How to Create Testimonials from WordPress Form Submissions

Do you want to learn an easy way to collect testimonials from site visitors and display them on your website? Testimonials from happy customers can be used as social proof on your website to help foster trust with new site visitors and boost conversions.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create testimonials from WordPress form submissions that you can easily add to your website.

Create Your WordPress Testimonial Form Now

Check out this video for a full tutorial:

Or if you’d prefer written instructions, keep reading.

How to Create Testimonials from WordPress Form Submissions

Step 1: Install and Activate the WPForms Post Submissions Addon

The first thing you’ll need to do is install and activate the WPForms plugin. For more details, see this step-by-step guide on how to install a plugin in WordPress.

Next, you’ll need to install and activate the WPForms Post Submissions addon.

To do this, go to WPForms » Addon and find the one labeled Post Submissions.

Click Install Addon and then Activate.

Step 2: Install and Activate Easy Testimonials

Now you’ll need to install and activate the free Easy Testimonials plugin.

This plugin is one of the best testimonial plugins for WordPress and gives you an easy way to collect customer feedback that you can add directly to your website.

To start, go to Plugins » Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Next, search for “Easy Testimonials” and click Install Now.

Then, click Activate.

You’ll notice that a new menu item has been added to your WordPress dashboard labeled “Easy Testimonials.” This means the plugin has been installed and activated and is ready for use on your website.

Later, we’ll connect your testimonial form to this plugin so that whenever a user submits a testimonial to your site, it shows up here.

Step 3: Create a Testimonial Form in WordPress

Now you’ll need to create a testimonial form. First, go to WPForms » Add New.

From here you can name your form and choose a template. WPForms comes with a Testimonial Form template to help you get started quickly.

You’ll see that the Testimonial Form template comes with the form fields:

• Name
• Email
• Company
• Job Title
• Dropdown (Which product/service do you use?)
• Paragraph Text (Tell us what you think about the product/service.)
• Multiple Choice (May we post your testimonial (or a portion of it) on our website?)
• File Upload (Upload an image of yourself if you’d like it attached to your testimonial.)

You can add more fields by dragging them from the left side of the form builder into the form preview area. For example, you may want to add a Rating field so customers can give a star rating to your product or service.

You could also swap out the Paragraph Text field for a Rich Text field. This will let customers style the text in their testimonials so they can bold certain words, include headings, and more.

To edit a field, click on it in the preview to open its field options on the left. You can also drag and drop fields in the preview to rearrange their order.

Once you’re happy with your testimonials form’s fields, click on Save at the top of the form builder.

Step 4: Configure Your Testimonial Form’s Settings

Next, look at the tabs on the left side of the form builder.

Click on Settings to open all the behind-the-scenes options for your testimonial form. There are 4 main sections to check out:

• General: These are the basic settings for your form. In this section, you can change the form name and description, customize the submit button, add form tags, and more.
• Spam Protection and Security: Use these settings to block fake or unwanted submissions. Enable set up anti-spam protection, connect your form to Akismet, create custom country and keyword filters, and enable your preferred CAPTCHA.
• Notifications: WPForms will send you an email notification whenever a user submits your form. You can customize the email here and set up additional notifications if you want to.
• Confirmations: By default, a confirmation message will display whenever a user submits your form. You can edit the message here, or set up a Thank You page instead.

Make any changes you need, then move on to the Post Submissions settings.

Step 5: Configure Post Submissions Addon Settings

Now you’ll need to configure the Post Submissions addon settings. To do this, go to Settings » Post Submissions.

First, make sure the Enable Post Submissions setting is toggled on.

Then you’ll see several dropdowns. These are used for mapping form field contents to posts. Since we’re going to be creating a testimonial in Easy Testimonials instead of adding a user-submitted blog post to your site, you can safely skip the first 4 dropdowns if you want to.

It’s also fine to fill them out by selecting the field that makes the most sense from each dropdown.

The most important dropdown on this page is the Post Type field. Make sure this is set to Testimonials.

Then select the Post Status and Post Author. We recommend setting these to Pending Review and Current User, respectively.

This will make it so that you can look at new testimonials before they’re made public. It will also pull the name of the user if they’re logged in to your site.

Now you can configure the Custom Post Meta fields. These settings are super important because they send the details from your testimonial form to Easy Testimonials so you can publish customer feedback on your site.

In the Custom Post Meta section, enter the following meta keys:

• _ikcf_client
• _ikcf_email
•  _ikcf_position
• _ikcf_other
• _ikcf_testimonial

If you added a Rating field, you would also need to add the _ikcf_rating meta key.

Click on the plus (+) icon at the end of each row to add another meta key.

Then you need to select the corresponding form field for each meta key. If you’re using the Testimonial Form template, these will be as follows:

• _ikcf_client: Name
• _ikcf_email: Email
•  _ikcf_position: Job Title
• _ikcf_other: Which product/service do you use?
• _ikcf_testimonial: Tell us what you think about the product/service.
• _ikcf_rating: Rating

This is what the settings will look like when you’re done filling them out:

Once you’re done, make sure to save your form again.

Step 6: Publish Your Testimonial Form

Now that your form looks and acts the way it should, it’s time to add it to your website so site visitors can fill it out.

WPForms makes adding forms to your WordPress website easy. Check out the various places you can add a form to your site:

• Post or Page
• Sidebar Widget Area
• Footer Section

It’s a good idea to test out your testimonial form before you publish it to make sure it’s working properly. Check out our complete guide to form testing for help.

The easiest way to publish your testimonial form is to embed it on a page right from the form builder. Click on the Embed button at the top of the builder to get started.

This will open a popup where you can decide if you want to create a new page or add your form to an existing one.

If you’re creating a new page, add a title for it. Then click Let’s Go!

This will open up your page and add your form to it automatically. All you have to do is click Publish.

Step 7: Share Testimonials on Your Website

After you’ve published your form, it will start collecting testimonials from your customers.

To view them, go to Easy Testimonials » All Testimonials in your WordPress dashboard. Then click on a testimonial to open it in the editor.

If everything looks good, click Publish.

The testimonial will then be live on your WordPress site so potential customers can read what your current users have to say.

Next, Check Out More Small Business Marketing Ideas

And there you have it! You now know how to create testimonials from WordPress form submissions so you can establish your credibility and continue to grow your business.

Create Your WordPress Testimonial Form Now

If you want to learn about some other ways you can market your small business, and increase conversions and sales, check out this roundup of small business marketing ideas and how WPForms can help.

So, what are you waiting for? Get started with the most powerful WordPress forms plugin today.

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