How to Create an Online Order Form in WordPress (2 Methods)

If you run a business like a restaurant or a small boutique, you may not need a full online store.

Often, a simple online order form is the best way to let customers order food or specific products.

This avoids the complexity of a shopping cart system. So, we researched the best order form options to help you make one yourself.

In this post, we’ll show you two simple ways to do this using a few of our favorite tools: WPForms and WP Simple Pay. Let’s dive right in!

Why Create an Online Order Form in WordPress?

Some businesses set up online stores to take orders, accept payments, and manage inventory. But you might not need a complex eCommerce website with a shopping cart.

For instance, if you own a restaurant, there is no need to create an entire online store. The same might also be true if you only sell a few items.

In many cases, a simple online order form can get the job done. Your form can be customized to let customers pay online, during pickup, or upon delivery.

Using an online order form offers several key advantages for small businesses:

• It simplifies the ordering process. Customers can input all necessary details, like product specifications, quantities, and delivery information.
• It ensures accuracy. You receive the exact information you need, reducing errors compared to taking orders over the phone.
• It boosts revenue. Making it easier for customers to place orders often leads to higher engagement and more sales.

Let’s see how to easily create an online order form in WordPress. We will go over two methods in this tutorial. You can use the links below to jump to the method of your choice.

Choose the Right Tool for Your Order Form

Both WPForms and WP Simple Pay offer support for multiple products and subscription settings, but they serve different needs. Here is a quick comparison to help you decide:

Plugin	Best For	Key Features
WPForms	Full-featured, customizable order forms	✅Multiple payment gateways ✅Conditional logic ✅Multi-item totals, ✅Advanced fields ✅File uploads ✅Custom notifications
WP Simple Pay	Simple Stripe-powered order forms	✅Accept one-time or recurring payments ✅Buy Now Pay Later ✅Apple Pay and Google Pay ✅Stripe subscriptions ✅Minimal setup

Method 1: Create an Order Form With WPForms (Multiple Products & Advanced Settings)

If you want a fully customizable order form that can handle multiple products, conditional logic, and calculate totals automatically, WPForms is the best choice.

WPForms lets you create flexible order forms without coding. You can add multiple products, custom fields, and conditional logic, and integrate payments through Stripe, PayPal, or Authorize.net.

This makes it perfect for businesses that need more than just a simple checkout.

We have used WPForms many times to build forms for the WPBeginner website, and it’s never failed us. To learn more about our experience with it, see our WPForms review.

WPForms also offers an AI form builder, but for this tutorial, we’ll focus on creating a custom order form manually so you can see all the features in action.

We won’t be using it now since we’d like to show you how easy it is to work with the plugin’s pre-made order form template. But just keep in mind that it can be really useful if you know you’ll need to create multiple forms in the future.

Step 1: Install and Activate WPForms

Now, to get started, you’ll need to install and activate WPForms. For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After you activate the plugin, visit the WPForms » Settings page from the WordPress dashboard to enter your license key. You can find this information in your account on the WPForms website.

Step 2: Create a New Order Form

Next, head over to the WPForms » Add New page from the WordPress dashboard.

This will take you to the ‘Select a Template’ page, where you can start by adding a name for your form. Then, you’ll need to choose a form template. We recommend using the ‘Billing / Order Form’ template.

To pick this template, simply move your cursor over it and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

Step 3: Customize Your Order Form Fields

You will now be taken to the WPForms drag-and-drop editor. Here, you will notice a form preview on the right with form fields in the left column of the screen.

You can now edit your online order form however you want by dragging and dropping fields from the sidebar.

The default template already includes fields for most of the information you’re likely to need, like name, address, and phone number. However, you’ll need to list your actual products.

To do this, click on the ‘Available Items’ field to edit it. This will open its settings in the left column, where you can type in the name and price of each item that customers can order from you.

The price won’t automatically display on the form, so you may want to add this to the item name.

To add more options, simply click the (+) icon wherever you want to add the extra items. You can also remove an item by clicking the (-) icon.

Note: You can add as many items as you want. However, customers can only select one option from this field.

If you have several categories of options, then you may want to copy the field to create groups.

You can copy the ‘Available Items’ field by clicking the ‘Copy’ icon that appears when you run your cursor over it or when it’s selected.

Make sure you change the ‘Label’ of the fields to something appropriate for each group as well.

You will also need to use a different type of field if you want customers to be able to select two or more options within a single field.

For this, switch to the ‘Add Fields’ tab and scroll down to the ‘Payment Fields’ section. Then, choose and add the ‘Checkbox Items’ field to the form.

