Step-by-Step Guide: How to Create and Embed a Custom Contact Form in WordPress Using WPForms

Every professional website needs an effective way for visitors to get in touch. Whether you’re running a business, a personal blog, or an e-commerce store, a contact form is an indispensable tool for lead generation, customer support, feedback collection, and building trust with your audience. While you could simply list an email address, contact forms offer numerous advantages: they protect your email from spam bots, ensure you get all necessary information upfront, and provide a professional user experience.

In this comprehensive tutorial, we’ll walk you through the process of creating and embedding a custom contact form on your WordPress website using one of the most popular and user-friendly plugins: WPForms. WPForms simplifies the form-building process with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible even for beginners, while offering powerful features for advanced users. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a fully functional contact form that looks great and helps you connect with your audience.

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Install and Activate the WPForms Plugin

Before you can start building your form, you need to install the WPForms plugin on your WordPress site.

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard: Navigate to ZEALTERCODE0 and enter your credentials.
2. Go to Plugins: In the left-hand navigation menu, hover over “Plugins” and click on “Add New.”
3. Search for WPForms: In the search bar on the top right of the “Add Plugins” page, type “WPForms” and press Enter.
4. Install the Plugin: You’ll see “WPForms Lite” (or the premium version if you’ve purchased it). Click the “Install Now” button next to it.
5. Activate the Plugin: Once installed, the button will change to “Activate.” Click it to enable the plugin on your site.

After activation, you might be greeted by a welcome screen and an optional setup wizard. You can go through the wizard if you wish, or simply click “Exit Setup” to proceed directly to your WordPress dashboard. You’ll now see a new “WPForms” menu item in your left-hand WordPress navigation.

Step 2: Create Your First Contact Form

Now that WPForms is installed, it’s time to build your contact form.

1. Navigate to WPForms: In your WordPress dashboard, click on “WPForms” in the left-hand menu, then select “Add New.”
2. Name Your Form: A new screen will open, prompting you to “Name Your Form.” Choose a clear and descriptive name, such as “Contact Us Form,” “General Inquiry,” or “Website Feedback.” This name is for your internal reference only.
3. Select a Template: WPForms offers several pre-built templates to get you started quickly. For a standard contact form, choose the “Simple Contact Form” template. This will automatically populate your form with essential fields like Name, Email, and Message.
4. Explore the Form Builder: You’re now in the WPForms drag-and-drop builder.

• On the left sidebar, you’ll find available “Fields.” These are categorized as Standard Fields (Name, Email, Text, Paragraph, etc.) and Fancy Fields (CAPTCHA, File Upload, Page Break, etc. – some are pro features).
• On the right, you’ll see a preview of your form.

1. Customize Your Form Fields:

• Add New Fields: To add a field, simply drag it from the left sidebar and drop it into your form preview on the right. For example, you might want to add a “Phone Number” field (under “Standard Fields”) or a “Dropdown” field for inquiry type.
• Edit Existing Fields: Click on any field in the form preview to open its “Field Options” on the left sidebar. Here you can:
• Change the Label: The text displayed above the field (e.g., “Full Name” instead of just “Name”).
• Add a Description: Short explanatory text below the label.
• Mark as Required: Toggle this switch if the user must fill out this field to submit the form.
• Change Field Size: Adjust the width of the field.
• Add a Placeholder Text: Text that appears inside the field before the user types, offering a hint (e.g., “e.g., John Doe”).
• Advanced Options: Depending on the field type, you might have options for CSS classes, default values, or hiding the label.
• Reorder Fields: Drag and drop fields in the form preview to change their order.
• Delete Fields: Hover over a field and click the trash can icon that appears.

1. Save Your Form: As you make changes, remember to click the orange “Save” button in the top right corner of the builder. This ensures your progress isn’t lost.

Tip: Keep your contact form concise. Only ask for the information you absolutely need. The more fields you include, the lower your conversion rate might be.

Step 3: Configure Form Settings

Once your form fields are set up, you need to configure the form’s behavior, notifications, and confirmations. Click on the “Settings” tab in the left-hand menu of the form builder.

1. General Settings:

• Form Name: (Already set, but you can change it here).
• Form Description: An optional internal description.
• CSS Class: For advanced styling if you know CSS.
• Submit Button Text: Change the text on the submission button (e.g., “Send Message,” “Get in Touch”).
• Submit Button CSS Class: Again, for advanced styling.
• Spam Protection: Highly recommended! Enable “anti-spam honeypot” (built-in). For stronger protection, you can integrate reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, or Cloudflare Turnstile (requires a Pro license or separate integration).

1. Notifications: This is crucial for ensuring you receive form submissions via email.

• By default, WPForms sets up one notification to send to your WordPress admin email.
• Send To Email Address: This is where submission emails will be sent. By default, it uses ZEALTERCODE0 (the email address configured in WordPress under Settings > General). You can change this to a specific email, or multiple emails separated by commas.
• Email Subject: The subject line of the email you receive (e.g., “New Entry from Your Website Contact Form”). You can use “Smart Tags” (click “Show Smart Tags”) to dynamically include form field data, like ZEALTERCODE0 for the submitter’s name.
• From Name: Who the email appears to be from (e.g., “Your Website Contact Form”).
• From Email: This is important for email deliverability. Ideally, this should be an email address from your domain (e.g., ZEALTERCODE0) rather than the submitter’s email. Using the submitter’s email here can sometimes cause emails to go to spam.
• Reply-To: Use the ZEALTERCODE0 (or whatever the email field ID is) smart tag here so you can easily reply to the submitter directly from your email client.
• Message: The content of the email you receive. ZEALTERCODE0 is a smart tag that will display all submitted form data.
• Add New Notification: You can create multiple notifications, for example, sending one to your sales team and another to your support team, or sending an automated “thank you” email to the submitter (though Confirmation is often better for this).

