CPA Site Solutions default form.

The default form that comes with any accounting website from CPA Site Solutions works great for most situations. There are times however when a custom form is better suited for a specific need.

You may have more information you would like to get from a user when they submit the form. For example maybe you want to include a field that requests information on how they were referred to you.

There can also be times when it can be beneficial to rename a field to alter the type of information you get from your form. Maybe instead of just a Name field you want to change that to Name of Business.

Any of these changes reflect ways you can customize the default form. An accounting firm’s website can benefit from the custom form as the information gained can be more specific. While the ends can yield great dividends sometimes the fear of editing a form makes it seem otherwise. Here is a break down on how to create a custom form.

Adding A Form Page

Add A Page. The first thing that you will have to do is login to your website and then head over to Add Page. Look for Form Page and then click add.

Open The Edit Window. When the page refreshes you’ll be presented with the Custom Form page and you’ll notice that there is an editable area above the Form where you can place some information about the form. However we are going to work on the Form itself, so mouse over it, click on it to open the editor, then click on the Questions Tab.

Questions Tab within the Form Edit

Add Questions. From here you can now add your specific questions by hitting Add Question in the top right hand corner of the pop-up. There are two options on the next screen, Title and Type, the Title field represents the question you would like to ask and the Type determines what kind of answer you are going to ask for and the Required check box makes the question required.

Know What Data You Want to Get. This is probably the most important part of the process as it underlies the whole reason you are creating the custom form. What data do you need and how can it be asked of the user without making them frustrated by the process.

This means you will need to take care with what questions you use and how you word them to get the data you want. Look for a future post on tips that you can use to create your questions.

Type Dropdown Choices for a Custom Form

Select (drop down), Radio, or Checkbox Options. If you choose Select (drop down), Radio, or Checkbox and hit save you will be brought back to the Questions list. Next to your question will be a button named Options.

When you click on the button you’ll be presented with the Title and Value options again. This time in the Title you should enter the value you want displayed in the drop down list, next to the check box, or next to the radio button.

Options for Radio or Check Box

The Value Is Important. The Value is what will be emailed to you when the person selects that option from the list and hits Send at the bottom of the form, so make it something you will remember.

Adding Options. After you enter your first Title and Value and hit save you’ll be brought to another screen. Here you can keep adding the options you would like displayed in the drop down list, as a check box or radio button.

With the knowledge of what each of these options can do you, you are now armed to make your own custom form. In order to give you a little bit of inspiration here is a form that CFO Services created and are using on their site.

Send us a comment on what custom form you have created for your firm’s webite and how it has worked for you. We may use it in a future article on effective custom form creation.

CFO Services Custom Form