Today I’m going to write my FormCraft review. In the next 1,000 or so words I’m going to try and convince you to invest in this plugin. It’s not a marketing pitch. I’m going to share my experiences using the plugin and the different ways you can implement it in your business.
If you’re using WordPress and you need a form builder then it’s going to be an easy sell, because…
It’s basically awesome.
Since setting FormCraft up on my site I’ve rarely touched it. Yet the plugin has been running along in the background taking booking requests and sending intro emails to my clients and the order message to my inbox.
I’m making the plugin sound a lot like a personal assistant, which is basically what FormCraft is. It’s never taken a sick day, asked for a pay rise or given me problems.
Yes awesome.
We’ll start this FormCraft review at the beginning.
What is Formcraft
FormCraft is a premium WordPress plugin that is sold through Codecanyon. As the name implies it’s a form builder. You can use Formcraft to create contact forms, order forms, optin forms or simple payment forms.
All of the orders are tracked through the main analytics dashboard. The dashboard shows you how many people viewed the forms and the number of submissions you receive. There’s also a handy chart that shows you how things are going over time plus the conversion rate.
The user interface is a brilliant example of what a WordPress plugin should look like. It borrows the elements of the WordPress interface and puts them back together again in a different order.
User flow is just as intuitive. From the main dashboard, where you have the analytics, you can take a number of actions. You can view your submissions, though I’ve never done this as Formcraft sends the orders to my email, create a new form from scratch or edit one of your existing forms.
As this is the start of my Formcraft review I’ll go over how to create a new form from scratch.
The FormCraft Form Editor
The FormCraft editing screen is where the magic happens. All of the forms are composed of different elements. There are 16 to choose from that include things like a text heading, single line input fields, datepicker and multiple choice fields.
You just click on the element you want to select to insert it onto your form.
Once the element is on the form you can click it again to edit it how you want. So for example you can change the working on the input field, say name for example, and make it a required field. Plus you can add instructions so your users don’t get confused.
With the text fields you can do things like change the font color and the size of font. It’s basically got all of the customisation options that you’d want from your form builder.
There are also general ways you can edit the appearance of the forms. You can change the width of your form and make the background color fit your branding. That sort of thing. This mix of great functionality and attractive design makes FormCraft worth it even if you just want to use it to create good looking submission forms.
Where this FormCraft review gets interesting though is when you look at the additional features.
Top of my list is the email integration. When you link FormCraft up with you email server two things happen a) you’ll receive an email each time a form on the site gets filled in b) you can setup an autoresponder to your customers.
The autoresponder has the basic functionality that you’d get from your regular email marketing platform. You can compose a message and populate each response with unique information like the name of the person.
Unfortunately you can’t schedule the time of the autoresponder – it works automatically – or setup an email sequence. Though you can integrate FormCraft with your email marketing provider if you use an addon.
The other thing I should mention is that you can insert your form on any page or post on your site with a simple line of code. This makes it easy to insert everywhere. Plus it works with on site page builders like Optimize Press (not off site page builders like ClickFunnels).
So the addons…
Addons and Extras
FormCraft has a total of 19 free and premium addons. These addons were designed to give the user extra functionality that most people who install the plugin don’t really need. I’ve listed the core addons below:
- Integrate your form with your email marketing provider (5 providers to choose from and this feature is free).
- Enable user registration for a membership site.
- Automatically populate all of the input fields.
- Create multi page forms.
- Add tabular input fields.
- Accept payments with either Stripe or Paypal.
Before I get too far into this section, keep in mind that you do not need to purchase any of the additional addons. I’ve been using FormCraft without any of the addons for three years and have no intention of paying for extras that I don’t need (I don’t use any of the free ones either).
This is a FormCraft review though so…
The premium addons cost almost as much as the core plugin. They range in price from $19 to $29. It’s expensive when compared to the price of the core plugin, but you’re paying for specific extra functionality so it’s probably worth it.
If I’m going to talk about all of the good things about the plugin in this FormCraft review I have to cover the bad.
Problems with FormCraft
There aren’t any!
No I lied. Formcraft does have a few minor problems. The main one is with the editing screen, which can get very busy.
You can make that menu on the right vanish though. The editing screen is also not mobile responsive (or small tablet responsive). I’d never try to create a form on my mobile or on a small tablet so this isn’t an issue for me. It shouldn’t be an issue for you either.
Plus you won’t spend much time actually creating your forms. Most of the time the plugin is working away in the background without you ever touching it.
A bigger issue is that from time to time the input fields on your autoresponder don’t populate with the personalised information you provide it with. So your message might say “Hi [Name]” instead of “Hi Bob.”
Although it doesn’t happen often, this does look unprofessional.
If this is going to be a major issue for you don’t personalise your autoresponders.
The last issue that I have with FormCraft is that it only works with WordPress. As a user of WordPress this doesn’t really impact me. If you use WordPress this won’t be an issue either. And if you use a different platform than WordPress, well I suggest you check out our list of the best form builders.
But don’t do it if you do use WordPress.
Formcraft Pricing
FormCraft have a simple pricing structure. You can buy the core plugin through Codecanyon for $39. Extended 12 month support costs an additional $12.75. To be honest I wouldn’t bother purchasing the additional support as I’ve never needed it.
One of the issues with this kind of limited time licenses is that developers update the plugin frequently, meaning that after 12 months you need to purchase it again to get the latest version. This is not an issue with FormCraft. The developers have a stable product that they are happy with and unless there’s a core change to the way WordPress functions I don’t think they’ll be updating it anytime soon.
You can buy additional premium add ons to FormCraft directly through the FormCraft site (you can’t buy the plugin here). I’ve never needed an add-on, but if you do I’m sure they work great and will be worth the investment.
A multisite license is also available through the site. It costs $99.
FormCraft Review: Final Verdict
I mentioned at the beginning of this FormCraft review that I’d spend the next 1,000 words trying to convince you to purchase the plugin. I hope it worked, because the developers deserve this recommendation (and your money).
The people behind FormCraft have created a really great form builder. You can use it to create the kind of forms that you need, that look good and you can insert anywhere. Then when you have it setup it works on autopilot in the background.
As you can tell I really like the plugin (as do a lot of other people). If you’re looking for an onsite form builder for your WordPress site FormCraft is a really good investment. Click the button below to check out feedback from other buyers and purchase the plugin.
Final Thoughts
For more useful tools for online business owners, check out our Connectio review, and our LivePerson review. You might also want to check out our Right Inbox review.
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