We’ve been building lots of small business websites recently. Our busiest quarter ever! One thing that is coming out is the desire for more features. Specifically, items like webforms that auto-respond to client enquiries, provide email newsletter signups, search optimised, plus Facebook and CRM integration. Thankfully, people are realising that the lovely looking ‘brochure websites’ of the past simply don’t work well. Websites today need to attract customers, be interactive and produce bottom-line sales results.
Our industry-leading WordPress CMS platform provides us the ideal package to do all this and much more. The downside, if there is one, is that these advanced ‘features’ cost more than ‘brochure’ sites.
Webforms go upmarket – And open up opportunities
But some of these new features have a fast payback. Websites are no longer just for ‘marketing’ and for online branding. They can perform valuable functions that presently take companies lots of time and expense. Webforms is the best example.
These basic tools have been around for 20 years, included on websites to capture name, and email address. But like any technology, it’s all much smarter now. Business options and better layouts.
Left is one form we built for a loans company. A very complex, multi-page form, yet it took under a week to build. Once it would have taken several weeks of coding and testing. And many IT people even today, given this chore by company management, would turn it into a 3 month project! But it’s really a web development chore, not an IT task.
Today we must also allow for viewing websites on mobiles. Website designers have been slow to allow for mobile viewing, using poor layout and coding techniques – Meaning forms particularly look wrong or are hard to navigate.
Yet this new ‘mobidata’ opportunity can be a VERY powerful feature for thousands of businesses. Think of the number of times sales reps or support people are in the field using paper forms and pads today. This then has to be manually re-entered into a CRM or other system back at the office.
We had a rep for a big power company sign us up recently, and I was stunned they still did it all with paper forms! It’s not a legal requirement now, in case you thought that a factor and there’s electronic ways of gathering signatures, if required. Delivery/courier companies have been using this for years, with expensive proprietary hardware and customised systems.
Instant, ‘on the cheap’ form filling and data capture
Now data capture can be done much more cheaply using consumer smartphones, tablets, and our smart webforms. Here’s an example of how it works.
Custom-built forms are simply built into a private, super-secure website, used specifically by approved company or contract staff to collect data. (Public access optional). Everything is tracked and stored. Data can also be automatically ‘pushed’ into company CRM systems like Salesforce! The timeliness, accuracy and cost savings of this feat alone can be immense. No more paper wars or the manual re-entering of data. It’s the perfect option for entering sales orders, general enquiries or surveys.
In-house or on the road
These devices could be used in-house via WiFi, or remotely on the road via the phones normal 3G connection. The Apple iPad with 3G + Wifi is perfect for large forms or lower cost 7” tablets that all have built-in web browsers also ideal for large forms use. These devices are the really big opportunity to slash the cost of livetime data collection. The HTC Flyer device shown below, with stylus option and built-in camera, looks the most interesting option.
HTC pricing for the 3G version is NZ$900 here, but 30% cheaper in Auzzie, being approx half the cost of an iPad. (WiFi versions start at AU$394). For those on a budget the upcoming Amazon Kindle Fire USD$199, (WiFi only) is another option and we expect Amazons to sell these worldwide in 2012.
A good, mobile-optimised webform can completely eliminate the need to build an iPhone or Android ‘app’ too, which is all the rage and some believe is essential for this sort of thing. But a well designed webform is automatically optimised for ALL modern mobile device browsers, including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows and most Nokia devices, saving weeks of needless development time/costs. And form changes can be done very quickly, avoiding the need for users to download App updates.
Incredible. Call us for details and talk through ideas on how our 100% mobile-optimised webforms can help your business collect data and better serve your customers.