What Is a Paperless Business Form? (+ How to Make One)

Are you still spending your evenings sorting through paper forms and manually entering data into spreadsheets? Well, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here’s the thing: paper forms aren’t just outdated, they’re expensive.

Many businesses spend a lot of money to file each paper document, locate a misfiled one, and reproduce a lost document. Digital forms help you eliminate these hidden costs completely.

At WPBeginner, we use paperless forms across all our businesses and online stores to streamline workflows, reduce costs, and reach more customers.

And the best part? They’re easy to create, even if you’re not tech-savvy.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to create your own paperless business form, step by step. It’s time to ditch the clutter and simplify your business! ⏰

What Are Paperless Business Forms?

A paperless business form is a digital form that your users can fill out on your WordPress website. Users can use their computers, smartphones, or tablets to fill out the form at any time and from anywhere.

Nowadays, many businesses are ditching paper forms and opting for digital forms, which helps them create a complete paperless system.

Here are some benefits of going paperless:

• Reach a Larger Audience: Digital forms can help you reach audiences from different locations. There are no geographic restrictions or delays in getting responses from people worldwide.
• Easy to Access: People can access your paperless business form using any device and fill out the details from anywhere. Just make sure your website is mobile-friendly to avoid frustrating users.
• Get Instant Responses & Save Time: Paperless forms help you save time. Unlike physical documents, which require waiting for responses to arrive by mail, digital forms let you see responses instantly.
• Cost Saving: Using digital forms also helps you save tons of money on paper, printing equipment, and mailing fees.
• Good for the Environment: Creating a paperless office reduces your carbon footprint and has a positive impact on the environment. You can help conserve trees, prevent deforestation, and reduce waste.

Now, what are some of the ways you use paperless forms?

When Can You Use Paperless Forms for Your Business?

There are multiple ways you can turn your paper-based forms into digital forms.

If you need to get in touch with your consumers, then you can create an online contact form and add it to your website. This way, you can get feedback and suggestions and resolve your users’ queries.

Another way to use paperless business forms is by accepting job applications online. Instead of asking applicants to submit physical copies of their resumes, they can simply upload them using your digital form. It also helps streamline your hiring process and removes unnecessary paperwork.

If you are running an online store, then you can create paperless order forms. Customers can fill out the details in the order form, place their orders, and pay online.

You can also create digital registration forms for an upcoming event, like a webinar or conference.

Without further ado, we’ll share how you can easily create a paperless digital form in WordPress. Here’s a quick overview of all the topics we’ll share in this guide:

• Creating a Paperless Business Form in WordPress
• Bonus Tip 💡: Automate Your Digital Form Workflows
• FAQs Around Building Paperless Business Forms

Let’s get started.

Creating a Paperless Business Form in WordPress

The best way to add paperless forms business forms in WordPress is by using WPForms. It’s the best contact form plugin for WordPress and is used by over 6 million professionals.

At WPBeginner, we also use WPForms to display almost all of our digital forms. You can see our detailed WPForms review to explore its features.

With WPForms, you get a drag-and-drop form builder that makes it super easy to customize your form. Plus, the plugin offers AI tools and 2,000+ form templates so you can quickly create just about any kind of WordPress form.

For this tutorial, let’s create a digital conference registration form. We will be using the WPForms Lite version because it’s 100% free. There is also a WPForms Pro version that offers more customization options, templates, and powerful addons.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can head over to WPForms from the WordPress admin panel and then click the ‘Add New’ button.

This will take you to the Setup page.

To start, go ahead and name your form at the top.

After that, you’ll choose how you will create your online form.

With WPForms, you can AI-generate your form to make the process faster. All you have to do is enter a simple prompt, and then the tool will build the form for you.

For this tutorial, though, we’ll use a pre-made template.

In the ‘Conference Registration Form’ template box, simply hover over the template and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

Next, you can customize your form using the drag-and-drop builder.

WPForms offers different fields that you can add to your form. In the Lite version, you can add line text, paragraph text, a dropdown menu, multiple choice, checkboxes, and more.

If you require fancy fields like phone number, password, address, or a file upload option, then we recommend using the WPForms Pro version.

Simply drag a field from the given options on your left and drop it where you’d like to add it to the form.

Besides that, you can further customize existing fields in the template.

For example, when you click the ‘Name’ field, additional options will appear in the menu on the left. These allow you to edit the label, format, description, and whether the field is required.

