One of the lesser-known features of Formsite forms are the form Header & Footer settings page. These areas let form owners insert content that appears on every page of the form, and can include images, text, and some custom HTML.

The most common use for the form header is to insert the organization’s logo and other branding elements. Other ideas for the form header and footer include:

Header:

• Logo and branding
• Personalization and pre-populated content
• Instructions and tips for completing the form

Footer:

• Custom scripts (Javascript and/or analytics tracking code)
• Legal links (terms of use, privacy policy, etc.)
• Contact information

Whether it’s a logo, product image, or simply an interesting background, adding images to forms and other places helps to communicate with form visitors.

Formsite form owners at every service level can add images to forms, success pages, notifications, and virtually every other possible location. Past articles contain instructions for adding images, using the built-in and external hosting, and adding mobile-friendly styles.

This article combines the basics from those previous articles into a one-stop reference guide for using images with your Formsite account.

Creating order forms that collect online payments is one of Formsite’s most popular uses. The payment integrations allow form owners to connect their order forms directly with their merchant accounts at PayPal, Authorize.net, and Stripe. A little-known feature of some of the payment integrations is the ability to send additional order information with each payment transaction.

Typically, each transaction collects only the essential information at the payment processor, like the payment amount and the time of the transaction. In addition to the essential transaction information, it’s also possible to send contact information or other result information along with the transaction information.

New form owners sometimes need help getting started building their first online form templates. Order forms, registration forms, surveys, etc. can be daunting while still in the idea phase, and often all that’s needed is a nudge in the right direction. A good place to start learning about form building is by using one of Formsite’s form templates, like our online survey form template or our website evaluation form example. The templates allow new account owners to quickly see how forms are built and how they work. Our examples and templates have around 100 premade forms and surveys that cover a broad range of possibilities.

A new feature has been added to Formsite’s Rules to streamline a previously complex process. Many customers request a threshold for order forms to provide a discount over a certain quantity or price threshold. Prior to this order form rules update, the steps needed included enabling Scoring, tracking the score, then creating the rule based on the total score.

This new feature removes that workaround and instead allows form owners to set rules on individual quantity and pricing items. Example uses include:

• Automated discounts: Get 10% off orders over $100
• Table rate for taxes or shipping: Free shipping for 5 or more items
• Group pricing: Party rooms available for 10+ guests

Notifications alert form owners of new results, send auto-responses to form visitors, and notify relevant team members of new results. The built-in notifications page lets form owners send emails, though many owners have created systems to send non-email notifications, too. Every successful form submission triggers the notifications and integrations, so setting up forms to send non-email notifications is also possible. These notifications offer form owners a broader range of options including customized messages, delayed or repeated messages, and advanced automated features like creating events and scheduling.

Form results are saved in the Results Table as rows and each row represents a single result. Many Formsite features use the results to trigger actions like Integrations, display in Reports, etc. There are times, however, that call for only certain results' information. These times use Results Filters to specify which results to use.

Filters can be used to segment the Results Table in real time to evaluate whether an action should be taken. For example, a Results Filter can be made to return all results without a blank email address, which can then be added to a Google Sheet. Using the filter for high-quality leads is just one example of what is possible with Results Filters.

Updated Nov 2019: Our Results Docs now support Microsoft Word templates in addition to PDF templates. See all about Results Docs on our support site!

The Results PDF feature lets Formsite customers create a form and connect the fields to a PDF form. This feature automates filling of PDF forms and allows form owners and visitors to receive the completed forms quickly and accurately.

Examples of this feature in action include filling out tax forms during the U. S. tax season or setting up new employees:

• 1040: U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
• W-9: Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification
• W-4: Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate
• 2848: Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
• 2106: Employee Business Expenses

Formsite account owners have access to some of the most powerful and useful integrations available. These integrations allow enhanced functions like payment processing, copies of file attachments, and email list automation. In addition to adding email addresses to lists, the Mailchimp merge tags let form owners send other information to enhance list records.

What are Mailchimp Merge Tags?

The initial fields available with a new Mailchimp list are First Name, Last Name, and Email Address. Merge tags allow list owners to set additional, custom fields to add information and context to each list record.

The European Union (or EU) has worked to protect online information rights for European and global citizens alike. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new regulatory plan that provides individual data protection rights, and also aligns multiple data privacy laws across Europe under a single directive. This new regulation protects EU citizens and provides an outline for online privacy. The effect on US and other global businesses is to require that everyone complies with the GDPR guidelines when conducting business with EU citizens. Accordingly, Formsite has taken the necessary steps to fully comply with the Privacy Shield and GDPR directives.