COVID-19 and the global pandemic is causing many events to cancel their schedules. Industries that rely on public attendance are looking for new ways to reach the public and Formsite has tools to help. Find resources for online events and other virtual gatherings here.

Events have a special need for targeted advertising, landing pages, and instant Notifications. Using tools like Inventory and Workflow can help to keep track of event details, too.

Tools for Online Events

Many event organizers and locations are finding success with virtual shows. To collect attendee registrations, vendor information, ticket sales, etc., online forms are indispensable. Formsite’s features for events include:

• Always secure data collection
• Notification emails
• Email routing items
• Integrated payment collection
• Zapier integrations for 2,000+ services
• Results Docs
• Analytics & Reporting

Organizations and event managers making the move online use Formsite forms for fast setup and management. Formsite has solutions and templates for all event needs. Starting with registration forms for vendors, attendees, and sponsors, through follow-up post-event forms.

Using online forms with landing pages lets event advertisers collect analytics data to track site visitors. Combined with conditional logic, forms can send Notifications for significant events to key personnel. Results Reports show a real-time view of form results for instant analysis.

Support for the Future

As more organizations and events get online, more technology emerges to support new ways to do business. Recent innovations include smart mobile apps, virtual and augmented reality, and real-time interactions. Future features could include location triggers, connected shows, and personalized demos.

Formsite supports developers through features like Server Post, Zapier, and Custom Code items. Our forms use standard HTML elements for universal compatibility and allows developers to add custom code if desired. Some examples include collecting video and automating Google Calendar links for scheduling.

For businesses affected by Covid-19 and facing the decision to close, consider how online forms can help. Many businesses can make a temporary change to online service or change operations altogether. One of the best ways to grow your business despite Covid-19 may be to shift focus to online tools.

Consider where you find your best customers and what products or services you provide. Then broaden your scope to see how you can continue fulfilling their needs.

The upcoming school year brings many changes for students, parents, and educators. Formsite helps schools and educators stay connected to students and parents with smart online forms. Remote learning and other education forms rely on Formsite for secure and dependable operation.

Many school districts expect to reduce class size and have students attend on alternate days to reduce risk of exposure. Staying in touch with parents and students is the biggest challenge, and online forms help to keep the conversation going.

The Covid-19 pandemic created the need for a new type of form: The Daily Health Screening. As organizations resume operations, some ask employees to perform a daily self-assessment. Formsite has helped many such organizations develop their check-in and screening forms.

Examples of industries using daily health screenings include:

• Food service: Kitchen staff, servers, anyone who touches food or equipment.
• Public service: Retail, customer service, shipping and receiving.
• Education: Teachers and other essential facility personnel.

Formsite has added Amazon S3 as a new file integration service. This integration lets form owners send results documents or attached files to a connected Amazon S3 bucket. As with the other cloud file storage services, Amazon’s S3 service provides a secure online space for file storage.

Adding uploaded files and results data to an S3 bucket lets form owners create processes using the cloud features of Amazon AWS like:

• Versioning
• Advanced permissions
• Scalable file storage
• Meta information

Thank you to all Formsite customers for choosing Formsite over the last 22 years! We continue our unbroken streak of growth in customers, revenue, profit, traffic, and payments processed for 22 years straight. Formsite remains 100% bootstrapped and are proud to provide service on our own terms.

We have worked hard over the past year to continue evolving Formsite’s features including:

• Save results to cloud storage (Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3)
• WordPress Plugin
• Results Docs using Word DOCX templates
• Data Retention Policy
• Slack integration
• Many new templates and ways to find them
• New interface design

Formsite’s feedback form templates help organizations collect program information from their users. Many organizations have developed or increased their use of online tools in response to the global epidemic. Tools like e-learning, remote work, and cloud collaboration may have required an unexpected amount of work to build and learn. Feedback forms and surveys let program owners gather opinions and suggestions for improvement.

