. This is why most smart website owners use WordPress plugins as alternatives and get more options for free.
That said, let’s look at the best Typeform alternatives.
WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin and offers a lot more features compared to Typeform. Over 5 million professionals use WPForms on their websites to create all types of forms.
It is super easy to use and offers a drag-and-drop form builder. Plus, you get many prebuilt form templates and multiple customization options.
Even in the free version of WPForms, you get features like spam protection, basic form fields, email notifications, and more. This is more than what Typeform’s free version offers users.
Besides that, WPForms comes with powerful addons. For instance, you can create a conversational form in just a few clicks or create stunning surveys and polls with ease. You also get interactive survey reports and advanced fields like the Likert scale, net promoter score (NPS), and star ratings.
Another advantage WPForms offers over Typeforms is that it easily integrates with popular email marketing tools, payment gateways to accept online payments, and other WordPress plugins like OptinMonster.
For instance, you can add a form from WPForms to an OptinMonster campaign and show it in a popup. Similarly, you can track form conversions and performance by integrating it with MonsterInsights.
Besides that, WPForms also offers other features that you won’t find in Typeform. For example, WPForms lets you track user journeys, collect geolocation data, track and reduce form abandonment, allow file uploads, and more.
Pricing: WPForms premium plans start from $49.50 per year. WPBeginner users can avail of an exclusive 50% OFF discount on all plans using our WPForms coupon. There is also a WPForms Lite version you can use for free.
Formidable Forms is an advanced WordPress form plugin and a great alternative to Typeform. You can create complex and technical forms without editing code, which is not possible in Typeform.
For instance, Formidable Forms makes it super easy to create calculators like mortgage calculators, quote request calculators, or car payment calculators.
Besides that, you can use the plugin to collect customer feedback and data by creating polls and surveys. It also makes it super easy to set up automated quizzes with grading, collect online payments, and even display form data on the front end of your website.
Other features offered by Formidable Forms include an easy-to-use drag-and-drop form builder, conditional logic, multiple form templates, visual form styler, landing pages, and more.
Pricing: Formidable Forms pricing starts from $39.50 per year. You can also use a free version of the plugin as an alternative to Typeform.
Gravity Forms is a popular Typeforms alternative you can use for your website. It is used by some of the biggest brands, like Nike, ESPN, NASA, and UNICEF.
Gravity Forms offers robust features and helps create complex form solutions at a fraction of the cost compared to Typeforms. For instance, you can use it to create quizzes, surveys, web directories, and accept user-generated content on the front end of your site.
Besides that, the plugin offers a drag-and-drop visual form builder, prebuilt form templates, and many customization options. You can also set up automated workflows and show or hide form fields, buttons, and form sections based on user behavior.
Pricing: Gravity Forms is a premium alternative to Typeforms, with prices starting from $59 per year.
HubSpot Form Builder is the next Typeform alternative on our list, and it is a powerful all-in-one marketing toolkit. It includes a form builder, live chat, analytics, popups, and other marketing tools.
Using HubSpot, you get a complete customer relationship management (CRM) platform. This helps to automatically sync your WordPress form with your contacts, easily manage them, create different segments, and more.
HubSpot Form Builder also makes a great alternative to Typeforms if you’re already using other HubSpot products, like its email marketing tool. Besides that, it easily integrates with other contact form plugins like WPForms and Formidable Forms.
Another advantage of using HubSpot is that you get to see how your forms are performing. You don’t have to integrate it with a third-party tool like Google Analytics. With built-in analytics reports, you can see which forms are converting the best.
Pricing: You can sign-up for free on HubSpot and use the CRM, live chat, and other features for free. However, their premium plans start from $45 per month (billed annually).
Jotform is a popular form builder that makes it super easy to create different types of online forms. Whether you want a simple contact form or a form to collect online payments, Jotform lets you build one in just a few minutes.
What makes Jotform a great Typeform alternative is that you can customize your forms and add your own branding and logo even in all the paid plans.
Besides that, you get a lot more features in the free version of Jotform compared to Typeform. For example, you can create up to 5 forms, get 100 monthly submissions, 100MB of storage space, and more.
Jotform also offers other products along with a form builder. You can use its store builder to create an online store, add tables, build online apps, turn form responses into visual reports, edit PDF files for free, and more.
Pricing: Jotform premium plans start from $34 per month, and you get a 30-day money-back guarantee. There is also a free Jotform version you can use to get started.
Ninja Forms is another Typeform alternative you can use for free. It lets you create interactive online forms with no coding skills required. Plus, the drag-and-drop form builder makes it super easy to design all types of forms without hiring a designer.
Asides from that, Ninja Forms also offers premium extensions for more features. For instance, you can create conversational forms using conditional logic addon or set up a multi-step form.
Other paid addons include an advanced date picker, file uploader, PDF form submission option, and more. Ninja Forms also integrates with different payment services like PayPal and Stripe, email marketing tools like MailChimp CRMs like Salesforce, and other tools like Slack and Webhooks.
Pricing: The base plugin of Ninja Forms is free to use. However, if you want more features, then you’ll need its premium extensions. The Personal plan starts from $49 per year and includes 4 addons.
Zoho Forms is a premium form builder that offers lots of features and seamless integration. It is a great alternative to Typeform if you’re already using Zoho CRM and other Zoho tools.
Zoho Forms lets you create over 30 different types of forms, including contact forms, surveys, polls, and more. Plus, it offers different form templates for multiple industries, like businesses, medical institutions, eCommerce sites, and more.
Besides that, Zoho Forms also provide multiple security options. These include SSL, field encryption, form audit, CAPTCHA, and more.
Pricing: Zoho Forms prices start from $10 per month and offers 10,000 submissions per month, 500MB storage, unlimited forms and reports, and more.
Google Forms is a free form building tool by Google and is very easy to use. You can create all types of online forms, surveys, questionnaires, feedback forms, and more.
It is a great Typeform alternative if you’re looking for a basic form builder that gets the job done. It has a simple interface and offers a drag-and-drop builder.
You can also add images to your form, break up long forms into multiple steps, get email notifications in Gmail, add skip logic to form fields, and more. Plus, your form responses get organized and stored in Google Sheets.
That said, it provides limited customization options compared to other form plugins on our list. If you want more features, then do check out our guide on Google Forms alternatives.
Pricing: Google Forms is free to use.
Which Typeform Alternative Should You Use?
After going through multiple WordPress form plugins and tools, we believe that WPForms is the best Typeform alternative. It offers the most customization options and form templates, and it has a very beginner-friendly interface.
You can create all sorts of online forms for your website using WPForms. Plus, it easily integrates with other plugins, payment methods, email marketing tools, CRMs, and other tools.
The best part is that WPForms has a free version that has more features and options compared to Typeform’s free version.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to create complex form solutions like calculators, then we recommend Formidable Forms. It offers pre-built templates and customization options, which aren’t available in Typeform.
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