Forms

Navigate to: Menu > Contacts & Relationships > Forms

Overview

Forms let you collect information from your audiences and the people and organisations you build relationships with, such as Friends and members, patrons and donors, schools, group organisers, venue hire clients and sponsors. Answers can be saved straight to each person’s contact record, so your contact list grows and stays up to date without retyping.

Forms can be used online, in the box office, or both, and can be linked to events and products so the right form appears when someone books.

Ideas for relationship forms

●      Mailing List Sign Up: Name, email, postcode and a check box to opt in to marketing, shared on your website or at the box office window

●      Friends Membership: Contact details, membership level and how they heard about you, linked to your membership product

●      Access Scheme Registration: Contact details, the support they need, for example a wheelchair space or companion seat, and a file upload for supporting documents

●      Group Booking Enquiry: Group organiser name, organisation, group size, preferred performance and whether they need coach parking

●      Schools Enquiry: School name, teacher contact, year groups, number of pupils and interest in workshops or resource packs

●      Venue Hire Enquiry: Organisation, type of event, preferred dates, space required, for example the main house or the studio, and expected audience size

●      Sponsorship and Support Interest: Business or individual name, contact details and the areas they would like to support, such as productions, education or access

●      Gift Aid Declaration: A check box confirming the donor is a UK taxpayer, with their name and address

●      Post Show Feedback: A short survey sent after a performance asking what they thought of the show, the venue and the booking experience

●      Update Your Details: Lets contacts update their address, email and marketing preferences

The Forms page

●      Add Form: Create a new form

●      Show Active: Show only active forms

●      Show Inactive: Show only inactive forms

●      Show Inactive & Active: Show all forms

●      Manage Boards: Go to your pipelines and boards, for example your Schools or Venue Hire board, so you can follow up on enquiries that come in through a form

●      Search, Column visibility and CSV: Find a form, choose which columns to show, or export the list to a spreadsheet

The list shows each form’s Name, Form Availability and whether it is Active. Beside each form are four buttons:

●      Submit Form: Fill in the form yourself, on someone’s behalf

●      View Answers: See the responses to the form

●      View Online Form: See the form as your audiences see it online

●      Add Trigger: Link the form to an event or product

Add a form

●      Go to Contacts & Relationships > Forms

●      Click Add Form

●      Enter the Form Name and Form Description, for example Group Booking Enquiry

●      Set Form Availability to Online, Back Office, or Online & Back Office. Online means people can fill it in themselves using a link, for example from your website or an email. Back Office means it can only be filled in by your team inside Backstage Manager, for example by box office staff taking details over the phone

●      Set the form to Active or Inactive

●      Add your questions (see Question types)

●      Click Save Form

Question types

Click Add Question and choose from:

●      Add Question With Text/Contact: The person answers in their own words, for example the name of their school or what they would like to support. This can also be linked to a contact field (see Add contact fields)

●      Add Single Select Question: The person chooses one answer from a list, for example their Friends membership level or how they heard about you

●      Add Multi Select Question: The person chooses one or more answers from a list, for example the kinds of shows they enjoy, such as drama, musicals, comedy, dance or family shows

●      Add Check Box Question: The person ticks a box, for example to opt in to marketing, confirm a gift aid declaration or agree to your terms

●      Add Date Field Question: The person picks a date, for example a preferred performance date for a group or a date for a venue hire

●      Add Email Field Question: The person enters an email address

●      Add File Upload Field Question: The person uploads a file, for example supporting documents for your access scheme or a risk assessment for a venue hire

●      Add Form Info: Adds information or instructions to the form, for example explaining how you will use their details. This is not a question and needs no answer

For each question you can set Required to Yes if an answer must be given. For single and multi select questions, click Add Option to add each answer choice.

Add contact fields

Contact fields are what make forms so useful for building relationships. Link a question to a contact field and the answer is saved straight to the person’s record in Contacts & Relationships > Contacts.

●      Click Add Question > Add Question With Text/Contact

●      Under Contact Fields, select the field you want the answer saved to: First Name, Last Name, Address, City or Post Code

Add an email field

●      Click Add Question > Add Email Field Question

●      Under Contact Fields, choose Email

When someone fills in the form, any details entered in contact fields are automatically saved to their contact record. If they are new to you, they are added as a new contact, so a mailing list sign up form can grow your contact list on its own.

Add a trigger

Triggers link a form to an event or product, so the form is shown when that event or product is bought. For example, show your Friends Membership form when someone buys a membership, ask for access requirements when someone books a relaxed or captioned performance, or collect group organiser details when a group ticket is bought.

●      Open the form and click Add Trigger

●      Choose Trigger: Select whether the form is linked to an event or a product

●      Choose Value: Select the event or product to link the form to

●      Choose Form: Select the form to use

●      Click Add Trigger to confirm

Copy a form

Open the form and click Copy Form to duplicate it. You can then edit the copy, for example copying your Post Show Feedback form for each new production.

Reorder questions

Save your form first. You can then drag and drop questions to change their order.

Submit a form in the box office

Open the form and click Submit Form to fill it in on someone’s behalf, for example when a customer joins the Friends scheme at the box office window, or a teacher phones to enquire about a school trip.

View form responses

View all answers

●      Go to Contacts & Relationships > Forms

●      Click View Answers on the form

●      Detailed reports and charts will show, for example how many people found you through social media, or how audiences rated a production

View a customer’s answers

●      Go to Contacts & Relationships > Forms

●      Search for the order to see that customer’s form responses

If your form is linked to an event or product, you can also see the form answers on the order info page for that order.

To see the form as it appears online, click View Online Form. This is a good way to check a form before you add the link to your website or an email campaign.

Tips

●      Always include a marketing opt in check box on sign up forms, and explain how you will use people’s details with Add Form Info

●      Link name, email and address questions to contact fields so every response builds your contact list

●      Tag new contacts from a form in Contacts & Relationships, for example Schools or Group Organiser, so you can build audiences and send them campaigns

●      Add a card to the right board for each enquiry, for example Schools or Venue Hire, so every enquiry has a follow up

●      Keep forms Inactive while you are building them, and set them to Active once they are ready