In this video, we demonstrate how to connect a WordPress customer intake form to SoftEXIT Studio, map incoming form fields to your application data, automatically identify the source of the information, and track the transaction through Studio.
SoftEXIT Studio’s Inbound API can be used for much more than contact forms. Create intake points for:
• Sales inquiries
• Customer support requests
• Service requests
• Registrations
• Lead capture
• Customer onboarding
• Internal requests
• And virtually any other valuable business interaction
Field mapping makes it easy to control where incoming information is stored, while SoftEXIT Studio handles the application, forms, grids, dashboards, reporting, security, and business data behind it.
And you’re not limited to a single intake form. Create as many intake forms and inbound connections as your business needs without building complicated workflows or custom applications.
Inbound API capabilities are included with SoftEXIT Studio applications.
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SoftEXIT Studio’s Inbound API makes it easy to bring information from websites and external systems directly into your business applications.
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You can use it for sales inquiries, support requests, service requests, registrations, or virtually any other valuable interaction.
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For this example, I’ve created a simple table called Intake Form Contacts, with fields for the visitor’s name, email address, subject, message, and source.
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The first four fields will come directly from our website form. The Source field is different. Instead of requiring WordPress to provide it, we’re going to have SoftEXIT Studio automatically set that value for every record received through this API.
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To connect our website, I’ll go to Settings, open Inbound APIs, and create a new Inbound API.
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I’ll call this “Intake Form Contact” and select our Intake Form Contacts table as the target.
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SoftEXIT Studio maps incoming data to your table by matching the incoming field names to the field names defined in Studio.
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In this example, the WordPress fields name, email, subject, and message match the corresponding fields in our Intake Form Contacts table, so Studio knows exactly where to store each value.
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There’s no need to build a separate field-mapping workflow.
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And for values that aren’t supplied by the external form, like our Source field, Studio can automatically assign those as part of the Inbound API configuration.
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Here’s an important part of the configuration. I’m telling Studio to automatically set the Source field to “WordPress Contact Form 7.”
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The website doesn’t need to know about this field or send it at all. Studio enriches the incoming record as part of the intake process.
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Once the API is saved, Studio generates an endpoint path. This is the address the external system will send its information to.
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I’ll copy it for our WordPress configuration. Studio also provides a credentials key.
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This authenticates the request so that only an authorized system can use this inbound connection. We’ll need that in WordPress as well.
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Now we’ll switch to WordPress. For this example, I’m using the popular Contact Form 7 plugin and essentially its standard contact form.
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Notice that there’s nothing special in the form. It’s simply collecting name, email, subject, and message.
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We don’t need to modify the form to add our Source information because Studio is handling that for us.
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Using Webhooks for Contact Form 7, I’ll paste the endpoint path that Studio generated into the webhook address.
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Then I’ll use the Studio credentials key to authenticate the connection. That’s all we need on the WordPress side: an endpoint and a credential.
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Now let’s test it exactly as a website visitor would.
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I’ll submit a sample inquiry requesting more information about SoftEXIT Studio.
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Back in SoftEXIT Studio, our new record has already been created. We received the visitor’s name, email, subject, and message directly from WordPress.
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But notice the Source field. WordPress never sent this value. Studio automatically added “WordPress Contact Form 7” based on the configuration of this particular Inbound API.
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Studio also records the inbound transaction in the system log, giving administrators visibility into what was received, whether it was successfully processed, and the record that was created.
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And that’s all there is to it.
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A standard WordPress form is now feeding information directly into a SoftEXIT Studio application, while Studio handles authentication, record creation, additional values, and logging.
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The same approach can be used for sales inquiries, support requests, registrations, service requests, or almost any other web intake process your business needs.
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Now you know how easy it is to build a customer intake form with SoftEXIT Studio. And you can create as many intake points as your business needs.
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Inbound APIs are included with every SoftEXIT Studio application, so you can start collecting valuable customer inquiries, support requests, registrations, and other information without building complicated workflows or hiring software developers.
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If you don’t already have SoftEXIT Studio, sign up today and start turning customer input directly into actionable business data.