Simple, Effective and Affordable
Overall Satisfaction with Formstack
Several years ago, we grew tired of using development time to create what were, in most cases, simple forms. Although some divisions of the University would use Survey Monkey from time to time, we wanted to choose a product that was simple enough to use that would serve most of the usual needs around campus. We were impressed with the simplicity of Formstack's product for our end users, but also appreciated their integration modules, service and pricing. We currently have over 800 forms that have been created. Having a tool available for the entire Butler community has normalized our form-building processes and freed up technical resources for more challenging projects. The credit card integration was a huge win as well. It is no longer "rocket science" to get a department setup with credit card processing, even for smaller initiatives. The Authorize.net integration enabled us to take what used to be a major headache and turn it into a no-brainer. We've also appreciated how Formstack has involved us in their feedback loop and listened to our suggestions for product improvement. They are also a local company, which is an added bonus. We get to support a local vendor and can meet face-to-face if it is ever required.
Pros
- Simple interface. They have created the tool to enable form building via several different methods, depending on how a person wishes to work. You can choose elements, then modify them to add them to a form. Or, you can simply drag and drop them where you want them. You can even choose from templates or a wizard to get you started. The tool couldn't be simpler to use.
- Reliability. We can't think of a single time that Formstack has not been available. With extremely rare exception, any time we have a submission or process issue, it's usually due to something we've done incorrectly or because one of our systems dropped the ball.
- The good people at Formstack seem to genuinely care about making their product better all the time. We are told about or shown new features, or proposed features, several times a year. In fact, they will often let us experiment with features before they unleash it system wide. They value our feedback and we feel that we've actually played a small part in shaping what Formstack has become.
- Price. Compared to other form tools, Formstack is very reasonably priced. The analysis and reporting tools are not nearly as robust as some other large, extensible survey products. But, if you're just trying to get out of the form business and provide a solid platform to your users for building forms and surveys, this is a good option.
Cons
- Online "stores." Formstack did away with their store module some time ago and replaced it with a form field type that is really better suited to events than products. If you're trying to build out an entire online catalog of products that may have various colors, sizes, styles, etc. Formstack is NOT the tool to use. However, if you just have a FEW items you wish to make available for sale, that can be done fairly well with a little effort and know-how.
- Although Formstack is infinitely more customizable style-wise with it's graphic templates and CSS tools (much more so than, say, Google Forms), it is sometimes challenging to get granular control over certain form elements--even WITH a CSS guru on staff. As long as you're willing to say "close enough" and not get TOO picky, you can certainly create beautiful forms and surveys that complement your branding or graphic design elements.
- Reporting and analytics. If you're looking for Qualtrics-like reporting, you won't find that here. You can certainly get base stats such as usage, geolocation, aggregate survey results, abandonment points and comparative graphs. But if you're a real data nerd who wants microscopic data analysis, you'll likely be disappointed.
- It's hard to measure this, but when we consider the amount of forms created in Formstack, compared to how rare it is for someone to contact us with a form question now, I'd say choosing Formstack has a been a HUGE win for us. With Formstack's online and phone support, we only have to answer questions when it comes to specific integrations with our own customizations and systems.
- Many of our forms are used to actually collect registrations for events, receive payments for events and items as well as collect data from prospects of various colleges and programs. Specific ROI data is unavailable at this time, but these forms have been a key component of successful conversions of all kinds around campus.
- SurveyMonkey,Wufoo,Zoho Creator
Formstack proved to be more robust, easier to use and friendlier to work with when questions/issues emerged.
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