You can now edit that field as before, entering names and prices for your items. Customers can check as many items as they want to order.

If you want to show images of your products, that’s easy, too. Simply toggle the ‘Use image choices’ switch.

Once you do that, the ‘Upload Image’ button will appear under each item.

You can then add images either from your computer or from your WordPress Media Library according to your liking.

Keep in mind that WPForms won’t resize or compress your images. We recommend using square images that are optimized for the web (like 250×250 pixels) for the best layout.

You can now customize the rest of the form fields in a similar way. Once you do that, just click the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your settings.

Step 4: Configure the Notifications Your Order Form Will Send Out

If you are creating an order form, it’s a good idea to set up notifications for it. This way, you will immediately get an email alert once someone places an order on your website.

To do this, switch to the ‘Settings’ section from the left column and click the ‘Notifications’ tab. By default, completed order forms will be emailed to the admin address for your WordPress site.

However, you may want to change this or have the order forms copied to more than one address.

You can simply type the email address or addresses in the ‘Send To Email Address’ box. If you are entering more than one email address, then separate them with a comma.

You might also want to change the subject line so that it’s not the same for every order. This could make it easier to keep track of orders in a crowded email inbox.

Here, we have changed the subject line of the emails to read “Customer order from” and then the customer’s name. We used ‘Show Smart Tags’ to insert the name field in the subject line.

You can change any other details you want according to your preferences.

We strongly recommend setting up an email notification for your customers. This will remind them of what they’ve ordered and let them know that you’ve received their order.

To set up a new email notification, click the ‘Add New Notification’ button.

You will be prompted to type in a name for the new notification.

You can call it whatever you want, as customers won’t see this name. We suggest something like ‘Customer Receipt’ or ‘Customer Email Confirmation’.

You will want the ‘Send To Email Address’ to be your customer’s email account. This means you have to delete {admin_email} from this box.

Then, click on ‘Show Smart Tags’ and select the ‘Email’ field from the available list.

You’ll also want to enter other details for the email. We suggest using a subject line such as “Your order with” and your company’s name.

In the ‘Email Message’ field, you’ll probably want to add a message to your customer.

The {all_fields} tag will give all the information the customer entered on the form. For detailed instructions, see our tutorial on how to send a confirmation email after WordPress form submissions.

Step 5: Set the Confirmation Message for Your Customers

Along with sending your customers an email receipt, you can also show them an on-screen confirmation so they know that their order has been sent.

You can do this under the Settings » Confirmation tab.

The default confirmation reads, “Thanks for contacting us! We will be in touch with you shortly.”

You can change this to anything you want and use the visual editor to format your text.

Alternatively, you can redirect customers to a “Thank you” page on your website or even to another website altogether.

Once you’ve set up the confirmation message, click ‘Save’ at the top of the screen.

Step 6: Integrate Payment with Your Order Form (Optional)

If you want to take payment through your order form, then you will need to integrate it with a payment processor.

WPForms supports multiple payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net), letting you create a complete order form with flexible checkout options. Customers can pay online while you collect all the order details in a single form.

We are going to use PayPal in this tutorial, but the process for Stripe is similar.

First, you’ll need to exit the form builder. You can do this by clicking the ‘X’ at the top right. If you have unsaved changes, you’ll be prompted to save your form.

Next, go to the WPForms » Addons page in your WordPress dashboard. Scroll down to the ‘PayPal Standard Addon’ and click the ‘Install Addon’ button beneath it.

The addon will then be installed and activated automatically.

Now go back to your form, which you can find under WPForms » All Forms. Once the form builder is launched, switch to the ‘Payments’ tab and click the ‘PayPal Standard’ option.

Next, toggle the ‘Enable PayPal Standard payments’ switch.

Then, fill in the details of the form. You can start by adding the email address associated with your PayPal account.

Leave the ‘Mode’ dropdown set to ‘Production’ and leave the ‘Payment Type’ set to ‘Products and Services’.

If you’re collecting the delivery address through the order form, then you can change ‘Shipping’ to ‘Don’t ask for an address.’

You don’t need to enter a ‘Cancel URL,’ but you may want to create a page on your website for customers to be sent to if they don’t complete the checkout process.

Click the ‘Save’ button once you’ve finished.

Now, when the user submits the form, they’ll be automatically directed to PayPal to pay. You don’t need to add any extra fields to your form or do anything else.

For more information, you can see our tutorial on how to add a PayPal payment form in WordPress.

Step 7: Add the Order Form to Your Website

The final step is to add your order form to your website.

Simply choose the page you want to add your form to, or create a new page under Pages » Add New.

