Almost every agency Web site has at least one form, typically a basic form located on a “Contact Us” or “Request Information” page. In these cases, the form usually collects some kind of customer information — name, address, phone and fax number, e-mail address, and other things the agency might want to know. Most forms include some combination of fill-in-the-blank boxes, check boxes, and radio buttons.
Most agency Web site forms are set up simply, with little thought about making effective use of the data collected and how it’s stored. How collected data is processed and made available to an end user depends on the authoring software used for creating the form. Most agencies receive collected customer information via an e-mail that contains the information.
About the only thing an agency can do is print out the e-mail. To make it useful, someone then retypes the information into a database, contact management program, or an agency management system. That’s double work and introduces the element of human error. Wouldn’t it be more efficient if collected data could automatically be stored in a re-useable electronic format?
One tool, csMailTo, $49 from cgiscript.net, is a nifty cgi script that provides that capability. Some of the features of csMailTo include…
Simple forms creation
csMailTo makes it extremely easy to set up and process Web forms. After you log in and click "Create a New Form," you are presented with this form:
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Start by providing a name for the form. Since csMailTo has conveniently listed all of the basic contact fields you'd want to have on your form (such as first and last name, e-mail, phone number, etc.) simply click in the "use" box for fields you want to include in your form. If you want to require the visitor to fill in any of fields, you can also click in the "Req." checkbox.
In addition to checking off basic data collection fields, you can also create your own fields and set up forms processing:
The "User Defined Fields" can be of any type: text, text area, checkboxes, a dropdown list, radio buttons, and a file upload field. Again, you have the option to make those fields required.
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A "Forms Setting" area is included (outlined in red in the screenshot below). In addition to form cosmetics, you fill in the e-mail address of the person you want the results sent to. You can also copy the results to others. The "from" field will be automatically filled from the visitor's e-mail address — provided you use and require that field on the form.
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Another feature, the ability to pre-set a subject line for the e-mail results, is especially helpful if you have more than one form on your Web site. Creating different subject lines will make it instantly clear to the recipient which form was processed. For example, a subject line might be "Auto Claim Form," or Customer Contact Information.”
Data automatically saved in Excel
Now, here is the feature that adds valuable utility to this handy program. Notice the question (outlined in blue in the screenshot above), "Do you wish to have the feedback exported to an external file?” "Yes," which is the default, automatically saves all responses in an Excel spreadsheet. Captured data in an electronic format saves re-keying and reduces errors. And depending on what you want to do with the information, you can easily reorganize it, format it, export it, and merge it with other programs, including your agency management system.
Recommendation
If you want to add fast and easy forms creation and processing to your Web site, I recommend csMailTo — it’s a tool that does one thing very well.
© Copyright 2003 by Sound Internet Strategy. All rights reserved
Most agency Web site forms are set up simply, with little thought about making effective use of the data collected and how it’s stored.