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

    • Waterfall Chart

      Hello, I would like to create a waterfall chart on Zoho analytics which shows the movement in changes of budget throughout a few months, on a weekly basis. Should look something like the picture below. Does anyone know how to?
    • Add "Merge by Ticket ID" Option on Ticket Screen

      Dear Zoho Team, We would like to request a new feature for the ticket interface in Zoho Desk. Specifically, we propose adding a button to the ticket screen that allows users to merge the current ticket with another ticket by directly providing the second
    • Problem when condition with lookup field in Zoho Creator

      this is my code: if input.promotions1 != null { info input.promotions1; } And this my result: when i info input.promotion1 (which is a lookup field), it turn back nothing, so what type of this field is? normally i use the condition: if lookup_field ==
    • Dialing Microsoft Teams Phone Service via Zoho CRM

      I am using the VOIP option in Microsoft teams for my office phone system. I was hoping to have a way to dial numbers directly from Zoho CRM, but don't see anything in the Teams Integration or in the Telephony integration that will enable this. Does anyone
    • What's New - January 2025 | Zoho Backstage

      Hi there! As we step into a brand-new year, we’re thrilled to bring you some exciting updates to make event management more enjoyable and efficient. Here’s what we rolled out in January to kick off 2025: Backstage 2.0 now enforced for all users We've
    • Hide/Remove Zia search bar in Mobile app

      How do i hide the Zia Search button " Search across Zoho apps " in the app?
    • Importing Attendees- Excel

      I would like the ability to import attendees using an excel file. Sometimes groups, such as schools have to sign up attendees through there system and then send my organization an excel spreadsheet. Right now there doesn't seem to be a way to import those attendees. If Backstage can export to an excel file it seems like a no-brainer that one would be able to populate that template and import attendees into Backstage.
    • Issue with Attachments in "Email a Thank You Note"

      Greetings, from a few days ago, when registering a new payment and clicking on 'email a thank you not for this payment', Zoho Books does not send anymore my attachments on this email, as before. It is very important to us, once here, we have to send another
    • Zoho CRM Kiosk Upload Files

      Hello all, We are trying out Kiosks at the moment to see where it can fit best in our business. We are still a bit off in the application but lets say we will sort this out. My question is the following - when I create a Kiosk I can add "File Upload"
    • How to add new row in a custom SubForm using Deluge Code in Deal Module

      Hi, Can someone help me with Deluge code to add a new row with data in a custom Subform in a Deal Module. Thanks, Shatakshi Misra
    • CASE Module - email function

      HI there, I dont know if this has been asked or answered before as i couldnt find it on the forums. Issue: when a new case is raised, it goes under case tab and everything is captured. Then how do i send emails to the client who raised case with the details
    • Effortlessly advance through your CRM blueprints by including optional fields in transitions

      Editions: Professional edition and above DCs: All Release plan: This enhancement is being released in a phased manner to customers. It will soon be available to all users. [Updated on 5 Sep 2024] This enhancement has been released to all users in all
    • Zoho CRM - Conditional Assessment for Blueprint Automatic Transition

      Hi, Currently, in Zoho CRM’s Blueprint process, the Automatic Transition feature does not allow for conditional assessments before execution. This limitation significantly impacts workflows where a transition should only occur when certain predefined
    • How can you re-push non failed submission through the integrations again?

      Hi, I can see there is an option the 'Re-push' failed integration submissions from Zoho Forms. Is there a way to do this for all submissions? We've just re-built an integration so things go into different fields and we would like to re-push everything
    • Request for Assistance: Firewall Configuration for ManageEngine Cloud Access

      Dear ManageEngine Support Team, I hope this email finds you well. We have encountered a technical case and would appreciate your assistance. Below are the details of the current configuration and the issue we are facing: 1. Current Configuration: • We
    • List of API for report

      Can I have list of API for Reporting ? Like this API : https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/reports/customerbalances?organization_id={{Organization.Organization_ID}}&accept=pdf
    • How to add row numbers to Subform?

      How to I auto row number rows of a subform in CRM?
    • Zoho Books | Product Updates | January 2025

      Hello users, Now that January is over, here are some exciting updates to make this new year even better. We’re back with new features and enhancements in Zoho Books, including comparing fields as criteria in workflow rules and a custom SMTP integration.
    • Python Code: Calling "Deals" API results in 404 Error.

      Good evening, I wrote a small python code to scrape the data from a selected record and then copy the information I need into another website. We have renamed the "Deals" module to "Opportunities", however the API name remains as "Deals" which is fine.
    • How to change contact record owner to its creator?

