WordPress

11 Reasons To Use The Gravity Forms WordPress Plug-In

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You might be a skeptic.  I know I was.

I was getting along just fine with Contact Form 7 as my go-to contact form plug-in for WordPress.  Don’t get me wrong, Contact Form 7 is an outstanding free plug-in.  If all you need is a simple contact form plug-in, Contact Form 7 will do the trick nicely.

But what about those times when you need an advanced form?  Something more powerful.  Something with more functionality right out of the box.

It might be time to get Gravity Forms.

Here are 11 reasons you will want to upgrade to Gravity Forms.

1. When you need to record and export entries

Gravity Forms writes entries to the database and allows you to export them to CSV.  The CSV file can then be opened using a spreadsheet program like Excel.

If your client wants to be able to store the responses to a form over a long period of time, Gravity Forms will make it happen.

Gravity Forms Exportable Entries

2. When you need a form with style

Gravity Forms just look better on the page.  On top of that, the design of the email notifications is easier to use.

Also, the user interface is much more intuitive than any free contact form plug-in I have ever used.

Building forms with Gravity Forms is, dare I say, an elegant experience.

3.  When you need a form with conditional logic

Conditional logic, sometimes called “skip” logic, is a way of tailoring the form based on the responses that are given.

For example, If a respondent selects “76K+” in the “Annual Income” field, show (or hide) Question 2.

Contact Form Plug In For WordPress with Conditional Logic

I would like to see some improvement in the way Gravity Forms handles conditional logic but it works well for simple conditional logic needs.

4.  When you need routing of notifications

When you are designing a form for a larger organization, they will sometimes need the email notifications sent to different recipients based on the responses given in the form.

Gravity forms to the rescue.  Routing notification emails to different recipients is a snap with this plug-in.

For example, if the respondent selects “Volunteering” in the “I’m interested in” field, the notifications go to James.

Contact Form WordPress plug in with email notification routing

5. When the client needs to be able to build and add forms

Let’s face it, most clients don’t want to have to learn code.  Even shortcode.

Gravity forms is a point and click interface. It’s as easy as it gets.

Inserting the forms into posts or pages is very easy as well.  No code, just select the Gravity Forms icon and insert the form.

Easy To Use Contact Form Plugin For WordPress

6. When you need to accept payments

This is a biggie.

Gravity Forms includes a complete set of Pricing Fields and the ability to integrate with PayPal.  It offers the ability to have multiple products with multiple options.  It calculates shipping as well.

Then, it integrates with PayPal.

For example, if you were selling a book with a hardback and paperback edition at different prices, Gravity Forms can handle it.

Gravity Forms Can Take Payment

7. When you need data formatted

Do you need your phone numbers formatted to XXX-XXX-XXXX?  Do you want date fields to be displayed in a certain way?  What about address information?

Gravity Forms can do all of that.

8. When you need conversion data

Here is another area that Gravity Forms could improve but if you need basic conversion data on the form, it is there.  And it is super useful.

If you have a client that insists on asking for an ungodly amount of information in their lead form despite your warnings of low conversion, this small amount of reporting should convince them otherwise.

Lead Form WordPress Plug-In with Conversion Reporting

9. When you want to create user-generated content

This is super cool.

Gravity Forms can create a form that populates into a WordPress post.

The respondent can enter the body of the post, select the Post Category and even upload an image through the Gravity Form.

Easy Way To Create User Generated Content For a Blog

10. When you need multi-page forms

There may be a free plug-in that does multi-page forms with a status bar at the top, but I haven’t found one.

Gravity Forms allows you to easily insert page breaks in the form, each with their own headings, etc.

Contact Form Plug-In Multi-Page

11. When you need the ability to upload files

This one comes up all the time.

When you need a form that can easily upload files and you want to be able to control the file type, Gravity Forms is your answer.  A link to the uploaded file is also added to the email notification for quick access.

I would like to see the ability to limit the file size of the upload, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Contact Form That Can Upload Files

All in all, Gravity Forms is a very powerful plug-in.  If you are a marketer or website designer that uses WordPress it is well worth adding to your arsenal of plug-ins.

My guess is you have already thought of several ways you can use this nifty little plug-in.

What about you?  How do you use Gravity Forms?  Why do you use it? What other plug-ins do you use?


Russ Henneberry is the Editorial Director at Digital Marketer. He's worked on digital marketing projects for companies like CrazyEgg, Salesforce.com and Network Solutions. You can connect with Russ on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or on his blog.

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