Examples of feedback forms include:

• Contact forms
• Evaluation forms
• Event feedback
• Surveys

Feedback Form Templates

Collecting user information about programs allows managers to test ideas and gauge satisfaction. Whatever the program, having a way to receive feedback is crucial for evaluation.

Templates for evaluation and suggestion forms contain items to collect opinions or comments, and are often anonymous. See our previous article about tips and techniques for collecting anonymous feedback. Common ways to collect ratings include Likert scales (agree or disagree) or numerical (1-10).

Elements of Feedback Forms & Surveys

Formsite templates let form owners find examples of online forms by industry and type, then copy the template as a new form. Browsing the templates also shows each form’s style for design inspiration. Collecting feedback can be a wide or narrow scope so further customization is usually needed.

Look for a form that contains some items or designs for a starting point, then add, edit, or remove items to complete the new form. The Radio Button Matrix and Star Matrix are the most common items for collecting numerical ratings.

Collecting results and storing in the form’s Results Table provides a clear picture over time. Export the results to use with other analysis programs or use the built-in Results -> Analytics pages for a built-in comparison. Use the Scoring features to provide a numerical weighting for each answer, then trigger Rules for more features.

How to Use Online Feedback Templates

1. Find the templates pages in the Templates area by industry or type.
2. Click the Get This Form button on a template to copy the form to your account.
3. Another way to copy a form template is to log in to a Formsite account, click the Create New Form button, then browse the available templates. Choose the template to start with and click the button to create a copy in the account.
4. Use the form editor to add, delete, and edit the form items to customize the form.
5. Send out the form’s link found on the Share page or use the embed code to display on another site.

Upcoming regulations for European customers require Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for qualifying online transactions. In preparation for the new programs, Formsite has updated its Stripe payment integration to the SCA-ready version.

Strong Customer Authentication is a European program to help make online payments more secure. As part of the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), SCA requires extra info to complete payments.

Like 2-factor authentication, SCA requires 2 of 3 of the following:

1. Something the customer knows (password, PIN, etc.)
2. Something the customer has (device)
3. Something the customer is (fingerprint)

Formsite online form templates help form owners build new nonprofit forms fast. Our templates area lets form builders search for templates by type or industry and start with an exact copy. Nonprofit (or non-profit) organizations frequently use forms like:

• Donation forms
• Online auctions
• Pledge forms
• Volunteer forms

Types of Forms Used by Nonprofits

Organizations with nonprofit status use form items that share attributes with other forms types. A few types like nonprofit forms include order forms, registration forms, and HR forms. For example, collecting pledges and online donations uses order form items to calculate prices.

Registration forms and order forms use Inventory settings to limit the total number of results received. The settings prevent over-selling or over-booking by limiting the choices in the Results Table.

Human Resources forms use Notifications to send results using conditional logic and other rules. This logic validates answers to make sure the right people get the right information.

Using Nonprofit Form Templates

An easy way to build an online nonprofit form begins at https://formsite.com/templates/non-profit/. Form owners can browse the templates and click the Get This Form button to copy the template to their account.

Another way to find nonprofit form templates:

1. Log in to a Formsite account, click the Create New Form button, then look through the list of templates.
2. Choose a template with items or styles like the ones needed, then click the button to start with that template.
3. Use the form editor to edit the template items and add or delete items as needed.
4. New Formsite customers or those needing a refresher, the Getting Started video shows how the form editor works.
5. Find the form’s link on the Share page and paste into an email or post on a website or social media site for visitors to complete.

Resources

• Build new non-profit form solutions fast

Formsite order forms let people make forms to pay for products and services online. Even for taking orders in person, online forms make it easy to collect payments and send receipts. With tools like Pre-populated forms and integrated payments, Formsite makes contactless payments easy.

As the global pandemic becomes our new normal we have learned that minimizing contact with larger numbers is our only way forward. For many people, though, public interaction is the only way to collect payments. For example, garage sales, flea markets, and storefronts that rely on foot traffic. Also for on-site services like lawn care, contractors, or temporary help. Without a company’s infrastructure, many small and local businesses need ways to collect payments.