Classic form
Contact form template
A contact form gets worse with every field added to it. This one has six, and the two doing the real work are the subject dropdown that routes the message and the line printing the reply time where somebody can see it before they write. It states the phone number rather than hiding behind the form, and it does not sign anyone up to anything. Classic, because six fields on one screen is faster than six screens.
The form itself
A static copy of the finished form, exactly as it renders. Nothing here can be filled in or submitted, so read it as a reference and build your own from the button above.
Every field, and what it collects
The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.
- Your nameShort textRequired
- Your emailShort textRequired
- How would you like us to reply?Single choiceRequired
- Options: By email · By phone · Either is fine
- Phone number, if you chose phoneShort text
- SubjectDropdownRequired
- Options: An order I have already placed · Finding or ordering a book you do not have · Events and the reading group · Selling us second hand books · Accounts and invoices · Working here · Something else
- Order number, if you have oneShort text
- Your messageLong textRequired
- A photo or screenshot, if it helpsFile upload
- One file, PDF or photo, under 10 MB. A photo of a damaged spine, a screenshot of an order confirmation, a picture of the book you are after. Optional, and most messages do not need one.
You
What it is about
What makes this form work
The subject dropdown is doing routing, not decoration
Seven options that map to the person who can actually answer, with a line above the field saying so. It is the one extra field on this form that saves more time than it costs, because the alternative is a message read by somebody who has to forward it.
It says out loud that nobody is being subscribed
A closing paragraph explaining the address is used to answer this message and nothing else, with the newsletter pointed at a separate sign up. Consent for marketing has to be its own decision, and a contact form that quietly harvests addresses is the reason people use throwaway ones.
The attachment is optional and explained
One file, and a description listing the three things worth attaching: a damaged spine, an order confirmation, a photo of the book somebody wants. A file upload is one of the few classic fields whose help text a respondent sees, so it is the right place to say that most messages need nothing.
Questions people ask
How many fields should a contact form have?
Between three and five is the usual research backed answer, and six is about the ceiling once you add a routing dropdown. Every field past the message itself has to earn its place by changing who reads it or how fast they can answer. Job title, company size and "how did you hear about us" do neither, and they belong nowhere near a contact form.
Should the form be the only way to contact you?
No, and usability research is consistent on it: people expect a phone number, an email address and a postal address on a contact page, and hiding them behind a form is one of the most common complaints recorded in testing. This form prints the shop number and the opening hours in its own introduction, so the form is one option rather than a wall.
How do you stop spam without a CAPTCHA?
There is no CAPTCHA on a published form, and that is a defensible position rather than a gap. Image and audio challenges are documented barriers for people who are blind or have a cognitive disability, and the accessible alternatives are all invisible to the user. If a public form attracts junk, the stronger lever here is access control: a secret key, a login requirement, or restricting the form to your own domain.
Where should the reply time go?
On the form, before the button, not in the confirmation email. It sets an expectation while somebody is deciding whether to write at all, and it stops the follow up message three hours later. This one says it in the introduction, repeats it on the thank you screen, and names the alternative for anything urgent.
Build your own in about a minute
The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.
Make my contact form templateOther form examples
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