Contact and Registration Forms and Surveys

Forms versus surveys: which one to use

Quick answer: A form is a single page where all questions show at once. A survey is multi-step — questions are split across slides. They share the same features otherwise; the difference is the experience.

The real difference

Both forms and surveys collect responses from visitors. They share the same field types, the same way of saving responses to family records, the same integrations, and even the same conditional logic. What changes is how the visitor experiences them:

• A form shows every question on a single page. The visitor scrolls through, fills in answers, and clicks Submit once at the bottom.
• A survey presents questions across multiple slides. The visitor sees a few questions at a time, clicks Next to move forward, and submits at the end.

When to use a form

Forms work best when:

• You have a small number of fields (typically 10 or fewer)
• Visitors need to see everything before submitting (e.g., they want to review what they're agreeing to)
• The form is embedded on a webpage and the surrounding context matters
• Speed is the priority — visitors should fill it out fast

Examples: a contact form, a tour request, a newsletter signup, an event registration with a few fields, an inquiry form.

When to use a survey

Surveys work best when:

• You have many questions and want to avoid overwhelming the visitor
• You want to group related questions onto separate slides
• The flow benefits from progressive disclosure (each step depends on the previous)
• You want to use conditional logic to route visitors based on their answers
• You want a more "guided" feel than a single-page form

Examples: a multi-step admissions inquiry, a financial aid pre-application, a feedback survey with branching questions, a multi-page event registration.

Capabilities that work for both

• Same field types (text, dropdowns, checkboxes, file upload, signature, etc.)
• Same conditional logic (show/hide fields, redirect, disqualify)
• Same submission destination (responses save to family records in Contacts)
• Same embed options (host on a Growth Suite page or your external website)
• Same analytics view (under Sites → Analytics)

Capabilities unique to surveys

• Jump To logic — based on a visitor's answer, jump them to a specific slide later in the survey (or skip slides entirely)
• Slide-level analytics — see exactly which slide visitors drop off on
• Progress bar — visitors see how far they've progressed
• Partial completion capture — surveys can create a contact record before the visitor finishes (if they abandon partway through, you still capture the early answers)

Tips

• If you're not sure, start with a form. It's faster to build and easier to embed.
• If your form is getting long (more than 8–10 fields), consider converting it to a survey for a better visitor experience.

Related articles

• How to create a contact form
• How to create a survey
• Common school forms and what to put on each