Transferring lead data from your website to Salesforce manually can be tedious and time-consuming, often resulting in errors that can negatively impact your finances.
Additionally, you may overlook important details or create inconsistencies, which can adversely affect your conversion rates.
We recognize the challenges of using disconnected systems, especially since we handle a large number of form submissions every day. That’s why integrating your forms with a CRM like Salesforce is the most effective way to resolve this issue.
In this guide, we will walk you through the process of connecting Salesforce to your WordPress forms. This user-friendly solution will help you automate your lead generation process right away. 🚀
Benefits of Connecting Salesforce to Your WordPress Forms
Integrating Salesforce with your WordPress forms allows for automatic transfer of new leads from your website directly into your CRM, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
Salesforce is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform widely used by some of the largest companies globally to manage customers, leads, and business contacts all in one centralized dashboard.
While most websites gather leads through contact forms, the manual process of entering them into your CRM can be time-consuming, and you may risk forgetting to follow up.
Connecting Salesforce to your WordPress contact form eliminates barriers. Once a user submits their information, it will be automatically added to your Salesforce contacts.
From there, you can engage with customers to enhance conversions and sales from your WordPress site.
With that in mind, we will guide you through the process of integrating Salesforce with WordPress forms. Here are all the steps we will cover in this guide:
- Configuring WPForms for Salesforce Integration
- Establishing the Connection Between WPForms and Salesforce
- Creating a WordPress Form with Salesforce Integration
- Additional Resources 🔗: Creating WordPress Forms
Let’s begin.
Configuring WPForms for Salesforce Integration
For this tutorial, you will need WPForms, the leading WordPress contact form plugin trusted by over 6 million website owners. It allows you to easily create any type of form using a user-friendly drag-and-drop builder.
At CanadaCreate, we utilize WPForms for many of our forms, including our contact form and annual reader surveys. If you want an in-depth look at all of its features, feel free to check out our comprehensive WPForms review.
To begin, create an account on WPForms. Visit the WPForms website, click the ‘Get WPForms Now’ button, choose a plan, and complete your purchase.
📝 Note:You will need the Elite plan to access the Salesforce add-on. A free version, WPForms Lite, is also available.
After setting up your account, you will have access to your WPForms dashboard, where you can download your WPForms Elite zip file and license key.
Next, return to your WordPress admin area to install and activate the WPForms plugin. Navigate to the Plugins » Add New Plugin page.
On the following screen, use the search feature to quickly locate the WPForms plugin.
Click the ‘Install Now’ button, then select ‘Activate’ to finalize the installation.
For further instructions, refer to our detailed guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After activation, go to the WPForms » Settings page to input your license key, which can be found in your WPForms account.
Once you have entered the key in the designated field, click the ‘Verify Key’ button.
Establishing the Connection Between WPForms and Salesforce
To establish a connection between WPForms and Salesforce, you’ll need the Salesforce addon available in WPForms, which simplifies the integration process between these two applications.
First, navigate to the WPForms » Addons section and find the Salesforce addon. Click the ‘Install’ button, and it will automatically install and activate.
Next, go to the WPForms » Settings » Integrations section in your WordPress dashboard.
Here, select the Salesforce integration to access its settings.
In the Salesforce settings, click the ‘Add New Account’ button.
WPForms will display the Salesforce settings along with a Callback URL.
It’s advisable to copy the Callback URL and save it in a secure location, such as a password manager or a text file, as you’ll need it later.
Now, you’ll need to create an app in your Salesforce account. Don’t worry – we will guide you through the entire process.
📝 Note: You will need an Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, or Developer edition of Salesforce. The API access necessary for this integration is not available by default in the ‘Essentials’ or ‘Professional’ plans. However, you can start with a free trial.
If you don’t have an account yet, visit the Salesforce website and click the ‘Start My Free Trial’ button to create one.
On the following screen, fill in your information such as your name, work email, job title, company, phone number, and additional details to set up your account.
Once you’ve entered your information, click the ‘Start My Free Trial’ button to proceed.
After completing the signup process, you’ll be directed to your Salesforce account dashboard.
Since the Salesforce interface updates regularly, we suggest switching to the Salesforce Classic view for easier navigation. You can typically find this option by clicking on your profile avatar in the top right corner and selecting ‘Switch to Salesforce Classic’.
Now, you will see the classic Salesforce dashboard.
Next, click on the Setup link at the top to access the settings for the Salesforce dashboard.
On the next screen, navigate to the Build » Create menu located in the left column.
From this menu, select the ‘Apps’ option.
This will take you to the ‘Apps’ section.
Here, click the ‘New’ button under the ‘Connected Apps’ section.
Next, you will need to provide the necessary details for your app.
Enter a name for the ‘Connected App’ that will be visible to other users in your Salesforce account.
The API name will automatically match the Connected App Name, so you can leave it as is. Please provide your email address for the contact email field.
Youdo notneed to fill in the logo image, icon, info URL, or description. These fields are intended for Salesforce users who are publishing their applications.
Next, check the box for ‘Enable OAuth Settings.’
Once you check this box, the OAuth settings will appear.
First, input the ‘Callback URL’ that you obtained earlier from your WPForms account.
Simply paste the link into the ‘Callback URL’ field.
