Step-by-Step Guide: Create Your First Contact Form

You’re launching your website and need a contact form? You’re not alone. 83% of B2B companies consider their contact form their main lead acquisition channel. Yet many postpone this task, thinking it requires technical skills.

This step-by-step guide accompanies you from A to Z to create your first functional contact form in less than 15 minutes. No programming knowledge required.

What You Need Before Starting

Before diving in, prepare these elements:

A clear objective: why are you collecting this information?
A list of necessary fields: name, email, message… what else?
Your brand guidelines: colors, logo, typography
A destination email: where to send notifications

Take 5 minutes to note these elements. This preparation will save you time later.

Step 1: Choose the Right Tool

The tool choice determines your form’s quality and management simplicity. Here are essential criteria:

Essential features:

Visual creation interface (drag-and-drop)
Design customization
Email notifications
Built-in anti-spam protection
Secure data storage
GDPR compliance

Avoid:

Solutions that display their brand on your form
Tools without spam protection
Platforms that restrictively limit free submissions

A platform like Skedox meets these criteria and lets you start for free. The advantage? You then centralize your forms, newsletters, and feedback in the same place.

Step 2: Define Your Form Structure

Structure determines your conversion rate. According to a Formstack study, each additional field reduces conversions by 4%.

Required Fields

For a first contact form, limit yourself to essentials:

Field	Type	Why
Full name	Text	Personalize your responses
Email	Email	Reply to the visitor
Message	Text area	Understand the request

Optional Fields

Add them only if you really need them:

Phone: if you systematically call back your prospects
Company: if you target only B2B
Subject/Request type: if you have multiple services
Budget: if you sell custom services

Golden rule: 5 fields maximum for a first form. You can always add more later.

Step 3: Configure Fields One by One

Let’s get practical. For each field, configure these parameters:

Name Field

Label: “Your name” or “Full name”
Placeholder: “John Doe”
Required: Yes
Validation: Minimum 2 characters

Email Field

Label: “Your email”
Placeholder: “[email protected]”
Required: Yes
Validation: Valid email format

Message Field

Label: “Your message”
Placeholder: “Describe your request…”
Required: Yes
Validation: Minimum 10 characters
Height: 4-5 lines minimum

Label Tips

Use simple, direct language:

“Your email” rather than “Electronic address”
“Your message” rather than “Subject of your request”
“Phone (optional)” if the field isn’t required

Step 4: Customize Design

A form should naturally integrate into your site. Visitors trust visually consistent elements.

Elements to Customize

Colors:

Primary color (submit button)
Field border color
Background color
Text color

Typography:

Font (identical to your site)
Label size
Text size in fields

Submit button:

Text: “Send”, “Contact us”, “Request a callback”
Shape: rounded or square
Size: large enough to be clickable on mobile

Visual Configuration Example

Form background: #FFFFFF (white)
Field borders: #E5E7EB (light gray)
Primary button: #2563EB (blue)
Button text: #FFFFFF (white)
Labels: #374151 (dark gray)

Always test your form on mobile. 62% of B2B visitors browse sites on smartphone according to Google.

Step 5: Configure Notifications

A form without notification means lost leads. Configure two types of emails:

Notification for You (or Your Team)

This notification should arrive immediately after each submission.

Recommended content:

Subject: “[New contact] Visitor name - Subject”
Body: all submitted information
Submission date and time
Link to dashboard to respond

Recipients:

Main receiving email
Backup email (optional)
Copy to sales if quote request

Confirmation Email for Visitor

The visitor should know their request was received.

Recommended content:

Subject: “We’ve received your message”
Personalized thank you with their first name
Summary of their request
Estimated response time (24-48h)
Alternative contact details (phone)

Example message:

Hello [First name],

Thank you for your message. Our team has received it and will respond within 24 business hours.

Your request: [Submitted message]

Talk soon, The [Your company] team

Step 6: Enable Anti-Spam Protection

Bots represent 30 to 40% of submissions on unprotected forms. Your inbox will quickly be saturated without protection.

Protection Techniques

Honeypot (recommended): Invisible field for humans, but filled by bots. Simple and frictionless.

Rate limiting: Limits submissions per IP address. Prevents mass attacks.

Behavioral analysis: Detects non-human patterns (too-fast filling, absent mouse movements).

reCAPTCHA: Effective but adds friction. Use as last resort.

With Skedox, these protections are enabled by default. You don’t have to configure anything, and your visitors see no intrusive captcha.

Step 7: Integrate Form on Your Site

Last step: place your form on your website.

Method 1: Embed Code

Most tools provide a snippet to copy-paste:

<script src="https://your-tool.com/embed/your-form.js"></script>
<div id="contact-form"></div>

Paste this code at the desired location in your page.

Method 2: iFrame

If your CMS doesn’t support external scripts:

<iframe src="https://your-tool.com/form/your-form"
        width="100%"
        height="500px"
        frameborder="0">
</iframe>

Method 3: Direct Link

For an email or signature:

https://your-tool.com/form/your-form

Where to Place Your Form?

Most effective placements:

Dedicated Contact page: essential
Site footer: visible on all pages
Homepage: at bottom, after presenting your services
Services pages: with adapted CTA (“Request a quote”)

Pre-Launch Verification Checklist

Before publishing, check these points:

Form displays correctly on desktop
Form displays correctly on mobile
All required fields are marked
Validation works (test with invalid email)
You receive email notification
Visitor receives confirmation email
Success message displays after submission
Anti-spam protection is active
Data is stored in your dashboard

Crucial test: have someone external submit the form. Fresh eyes detect problems you no longer see.

After Launch: Best Practices

Creating your first contact form is just the beginning. To maximize your results:

Respond Quickly

Companies that respond in less than an hour are 7 times more likely to qualify a lead (Harvard Business Review study). Set up alerts on your phone.

Analyze Your Data

Track these metrics monthly:

Number of submissions
Conversion rate (visitors / submissions)
Average response time
Blocked spam rate

Iterate and Improve

After 100 submissions, analyze:

Which fields cause abandonment?
Which requests come back often?
Do you need to add or remove fields?

Go Further with Skedox

Once your first contact form is in place, you’ll probably want to:

Create forms for different needs (quotes, support, feedback)
Collect newsletter signups
Gather customer reviews
Assign requests to different collaborators

Skedox lets you centralize all these needs in a single platform. No more scattered tools and fragmented data.

Conclusion

You now know how to create your first contact form step by step. The 7 key steps:

Choose a tool suited to your needs
Define structure with the right fields
Configure each field precisely
Customize design for your brand
Set up notifications
Enable anti-spam protection
Integrate on your site and test

The hardest part? Getting started. A simple but functional form is better than a perfect project that stays a draft.

Ready to take action? Create your first contact form for free with Skedox and start collecting leads today.

Create Your First Contact Form: Complete Guide