Form validation

In a previous article, I've put form validation the first in the list of "what every contact form should have". Today I am gonna talk about this a little more, because I feel many people do not understand the real value of form validation.

Form validation is obtained using special created scripts, that take the input values and compare them with the expected input format (an email address, a numeric value, an alphanumeric string, a valid date, a valid time etc). There are 2 categories of form validation scripts: client-side scripts (usually JavaScript) and server-side (PHP, ASP etc). They both have advantages and disadvantages. JavaScript form validation is very powerful, but it becomes useless if the visitor's browser has JavaScript disabled. Server-side form validation usually needs the page to be reloaded for the validation to take place, but it can be considered more reliable.

There are many form validation options, each having its own usage. For example, if you run a hotel, and you want to let your customers reserve rooms using your website, you probably have a contact form that asks for a name, a valid email, a valid phone number, a valid check-in date, a valid check-out date, and maybe other fields. If your form does not have form validation, and your customers enters, by mistake, an invalid email and an invalid phone number, you won't be able to contact the customer to confirm the reservation, so you'll probably lose money! This is why you must use form validation, and make sure your visitors enter the expected data in your form's fields.

All the major online form generators offer form validation. I recommend you 123ContactForm form validation, especially if you need advanced form validation, ie: alpha (only letters), alphanumeric (only letters and numbers), alphaspace (letters and spaces), alphanumericspace (letters, numbers, spaces), numeric, numericplus (numbers plus .+-).

Secure online forms

When your site uses only simple web forms, consisting of fields like Name, Email, Subject, you don't have reasons to think of using secure forms. But when you create advanced web forms, that require sensitive data from customers, you should consider using secure online forms.

Secure online forms are exactly like regular web forms, but the the entire form content (fields and entered data) is encrypted. Usually, this is done using a SSL certificate, which is installed on the server that hosts the forms. After installing the SSL certificate, your visitors can access the forms through the HTTPS protocol, and they can be confident that the data they enter in the forms will be seen only by the form owner.

Installing a SSL certificate is not an easy task, and usually requires assistance from your hosting company. Also, SSL certificates have to be bought, and they cost from $25 to $500, depending on various options and settings you wish to use. This is why it is much easier to use remote secure online forms, created with 3rd party form processors. While there are a lot of options out there, let me show you the best three I found: 123ContactForm offers secure order forms if you choose the $19.95 Platinum plan; Wufoo offers SSL encryption starting with the $29.95 Bona Fide plan; FormStack offers SSL forms starting with the $14 Starter plan.

Email autoresponders

One of the most important features when it comes to contact forms is autoresponders. They are very useful if you want to automatically send a "thank-you" message to the form submitter, or even sensitive data, like a download link. Autoresponders make the communication process much easier, because they are sent automatically, and not after a couple of hours, which would probably be the case if you manually reply all form submissions, and you have a wealthy business.

For example, if you write and sell ebooks, and you get your orders using a Paypal order form , you can focus on your main activity - writing books -, and let your autoresponder do "the dirty job" of sending the download links. This will also make your customers very happy, because they will be able to use the ebook within minutes.

Another important aspect of web form autoresponders is the possibility to personalize the autoresponders. For example, an email that begins with "Hello Mike," makes a better impression to your customers then an email that begins with "Hello,". This can be achieved if the autoresponder script knows how to handle custom variables, and use them to generate the personalized autoresponders.



123ContactForm offers a nice web form autoresponder script, Wufoo also does, but names it confirmation email.