Then, scroll down to the ‘Available OAuth Scopes’ section. The selected OAuth Scopes will inform Salesforce of the permissions your app requires.
You need to enable two permissions here: ‘Manage user data via APIs (api)’ and ‘Perform requests at any time (refresh_token, offline_access).’
Click the ‘Add’ button to include these permissions.
There are no other changes needed on this page.
After adding the permissions, click the ‘Save’ button at the bottom.
After saving your settings, please wait approximately 10 minutes to ensure that your app configurations are fully applied.
On the following screen, you will find your API information. It’s advisable to wait another 10 minutes before using your app to ensure everything is completely set up.
You can now copy your ‘Consumer Key’ and ‘Consumer Secret’ into WPForms.
📝Important Note: Depending on your version of Salesforce, these may be referred to as ‘Client ID’ and ‘Client Secret.’
Click the ‘Manage Consumer Details’ button to proceed.
Salesforce will prompt you to enter a verification code to continue.
After entering the code, click the ‘Verify’ button.
You will then see the ‘Consumer Key’ and ‘Consumer Secret’ codes. Please copy them.
Now, let’s return to the tab with your WPForms Salesforce settings.
If you’ve closed this tab, you can easily find it again in your WordPress admin by navigating to the WPForms » Settings » Integrations page.
Next, paste the ‘Consumer Key’ and ‘Consumer Secret’ into the Salesforce settings for WPForms.
Finally, click the ‘Connect to Salesforce’ button.
Log in to your account using your username and password.
Click the ‘Allow’ button to grant WPForms access to your Salesforce account.
You will be redirected back to your Integrations page.
A message will appear at the top of the screen confirming that the connection was successful.
With WPForms now connected to your Salesforce account, you can begin creating forms and sending entries directly to Salesforce.
How to Create a WordPress Form with Salesforce Integration
The next step is to create your form.
You can connect any type of form to Salesforce. Simply navigate to the WPForms » Add Newsection in your WordPress admin area to get started.
This will open the WPForms drag-and-drop form builder. Here, you can enter a name for your form at the top and choose your preferred building method.
WPForms allows you to create a form from scratch with a blank canvas, but you can also opt for the AI form builder or select a pre-made template for a quicker and easier setup.
If you choose the AI builder, you can provide a brief prompt and let the tool generate the form for you. You can also use one of the example prompts provided if they suit your requirements.
In this tutorial, we will be using the ‘Simple Contact Form’ template.
To choose this template, hover over the template box and click the ‘Use Template’ button.
This action will open the form editor.
In the editor, you can easily drag and drop various fields from the left menu onto the template. For example, you can add a phone number field.
Additionally, you can rearrange the order of the fields and customize each one to fit your needs.
For more information, please refer to our guide on creating a contact form.
After you finish customizing the form, navigate to theMarketing » Salesforcetab to link it with your Salesforce account.
Click the ‘Add New Connection’ button to proceed.
A popup will appear prompting you to name your connection. This name is for your reference only and will not be visible to your site’s visitors.
Enter your desired name and then click the ‘OK’ button.
Next, select your Salesforce account and the corresponding Salesforce Object.
The object represents the type of data you will be sending to Salesforce. For most contact forms, we recommend choosing ‘Lead’ to help qualify your prospects in Salesforce later.
Once you select your Salesforce Object, additional dropdown menus will appear.
In this section, the ‘Custom Field Name’ column represents the field name in your Salesforce account, while the ‘Form Field Value’ corresponds to the field name on your form.
You must select a ‘Form Field Value’ for each custom field you wish to utilize, ensuring that your form data is accurately entered into the appropriate field in Salesforce.
For this example, the only mandatory field in Salesforce is the Full Name field. Therefore, select ‘Name’ as the Form Field value.
Next, choose a Salesforce field from the dropdown menu and then select the corresponding WPForms field to establish the mapping.
In this tutorial, we have included the email and phone fields from our form as examples:
Remember to click the Save button at the top of the screen after you have set up your Salesforce connection.
Integrating Your Form into a WordPress Page or Post
WPForms allows you to easily add forms anywhere on your WordPress website.
Simply edit the post or page where you want to insert the form or create a new one. In the content editor, click the (+) button to add a new block, then select a WPForms block to include in your page.
Next, select your contact form from the dropdown menu within the block.
Finally, publish your page to make your form visible on your site.
It’s important to test your form to ensure that Salesforce and WPForms are properly connected.
You can preview the form, enter some test information, and click ‘Submit.’
Next, navigate to your Salesforce account dashboard.
You should see a new entry displayed on your homepage.
Click on the name to view the details for that contact.
You have successfully connected Salesforce to WPForms. Now, all new contacts will be automatically added to Salesforce!
Additional Resources 🔗: Creating WordPress Forms
We hope this guide has helped you learn how to connect Salesforce to your WordPress forms using WPForms.
Interested in discovering more ways to enhance your WordPress forms? Check out these useful tutorials:
- How to Send Contact Form Details to Multiple Recipients
- How to Add CAPTCHA to WordPress Login and Registration Forms
- How to Implement Slide-Out Contact Forms in WordPress
- Tips for Creating More Engaging Forms in WordPress to Boost Conversions
- Top Online Form Builders (Our Expert Recommendations)
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