How to Capture Leads with a Webform
Every visitor on your website is a potential lead, but without a structured process to capture, track, and follow up, those opportunities can easily slip away. A well-integrated webform automates lead capture, eliminates manual data entry, and ensures every inquiry responds promptly.
Yet many businesses struggle with low form completion rates, duplicate entries, and missed follow-ups. These issues slow down the sales process and directly impact conversion rates and revenue.
Here’s how BigContacts Webform Connector solves these challenges:
- Low completion rates? Optimize forms for user experience, reducing drop-offs.
- Leads not syncing properly? Seamless CRM integration ensures no data is lost.
- Slow follow-ups? Automate task assignments and email sequences to engage leads instantly.
- Lack of tracking? Gain visibility into lead sources and performance with built-in analytics.
With an optimized webform, every lead is captured, assigned, and nurtured without extra manual work. Let’s walk through the exact steps to setting up and integrating a conversion webform.
1) Activate a new webform in your BigContacts account:
Setting up a webform in BigContacts allows you to automatically store leads in your CRM, assign follow-up tasks, and track form submissions.
Steps to Activate a Webform
1. Go to the Admin Panel – Click the Admin tab in the left-side menu of your BigContacts dashboard.
2. Open Webform Settings – Under Manage Templates, select Webforms and click Add Webform.
3. Scroll down and click the "Add Webform" (3) button.
4. Configure your webform:
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Name: Enter a name for your web form. For example, you might name it "Free Trial Form."
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Assigned to: Use the dropdown menu to select the team member who should be assigned to the new contact when it's created.
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Assign Task: Check the "Assign Task" box if you want a task to be created with each new web form submission. Although optional, this is often a good practice.
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Task Name: Enter a subject line for the task that will be created when a contact submits this web form. For example, you might use "New Web Lead" as the task subject line. This subject line will appear in your task list.
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Assign Task to: Use the dropdown menu to select the team member to whom you want this task to be assigned.
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Create Opportunity: If you want a sales opportunity to be automatically created, check the "Create Opportunity" box. This option will add contacts who submit this web form to your sales pipeline.
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Opportunity Stage: If you checked the "Create Opportunity" box, use the dropdown menu labeled "Opportunity Stage" to select the stage the opportunity should be in when the contact is created.
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Opportunity Product: If you checked the "Create Opportunity" box, use the dropdown menu labeled "Opportunity Product" to select the primary product for the opportunity when the contact is created.
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Check Referrer: If you want to track where your web form submissions are coming from, check the "Referrer" box. This option helps you identify the source of your leads.
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Referrer URL: Enter the URL of the page where the form was filled out. This helps you track and analyze the effectiveness of different web pages in generating leads.
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Save Your Web Form: After reviewing your web form settings, click the orange "Add WebForm" button to save your changes and generate your unique form code.
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Connect to Your Website: Note the unique form code and merge fields (refer to the image below for merge values). Provide this information to your web developer, or if you are the web developer, add these to the appropriate places in your HTML to connect the web form to your website.
Here's what the new webform you added will look like. You can modify it anytime you want by clicking the Edit icon. If you wish to remove it, click the Delete icon.
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2) Build your web form
Here is an example of HTML code for a basic form:
<form action="https://app.bigcontacts.com/webforms/process" method="POST"> <p>
<input name="form_code" type="hidden" value="exxxxxxxxxxxxxxx76ecd2f5" /></p>
<p> <input name="lead_type" type="hidden" value="Web Site" /> </p>
<p> <input name="lead_source" type="hidden" value="Information Inquiry" /></p>
<p> <input name="contact_type" type="hidden" value="Prospect" /></p>
<p> <input name="return_url" type="hidden" value=" <a href="http://www.mywebsite.com/process_form.html">http://www.mywebsite.com/process_form.html</a>" /></p>
<p> First Name <input style="width:10em;" type="text" value="" /></p>
<p> Last Name <input name="last_name" style="width:10em;" type="text" value="" /></p>
<p> Email <input name="email" style="width:10em;" type="text" value="" /></p>
<p><button type="submit">Submit</button></p>
<p> </p>
</form>
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3) Choose the data fields on your form that you wish to pass into your BigContacts account
Standard Data Fields and their merge values
Merge fields for the personal information in a Contact record located under the Personal Info tab)
| The field name in the contact record | Webform HTML code snippet |
|---|---|
| First Name | |
| Last Name | |
| Address | |
|
Address 2 |
|
| City | |
| State | |
| Postal Code | |
| Home phone | |
Merge fields for the business information in a Contact record (located under the Office Info tab:
| The field name in the contact record | Webform HTML code snippet |
|---|---|
| Business Name | |
| Address | |
| City | |
| State | |
| Postal Code | |
| Country |
Custom data fields - To obtain the correct form names you will need to merge the data from the webform into your custom fields:
- Click the Admin tab
- In the "Manage
my Account" section, click the "Customize Account" link
- Scroll down to the Custom Fields section. Here's what the form name for the fields will look like:
FAQs on Capturing Leads with Webforms
1. How do I track the effectiveness of my webform?
To measure how well your webform is converting visitors into leads, you can track the following:
- Submission Rates: Compare the number of people visiting your form to those who complete it.
- Source Tracking: Use your CRM's UTM parameters or referrer tracking to see which traffic sources drive the most submissions.
- Form Abandonment Data: Tools like Google Analytics or heatmaps can show where users drop off.
Regularly reviewing these insights can help optimize your form for better performance.
2. Can I use automation to follow up with leads after form submission?
Yes! Automation ensures leads don’t go cold while waiting for a manual response. In BigContacts, you can:
- Send an instant confirmation email to acknowledge the form submission.
- Trigger a follow-up email sequence based on lead behavior.
- Assign leads to the right sales rep automatically for immediate follow-up.
This reduces response time and increases conversion rates.
3. How can I prevent duplicate entries from the same lead?
Duplicate leads clutter your CRM and create confusion. To prevent this:
- Enable duplicate detection rules in your CRM to flag existing contacts instead of creating new ones.
- Require unique email addresses in your webform to prevent multiple entries from the same user.
- Use hidden tracking fields to log submissions and avoid repeated entries from the same IP.
These steps ensure clean, organized data without redundant leads.
4. What’s the best way to improve webform completion rates?
If visitors abandon your form before submitting it, consider the following:
- Reducing the number of fields to only essential information.
- Using multi-step forms that break up long forms into smaller sections.
- Adding autofill and smart defaults to speed up the process.
- Including a clear value proposition (e.g., “Get a free consultation in 60 seconds”).
Small changes can significantly improve conversion rates.