Setting up a Web Form Data Source

This article describes the steps associated with setting up a web form data source. 

Web Form data sources allow you to post contact data into your CRM using an HTTP Post. You may wish to link a form on your company's website or have leads directed from a marketing source flow straight into your CRM. 

1. Name / Field Assignment

Log into the CRM. Click on the Contacts tab, and then click on "Data Source" from the Navigation Bar.

Start by filling in the information under the Name / Field Assignment Section.

1. *Source Name - Enter a unique and identifiable name for the data source that will appear throughout the system. We suggest naming the data source after the marketing company or using the web URL for the website from which the leads will be importing.
   
   
2. *Type - Select "Web Form". Import Data Sources are discussed in this article.
   
   
3. *File Type - This should default to an option applicable for your system. Select the file type for which the contact should be created. You should make a selection even if you operate with a single File Type.
   
   
4. **Stage and Status - This is connected to your account's workflow. Select the Work Flow Stage and Status you want the contact placed on creation.
   
   
5. Campaign - (Optional Field) Select the Campaign to which you want the leads to be assigned. If you do not see the correct option for you, you may need to add the campaign to your system first.
   
   
6. De-Dupe Field - Select the field you wish to check for duplicates against. We recommend using the "Email" address, as "Phone" could be a shared number with a spouse or family member and possibly still be separate leads from the same household. You would use "My ID" in cases where you are purchasing leads from a lead vendor, and you want to be sure they are not importing duplicate leads to your account.
   
   
7. De-Dupe Action - Where you tell the CRM what to do with the possible duplicate.
   • • Reject means the duplicate lead will be rejected, and no contact will be created. There will be no record of this contact attempting to be imported.
     • Flag as Dupe allows the system to still create the duplicate contact, but flag it as a possible duplicate. On the Client Dashboard, you will find a link to view and compare the possible duplicates and decide whether to merge or leave them separate.

8. De-Dupe Status - Allows you to specify if possible duplicate contacts will go to a different stage/status to be sorted later.

9. De-Dupe Type - Allows you to select what contacts you wish to run the de-duple check against. You may select "All Contacts", "Enrolled", or "Not Enrolled".

* Required
** Recommended

Once you have completed this section, go to the navigation bar and click "Save Data Source". You should then see the page refresh and the POST URL appear in the upper right section.

2. POST URL

After saving the data source as a Web Form type, the system will create and display the POST URL to use. Think of this as the address or location of the data source the party posting/importing into the system will need to direct leads to. You will want to provide this to the other side of the Data Source (i.e. Lead Vendor, Marketing Source, Web Site). The POST URL is a unique identifier, and for each source, a new data source should be created so that they can be managed separately.

To create a contact using the Post URL from the example image above, our Post should look like this:

https://client.forthcrm.com/post/cefeaa16310d57106b453c4106e715e4c95a69d9/?FirstName=John&LastName=Smith

From the example of the POST URL above, expect to receive a contact lead named John Smith. For further information about testing your POST URL, click here.

3. Import Fields / Field Mapping

At this point, it may be necessary to take a break from setup for the provider/import side of the data source to be set up. The web developer or lead vendor needs time to set up so the leads can post out of their system using the POST URL. Once complete, ask them to send a test post or contact through.

During this process, the importer may request keys, parameters, or fields to pass for the specified fields. If so, please advise them that you will map the fields from within the CRM and that they will need to pass "Key Value Pairs" and make the Key descriptive.

For example, they will probably pass something for the contact's first name. It does not matter if they pass it as "first_name", "fname", "first", etc... We will map whatever they pass to the system field "First Name". Using "First Name" will not work directly, and you will still be required to map fields.

To begin, the Import Fields section will be blank, as shown below.

After the importer has sent a test contact, you will find the fields that are available to be mapped. In this example, we pass information for the contact's first and last name, phone number, and state. The importer is passing the as "fname", "lname," "phone", and "state." As a result of the test import, a blank contact will be created. You can delete this if you do not need it.

The "Maps To:" dropdown menu starts with Standard (system) fields. If you continue to scroll, you will find your CRM's Custom Fields and other additional options. The ability to add the data as a note on the contact is the final option if you do not wish to save the information to a field.

