Custom field forms is a valuable tool that you can use to collect the important information you need for your website's product purchases.
Maybe you want to run award nominations through the Ecommerce module and be able to collect the nominee's name and some information about them. Perhaps you're selling room rentals in your office and want to know the date the rental is needed and which room. Or even more simply, maybe you're selling association gear and want to know what size t-shirt someone needs.
Custom fields make all of that possible, and they're simple to set up on your products!
First, Create Your Custom Fields
To start, you'll first want to create a custom field for the information you want to collect. If the field already exists, you can skip this step and read on. The key is to ensure that the custom field is set to be visible within the Ecommerce section.
Adding Custom Fields to Products
On each product page (Ecommerce > Products > select a product), you'll find a "Custom Fields" tab where you can add custom fields to the order form.
Just like event tickets, all you'll need to do is drag & drop the custom field from the list on the left into the form on the right.
Important Note: Products being used as add-ons for membership or events cannot include custom fields. Similarly, products with custom fields cannot be configured as membership or event add-ons.
Select Form Fields Setting
When adding custom fields to a product, there's also a setting to:
Require users to add the product one at a time to their cart so you can collect one form per quantity. Example: Awards Nominations - each nomination needs its own set of custom field values. When this setting is used, the quantity box is not displayed - the user will fill out the custom fields and click "Add to Cart." From there, they can opt to order the same product again, if they'd like, and follow the same steps.
-OR-
Only ask users to fill in the custom fields one time, regardless of the quantity being ordered. Example: Custom Team T-Shirts - 4 shirts might be ordered, but you may only want to ask the team name once.
No matter which setting is applied, after a user adds a product to the cart they will see a pop-up with the following options:
Add Another [product name]
Continue Shopping
View Cart
Orders From The Frontend
Once you have custom fields configured on a product, users will be able to purchase the product and be prompted to fill out your listed fields.
The fields will be displayed on the frontend product page near the "Add to Cart" button. If any fields are required, the user will have to fill them out before they can add to the cart.
Once they add the product to the cart, the custom field info will be displayed and they can review/edit the information before submitting the order.
If any changes are made to the custom field values and the user navigates away from their cart, the changes will be saved so they won't have to re-enter the information.
The user can also remove the product from their cart by clicking the trash symbol next to the price.
Orders From The Backend/Admin
When adding a new order on the backend, you will also be prompted to enter the custom field information. If something is required, you have the ability to leave it blank, but the system will ask you if you're sure.
Custom Fields in Product Purchase Emails
The custom field values will also appear in the emails listed below, so everyone can stay in the loop on what information was submitted with the order.
Order Confirmation email - sent to the purchaser
New Order Notification email - sent to the association (This email address is setup under Association Settings > Ecommerce)
Order Fulfilled email - sent to the purchaser when the admin changes the order status to "Fulfilled" unless otherwise selected to not send
View & Pull Given Custom Field Values/Information
Now that you've collected the custom info you need for the product, you'll want to be able to view that information so you have a full picture of what the order contains.
There are a few places to find this on the backend, depending on your needs:
Details tab of the Order
Purchases tab of the Product
Under the gear icon on the Purchases tab, you can add columns to the list view.
This is great for a quick view and also for downloading to excel.
This doesn't have to be "turned on" in the custom field setup - it's automatically available as a column view, based on which custom fields are being used for the product.