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The Obvious Simple Form Solution That's Easy to Forget
April 07, 2021

The Obvious Simple Form Solution That's Easy to Forget

Ashlie Pappas | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Google Forms

I use Google Forms to get to know my audience / contacts as they join my list, for scholarship applications, and for some feedback. It's included in G-Suite so using it doesn't add to overhead and best used for situations where a quick simple, un-styled form is appropriate. It's a quick and easy solution when needing to quickly, easily, and reliably collecting information.
  • It's extremely simple and intuitive
  • It's included in the G-Suite which makes it extremely cost effective
  • It's reliable
  • Logic branding could be vastly improved
  • Increased styling options
  • Increased reporting
  • Saving time, in turn saving money
  • Having to use an additional form builder for forms needing more robust logic
  • Having to use an additional form builder for forms needing more robust styling
  • Typeform and SurveyMonkey
Typeform: Typeform wins in most cases, having the ability for complex logic mapping, robust styling options, and branding. However, the simplicity of Google Forms wins out when you just need a quick, easy form. Price-wise, Google Forms wins.

SurveyMonkey: SurveyMonkey has more options but Google Forms is still much more preferred - primarily due to brand trust and price (although SurveyMonkey does have a free tier, I'm already in Google Suite every day so this is just a no-brainer.

Do you think Google Forms delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Forms's feature set?

No

Did Google Forms live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Google Forms go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Google Forms again?

Yes

Typeform, HighLevel, Kajabi, ConvertKit, Zoom Video Webinar, RingCentral, Glip, RingCentral Meetings, SmarterQueue, Nifty, Mailgun, Facebook for Business, Canva, Trello, BL.INK, Descript, Hotjar, GlockApps, Tailwind, Shutterstock, Firebase, Google Ads (formerly AdWords), Google Drive, Apple iCloud, TestFlight, QuickBooks Online, LastPass for Business, FileZilla, iMovie, Adobe Audition, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Adobe PhotoShop, WooCommerce, BombBomb, Loom, Upwork, Stripe, Geneva, Buffer, Dropbox, OneDrive, Vimeo, ManyChat, Acuity Scheduling, a Squarespace company, Zoom.ai Meeting Assistant
The usability is simple, easy, and effortless. It's intuitive and I have yet to come across a contact or client who was not able how to figure out how to effectively submit a form on their own. When it comes to simple and reliable, this is about as good as it gets.
I mean Google Support can be a headache, however there are TONS of resources available to find support on your own. Google has also stepped up their one on one support over the past few years immensely. I don't think I've ever had an actual issue in using or figuring out Google Forms, but I know where to find answers to solve issues myself and I know how to get in contact with someone directly.
It's perfect in situations where you need a quick, simple solution. To be honest, I don't think of Google Forms as much as I should. For example, I needed to have people sign up to receive tester status for a new app and a Google form is much easier, taking almost no type or styling to pop out, whereas a more robust solution takes a bit more time - which doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you're hemorrhaging 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there, it really adds up quickly!

Google Forms Feature Ratings

2.0
Survey templates
2
Themes
2
Custom logo/branding
2
8.7
Changes to live survey
8
Question design help
9
Multiple question types
9
4.0
Survey logic flexibility
4
7.8
Response tracking
7
Data export
9
Standard reports
9
Custom reports
7
Analytics
7
Survey Integrations ()
Not Rated
Survey Automation ()
Not Rated
Not Rated
Vendor-offered crowdsourcing
Not Rated
Respondent restrictions
Not Rated
Not Rated
Access controls
Not Rated
Compliance
Not Rated

Using Google Forms

ProsCons
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • It's intuitive, simple, and easy. Like my 6 year old nephew could probably set up a Google Form without issue type of easy.
  • This is where not having a lot of options is an advantage - even if you'd never used Google Forms, you'd easily be able to go through every option in a short amount of time and figure it out.
  • The ability to import questions makes it possible to make the form creation even easier.
  • The simplicity in making a multi-page form is also easy and intuitive
  • It you've ever used any Google product before, the interface is familiar and easy to understand.
  • Trying to make it look like it isn't a Google form (making it appear branded to the company and giving the applicant a custom experience)
  • The responses/submissions are a blob of info and not well organized. Unless you have the submissions going into an integration that will sort it and analyze it, it can be a frustrating sifting through the responses and results.
  • The inability to use conditional logic or allow the response to direct which questions are served
Yes, but I don't use it

Google Forms Reliability

GoogleForms lacks the ability for complex logic branching and the ability to truly design it in a custom manner. It's pretty obvious when you land on a GoogleForm that it is in fact a GoogleForm. This rating solely reflects the lack of flexibility which in turn makes it something that wouldn't usually be scaled.

That being said, if needing to scale a simple solution, GoogleForms would be up for the job.
In the years I've used GoogleForms I've never ran into any issues with the reliability or availability. Google is a gigantic company with essentially limitless resources which makes it very easy to trust that I will continue to be able to enjoy the same reliability I've come to know and expect from GoogleForms.
One of the things that comes as a benefit of the lack to create complex logic branching and truly custom design is that there isn't lot of room to bog down the software. GoogleForms has always loaded just as fast as my internet service and device would allow it. I'm not sure about front end integrations or integrations into the form itself, as I've never explored it, but on the backend, I've never had any issues with integrations channeling from GoogleForms from the GoogleForms's end of things.