      When I convert a lead record into a contact and a deal then a the contact record will have User AAAA as record owner, and the contact record will have User XXXX as the record creator. I don't have any workflow rules in Contact module. I use the blueprint
    • How to merge duplicate products?

      merge duplicate products
    • Function to update field in CRM Meetings from Bookings Appointment Status

      Hello, We're creating some reporting in Zoho Analytics using data from CRM and Bookings. Unfortunately it looks like when Bookings Appointments are carried over to CRM Meetings, the Bookings Appointment Status is not recorded in CRM Meetings. We would
    • Unresponsiveness in Zoho Cliq

      Time of post: 6:56 am PDT, 19 July 2023 Dear Cliq users, We have encountered an unprecedented issue in our messaging servers. The details of the issue are as follows: Impacted users : 1/4th of users in US DC (users who access cliq services through cliq.zoho.com)
    • Importing Tasks : Where is the flexible work hours field ?

      I need to be able to import a years worth of flexible hours for our part time workers, but I can't find what field to import to. When I do an export, there is nothing that signifies Standard/Flexible and whenever I import it automatically sets it to Standard...
    • Zoho CRM Calendar View

      Hello Zoho team, We need desperately a calendar view next to list, kandan and other views. I think it should be easy to implement as you already have the logic from Projects and also from Kanban View in CRM. In calendar view when we set it up - we choose
    • Attendance Over-writing of Leave

      Hello Zoho, Currently if an employee comes to work while they have applied for leave, the system considers them as "on leave". Shouldn't the employee be marked as "present". Give it a thought
    • Inadequate Customer Support

      Hello & Greetings! I have been a pro Zoho user since the last 2 years and I would admit that the apps that are being offered are good, however the support we receive has a lot more to achieve. This being a design issue rather than a staff issue. Being
    • Enhancements to the formula field in Zoho CRM: Auto-refresh formulas with the "Now" function, stop formula executions based on criteria, and include formulas within formulas

      Dear Customers, We hope you're well! By their nature, modern businesses rely every day on computations, whether it's to calculate the price of a product, assess ROI, evaluate the lifetime value of a customer, or even determine the age of a record. With
    • Zoho Analytics - Values gets Duplicated

      In Zoho Analytics, I have two tables: one for Country-wise Sales and another for Country-wise Budget with Region. I am attempting to create a stacked bar chart to compare the Region-wise Budget and Sales Revenue. I have set up a lookup between the two
    • Does Zoho US Payroll now support employees in multiple states?

      Does Zoho US now support having employees in multiple US states? I looked at the site and can't find and of the restrictions on multiple states anywhere.
    • Zoho Mail not fit for business

      How are businesses using Zoho Mail? In Zoho Mail: You cannot create subfolders in a shared mailbox You cannot add a second email account eg. a non-Zoho account that could then provide the function of providing a shared mailbox with subfolders In the Trident
    • Client Script | Update - Introducing Subform Events and Actions

      Are you making the most of your subforms in Zoho CRM? Do you wish you could automate subform interactions and enhance user experience effortlessly? What if you had Client APIs and events specifically designed for subforms? We are thrilled to introduce
    • Linking module does not allow Subforms

      The title says it all: I don't know why this is the case, but I start to hate the system and regret my decision of implementing it across our whole organization because of all the limitations we are facing. What should we do now?
    • Additional step for Deleting an app

      Have an additional step for deleting an app. When the popup occurs, the user needs to write "DELETE" into a text field. This is what Google does. At the moment, it is too easy to Delete, which increases risk, and this should be easy to implement.
    • Enhancement - P&L Statement and Balance Sheet

      Hi there!   Providing an option to compare financial statements from different quarters was one of the most requested features in  the recent times . We're more than excited to have come up with a solution - a  Comparison  feature for P & L Statement and Balance Sheet.   Profit and Loss Statement and Balance Sheet provide you with  a clear picture of   the 'hows'  your company can generate more revenue or cut down on costs and what you own and owe. But, then having this year's statement compared
    • restrict access to user to create invoice

      hi team we need to restrict particular users from accounts dept to create invoice directly from invoice module in zoho books . Rather , they can only able to create invoice is by using "convert to invoice" from "Sales Order" module . pls help us to solve
    • Request to Make Cheque Printing Available as an Add-On Across All Plans

      Hi Zoho Team, I have been using Zoho Books and other Zoho products since 2019, and they have significantly streamlined my business operations. However, I believe there is room for improvement in terms of feature availability across different plans. One
    • Zoho Forms Lookups Not Accessible

      I am trying to set up a sign-in form where visitors can scan the QR code onsite, select the job from the lookup field, and it attaches to the job in the CRM. It looks like external users cannot use the lookup feature. Is this correct? It seems almost
    • Is the a warning for when a customer is outside of payment terms?

      Hi there Anyone know if this is available? I know there's a warning when over the credit limit, but is there similar warning for when a customer is overdue based on time? (for example, it was due end of last month) Thanks!
    • Notes Filter is not working

      I am trying to filter the CRM down to specific notes that I want that'll show up all the data that has a specific keyword for example, "stocks" and it says no leads are found... Don't know how to fix. don't know if it's a system glitch. I even put a note
    • Next Page