Next, click on the ‘Add Block’ (+) button to add a new block (wherever you want your form) and find the WPForms block. It’s located under the ‘Widgets’ section of blocks, or you can simply type ‘WPForms’ into the search bar to find it.

You’ll see a WPForms block. Click the ‘Select a Form’ dropdown and choose your form.

You’ll then see a preview of the form itself in the WordPress editor.

When you are ready, save and publish (or update) your page. You can view it live on your site to see your form in action. Before sharing it with customers, we recommend testing the form to ensure it works as you expected.

For more details, see our guide on how to embed forms in WordPress.

It’s also a good idea to check that you receive the email notification when the form is submitted. If not, check out our post on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue.

Even if you do miss an email or accidentally delete it, WPForms saves form data in the WordPress database. You can find all your orders by going to WPForms » Entries in your WordPress dashboard.

Click on the name of your form to see a list of entries. Click ‘View’ next to any of these to see the details.

Method 2: Create an Order Form With WP Simple Pay (Subscriptions & Simple Settings)

WP Simple Pay is ideal if you want a Stripe-focused order form without a shopping cart.

You can accept one-time or recurring payments, use Buy Now Pay Later, accept mobile payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay, and customize form fields for multiple products.

It’s perfect for quickly setting up an order form while taking full advantage of Stripe’s features.

We’ve tested this tool out thoroughly for a variety of scenarios, and we really liked it. If you want more details about our testing experience, then you can check our WP Simple Pay review.

Step 1: Install and Activate WP Simple Pay

First, you need to install and activate the WP Simple Pay plugin. For details, see our tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After you activate the plugin, a setup wizard will open up on your screen. Go ahead and click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.

Next, you will have to add your plugin’s license key.

You can find this information in your account on the WP Simple Pay website.

Step 2: Connect Your Stripe Account

Next, connect WP Simple Pay to your Stripe account. This unlocks all Stripe payment features, including subscriptions, Apple/Google Pay, and Buy Now Pay Later.

Without connecting Stripe, your forms won’t accept payments. To start the process, click the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button.

For step-by-step instructions, see our tutorial on how to accept Stripe payments in WordPress.

Once you successfully connect Stripe and WP Simple Pay, the setup wizard will ask you to configure your emails.

Here, you can enable options to receive email notifications for payment receipts, upcoming invoices, and payment notifications. You will also need to enter an email address where these messages must be sent.

Then, click the ‘Save and Continue’ button and finish the rest of the setup wizard steps according to your liking.

Step 3: Create a New Payment Form

Now, go to the WP Simple Pay » Payment Forms page in the WordPress dashboard.

Here, simply click the ‘Create Your Payment Form’ button.

This will direct you to the ‘Select a template’ screen, where you will notice a list of premade templates offered by the plugin.

You may want to switch to the ‘Products and Services’ tab to find an order form template that fits your needs. There, you will find form templates for things like cleaning services, laundry services, martial arts lessons, walking tours, pool cleaning, and more.

If you don’t find a pre-made template that meets your specific needs, we recommend using the ‘Payment Form’ option. Just click the ‘Use Template’ button below it.

You will now be taken to the ‘Add New Payment Form’ page, where you can start by adding a title and description for your form.

For example, if you are creating an order form to deliver fruit baskets to a user’s address, then you could call the payment form something like ‘Home Delivery Payment Form.’

After that, select your form type as ‘On-site payment form.’ You can also enable CAPTCHA to protect your form from spam entries.

Step 4: Add Products and Prices

Then, switch to the ‘Payment’ tab from the left column and choose your preferred tax collection rates from the dropdown menu under the ‘Tax Collection’ option.

Now, add the product or service you want to sell. Click ‘Add Price’ to enter a product label, price, and currency.

If you want to sell more than one item, simply click ‘Add Price’ again. This lets you list multiple products or services in the same order form.

Since WP Simple Pay doesn’t display prices automatically, we recommend including the price in the product label so customers can clearly see what they’re paying for.

If you’re using the Pro version, you can also offer subscriptions. Just enable ‘Allow price to optionally be purchased as a subscription.’

This adds a subscription option to your form, letting customers choose between a one-time payment or recurring billing (such as monthly payments).

Step 5: Configure Payment Methods and Form Fields

After that, scroll down to the ‘Payment Methods’ section and select the ‘All’ option from the dropdown menu.

Now, you can add Card, ACH Direct Debit, Klarna, Cash App, GrabPay, iDEAL, and many other options as payment methods by checking the boxes next to them.

After you’ve selected your payment method options, switch to the ‘Form Fields’ tab. You can now add a form field from the dropdown menu and configure its settings by expanding the tab.

