Quote/Booking forms

[Jack May]

Does anyone have samples of quotes or booking forms where your clients can fill out easy tick and drop down boxes to email you information for quoting or making a booking?

I don't want a full database driven backend, more customised forms that automatically email through. I remember someone discussing this a while back, maybe BR? Either way, if you have this, how did it work for you?

Cheers, John

 

[FredC]

what do you mean by database driven backend exactly?

basic html forms are relatively easy to produce

http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_forms.asp

[url]http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_form_mail
[/URL]

 

[Jack May]

My local IT guy tried to tell me I need a full database driven back end to run the forms as part of a calendar/scheduling etc.

I told him I already have the calendar in my job management and I don't want my clients have access to that. I simply want the info emailed to me with their preferred day and appointment times to allow me to make and confirm the booking via email or phonecall once I receive the info.

John

 

[Jack May]

Thanks for the links too Fred. I did a lot of the original work on my site years ago, but am trying to decide if I have the time or ability to work the magic this time around. Problem is, I've had costs of around $5k to build what I want.

Tempting to just find a coder to write the code and then do the tweaking and swapping over myself.

Cheers, John

 

[FredC]

if that is all you want then all you have to do is add a page and put the form there.

 

[Jack May]

I'm wanting to add a few other features too.

I want a floating panel with the contact information always present wherever they are on the site to make it as easy to allow people to 'buy' when they decide to.

That essentially wraps up the main design changes I want to make for the main site.

Secondly, I was wondering about having tablet/smartphone accessible platforms. Don't know if I need a full second site or if I can build a site that loads the appropriate data to the device requesting it?

 

[Able 1]

http://www.phdinclean.com/contact.php

 

[FredC]

that link is different...that is a simple (calculator) script to quote a price.

to see how its done that entire script is visible by viewing the source of that page

 

[FredC]

I'm wanting to add a few other features too.

I want a floating panel with the contact information always present wherever they are on the site to make it as easy to allow people to 'buy' when they decide to.

That essentially wraps up the main design changes I want to make for the main site.

Secondly, I was wondering about having tablet/smartphone accessible platforms. Don't know if I need a full second site or if I can build a site that loads the appropriate data to the device requesting it?

a few different ways to do that depending on what you mean exactly. The contact forum as a scrolling overlay? or just the contact info?

mobile you could do either way. Probably the easiest for you would be to find a nice looking mobile ready theme and putting it on a subdomain. After that there are several ways to detect mobile devices and send them to the mobile site

 

[Jack May]

Scrolling overlay would essentially have a number of fields on it. The primary company contact information, but bold phone number and email address (clickable to open either a customisable contact request form, or their own email manager)

Below that, I would like two buttons with 'Get a Quote' and 'Make a Booking' similar to the 4 fields/buttons/whateveryoucallthethingys on www.carpetservices.co.nz

John

 

[FredC]

you want separate forums for both? Why two buttons? Maybe just a choice on the form....like this one
http://www.santacruzclean.com/contact-connoisseur/

that way your overlay isn't overwhelming...just the phone, email, and a contact/quote button

 

[Jack May]

Yeah, that is a great idea and I like Mike's layout too.

Thanks Fred, you're a legend but you already knew that!!

Can a scrolling overlay be added to a basic HTML site?

John

 

[FredC]

yes...in several ways but probably the easiest is javascript


like so.

http://www.jtricks.com/javascript/navigation/floating.html

you just upload whatever script is to be used, create the div with what you want in the box, and call the script

but I probably wouldn't do a floating scroll...I'd stick it to the bottom right

 

[Jack May]

On the current site, the contact info is all along the bottom, and one of the biggest negative feedbacks I got was having to search for contact info. Thats where the floating idea came from, it's always there when they decide to buy or act.

Bad for SEO, or too much stuffing around for little benefit?

 

[FredC]

on the sticking it to the bottom right...the easiest would be just html/css

like this
http://andrewpeace.com/css-bottom-right-corner-div.html

 

[FredC]

On the current site, the contact info is all along the bottom, and one of the biggest negative feedbacks I got was having to search for contact info. Thats where the floating idea came from, it's always there when they decide to buy or act.

Bad for SEO, or too much stuffing around for little benefit?

no real SEO worries....

but

Why not include the contact info in the top right of the header or in the top left sidebar, the two places people expect to find it, in addition to the footer


much easier than adding other stuff...floating or not

also you could add a contact/quote button to the header

 

[Jack May]

Gotcha! Thanks

 

[XTREME1]

I wish my web guy could put one of those on my site

 

[FredC]

you have one on your site fool.......
t
he difference is you get to sell to them rather than them making the decision based on what they may or may not read on your site other than a price

 

[jcooper]

I found it very difficult to book jobs giving prices over the internet/email(even with fancy forms). Make the phone number mandatory on the form, cuz IMO they won't book(us anyways) from net. Took me six month of trying, they all get called now.

 

[FredC]

thats my view on it....and most people want a call anyway

but a well formulated email can be a good thing too

 

[Jack May]

Emailing quotes can be hit and miss, but I try various things and find that giving them an estimate but trying to engage them as well often produces the best result.

I'm hoping the form will increase my hit rate by having more essential info to give a more qualified quote, but yeah, mandatory phone number is on the cards for follow up after the email.

John

 

[FredC]

the email doesn't have to be the quote.........just an auto response that tells them you will be calling because you need more info to give an accurate quote....how great you are/ what makes you different....maybe links to before and afters on one of your social networks for them to check out while they wait for your call


or something similar

 

[XTREME1]

That is what the web quote emails are? I stopped responding to them when I would it would just come to me.

 

[FredC]

lol....really?

That is because they are being mailed to your gmail by the site. Since they are sent from the site to you when you hit reply you are sending it to yourself.
That is why the email you receive has an EMAIL field giving you the customers email address...

please tell me you at least call them....cause there are a lot of entries on your site

why didn't you call me

 

[XTREME1]

It was a joke