Three ways to connect a form
A website form that sends an email is a request that depends on whoever opens the inbox that morning. Connected to the CRM, it creates a record, assigned to someone, with a date. There are three ways to make the link.
The Zoho CRM webform. You build it in Zoho, choose the fields, and Zoho gives you code to paste into the page. It's the most direct. It works for leads, contacts, cases and the modules you've created yourself.
Zoho Forms. It's Zoho's form builder, connected to the CRM. You use it when the form is richer: several steps, file attachments, questions that depend on the answers.
The Zoho CRM API. The site keeps its own form, in its own style, and sends the request to the CRM in code. It's the choice for a custom site. It requires development, and it's done on the server side, not in the browser.
The steps, in order
Decide where the request lands
Someone writing for the first time is a lead. They're not a client yet. So in Zoho CRM, we have them arrive in Leads, and convert them when the sale moves forward. Having everyone arrive in Contacts mixes the curious with the clients.
Choose few fields
Every field on the form is a column to maintain in the CRM. Name, email, phone, and what the person is looking for. For that last question, a list of choices beats free text: you can then sort and count.
Add hidden fields
The form can send values the visitor doesn't see: the page they're writing from, the campaign that brought them. That's what lets you know, six months later, where the good requests come from.
Set up assignment and notifications
A request with no owner belongs to no one. We set who it's assigned to, by a rule if several people sell. We also set two emails: a notification to the owner, and an acknowledgement to the visitor.
Protect the form
A public form attracts bots. Zoho CRM offers a captcha and lets you accept only submissions that come from your domain.
Test with a real request
We fill in the form like a client would. We check that the record arrives, with all its fields, with the right person, and that both emails go out.
The pitfalls
- Duplicates. A client who writes twice creates two records, if nothing is planned. We decide in advance which field Zoho uses to recognize a person, most often the email.
- The code you touch up. You can style the form in the site's colours. But Zoho puts its own hidden fields in it: remove them and the form stops working.
- The newsletter. Signing someone up for a newsletter requires express consent. A checkbox, empty to start, and a record of the date.
- Law 25. When collecting personal information, you say why you're collecting it, with a link to the privacy policy.
- The follow-up. The form creates the record. It doesn't call the client back. Without a reminder in the CRM and someone to act on it, you've only moved the inbox.
What we did at Formatrad
Formatrad delivers workplace health and safety training across Quebec: forklifts, aerial lifts, WHMIS, lockout, confined spaces, and custom courses.
Nobody could clearly see who had taken which course, or where each client stood. Requests came in through the website form and the newsletter, and follow-up was redone by hand, email by email.
We set up Zoho CRM around what it sells: courses, leads and clients. Then we connected it to its website: the form and the newsletter go straight into the CRM. We also handle its basic IT support, on the Microsoft side.
Formatrad has been an Actif client for about a year and a half, and we still support it.
What this case shows: a form needs a tidy place to land. The CRM is set up around what the business sells, and the form plugs into it.
When it's not the right solution
If you get two requests a month, a well-kept inbox is enough. A CRM nobody uses is one more tool to pay for.
If what the visitor wants is an appointment, an online calendar does better than a form: they pick their time, and you don't have to call them back to set it.
If you already use another CRM and it suits you, the same logic applies with its own forms. There's no reason to change tools for a form.
And if your Zoho already exists but nobody opens it, the form isn't the first job. We start by getting the CRM back in shape. It's one of the two situations on our page Digital transformation.