Forms

Navigate to: Menu > Email & Promotions > Forms

Overview

Forms help you grow and understand your audience. Use them to collect mailing list sign ups, run competitions and prize draws, ask audiences what they thought of a show, find out how people heard about you, and gather interest in upcoming productions before they go on sale. Answers can be saved straight to each person’s contact record, so every form helps build your mailing lists and audiences for future campaigns.

Forms can be shared online, for example as a link in a campaign email, on your website or on social media, or filled in by your box office team.

Ideas for marketing forms

●      Mailing List Sign Up: Name, email and postcode, the kinds of shows they enjoy, and a check box to opt in to marketing

●      Post Show Survey: What they thought of the show, the venue and the booking experience, sent the morning after a performance

●      How Did You Hear About Us: A single select question, for example social media, newspaper, poster, word of mouth or a previous visit, shown when someone books

●      Competition or Prize Draw: Contact details, a simple question and a check box to agree to the terms, for example to win tickets for opening night

●      Register Your Interest: For shows announced but not yet on sale, so you can email interested people the moment booking opens

●      Marketing Preferences: Lets contacts choose the kinds of shows and emails they want to receive

●      Audience Survey: A longer survey about your programme, pricing and facilities, for example for an annual audience review or a funding report

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

●      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, with reports and charts

●      View Online Form: See the form as your audience sees it online. Copy this link to use in emails, on your website or on social media

●      Add Trigger: Link the form to an event or product, so it appears when someone books

Add a form

●      Go to Email & Promotions > Forms

●      Click Add Form

●      Enter the Form Name and Form Description, for example Panto 2026 Audience Survey

●      Set Form Availability to Online, Back Office, or Online & Back Office. Online means people can fill it in using a link. Back Office means only your team can fill it in inside Backstage Manager, for example signing people up to the mailing list at the box office window

●      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 what they enjoyed most about the show. 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 how they heard about the show, or a rating from Excellent to Poor

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

●      Add Check Box Question: The person ticks a box, for example to opt in to marketing or agree to competition terms

●      Add Date Field Question: The person picks a date, for example the date of the performance they attended

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

●      Add File Upload Field Question: The person uploads a file, for example a photo for a fan art competition

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

Set Required to Yes on any question that must be answered. For single and multi select questions, click Add Option to add each answer choice.

Add contact fields

Link questions to contact fields so answers are saved straight to the person’s record in Contacts & Relationships. This is how a sign up form grows your mailing list.

●      Click Add Question > Add Question With Text/Contact

●      Under Contact Fields, select the field the answer should be 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, the details entered in contact fields are saved to their contact record automatically.

Share a form in your emails and online

●      Click View Online Form and copy the link

●      Add the link to a button in your email design in Email & Promotions > Template Designs, for example Tell us what you thought

●      Send it as a campaign, or set up an automation to send it automatically after every performance, for example with the trigger Time after an event in Contracts & Signatures > Automation

●      You can also share the link on your website, on social media or as a QR code on posters and programmes

Show a form when someone books

Triggers link a form to an event or product, so the form appears when that event or product is bought. For example, ask How did you hear about us? when someone books for a new production, so you can see which marketing is working.

●      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

●      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, for example copying your post show survey for each new production and changing the show name.

Reorder questions

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

Fill in a form at the box office

Open the form and click Submit Form to fill it in on someone’s behalf, for example signing up a customer to your mailing list at the box office window or entering them into a foyer competition.

View responses

●      Go to Email & Promotions > Forms

●      Click View Answers on the form

●      Detailed reports and charts will show, for example how audiences rated a production, or which marketing channels brought in the most bookers

To see one customer’s answers, search for their order on the Forms page. If the form is linked to an event or product, the answers also appear on the order info page for that order.

Use form answers in your marketing

●      Tag contacts based on their answers in Contacts & Relationships, for example Likes Comedy, then build audiences from those tags and send them targeted campaigns

●      Use How Did You Hear About Us results to decide where to spend your marketing budget

●      Use survey feedback and quotes, with permission, in future campaigns and on social media

●      Email everyone who registered interest as soon as a show goes on sale

Tips

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

●      Keep post show surveys short, with a few rating questions and one open question, to get more responses

●      Link name and email questions to contact fields so every response grows your mailing list

●      Check the form with View Online Form before adding the link to an email or poster

●      Set forms to Inactive when a competition closes or a survey ends