# Build a collection form

Create a form from a template, set up its pages and required answers, test it in the preview and share its link with customers.

A collection form is a page where your customers leave a testimonial. You build it from a template, adjust its pages, try it out in the preview and then share its link.

1. **Create the form**

   In your project, open **Forms** under **Collect** in the sidebar and click **Create Form**. If the project has no forms yet, pick one of the template cards under **Create your first form** instead.

2. **Name it and choose a template**

   Enter a **Form Name** and, if you like, a description. Under **Choose a Template**, pick a starting point (the templates are described below), then click **Create Form**. The form builder opens.

   ![The Choose a Template card with the three templates: Simple, Conversational, marked Recommended and selected, and Custom, each with its feature chips](https://assets.retestimonial.com/app-statics/help/shots/forms-new-form-templates.1710fc86.webp)

3. **Set up the pages**

   The **Pages** tab lists the form's pages in order. Click a page to edit its title, text and options; the preview jumps to that page. Click **All pages** to return to the list.

   - Click **Add Page** to add a page. It goes just before **Thank You**. To place it elsewhere, hover between two pages and click the **+** that appears.
   - Drag a page by its handle to move it.
   - Use a page's switch to hide it without deleting it. To delete a page, open it and click the bin icon.

   ![A form's pages in the form builder, each with a switch, and the Add Page button](https://assets.retestimonial.com/app-statics/help/shots/forms-builder-pages.d8e617c3.webp)

4. **Test it in the preview**

   The preview next to the sidebar works like the real form: click through it as a customer would. The buttons above it switch between desktop, tablet and mobile, or start the form over. Nothing you enter there is submitted. To change the form's colours, fonts and logo, see [Design your form](/help/collect/design-your-form).

5. **Share the link**

   Click **Share** in the builder's top bar. On the **Link** tab, copy the **Form URL**, or click **Download PNG** to get a QR code that opens the form. To see the live form in a new tab, click **Open form** in the top bar (it's available while the form is **Active**).

## Templates

- **Simple**: a short form. One **Question** page with a star rating, then **About You** and **Thank You**.
- **Conversational** (marked **Recommended** and selected by default): a guided, multi-step form with **Rating**, **Negative Feedback**, **Welcome**, **Question**, **Consent**, **About You**, **About Company** and **Thank You** pages, in that order.
- **Custom**: starts with the same three pages as **Simple**, ready for you to build on.

Whichever you pick, you can add, remove, reorder and edit pages afterwards.

## Page types

The **Add Page** dialog offers these pages. Most types can appear only once in a form, but you can add as many **Question** pages as you need.

![The Add Page dialog with its ten page types: Question, Private Feedback and Ready to Send can be picked, and the seven types the form already has are greyed out](https://assets.retestimonial.com/app-statics/help/shots/forms-add-page-dialog.c107f19a.webp)

- **Welcome**: an introduction page, where you can add a welcome video and show a few of your existing testimonials. See [Set up your form's welcome page](/help/collect/welcome-page-and-social-proof).
- **Rating**: asks for a star rating.
- **Negative Feedback**: captures complaints privately. Unless you give it its own rules, it shows only to customers whose rating is at or below the **Negative Feedback Threshold** in the **Settings** tab. See [Collect negative feedback privately](/help/collect/collect-negative-feedback).
- **Question**: the testimonial itself. Choose its **Question Type**, such as **Text Only**, **Video and Text** or **Multiple Choice**. For each type's settings, see [Add questions, ratings and required answers](/help/collect/questions-ratings-and-required-answers). For video, see [Collect video testimonials](/help/collect/video-testimonials).
- **Private Feedback**: internal-only feedback. You read it under **Form answers** when you expand the testimonial in the inbox; it is never shown on a widget, a Wall of Love or a share page.
- **Consent**: a permission checkbox.
- **About You**: details about the customer, such as name, email and photo.
- **About Company**: job title, company, website and logo. For where each of these answers is kept, see [Where each answer ends up](/help/collect/questions-ratings-and-required-answers#where-each-answer-ends-up).
- **Ready to Send**: lets the customer review their answers before submitting.
- **Thank You**: the confirmation page, where you can add a video, share buttons, a redirect to your website and links to review sites. See [Set up your form's Thank You page](/help/collect/thank-you-page).

**About You** and **Thank You** are marked **Required**: they're always shown and can't be hidden or deleted. A form also keeps at least one **Question** page.

### Show a page only for some answers

Open any page except the first one, **About You** or **Thank You**, and use **Conditional display**. Click **Add condition** and pick an earlier page to base the rule on: a star rating, a consent checkbox or a multiple-choice answer.

Under **Form answers**, a multiple-choice question lists only the answers of customers who were shown it. If a customer answers a conditional question, then goes back and changes the answer it depends on, the question disappears for them and its earlier answer isn't saved.

## Required answers

A customer can't move past a required answer until they give it. If they try, a message shows what's missing. The page's **Skip** button is hidden while it has a required answer. The same rules are checked again when the form is submitted.

- **Rating** and **Question** pages: the **Required** switch is on by default.
- **Question** pages can also ask for a star rating with the **Star Rating** switch when the form has no **Rating** page. That rating is required whenever the page is.
- **Consent** pages: the **Required** switch, on by default, makes ticking the box mandatory.
- **About You** and **About Company** pages: expand a field and tick **Required**. The customer's name starts out required in every template, and the **Conversational** template also requires their email.

The preview follows the same rules, except that video answers count as answered there.

## Good to know

- **A new form is live straight away.** It starts out **Active**, and your edits save automatically to the public form. To take it offline, click the status badge in the top bar and choose **Pause form**. A paused form doesn't open for customers until you choose **Activate form**.
- **Submissions arrive in your inbox.** New forms have **Require Approval** switched on in the **Settings** tab, so each submission waits in **Pending** until you approve it.
- **The number of forms per project depends on your plan:** 1 on Free, 3 on Pro, 5 on Premium and unlimited on Business. Paused forms count too.

## Next steps

- [Design your form](/help/collect/design-your-form)
- [Set up your form's Thank You page](/help/collect/thank-you-page)
- [Collect negative feedback privately](/help/collect/collect-negative-feedback)
- [Collect video testimonials](/help/collect/video-testimonials)
- [Approve, reject and archive testimonials](/help/manage/approve-reject-and-archive)
- [Import testimonials from CSV, Excel or JSON](/help/import/import-from-csv-excel-or-json)
- [Embed a widget on any website](/help/display/embed-a-widget-on-any-website)