5 ways to adapt social distancing this holiday season using online forms

5 ways to adapt social distancing this holiday season using online forms

Hello fellow form builders, 

Social distancing measures are being woven into the fabric of daily business practices, ending many forms of direct-contact business. To adapt to this, businesses might want to change their business practices, adding necessary measures that embrace the safety-first approach. Here are a few ideas for how online forms can replace face-to-face activities while increasing efficiency: 

1. Replace fundraising events with online donation forms 

Fundraising and donation collection is common during the holiday season. This year, the chances for hosting in-person fundraising events are essentially zero and collecting donations online can help make up the difference. With a donation form you can collect donor information and the donations themselves, using online payment methods. To get started right away, you can use the ready-to-go template from here. Besides sharing the form's direct link, you can get the word out in a variety of ways:  
  • Embed donation forms onto your webpages
  • Add the donation form link into promotional text messages
  • Add form links to your email and social media campaigns
  • Add forms into your blog posts 

2. Take holiday meetups to virtual space 

Staying connected with customers and clients should be a top priority for your business. Replacing face-to-face meetings with virtual events can keep your business relevant and show customers how much you care about them. The transition to the virtual events may seem difficult, but it doesn't have to be. Zoho Forms can help by making it easy to create online RSVPs and invitations using online forms. Sharing invitations this way lets your attendees quickly register for your events. Read more on this here. 

For examples, gyms can live stream workouts to all their members. To help members enroll for the live stream, they can offer a membership form with a special holiday discount. 

3. Host restaurant forms to encourage on-the-go pickup

As restaurants resume their business, adapting to social distancing is important. Setting up an ordering service lets customers to book online from their homes and collect the orders curbside, spending just a few minutes at the restaurant.

Implementing this service doesn't need to be as technical as it sounds. You can start building a form with ready-to-go templates from here. There are also plenty of themes and custom options in our theme builder, so you can design forms that match your restaurant's other branding. If you need assistance, read this detailed guide to getting started with our theme builder.

Here are a few things you can do while designing takeout order forms:
  • Collect customer orders and specific requests using various question types
  • Acknowledge the order using email confirmation
  • Add options to make order payments online or in person
  • Deliver an e-receipt automatically

4. Allow customers to schedule appointments

To avoid long lines winding through your storefront, you can make it quick and easy for your customers to make appointments with you. For businesses dealing with merchandise, jewelry, or other physical products, this can be a great way to reduce customer traffic at their store.

Giving an opportunity to book via online appointment forms lets customers give their preferred time, share what they are looking for, and receive instructions on how to prepare for the appointment. Once they book, you can confirm on your end, giving them the confidence they need to take the plunge. 

5. Replace physical feedback with scannable forms 

Scannable QR feedback forms are a great alternative to collecting verbal feedback. Using Zoho Forms, create feedback forms tailored to your needs and convert them into a QR code. Placing these codes on the walls of your restaurant, store, conference location, or wherever else you conduct business, makes it easier for your audiences to access the form with a quick scan. 

Later, they can fill out the survey and share comprehensive feedback on your service or product. This not only avoids physical contact, but also makes it easier to collect large amounts of feedback, so you can share it with others. 

Key takeaway: Work smarter 

This holiday season, grow your business easily and safely by using smarter workflows. As you use online forms to connect with your audience, you're minimizing direct physical contact, too! Let us know if these tips were helpful and what your favorite was in the comments below.

Happy holidays!


If you have any questions or feedback to share, feel free to comment below or drop us an email at support@zohoforms.com


    • Sticky Posts

    • 5 ways to adapt social distancing this holiday season using online forms

      Hello fellow form builders,  Social distancing measures are being woven into the fabric of daily business practices, ending many forms of direct-contact business. To adapt to this, businesses might want to change their business practices, adding necessary

    • Online donations: Encourage your audience to give back this holiday season

      Hello fellow form builders, The holiday season isn't just about shopping and festivities. There's a special zeal to give back to the community as a gesture of gratitude. While donation boxes are still around, many businesses are focused on their online

    • Getting your forms ready for the holidays

      Hello fellow form builders! With the holidays coming up, we've all started to get the hang of the new normal as people get ready for all the festivity around. This year is different from others in the past, which means businesses are trying out new ways

    • 5 Ways to pull off holiday events like a pro using online forms

      Hello fellow form builders, This is the fifth post of the five-part series on "Getting ready for the holiday season with Zoho Forms." This series aims to help you make the best of your forms and grow your business this season. Holiday events are suppose to be fun, and so is hosting them. So if you are overwhelmed and it seems like your event organizing is all over the place, then something has gone wrong. Yet, sweat not - we've got you!   The entire event planning process can be made easy by automating

    • 5 ways to improve your holiday fundraising with online forms

      Hello fellow form builders,  This is part four of our five-part series on "Getting ready for the holiday season with Zoho Forms." This series aims to help you make the best of your forms and grow your business this season. Asking for money isn't easy, yet it's a crucial step for any fundraising group or organization. During this holiday season, make collecting donations fun and more effective with our list of the top five ways to improve your overall fundraising process. Let's dive in. 1. Create

    • Recent Topics

    • Pre-fill TO and CC fields for Email Templates

      This would be a game changer to be able to set either specific email addresses or merge fields based on deal role titles into email templates. Please pass this along to *hopefully* add to future features of Zoho CRM.

