7 Steps to Creating an Order Form for Your Business
Check out these seven simple steps you can adapt to create an order form. We've included a free order form template within the article.
Do you sell products or services online? Have you always wanted to start an online business but didn’t know where to begin? You’re not alone.
Many people want to start an online business and start making money, but they don’t know how to go about it or their first step. So how do you create an order form for your business?
Here are the seven simple steps you need to take to create an order form, from planning the form through setting up payment options and sharing it online. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Decide what you want to sell.
Before creating your order form, you need to decide what items or services you will sell. Keep in mind that if you want your business to be successful, it’s crucial that you offer high-quality products or services and that your customers can easily find these products and services online.
To make sure potential customers can find your products on search engines like Google, consider using relevant keywords in product titles—such as keywords related to a specific service or industry—to help with search engine optimization (SEO).
Step 2: Map out your business plan
It’s important to remember that a business plan is not one extensive, detailed document; instead, it’s a series of smaller documents. The first document you need is an overview of your business goals.
What is your ultimate objective? Are you trying to get more customers or garner more sales? Work backward from your end goal and determine what milestones will help you meet that objective.
For example, if your objective is $1 million in annual revenue in five years, do you need ten new customers per month?
How many sales do those ten new customers require on average to reach $1 million in revenue?
Do you have a marketing strategy in place that can support these numbers?
Start with these more minor points and add detail as needed along each step until you have mapped out how exactly you intend to achieve your business objectives.
Step 3: Choose your payment processor
There are many types of payment processors. Stripe is your best bet, in our opinion. All you need is a business bank account (or use your one), and you can set up a Stripe account in minutes. Understand Stripe’sStripe’s pricing and fee structure before diving into the platform.
Step 4: Come up with an order form template.
The first step in creating your order form template is figuring out what you want it to look like. Are you more of a classicist who wants something straightforward and clean, or do you want something that’s more fun and playful?
Sign up with an online form builder. Take a moment and consider what you’re looking for; in all likelihood, you already have an idea of how your customers view your brand (and if not, now’s an excellent time to start thinking about it), so design your form accordingly.
Here’s an order form template we’ve hosted here on heyform.net. Give it a try if you like.
Step 5: Set up your business account on Facebook or Instagram
Setting up Facebook and Instagram pages is super simple.
You can take your existing personal page and use it as your business page or create a new one. One nice thing about creating a Facebook business page is that if you already have fans on your profile, they’ll automatically become fans of your business.
If you don’t want to use Facebook Pages exclusively, Instagram also works well for businesses.
Step 6: Share your order form.
Don’t be shy about sharing your order form with clients and prospects once you’ve created your order form.
People want to see what they can expect when they work with you—and if they like your work, they might want to become a customer.
As a bonus, try offering your order form as a downloadable template in exchange for information like their email address or phone number.
Not only will you get leads that way, but you can also use them to show prospective customers how easy filling out your forms is (which might encourage them to sign up).
Step 7: Promote it!
Promoting your order form will spread awareness of your product and generate sales. After all, the more people who know about it, the better chance you have of selling it!
While you may not get every person who visits your website to purchase from you on their first visit, if they take an interest in what you’re offering, they will likely come back later or recommend others interested in purchasing from you.
Need a hand?
Get in touch with us if you need help setting up an order form with HeyForm. Please browse our online form templates section for more ideas also.