Adding forms to your WordPress site will make it easy for site visitors to contact you or for you to create polls and quizzes.
It’ll also make your site more secure: instead of publishing your email address and getting loads of spam, you can use a form to control how you receive messages. Even better, you can specify who in your business form submissions will go to, so the right person gets the information they need.
Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t come with forms functionality out of the box. To add forms to your site, you need to install a plugin.
It’s tempting to use a free forms plugin, but there’s a reason they’re free – most of them are frustrating to use, with an interface that leaves a lot to be desired.
So if you want forms that are easy to add, simple to customize and look great on your site, the best option is to pay for a premium forms plugin.
The Forminator Pro plugin is designed for professional WordPress site owners who want form building to be quick and easy. It includes advanced customization and styling options and lets you add not just contact forms, but polls and quizzes too.
It uses a drag and drop interface that means you don’t have to write any code or wade through complicated options to add forms to your site.
So let’s take a look at how it works.
Installing the Forminator Pro Plugin
You can download a free version of the Forminator plugin or upgrade to Forminator Pro. A 30-day trial means you can try the Pro plugin with no risk.
Upload the plugin to your site via Plugins > Add New. Click the Upload Plugin button to upload the zip file and then activate it in the normal way.
If you’re already a WPMU DEV subscriber, you can add it to your WordPress site from within your admin screens, by going to WPMU DEV > Plugins and searching for Forminator Pro.
So now you’ve got your forms plugin installed and activate – time to create your first form.
Creating and Editing a Form
Before you can add forms to the pages in your site, you’ll need to create them.
Go to Forminator Pro > Forms to see the Forms screen.
Click the Create button to create your first form.
Creating a Form
To help you create your form, the plugin gives you a choice of templates.
Pick the one you need and click Continue. I’m going to select Contact Form.
Next, give your form a unique name. This won’t be seen by users: it’s just for you. Click the Create button to create your form.
You’ll find yourself at the Edit Form page. Here you can add fields to your form and customize its settings.
You can add as many fields as you want but remember: the more fields people have to fill out, the less likely they will complete the form and hit the Submit button. The fewer fields, the better.
You can also customize the fields you add. Click the gear icon to the right of each field to edit it. You can change the label or placeholder text, make the field required or optional, and more. You can also add conditional display, based on an entry in another field.
Once you’ve finished editing your field, click the Apply button to save your changes.
Customizing And Configuring the Form
You can also customize and configure the form itself, via the options on the left hand side of the form editing screen:
•    Appearance lets you customize the form’s design, to make it consistent with your site’s branding.
•    Behaviour lets you configure what happens after someone submits the form, as well as security and performance settings.
•    Email Notifications lets you create automated emails. These will be to people in your organization and to the person submitting the form.
•    Integrations lets you send data to your mailing list provider. This is one of Forminator’s most powerful features because it integrates with all the major providers. If you switch provider in the future, you don’t have to install a new plugin or create new forms.
•    Settings lets you configure how data from your forms is stored.
Once your form is ready, click the Publish button to make it live.
Adding a Form to Your Site
So now you have your form. But it isn’t much use if you don’t add it to your site.
You have two options for this:
•    Add the form’s shortcode to a post or page, inside a shortcode block. If you’re using the classic editor, just type the shortcode directly into your post.
•    Use the Forminator Widget to add a form to your sidebar or footer. Here you can choose which form to display and select the form type: form, poll or quiz. Go to Appearance > Widgets (or in the Customizer select the Widgets option), then drag the Forminator Pro widget into the widget area you want it to show up in.
Managing Form Submissions
Once your form is live, the plugin lets you monitor submissions and respond to people.
You’ll receive notification emails when someone submits an entry, and you can also access form entries via Forminator Pro > Submissions in your WordPress admin. Here you’ll see the entries to each form you’ve created. You can follow them up, forward them to other team members, or save them for later.
Forminator Pro Makes WordPress Forms Easy
If you’re looking for a simple and robust way to add forms to your site, the Forminator Pro form builder plugin has your back. It gives you a straightforward, drag and drop interface with plenty of customization options that will help you create forms, polls and quizzes.
Happy form building!