    • Leads and Deals Issue

      Hi! Is Zoho having trouble today? I've been experiencing issues today. When I move a deal to closed/won, it previously would require a closing date but today the screen just went blur and the closing date did not pop up. And then under leads, I was trying

    • QR codes in templates

      I'm excited about the new QR code generator. I have included a QR code that contains the record ID setting "${ID}" as input data. In the report detail it works perfectly but when printing it in a template the code is not shown.

    • How do I hide all leads from Standard users in my CRM ZOHO

      I want to configure my crm zoho in such a way that standard users will only see leads owned or assigned to them. How do I go about doing this? I have tried all i could, but nothing...can anyone help me?

    • Custom view for Milestones

      Hi, Just an idea for the future... would it be possible to create custom views for the Milestones view under Work Overview ? I usually need to look at this view filtered by project group but the filter doesn't remain when navigating away. A custom view

    • attributed automatically database section

      Hello everyone and happy holidays... here in zoho CRM, I created 3 bases: - Properties (House, apartment ...) - Transactions (Notaries, ...) - Real estate ads I want when the address is identical on these three bases, that in "Properties" the transactions

    • How to Implement Time-Based Filters in Zoho Workflows?

      Hi everyone, I’m looking for a workaround to implement time-based filters in Zoho workflows. Specifically, I need a workflow to trigger only within certain hours (e.g., between 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM, Sunday to Friday). Currently, Zoho workflows execute

    • is there a better way to routinely export my project timesheets?

      Hi there, I am somewhat happy with how Zoho books handles time.  One thing that is missing is more user driven control over my data.  I have a workflow where I constantly need to give customers feeds of work done.  So I pick a project, and would ideally

    • Portal Default View

      Hello! My company is about roll out portals for some users, but we were wondering if it was possible to set the Record Detail Page View to default to a custom view that we made. That way the information they need would be streamlined and easier to see.

    • Zoho Books API Limit Is RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      The 2,500 API call limit in Zoho Books is about as useful as AOL dialup.  Seriously Zoho, not only can I use up 2,500 API calls in no time with my own app but YOUR OWN STUPID IPAD APP blows through them super fast too, so if any one of my clients wants

    • Unlocking New Horizons: A Year in Review

      As we bid farewell to 2024, let's celebrate and revisit the key highlights of the year. From adding a new edition to cross-platform enhancements, here’s a roundup of all the feature updates designed to simplify accounting, optimize financial management,

    • Does zoho rest api support token exchange from microsoft entra id token

      i want to get access token from the Microsoft user token in rest api. so it is possible to exchange microsoft user access token to zoho's access token or auth token ( token should be user specific not super admin).

    • Important: DKIM verification needed for unauthenticated email domains

      Hi all, This post is to inform users who are currently using unauthenticated email domains as their sender email for their notifications. We have mandated DKIM verification for all domains used as sender email addresses for the outgoing emails by 01-Jan-2025.

    • How do I define a weekend

      I noticed the default for weekends does not seem to include Saturdays. How can i define weekends to include both Saturdays and Sundays? Thank you.

    • Assistance Required: Custom Model Record Not Visible in Zoho CRM Sandbox

      Dear Team, I hope this message finds you well. I have created a custom model in the Zoho CRM Sandbox account and am currently adding records to it using Python. While I am able to fetch the module data programmatically through Python, I am unable to see

    • Custom Status for Purchase Orders

      Currently Zoho books has functionality to create custom statuses for Sales Orders. Can this be extended to include custom status for purchase orders as well? It was a great decision to add this functionality to sales orders. Our use case is for tracking

    • Remove Address from credit card payment

      I would like to remove the need to add address when paying by credit card. I only want the customer to have to add their credit card details.

    • Top Menu Disappeared from Blog Page

      Hi, Our top menu disappeared at Blog Posts page. However, it's still visible any other page on the website. I attached two screenshots, so it can be understood clearly. How can we bring back top menu? Thanks, K.

    • Subforms and automation

      If a user updates a field how do we create an automation etc. We have a field for returned parts and i want to get an email when that field is ticked. How please as Zoho tells me no automation on subforms. The Reason- Why having waited for ever for FSM

    • My Zoho mail has been blocked for suspicious activity. cannot unblock it! need urgent help!

