Add a contact or booking form

A form lets customers get in touch or book a time without having to call. This guide helps you choose between a simple contact form and a booking tool, add it to your site, and make sure every message actually reaches you.

Before you start

• The login for the tool your site was built with.
• The email address where messages should arrive, and who will answer them.
• If you take bookings: your services, how long each takes, and the hours you’re available.
• About an hour, plus a second device, like your phone, to send a test.

Want to do it yourself?

Difficulty

6 out of 10

Estimated completion time

1–2 hours for a simple form

Skills you’ll need: Configure form fields, delivery and confirmation settings, and spam protection. Test a submission from your phone through to the inbox.

I’ll do it myselfI’d rather get help

How this helps your brand

A clear form or booking route gives interested website visitors a way to act. Testing capture, delivery, and ownership helps turn a submitted request into a conversation your business can follow through on.

1. 1

   Step 1: Decide what the form is for

   There are two main kinds, and they solve different problems.

   • A contact form sends you a message, like a question or a quote request. You reply and arrange the rest. Good for jobs that need a conversation first.
   • A booking tool shows your free times and lets customers pick one. It adds the booking to your calendar and sends reminders. Good for appointments with a set length, like a haircut, a lesson, or a consultation.

   Tip: If you already use a booking tool, like Calendly, Square Appointments, or the one built into your till system, use that. Most can be added to a website with a button or a short piece of code they give you.

2. 2

   Step 2: Ask for as little as possible

   Every extra question makes some people give up. Ask only for what you need to reply.

   For most contact forms that’s a name, an email or phone number, and a message. For a quote, add one or two questions that save a back-and-forth, like the type of job or the postcode.

   Don’t ask for anything sensitive, like payment details, dates of birth, or medical information, in a simple form. If you need those, use a tool built for it.

   Illustrated exampleA short form that gives you enough to reply

   Example contact pageTell us about your project

   1 Your name

   Alex Morgan

   2 Email address

   [email protected]

   3 How can we help?

   Could you quote for painting our living room? We’re in M4B.

   Send message

   Illustrated form · no data is sent

   Enough to start a conversation

   1. A nameKnow who you’re replying to.
   2. One way to replyEmail or phone: choose what your business needs.
   3. A useful messageThe customer can describe the job in their own words.

   For a quoteOnly add a question such as job type or postcode if it saves a back-and-forth.

3. 3

   Step 3: Add it to your site

   In a site builder like Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify: add a form or booking block from the editor, choose the fields, and set the email address that receives messages. The help pages for your builder show the current steps.

   In an AI tool like Lovable, Bolt, or Replit: a form needs somewhere to send messages. The AI may set up a database, connect an email service, or suggest a form service. Use the prompt at the end of this guide. It asks the AI to explain where messages will go before it builds anything.

   For a booking tool: sign up, set your services and hours, then copy the button or embed code it gives you onto your contact page.

   Keep a short intake record beside your website notes: page and form name; provider or booking app; connected account; required fields; where the original submission is kept; receiving inbox; follow-up owner. A notification email and a stored submission are different things. If the tool only emails submissions, record that and decide how you will retain and track them.

   For downstream automation, check the provider’s official integration help for the exact event it offers, such as New form submission or Booking created. Confirm that your plan and connection can use that event and retrieve the required fields. A custom AI-built form may need a supported webhook or database integration. If none is available, keep a documented manual handoff until a suitable connection is implemented; do not assume a scheduled AI prompt can read the submissions.

   Tip: If the AI asks you for a password, API key, or other secret, ask it where that will be stored. Secrets should go in your tool’s private settings, never in the page itself.

4. 4

   Step 4: Choose what happens after someone sends it

   Customers should know their message arrived. Set a short thank-you message on screen, and if your tool allows it, an automatic email saying when you’ll reply.

   Decide who checks the messages and how often. A form nobody reads is worse than no form at all.

   Decide what happens after acknowledgement: who checks the request, where its status is recorded, and when a person should respond. Keep an enquiry acknowledgement separate from joining a marketing list. A visitor asking for a quote has not automatically requested a newsletter.

5. 5

   Step 5: Send a test from your phone

   Still preparing the site? Use your provider’s supported preview or test-submission process first, if it offers one, and record anything that only works after publication. Then repeat the full check on the published address before promoting it. If preview submissions are unsupported, make the live delivery check the next required task after publishing; a preview-only success is not proof of the live route.

   Fill in the form on your live site using your phone, as a customer would. Then check:

   Give the test a recognisable reference and use contact details you control. Find the original submission or booking as well as the notification. If a connector adds it to another system, inspect the matching run, field values, and final record. Check that a failed or invalid submission does not appear as a successful enquiry. Have the follow-up owner locate the test and mark it handled; remove test records when safe.

   • The message arrived at the right inbox. Check your spam or junk folder too.
   • It includes everything the customer typed.
   • The thank-you message and any confirmation email appeared.
   • Leaving a required field empty shows a clear message, not an error or a blank page.
   • For bookings: the booking appears in your calendar at the right time.

   Tip: If test messages go to spam, mark them “not spam”. Then repeat the test every few months. Settings change, and a broken form is easy to miss.

   Illustrated exampleFollow one test message all the way through

   Send this from your phone on the live site

   Your test message“TEST — living room painting quote, M4B.”Use an email address you can check for the customer confirmation.

   1. Customer sees a thank-you“Thanks, Alex. We’ll reply within two working days.”
   2. Your business inbox receives itFind the test message. Check that the name, reply address and full message arrived. Look in spam too.
   3. Check the customer’s emailIf you enabled an automatic confirmation, make sure it arrives and gives your real reply time.

6. 6

   Step 6: Keep spam out and stay on the right side of privacy rules

   Once a form is live, spam usually follows. Most site builders and form tools have a spam filter or a “prove you’re human” check you can switch on. Turn it on if junk starts arriving.

   You’re now collecting personal details, so your site should have a privacy policy that says what you collect and what you do with it. Rules vary by country, so check the guidance for where you operate.

I want to add a [contact form / booking form] to my website. I’m not technical, so please explain things in plain English.

Where it goes: [which page]
What it should ask: [for example name, email or phone, and a message]
Where messages should go: [your email address, or “please suggest”]
If it’s for bookings: [your services, how long each takes, and your available hours]

Before you build anything, tell me in plain English:
1. Where the messages will be sent or stored.
2. Whether this needs another service, account, or fee.
3. Anything you need from me, like a login.

Wait for my OK. Then build it with a clear thank-you message, friendly messages when a required field is empty, and basic spam protection. Don’t change anything else on the site. When you’re done, tell me exactly how to test it.

Also document the intake provider, original submission location, receiving account, fields, and follow-up owner. For any requested automation, verify the exact supported event and required access before connecting it. Test one recognisable submission from the website through capture and delivery to the final record and responsible person. Distinguish confirmation, notification, and human follow-up. Keep marketing signup separate from a service enquiry.