How to Add a Contact Form in WordPress

At some point, a contact form will be necessary for your WordPress website. So it could help visitors in reaching out to you about your business, blog, or portfolio site because rarely does one make it easier to get in touch with users. And a contact form truly makes all these things happen.

So in this guide, you will learn how to create a contact form in WordPress in as many ways as possible. So if you’re interested in trying out some plug-ins, you can also HTML it up using a bit of code. We have something for everyone!

Why You Need a Contact Form on Your WordPress Website

Let’s discuss why as much as one may want to develop a contact form on the website, so they should take it one step deeper.

1. Communication made Simple

One of the simplest and direct forms through which one can contact the owners of a site is via the contact form. So rather than forcing users to find your email address or contact details, a form placed on your site will enable the users to get in touch without leaving your page.

2. Spam Reduction

By using a contact form, spam can be reduced via email. So a contact form with an efficient spam-protection system, such as CAPTCHA or reCAPTCHA, allows for the blocking of unwanted messages that are sent from bots.

3. Improved User Experience

All emails provided in one form to a user make it a more satisfying experience to visit your site. Easy usage forms will also satisfy all users and increase their trust, so which may lead them to open lines of communication for further inquiries about business or even inquiries regarding your support services.

4. Better Organization

With the use of a contact form, it is a much more efficient way to manage and track inquiries. Because all this data come through a standard form, So you no longer have to struggle with long emails and unclear messages.

5. Professionalism

A contact form on your website gives an impression of professionalism and polish to visitors. So there is the impression that you have invested time and effort in making your site easy and convenient to use.

Methods to Add a Contact Form in WordPress

There are several methods of adding a contact form on a WordPress site. Here are three popular ways of adding a contact form:

1. So by using a WordPress Plugin
2. And by using the WordPress Block Editor (or Gutenberg)
3. But manual Method (by adding codes into the script)

Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

1. Adding a Contact Form Using a WordPress Plugin

Using plugins is the best and simplest way to enable the contact form in your website. Plugins are indeed providing hundreds of plug-ins for making a contact form and easy customize them as per your needs, without knowing any coding.

Below is how you go about adding the contact form to your site through the plugin.

Step 1: Install a Contact Form Plugin

Here are a few of the best print that get the spot for contact form plugins on WordPress:

• Contact Form 7: This is a highly free versatile plugin with lots of options.
• WPForms: This is easy to acquire, allowing drag and dropping of features to build forms.
• Ninja Forms is another popular option that provides a visual form editor.
• Gravity Forms is a premium plugin that offers advanced capability. Let’s go through the installation process for one of the most popular plugins, WPForms:

1. Login to WordPress dashboard and Navigate to either of Plugins or Add New.
2. On the search bar type: WPForms.
3. Click Install Now adjacent to WPForms.
4. Once the installation is complete, activate it.

Step 2: Create a New Contact Form

Once it is activated, you can start to create your contact form:

1. Open WPForms > Add New from your WordPress dashboard.
2. It leads you to a page where you can choose a template for your form. Select the “Simple Contact Form” template to kick start it.
3. WPForms generates a default contact form automatically. You can change the fields, labels, and appearance with the drag-and-drop builder:

o Add additional fields, like name, email, phone number, and a message box.

o Rearrange the form elements by dragging them.

Set required fields for some inputs (name or email) to ensure the form is correctly submitted.

4. When you’re done, click Save.

Step 3: Add the Form to a Page or Post

To show this form on your website using HTML code, you will have to use it in any web page or post. Here is how to do it:

1. Go to Pages > Add New or Posts > Add new depending on where you want the form to be.
2. In the editing area, click on the Add WPForms button and the pop-up window appears.
3. Choose the contact form that you have just created and click Add Form.
4. You have now published your page or post, and your form appears on your site.

Step 4: Configure Notifications and Confirmations

WPForms provides a means of setting up both email notifications and confirmations for you and the submitter of the form to receive feedback:

1. So in WPForms, navigate to Settings > Notifications.
2. And you configure the email address to which you want form submission notifications to be sent.
3. So it further provides the configuration of the confirmations, which display a thank-you message once the form is submitted, redirecting the user to another page.

Adding a Contact Form Using the WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg):

So if you are not interested in adding a plugin, the default WordPress block editor-gutenberg can also come up with a simple contact form. The editor comes with an inbuilt block for forms that is not very extensive as compared with other plugins.

This is how to create a much simple contact form with Gutenberg:

1. Create a New Page or a New Post

1. Go Pages> Add New or Posts > Add New from your WordPress dashboard.
2. So you will be taken to the block editor to create new content.

2. Add the Form Block

1. So click the plus icon to Add Block.
2.  And type “Form” in the Search block and you will see a form block option.
3. Because click it to add the form block on your page.
4. So you will see a very simple form show up which has Name, Email and Message fields. You can add more fields or delete some if required.

 3. Editing the Form Fields

The form block from Gutenberg is pretty simple. You may add or remove text fields and areas for email messages; however, compared to a dedicated plugin such as WPForms, advanced options are very limited.

• So you can edit the label and placeholder text for each field.
• Include extra fields with Add Field (e.g. phone number, drop-down menu).

Step 4: Set Form Email Notifications

So make the form functional

3. Adding a Contact Form Manually Using Code

So if you are a developer or want it your style, you can create your own contact-forms from scratch using HTML and PHP. One of the most flexible but has a steep learning curve method is coding.

Step 1: Create HTML Form

And now the next step is to create the HTML your form will get. Here is a simple example:

html copy code:

<form action=”process-form.php” method=”post”>

<label for=”name”>Name:</label>

<input type=”text” id=”name” name=”name” required>

<label for=”email”>Email:</label>

<input type=”email” id=”email” name=”email” required>

<label for=”message”>Message:</label>

<textarea id=”message” name=”message” required></textarea>

<button type=”submit”>Submit</button>

</form>

Step 2: Create the PHP Script

Then, so you would want a PHP script that will process all this data and send it to your e-mail. Create a file by the name of process-form.php and enter the following:

php copy code:

<?php

if ($_SERVER[“REQUEST_METHOD”] == “POST”) {

$name = sanitize_text_field($_POST[‘name’]);

$email = sanitize_email($_POST[’email’]);

$message = sanitize_textarea_field($_POST[‘message’]);

/* your email here */

$to = “youremail@example.com”;

$subject = “New Contact Form Submission”;

$message_body = “Name: $name\nEmail: $email\nMessage: $message”;

$headers = “From: $email”;

if (wp_mail($to, $subject, $message_body, $headers)) {

echo “Thank you for contacting us!”;

} else {

echo “There was a problem sending your message. Please try again.”;

}

}

?>

Step 3: Embed the HTML and PHP Code into Your WordPress Site

• So create a new page in WordPress.
• And use the Custom HTML block to insert your HTML form.
• So make sure that the action of your form points to your process-form.php script. Depending, you might also need to adjust your WordPress theme in case or set new custom PHP handling.

Conclusion

And add contact form in your WordPress site; this feature is very essential for better user engagement, communication, and success in the business. So you have options like plugin-based convenience, a built-in Gutenberg editor for simplicity, or going the custom route with code. Depending on what best suits your needs, adding a contact form could be very easy with many options.

Most users will probably find a plugin like WPForms or Contact Form 7 gives them the simplest way to create a contact form, but such a form can be coded custom to give maximum flexibility and control over form design and functionality for technically-inclined persons.

Whatever the method, remember, a contact form is a must-have for professionalizing sites in the eyes of visitors. So enable one to your WordPress site today!