      Hi, I was accessing my email on an airplane which for some reason resulted in my mail being blocked. I have managed to unblock my incoming however outgoing is still blocked. I have contacted all your support emails but it still says contact support when I try to unblock outgoing emails. Its now been over 8 days with the same issue which is really serious as I'm not able to send several business emails during this period. I have followed all your steps to unblock this and contacted your support 5

    • Copy Widget to another Dashboard

      I can see the option to clone a widget to the same dashboard but is it possible to copy it to another dashboard?

    • booking link that expires

      I have a suggestion that is  crucial. When i send booking URL to clients they keep the link and they book appointment whenever they want multiple times. You should give us the Booking URL feature. We should be able to send it and the user can use it only

    • Error while importing products Purchase Price: Value in the field does not match with the data type supported by us.

      I am trying to import items into zoho inventory using an excel spreadsheet. I keep getting this error Purchase Price: Value in the field does not match with the data type supported by us. no matter how i format the cells this comes up and will not import

    • Quotes Module - import data

      Hello Zoho, is it possible to import Quotes records? I was trying and i have no results. Raport shows no data imported. Could you help me please how to do it?

    • Year-End Wrap: Disconnect now; Reconnect later with Offline Mode

      🎄Happy Holidays🎄 Let's say you are travelling home to spend the holiday season with your loved ones. Before you even board the train, you check your phone only to find your inbox rapidly filling with urgent emails that need your attention. There’s no

    • Exploring SalesIQ's Top Features of 2024: An Insider's Look 🔍

      As we wrap up another year at Zoho SalesIQ, it's time to reflect on how far we've come. This year has been incredible for us in our journey to build a more powerful, flexible, and customer-centric engagement platform. We've introduced several features

    • Resource booking functionality questions

      I'm exploring the resource booking functionality in Zoho Bookings for my organisation's needs. I have a few questions about the available Zoho Bookings functionalities. Is it possible to force all users to sign up for an account before they book a resource?

    • How to create a Field with answers as Yes, No> Further if no is selected a new field to be visible to give details

      Dear All, I am creating a feedback form in HR Letter. The question is were you satisfied with the work allotted. Expected answer to this is Yes, No. Further if the response is no, then a field to be give to fill more details as to why no was selected.

    • Modify the way a phone number is shown in footer on ZOHO Booking Page

      The default display of the phone number field in the footer is not customer friendly - See image below. We would like it to use the accepted standards of phone number display: +61 (0)2 88545440, or allow us to choose. At the moment ZOHO Booking sets how

    • Zoho Bookings Multilingual ?

      Hello, Not sure if there is a way to do it currently, but it would be very helpful if Zoho bookings allowed multilingual translations so we could have our booking pages and notifications setup in multiple languages. Thanks,

    • Allow customers to choose meeting venue and meeting duration on booking page

      My business primarily involves one-to-one meetings with my clients. Given the hybrid-work world we now find ourselves in, these meetings can take several forms (which I think of as the meeting "venue"): In-person Zoom Phone call I currently handle these

    • Problem viewing document imported from google drive.

      Hello, When I add a document via my google drive, it is impossible to preview it. I get the error “Files without extensions cannot be previewed. Download to view this file”. Could you please help me? Also, and this is more of a question: is there a way

    • Two way sync Zoho Mail and Bookings

      Hi, I know it’s possible to view Bookings appointments in Zoho Mail, but is there a way to see my Zoho Mail meetings in the Bookings calendar?

    • Modifying iframe data of Zoho booking iframe

      Hello, I have integrated a Zoho Bookings embedded iframe into my website. Currently, I am pre-filling the booking form with default values as part of our process flow. However, I want to ensure that if an input field is already populated with a default

    • Sending my emails to Spam Folder

      I am loosing my business because of this issue, many of my customers are receiving their email in the spam sometimes no one checks them

    • Why can't I sync my Zoho Mail tasks and notes with my mobile device, and is there a way to fix this issue?

      I'm having trouble syncing my Zoho Mail tasks and notes with my mobile device. Despite following the usual steps, the tasks and notes don't appear on my phone. Is there a way to fix this issue? Regards, Adamjes, Tekskills India Pvt Limited, India.

    • Re: constant rejected email form and to my account

      Hi, have had several rejection when I sent an email to Zoho account as well as other people have sent emails to my as your health Centre they have account and all aspects have been ejected. i wonder why the email are rejecting to and from. If you see

    • How do I redeem credits?

      How do I redeem credits that are shown in billing section?

    • Introducing 'Queries' In Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone! We are here with an exciting feature - Queries in Zoho CRM! A little context before we dive right into the feature specifics :) In today’s fast-paced business environment, immediate access to relevant data is essential for informed decision-making.

    • Will zoho thrive be integrated with Zoho Books?

      title

    • Next Page