You can also rearrange the existing fields by dragging and dropping them.

For instance, you can add and customize an address field on your form if you plan to deliver physical products. That way, customers will need to give their home address when they make a purchase.

Step 6: Set Up Purchase Restrictions and Confirmations

Then, switch to the ‘Purchase Restrictions’ tab. Here, you can check the ‘Hide the payment form after a set number of payments’ box and add a value.

This feature is super handy if you have a specific number of products you want to sell and want to prevent overselling. For example, if you are selling fruit baskets and only have 20 available, you can set that as the limit. Once you hit 20 orders, the form will automatically disappear from your site.

You can also schedule your form to appear or disappear after a specific date. This is especially useful if you are creating an order form for seasonal products.

For instance, if you sell cookies and plan to offer Christmas cookies just for the season, then you can set a schedule for the payment form so it only appears during that time when there’s demand.

Next, head to the ‘Confirmation Page’ section from the left column.

Here, you can type a success message that users will see on their screen once they complete their order. You can also customize this message by choosing a color scheme and adding a header image.

After that, switch to the ‘Email Notifications’ tab to add the message users will receive with their payment receipt.

You can also add a custom email message to notify yourself when a successful payment has been made with this payment form.

Step 7: Add the Order Form to Your Website

Finally, move to the ‘Payment Page’ tab and check the ‘Enable a dedicated payment page’ box.

The plugin will now generate a custom page for your payment form. That way, you don’t have to create a new page manually.

To customize the payment form page, you can add a permalink, color scheme, image, and footer text.

Then, click the ‘Publish’ button to store your settings.

You can now visit the WordPress site to view the online order form in action.

However, if you have an existing page where you want to add the form, then click the ‘Publish’ button after adding the custom email messages.

Next, locate the page or post where you want to add the payment form and open it in the WordPress content editor. Then, click the ‘Add Block’ (+) button in the top left corner to open the block menu.

From here, find and add the WP Simple Pay block to the page, and select the payment form you created from the dropdown menu within the block.

After that, click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

Finally, simply visit your WordPress site to view the order form.

Step 8: Track Your Online Orders

When users start placing orders using your order form, you can head to the WP Simple Pay » Activity & Reports page from your WordPress dashboard.

WP Simple Pay provides a dashboard for tracking all Stripe payments, including one-time purchases, subscriptions, and failed payments — giving you a clear view of your orders without managing a full eCommerce system.

Plus, the plugin lets you generate reports for any date range. Once you have chosen a start and end date, you will see detailed insights, including a breakdown of payment methods, payment statuses, and successful payments.

This will help you better manage your order form.

Video Tutorial

If you’d like to follow along with video instructions, then just watch our YouTube tutorial below.

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Bonus: Add a Restaurant Reservation System in WordPress

If you have a restaurant website, you may also want to add a reservation system to it.

Offering a convenient online reservation option can improve the customer experience. It will minimize the need for phone reservations and reduce lengthy hold times.

For instructions on how to do this, see our tutorial on how to add a restaurant reservation system in WordPress.

FAQs: Creating Online Order Forms in WordPress

Here are some questions that are frequently asked by our readers about creating an online order form in WordPress:

What’s the difference between using WPForms and WooCommerce for order forms?

WPForms is the perfect option if you only need a simple order form—like for custom quotes, service bookings, or one-time product orders. It’s lightweight, easy to set up, and doesn’t require a full shopping cart system.

WooCommerce, on the other hand, is a full-fledged eCommerce plugin. It’s better for stores with many products, categories, shipping options, and tax calculations.

However, it can be overkill if you just need a basic form to collect orders and payments.

Can I send email notifications when someone submits the order form?

Yes, most form plugins let you send email notifications automatically after someone submits the form. With WPForms and WP Simple Pay, you can configure it to send:

• A confirmation email to the customer
• A new order notification to yourself or your team
• A copy of the entry to another email address (if needed)

You can customize the email content to include form fields like name, order details, and payment info. It’s a great way to streamline communication and respond to new orders quickly.

Is it possible to create a mobile-friendly order form?

Absolutely! Most modern form plugins, including WPForms and WP Simple Pay, are mobile-responsive by default. This means your order form will automatically adjust to fit smaller screens like phones and tablets.

To ensure the best user experience, you can preview your form on different devices using the WordPress block editor or the form builder’s preview tool.

Also, keep the form short and simple—fewer fields lead to higher conversions on mobile.

That’s it! We hope this article helped you learn how to create an online order form in WordPress. You might also like our ultimate WordPress eCommerce setup guide and our top picks for the best WordPress coupon code plugins.

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