1. Confirmations: This determines what happens immediately after a user submits the form.

• Confirmation Type:
• Message: The default. A simple success message displayed directly on the page (e.g., “Thanks for contacting us! We will be in touch shortly.”). You can customize this message.
• Show Page: Redirects the user to a specific “Thank You” page on your website after submission. This is great for tracking conversions in Google Analytics.
• Go to URL (Redirect): Redirects the user to any specific URL, even an external one.
• Confirmation Message: If you choose “Message,” customize the text here.
• Save Your Settings: Click the “Save” button.

Important Tip for Email Deliverability: WordPress’s default email sending method can be unreliable, often leading to emails going to spam or not being sent at all. It’s highly recommended to install an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) plugin like WP Mail SMTP by WPForms. This plugin configures WordPress to send emails via a dedicated mail service (like Gmail, SendGrid, Mailgun, etc.), significantly improving reliability.

Step 4: Embed Your Contact Form on a Page or Post

Now that your form is built and configured, it’s time to put it on your website. You have a few options:

1. Using the WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg): This is the easiest and recommended method for modern WordPress sites.

• Go to “Pages” > “Add New” (or edit an existing page, like your “Contact Us” page).
• In the content editor, click the ZEALTERCODE0 icon to add a new block.
• Search for “WPForms” and select the WPForms block.
• In the block settings (either in the block itself or the right sidebar), use the dropdown menu to select the form you just created (e.g., “Contact Us Form”).
• Publish or Update your page.

1. Using a Shortcode: This method works universally across WordPress, including in the Classic Editor, page builders, and even within other blocks that support shortcodes.

• While in the WPForms builder for your form, look at the top right, next to the “Embed” button. You’ll see “Shortcode: [wpforms id=”XYZ” title=”false”]” (where XYZ is your form’s ID). Copy this entire shortcode.
• Alternatively, go to “WPForms” > “All Forms” in your dashboard. You’ll see a list of your forms and their corresponding shortcodes.
• Go to “Pages” > “Add New” (or edit an existing page).
• Paste the shortcode directly into the content editor. If you’re using the Block Editor, you can use a “Shortcode” block.
• Publish or Update your page.

1. Using a Widget: If you want your form to appear in a sidebar, footer, or any other widgetized area, you can use the WPForms widget.

• In your WordPress dashboard, go to “Appearance” > “Widgets.”
• Find the “WPForms” widget in the list of available widgets.
• Drag and drop the widget into the desired widget area (e.g., “Main Sidebar,” “Footer Area 1”).
• In the widget settings, select your contact form from the dropdown. You can also give the widget a title if you want.
• Click “Save.”

Step 5: Test Your Form

This step is critical! Always test your form thoroughly after embedding it.

1. Visit the Page: Open the page or post where you embedded your contact form in a new browser tab or incognito window.
2. Fill Out the Form: Enter some test data into all the fields, ensuring you’re using a valid email address (preferably one you have access to).
3. Submit the Form: Click your custom submit button.
4. Check Confirmation: Verify that the confirmation message appears correctly or that you are redirected to your “Thank You” page.
5. Check Your Email: Log in to the email account you set in your form’s “Notifications” settings (Step 3). Check your inbox, and importantly, your spam or junk folder, for the submission email.
6. Check Form Entries: In your WordPress dashboard, go to “WPForms” > “Entries.” Find the entry for your contact form and ensure all the submitted data is displayed correctly. This is your reliable backup of all submissions.

If you didn’t receive the email, review your “Notifications” settings, and consider installing and configuring WP Mail SMTP as mentioned earlier.

Helpful Tips and Best Practices

• Spam Protection is Key: While WPForms’ built-in honeypot helps, consider adding Google reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha (available with WPForms Pro or via separate integration) to drastically reduce spam submissions. Akismet (a popular anti-spam plugin for comments) also helps with form spam sometimes.
• Create a “Thank You” Page: Instead of a simple confirmation message, redirect users to a dedicated “Thank You” page. This improves user experience, provides an opportunity to offer further content (e.g., “While you wait, check out our latest blog posts!”), and is excellent for tracking conversions in Google Analytics.
• Improve Email Deliverability with SMTP: Seriously, install and configure a dedicated SMTP plugin (like WP Mail SMTP) to ensure your form notification emails reliably reach your inbox.
• Keep Forms Simple: Only ask for essential information. Long forms can intimidate users and lead to higher abandonment rates.
• Make it Mobile-Friendly: WPForms forms are inherently responsive, meaning they’ll look good and function well on any device, from desktops to smartphones. Always test on mobile.
• Consider GDPR/Privacy: If you collect personal data, especially from users in the EU, consider adding a checkbox for explicit consent (e.g., “I agree to the privacy policy”) and link to your privacy policy page.
• Regularly Check Entries: Don’t rely solely on email notifications. Periodically check “WPForms” > “Entries” in your dashboard to ensure no submissions are missed and to keep a clean record.

By following these steps, you’ve successfully created a professional and functional contact form for your WordPress website. This tool will not only enhance your site’s functionality but also open up new avenues for communication and engagement with your audience.