It is the world of online businesses and nothing can be more relevant here than Google, would you agree? Well, the majority of the businesses would agree to this and also would acknowledge that businesses, including SEO analysts, web designers, social media experts, etc. would probably be lost without Google!

In simple terms, nearly every business today depends on Google to build websites, and circulate dynamic messages among the targeted audience. And, on the internet, forms are considered to be among the most functional tools. Whether you are conducting a student’s survey, create a contact us form, or a checkout page, all you need is to collect the required data. And, with Google Forms, you’ll only need a few minutes to create one for free.

Google forms offer an easy way to create and share basic business forms within a few minutes. In this blog, we will be discussing the ways to use Google Forms in Online Business. Also, you’ll be able to know both, the pros and cons of the same.

But, hey, what is Google Forms?

Before moving any further, we would like to ask one simple question straightaway – What is Google Forms?

If you have got an answer for this, pat your back! And if not, here’s our answer:

Google Forms implies a tool that aids you in building custom forms that are then hosted on a URL page of Google. It is an easy yet effective way to collect data of all kinds without having to add any forms to your website. Usually, business owners use Google Forms more often to collect statistical data of their clients and consumers. Moreover, it is a quite popular tool in colleges and universities wherein teachers use it in various projects.

The forms are inclusive of two components. The first one is the primary survey form and the second one is a Google synced spreadsheet that automatically lists and formats the collected data. Google forms are nearly completely automated. Upon submission, the answers are automatically transferred to the spreadsheet. Moreover, you can even set up email notifications for receiving emails when you get new responses.

How to utilize Google Forms for Business?

Designing a form in Google, distributing it, and collecting data therein can sound quite a daunting task at first. However, as a business person, you must not fail to understand the incredible power of Google Form and the easy ways to learn more about the tool. Here are a few ways by which you can utilize Google Forms for your online business:

Setting Up Google Forms

You do not have to install anything in order to set up a Google Form. All you need to do is sign up for your Google account or register with Google and navigate to docs.google.com/forms. There are several templates within the ‘Start a New Form’ section. Upon clicking on the Template Gallery, you’ll find dozens of templates over three major categories, viz. Personal, Education, and Work. Although you might not find everything in there, you might surely get something better to start than a bland blank form.

Next, you need to customize the form wherein you can select the color of your theme, pick images for your header, or get a quick preview of the customized form. You can even manage the settings of the form including the presentation settings. You can add a title, a question, a new section, a video, or even an image in the body of the form. Each section herein features a menu icon that lets you duplicate, delete, move, or merge with the above section.

Distributing Google Forms

In order to distribute Google Forms to the users, you simply need to hit the ‘Send’ button in your form that leads you to a pop-up menu providing you with some sharing options. You can build a mailing list that lets you collect the email addresses of the respondents. There are majorly three ways to distribute Google Forms, they are:

1. An Email: It lets you personalize the email subject as well as send a brief message while letting you include the form in the mail.
2. A URL: It is as clear as it is spelled. You can share the link with anyone you wish to, which opens up to your Google Form. You get an option to shorten the link to your Google Form as well.
3. An Embed HTML Code: It lets you place the code directly in your website wherein you can customize the pixel width as well as the form height.

Apart from these, you are provided with a few icons to share the Form via Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.

Examining the Responses

The ‘Responses’ tab in your Google Form collects the user responses as and when it is received. When you get some responses, you’ll have two options in two different tabs, the first one is to view a summary data of the responses you receive, and the other one lets you view individual response forms of the respondents. You get options to delete responses in the second tab as well.

In the Menu option of your Form, you get some additional options such as to opt for receiving email notifications for the responses, select the location where the responses must be saved, download all the responses in form of a .csv file, print all responses, delete all responses, as well as the option to unlink the form from a spreadsheet.

Earlier, Google Forms would have asked you to create your separate spreadsheet in order to store your answers. However, the newest version manages this entire process and above that, stores the responses received in the ‘Responses’ tab. You have options to review those responses or even populate charts or reports to get a definite picture.

Why should you use Google Forms?

When it comes to businesses, collecting data from your consumers and clients becomes an ultimate must! Without these data, running your business, especially revamping your marketing strategies or even SEO efforts would be equal to a shot in the dark. In fact, such data can help you streamline the internal functioning of your company as well. Therefore, here are a few more compelling reasons for you to consider using Google Forms for your online business:

1. Get Consumer Feedback: Whether you sell online or offline, getting consumer feedbacks play a major role in enhancing your business as well as your seller-buyer relations. For consumers who are willing to share their email addresses with you, you can consider sending consumer feedback forms and in turn, use the provided data for the betterment of your customer services and boosting your sales.
2. Conduct Consumer Surveys: If you are skeptical about your consumers’ shopping personas, you can use consumer surveys to find out some critical data points that may help you understand how, when, and where are your consumers shopping. Also, by conducting consumer surveys, you’ll be able to know how they feel about the services or products you offer.
3. Create Sales Forms: If your online business is building custom and lengthy orders that are difficult to price, you can create a checklist with Google Forms and customize it as per your data requirements.
4. Send Work Requests: You can send work requests to the concerned departments to streamline your workflows with Google Forms. You can even consider issuing support tickets for your internal business concerns using Forms.
5. Collect Time-Off Requests: You can collect time-off requests from your employees using an internal Google Form wherein they can directly request their time-offs without getting lost between the puddle of emails.

Ways to use Google Forms

When we mentioned collecting data, one obvious question that could have popped into your mind would be the ways by which you can collect data for your business. Below are a few ways by which you can use Google Forms to collect data for business.

1. Get your employees or colleagues to share their ideas for any given project.
2. Ask and collect consumer feedback regarding your products/ services.
3. Collect data from new clients.
4. Compile the registrations for upcoming conferences or videos
5. After the completion of the events/ conferences
6. Seek consumers’ help for rating your customer services after them contacting you for help.
7. Invest your time in market research in order to send questions to a targeted audience to gather data and develop new products.
8. Ask your target audience to participate and vote for contest participants or help to choose product names or ask them for the type of products they would like to see in the future from your store.

Conclusion

Google has so much to offer to businesses at every stage. Google Forms is only one tiny part of the probably never-ending list of tools and applications for businesses. Whether you are into market research or focusing on some email promos, Google Forms can help you smoothen its rough edges. We hope that our beginner’s guide gives you some great ideas on how to use Google Forms in your Online Business.