![\"Contest](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Contest-Form.png\")
Running a contest or a giveaway is a great way to boost engagement on your site and build brand awareness. With Gravity Forms, a versatile form plugin for WordPress, you can easily create contest entry forms for your website.<\/p>\nRunning a contest or a giveaway is a great way to boost engagement on your site and build brand awareness. With Gravity Forms, a versatile form plugin for WordPress, you can easily create contest entry forms for your website.<\/p>\n
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In this starter guide, we\u2019ll take a look at how you can use Gravity Forms to design an effective contest entry form. We\u2019ll also talk about how to enhance your form with extra fields, and how to integrate your contest entry form with an email marketing or CRM platform.<\/p>\n
Let's get started...<\/p>\n
As mentioned earlier, running a competition on your website is a great way to boost engagement and build brand awareness. However, there are a few more reasons why you should consider running a contest:<\/p>\n
With that in mind, let\u2019s take a look at what makes an effective contest entry form and how to create one.<\/p>\n
![\"Contest](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Contest-Entry-Form.png\")
An effective contest entry form shouldn\u2019t be too long. If you make the form too long or ask too many questions, you risk visitors abandoning the form before they fill it out completely.<\/p>\n
Since the goal is to generate entries for your contest, your contest entry form should ask for the following as the bare minimum:<\/p>\n
Now that we\u2019ve covered why you should run competitions on your website and what makes an effective contest entry form, let\u2019s go through the steps of creating the form itself.<\/p>\n
The first step is to create a new form. If you already have Gravity Forms, log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Forms > New Form<\/strong>. Give it a name, enter a description if you want, and press Create Form<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Once the plugin has been installed and activated, adhere to the instructions to register the plugin with Gravity Forms. Then, follow the steps described above to create the new form for your contest.<\/p>\n For more information on how to get started with our plugin, check out this video tutorial -\u00a0\u00a0How to Install Gravity Forms on Your WordPress Website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s time to add fields to your form. Click on the Advanced Fields<\/strong> and add the Name<\/strong> and Email<\/strong> fields to your form. If you\u2019re offering a physical item as a reward, be sure to also add the Address<\/strong> field.<\/p>\n Depending on the type of contest you\u2019re running, you might want to add extra fields to your form. For example, you could add checkboxes if the contestants need to correctly answer a question.<\/p>\n Lastly, don\u2019t forget that you can also add a CAPTCHA<\/strong> field to prevent spam entries and ensure you\u2019re getting legitimate entries.<\/p>\n Contests are typically time-based. In other words, they have a set beginning and end time which is what makes them so effective for generating buzz and building interest.<\/p>\n With that said, you\u2019ll need to enable some form restrictions to prevent visitors from entering the contest long after it has passed.<\/p>\n Start by going to your contest Form Settings<\/strong> and scroll down until you see the Restrictions<\/strong> section. For starters, you can limit the number of people who can enter the contest. This is a good option if you want to run a small-scale contest and make it even more exclusive.<\/p>\n You can also schedule a time when your form starts and stops being active to match the contest\u2019s deadline. Tick the box to schedule the form and you\u2019ll be able to enter the start and end date as well as customize the message that appears on the page where your contest form is located.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve created the form, go through the Form Confirmation<\/strong> settings to customize the confirmation message. You can also choose to redirect users to a page on your website after they have submitted the form.<\/p>\n To customize the confirmation message, click on the Form<\/strong> Settings<\/strong> tab. Then, edit the default confirmation or create a new confirmation message.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget to set up the form notifications. By default, you as the site admin will get notified on new form submissions. However, you can also create notifications for anyone else that needs to be notified of new contest entries as well as a user notification.<\/p>\n To set up a new notification, click on the Notifications<\/strong> tab. Then, click Add New<\/strong> and enter a name for the notification. If you\u2019re sending it to someone else on your team, enter their email address in the Send to Email<\/strong> field.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll then want to go through the other notification fields and add your name, email, subject, and message to go along with the notification.<\/p>\n For more information on creating notifications, have a read of this article - How to... Configure Custom Notifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once your contest entry form is live and you start collecting entries, you\u2019ll need a way to keep the contestants updated with any news or updates related to the contest. You'll also want to send details of up-coming promotions and other marketing materials related to your business.<\/p>\n Gravity Forms integrates with a number of email marketing providers and CRMs so you can easily stay in touch with your contestants. These include services like Mailchimp<\/a> and HubSpot<\/a>.<\/p>\n For example, to integrate your contest entry form with HubSpot, go to Forms > Add-Ons<\/strong> and activate the HubSpot Add-On.<\/p>\n For more information on HubSpot, and how to integrate it with your forms, check out this article - This Month's Featured Add-On... HubSpot<\/a>.<\/p>\n As you can see, creating a contest entry form with Gravity Forms is quick and easy. If you want to boost visitor engagement and build brand awareness for your business, a contest entry form is a great way to knock out two birds with one stone.<\/p>\n Are you ready to create a contest form for your website? Check out our pricing page<\/a> and get Gravity Forms today.<\/p>\n Not a Gravity Forms customer yet? <\/em>Give our free demo a try<\/em><\/a> to see just how easy it is to create forms with our drag and drop form builder and integrate them with other services that your already business uses.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n If you want to keep up-to-date with what's happening on the blog sign up for the Gravity Forms newsletter!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n ![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Add-New.png\")
If you don\u2019t have Gravity Forms installed, you\u2019ll need to buy a license first and download the plugin to your computer. Log in to your WordPress website and go to Plugins > Add new > Upload<\/strong>. Press, Choose files<\/strong> and locate the zipped file you\u2019ve downloaded. Then, click Install > Activate<\/strong>.<\/p>\nStep 2: Add Form Fields<\/h2>\n
![\"Advanced](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Advanced-Fields.png\")
If you want to display contest rules on your form and have the visitors agree to them, add the Consent<\/strong> field and then enter your contest rules. By default, this field is set up for a privacy policy but you can modify the text to include accepting the contest rules.<\/p>\n![\"Extra](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Extra-Fields.png\")
Or, you could add a file upload field if they need to submit a photo or any other type of document for their entry.<\/p>\nStep 3: Enabling Form Restrictions<\/h2>\n
![\"Restrictions\"](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Restrictions.png\")
When you\u2019re done, click Update Form Settings<\/strong>.<\/p>\nStep 4: Setup Form Confirmations And Notifications<\/h2>\n
![\"Confirmations\"](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Confirmations.png\")
For more information on confirmation messages, check out these articles...<\/p>\n\n
![\"Notifications\"](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Notifications.png\")
If you\u2019re sending it to the user who submitted the form, change the Send To<\/strong> type to Form Field<\/strong> and select the Email<\/strong> field from the dropdown.<\/p>\nStep 5: Integrating Contest Entry Form a CRM or Email Marketing Provider<\/h2>\n
![\"Activating](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Activating-Mailchimp.png\")
You will then need to authorize your HubSpot account with Gravity Forms and create a HubSpot feed for your form to enable form submission data to be sent to HubSpot.<\/p>\nFinal Thoughts on Creating a Content Entry Form<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Gravity](\"https:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Gravity-Forms-Newsletter-1.png\")
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