Next, you can go to the ‘Settings’ tab from the menu to configure the settings for your form.

Under the ‘General’ settings, you can edit the form name, add a description, change the submit button text, and more.

After that, you can go to the Notifications settings and edit the send-to email address on which you’ll receive an email when someone submits a form.

There are also settings for changing the subject line, the ‘from’ name and email address, and more.

Lastly, you can also change the Confirmation settings in WPForms. This is the message that people will see when they submit a form.

You can show a message, show a landing page, or redirect users to another URL.

For more details, check out our guide on how to send confirmation emails after WordPress form submission.

💥 New: You can now take advantage of WPForms’ Entry Automation feature to automatically export form submissions to your email, Google Drive, Dropbox, or other services. This eliminates the need for printing, filing, or manually transferring data.

For step-by-step instructions, see our tutorial on how to auto export WordPress form entries.

Optionally, you can also click on the Marketing tab on the left to connect your form to different marketing services, such as your email service provider.

You can even integrate your form with meeting or webinar software such as Zoom or create other automated workflows to save time.

Once you are done with the settings, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top and exit the form builder.

Next, you can add your form to any WordPress post or page.

To start, click the ‘Embed’ button next to Save. This will open a popup where you can select to embed the form into a new or existing page.

For this tutorial, we’ll choose ‘Create New Page.’

On the next screen, you’ll be prompted to name your new page.

Just type the name into the available field and click ‘Let’s go!’

This will take you to the WordPress content editor.

From here, click the ‘+’ button and add the WPForms block.

After that, you’ll see a dropdown menu in the WPForms block.

Here, you can select your conference registration form.

Now, publish or update your page.

Then, you can visit your website to see the paperless conference registration form in action.

For step-by-step instructions, you can refer to our guide on how to embed WordPress forms.

Bonus Tip 💡: Automate Your Digital Form Workflows

After creating your paperless form, you can save even more time by setting up automations. This means your form data doesn’t just sit there — it triggers helpful actions that keep your business running smoothly.

Here are some tools you can connect your forms to:

• Email Marketing Tools. Automatically add new contacts to your email list when someone submits your form. This is great for sending welcome emails, newsletters, or promotions without any manual work. Constant Contact is a great tool for this, which you can learn more about in our full Constant Contact review.
• CRM Platforms. Send form submissions directly to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This helps you track leads, manage follow-ups, and organize customer info in one place.
• Spreadsheets. Log form entries into CSV or Excel automatically. It’s a simple way to manage data like orders, registrations, or survey results — especially if you want to sort or filter them later.

These automations can help you avoid repetitive tasks and ensure no lead or submission falls through the cracks. For details, see our guide on how to set up WordPress automations.

FAQs Around Building Paperless Business Forms

Still have questions? Here are some common ones we hear from business owners making the switch to digital forms:

What are paperless forms?

Paperless forms are digital forms that you might want to use to replace traditional paper-based forms. Instead of printing and filling out a paper form, users complete and submit the form online.

They can be used to collect contact info, online orders, customer feedback, job applications, and more, without printing or scanning.

These forms are easy to manage, can trigger automatic workflows, and keep your data organized.

Which is better, paper or digital forms?

Digital forms are generally the better choice for most businesses. They’re faster to process, easier to store, and can be accessed from anywhere.

Unlike paper forms, they don’t require physical storage space or manual data entry, saving you time and reducing human error. Plus, they’re more eco-friendly.

What are the disadvantages of electronic forms?

While digital forms offer many benefits, there are a few downsides to keep in mind:

• They require internet access to create or fill out.
• Some users may find them harder to use, especially if they’re not tech-savvy.
• You’ll need to ensure good security practices, especially if collecting sensitive information.

That said, these challenges are easy to manage with the right tools and setup.

Is Google Forms good or bad?

Google Forms is a great free option for basic use. It’s easy to use, integrates with Google Sheets, and works well for simple surveys, event RSVP forms, or feedback forms.

However, it has some limitations:

• Limited customization and branding options
• Fewer advanced features like conditional logic or payment integration
• Basic security and design

If you’re running a business and need more control, tools like WPForms, Formidable Forms, or Gravity Forms might be better suited.

We have an article comparing these form builders, which you can see in WPForms vs Formidable Forms vs Gravity Forms.

We hope this article helped you learn what a paperless business form is and how to make one. You may also want to see our guide on how to create a questionnaire in WordPress or our expert pick of the best contact form plugins for WordPress.

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