Transform your lead capturing to increase growth

Driving leads in the form of data capture is one of the main aims for most websites.

Lead capture can be done in many ways. But in this article, we have concentrated on the top lead capture tools that we use with many clients, to help them capture leads from their website, and turn them into business growth.

 

Lead capture tools reviewed

• Contact Form 7 plugin – WordPress standard plugin with 5 million active installations
• Formidable Forms plugin – Great functionality with data-driven insights
• Gravity Forms plugin – Our preferred platform with great enhancements in new v2.5
• CRM integrations – A vital part of storing data from lead capture
• Marketing automation – To maximise your lead capture and turn it into business growth

 

Contact Form 7 Plugin

Contact Form 7 plugin is the standard for WordPress forms. It has over 5 million active installations worldwide, and 1000 plus 5-star ratings. Making this a great option for your website contact form.

Pros of Contact Form 7 plugin

• Easy to install on WordPress sites (any version) and compatible with any WordPress theme
• Ready-made in-built contact forms that can be easily added to your pages and posts
• Ability to add re-captcha function to prevent spam
• Various custom fields and extended form field options available
• Email functionality with customisable messages.

Cons of Contact Form 7 plugin

• Advanced interface, not ideal for novice content editors
• Third-party addons are needed if using the core plugin
• Limited support options
• Not able to preview form changes before publishing.

 

Formidable Forms Plugin

Formidable Forms WordPress plugin offers extensive functionality that allows you to build simple or complex forms, and provides data analysis tools to allow you to make data-driven decisions.

Pros of Formidable Forms plugin

• Simple drag and drop form builder makes the creation of forms easy
• A large range of form templates including contact, calculator, payment and WooCommerce forms
• Various styling options means you can make each form your own and visually appealing
• Great support with extensive documentation and support team
• Display form entries on pages and posts with graphs or charts. Data is updated automatically when new entries are added
• Easy to connect add-ons.

Cons of Formidable Forms plugin

• Integration selection is slightly limited compared to other plugins such as Gravity Forms
• There is a cost if you want access to premium functionality.

 

Gravity Forms Plugin

Gravity Forms WordPress plugin offers a wide range of features to allow you to create professional and conversion driving forms. The new Gravity Forms update 2.5 rolling out this week, will unlock even more features to boost the performance of this plugin.

Pros of Gravity Forms plugin

• Drag and drop column control to easily manage form layouts. (Version 2.5)
• Large range of integrations including HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho, plus Zapier connections to link with anything else
• Easy to use form editor with conditional logic and editable field settings
• 30+ ready to use form fields making form building easy and quick
• Ability for users to save partially completed forms to complete later
• Prevent spam with Google reCaptcha, Really Simple Captcha and Akismet options.

Cons of Gravity Forms plugin

• Pro or elite licenses can be a more expensive option and no free version.

 

CRM Integrations

Pushing your captured data directly into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform enables centralised management of your contacts, faster and more accurate processing, automation of tasks, and tighter control on data integrity, security, and compliance.

We work with all of the leading platforms including HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Zoho, Wild apricot, to name a few. However, regardless of the system you use, we can always find a solution, as it’s vital to integrate your website’s data capture forms with your CRM to drive relationships and growth.

Benefits of integrating your forms with a CRM

1. Real time data reporting
2. Marketing automation
3. Quality and actionable data
4. Segmentation to aid workflow processing
5. Improved relationships
6. Centralised control and management

We have explored this topic in more detail in our article 8 benefits integrating your website with your CRM.

 

Marketing Automation

This is the final piece in the lead capture puzzle, as it allows you to automate messages and content in response to your data capture.

Marketing automation can save a tremendous amount of time by automating elements like follow up emails, reminder emails, internal follow ups and so much more. These systems once created, also reduce the risk of human error in remembering to send the follow ups. Therefore, it greatly increases efficiency and boosts growth by maximising the leads generated.

We work with many systems including Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), Marketo, and MailChimp, however, we have found HubSpot to be one of the best marketing automation tools out there. It’s user-friendly and can be tailored for simple or complex lead nurture processes. Features include an intuitive workflow creation tool helping you to manage data at scale and nurture your leads, customisable emails which can be A/B tested to help improve conversion rates, and easy to build HubSpot forms that can be embedded in your website to provide an extra level of tracking and insight.

The system you choose really depends on what you are looking to use it for. Make a list of your requirements, and keep an open mind to the options, as there may be features you see when researching solutions that you didn’t even know you needed!