Now that the fields have been captured, you can map them to fields in your account. Avoid mapping the same fields from the CRM (right side) more than once, and be careful not to map fields that should be left alone. Mapping "Stage" or "Status," for example, will override the workflow status you already set in the Name / Field Assignment section. You can remove fields or leave them unmapped if you wish. Not everything being imported needs to be mapped - they can be omitted if the information is not needed.

Once you have mapped all of your fields, request a new test contact to be sent to the CRM. Please review the new contact for accuracy and re-map if there are any conflicts. Leads will now correctly enter the CRM based on your settings as they are sent.

**IMPORTANT: It is not currently possible to map Co-applicant fields, since the system cannot create the Primary contact and Co-applicant contact at the same time. If you have Co-applicant data that you would like to import, you may use Custom Fields instead.

4. Additional Options

If you followed the steps above, your data source should now be functionally importing and creating contacts. The following options are not required for the data source to function but can be used to apply additional automation when creating contacts.

A. Assignment Options
This is where you can specify what company and users the new leads are being assigned to. You can alternatively set the contacts to public which will make them visible to all users within a specific company. Please note that all users selected in the interface will be assigned new contacts via a “Round Robin” method. You can also specify if you’d like an automated email to be sent to users upon gaining a new assignment.

1. Assigning On - Check the box to activate the further assignment options you will set in this section.
2. Public - Checking this box will make all the leads created through this data source "Public". Public leads are viewable within the entire company and do not follow the other sharing options that may limit what contact users can see. The contact can be assigned as "Private" from the edit contact page (Client Dashboard).
3. Company - Select the company to which you wish to assign the lead. This will affect the users displayed in the next option, Assigned To.
4. Assigned To - Select the user to whom you want leads assigned. You can select multiple users by holding the  'CTRL' key while clicking on them. If multiple users are selected, the leads will be distributed evenly.
5. Additional Company Assignment - You can add secondary company assignments by company type. To set a company's type, go to the Admin Tab > Companies > Select the company to edit and change the option set to "Company Type."
6. Role Assignment - Users are assigned secondarily by role. You must make the user role assignable for it to be available. For more information, see our article on Role Assignments here.
7. Team Assignment - Select the team(s) (data source) you want the leads assigned to. 
8. Notification - Select an email template from this dropdown menu to send to the representative assigned to you when creating it. The email template must have the Category set to "Notification" to appear in this menu.

B. Send Notifications
The send notification section is where you can configure an e-mail blast to be sent out to users or outside e-mails once leads enter the system. Please be aware that this section is not based on assignments, and that any individual specified here will receive the associated e-mail message. First, select the template. Then, select users for whom you wish to receive notifications. You can also add other email addresses in the "More People" box to notify someone who may not be a user within the CRM. You could use this to send a confirmation email to lead vendors to confirm you received a lead they provided.

C. Create An Auto-Responder
The Auto-Responder can send a message to the newly created contact upon creation. You may do this when the Data Source is linked to a form on your website to confirm that you have received the contact information and will follow up with them shortly. First, check the "On" box to activate the feature, then choose an E-Category (this is the email template type that has been applied to a template from the E-Marketing Tab). Then, select the template and sender from which you wish the message to come.

D. WebHooks
Webhooks can be set up to post lead information out of the system immediately upon creation. You may do this as part of the Data Source to post leads into a phone dialer campaign so new leads can be contacted as soon as possible. For more information on setting up WebHooks, visit our article here.

Once everything is set up to your specifications, scroll up and select the Save Data Source option in the Navigation Bar.

Using Gravity Forms with WordPress

1. Add a WordPress filter to post the form data from Gravity into the CRM.

2. Add a hidden input to your form with your 'thank you' page URL (see example below).

<input name="returnurl" type="hidden" value="http://your_domain_name_here.com/thankyou" />

For a more detailed explanation of the process, Click Here.

Spam Prevention

Consider adding the following hidden input to your Web Form to prevent spamming:
<input type="hidden" name="emailemail" value="" />

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