It is important for a successful web presence to offer the target audience a simple yet effective tool with which to communicate. A contact form is such a tool that offers an air of professionalism while allowing you to gather valuable feedback, entertain queries, help identify issues and provide a platform for support.
Although basic support for building a contact form is built into WordPress, there is a multitude of plugins that provide extra customization features with extended support and enhanced protection from spam. Here are some of the best contact form plugins for WordPress:
Contact Form 7 (Takayuki Miyoshi)
Contact Form 7 is one of the most popular plugins when it comes to building contact forms, with an install base of over a million. Its popularity stems from simplicity and flexibility in design, with its use of HTML markup. CAPTCHA and Akismet provide protection and security from spam. There are also a number of extensions available to further enhance the capabilities of the plugin.
However, there is no drag and drop support, and customizing the form can be hard, though the Generate Tag tool helps somewhat in this regard.
Fast Secure Contact Form (Mike Challis)
Provided by the developer as a free gift, this plugin is not only surprisingly flexible with features like online scheduling and appointment booking but very easy to customize as well, providing a drag-and-drop interface to add and re-order fields in the form. It also provides protection from spam and has security features like domain verification to discourage misuse. However, there is limited support available due to the nature of the free project.
Contact Form Builder (web-dorado)
Contact Form Builder WD is another popular contact form plugin that is very intuitive and easy to use, offering a number of templates with easy drag-and-drop customization along with form building and data management tools. The look can be tweaked with prebuilt themes and you can change colors, dimensions and other features via CSS files. Security and spam protection features are supported. It is available in four tiers from free to developer, catering to everyone’s needs. With excellent customer support, it is a great choice.
Contact Form Email (codepeople)
As the name implies, the focus of this plugin is on email delivery and notifications with the option of saving the form data to a database, with export available in popular formats. The unique feature is automatic report generation for the data submitted via the form, with the option of printable reports. It also supports many languages and provides protection from spam. With the latest update, form fields can be manipulated using a GUI, making it easier to build and customize forms.
Contact Form for WordPress – Ultimate Form Builder Lite (Access Keys)
The free lite version of Ultimate Form Builder Lite is perfectly suitable for generating contact forms, with the premium offering focusing on generating all sorts of forms. While free, there is still support for drag-and-drop customization, six pre-designed templates, spam protection and free lifetime updates.
Language support is limited to English and Swedish and only basic contact form fields are allowed, though.
Ninja Kick: WordPress Contact Form Plugin (looks-awesome)
This premium plugin offers a very modern look and feel combined together with stylized animations, though it should be noted that not all target devices or platforms will support such animations. The design allows the contact form to be available all the time from any page as a floating dedicated button as well as via any hyperlink on the web page, keeping the audience engaged. Pre-built themes with customization options and various layout options are available. Client side validation and a human test option mean this quirky contact form is more than just a gimmick.
Contact Form by BestWebSoft (bestwebsoft)
Contact Form by BestWebSoft is another free plugin with the option to upgrade to a more advanced pro version. The free version has multi-language support but customization options are limited. Still, the free version offers a responsive design, support for required fields, data validation, file attachments and other features, helping to make a robust contact form with spam protection via CAPTCHA support.
Contact Us Form (kenmoredesign)
Contact Us Form is a simple plugin that is very easy to use and customize as it consists of only one file. The focus is on visual design, as it can use the CSS of the website with the option of customization via settings. Although the designer mainly caters to specific business clients, this plugin can be used by anyone with a little bit of coding experience who wants to keep using his or her own CSS.
Contact Bank – Contact Forms Builder (Tech-Banker and Gallery-Bank)
Coming in both lite and premium editions, this plugin offers many extensive options and features for both beginners who require simplicity and advanced users who require deep customization with a quality finish. The lite version supports 36 languages, unlimited fields, bulk upload of fields and other email management features. The premium version adds support for advanced fields, pagination, widgets, unlimited form creation and other control and management options, along with 24/7 technical support.
Contact Form Generator (Creative-Solutions)
Contact Form Generator is a growing plugin with good positive reviews that offers greater flexibility in designing forms. Four tiers are available, from free to business. The emphasis is on ease of use, and the Creative Template Creator Wizard is included with all tiers, making it easier than ever to build contact forms from a template. There is a good level of support even for the free version, with lifetime updates and unlimited site license included.
Contact forms are such an important part of a site that hundreds if not thousands of WordPress plugins haven been created to perform this duty. So, there are a great number of options and tools for creating the type of contact form needed to get further details from your target audience. This can be the first step to a sale and a vital part of online business-customer interaction, so choose wisely.
