When a customer signs up for the newsletter through our website it only collects the email address, NOT the name of the customer.
Is this something we need to discuss with our website developer or is this a Vin65 thing?
Thanks!
It depends on which type of form you are using. If its the ‘subscribe widget’ (just the email field) it is intended to be a quick way for customers to enter their email address, and isn’t modular (and is generally hardcoded onto the frontpage of a site).
However, using the form builder tools you can create a form that has a field for the customer’s name. Depending on the location you want it placed, you may need to reach out to a designer.
Not sure how to create a form and I would really like to get their names and find out how they heard about us. Can you give any more insight to this?
To create a form you’ll want to go to your Wine Direct Dashboard > Content Editor > Components > Forms. There, you can create a new form by clicking the green “Add a Form” button on the right and going through the form creation steps.
Once you have a form made, you can enter it onto your site a couple of ways — it depends on how your site’s set up. The simplest way to integrate a form is usually to add it as a component to an existing page’s content in the Content Editor. Forms can also be integrated in more custom ways by designers as well.
Thanks for this guidance, Lindsay.
Would you be open to discussing how specifically to add a form to the “footer subscribe” pod that appears at the bottom of the homepage in most templates (I believe Sean mentioned that it is the “subscribe widget” that is typically hardcoded into the homepage). Can do it in this forum or privately via email.
Below are screenshots of both the Content Editor page and what appears on our website.
Hi Leary, happy to point you in the right direction. Caveat, though: if what you want is to replace that hardcoded email signup form, you may want to hire someone for that purpose unless you’re comfortable with frontend code. I’m assuming this is what you want to do, so I’m writing the rest of this response with that in mind 
First thing’s first, you’re going to want to confirm that form’s hardcoded into the html for that template (I assume it’s on the homepage). Log into your website via sftp and use a code editor (or a plain text editor) to download, then open, the home.htm file. Look for something like:
<div id="v65-subscribeWidget">
<form method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="contactType" value="#attributes.contactType#" />
<input type="text" name="email" value="#rb('email')#">
<button type="submit" class="defaultBtn"><span>#rb('subscribe')#</span></button>
</form>
</div>
This is the code for Wine Direct’s Subscribe Widget. To replace it, you’re going to need to create your own form, and then use that form to replace the Subscribe Widget.
Keep in mind, if your new form collects more info than the subscribe widget did—which is likely the whole point—this will make some of your contacts less informative than others. Doesn’t have to be an issue, but for clarity of data, you may want to make a new Contact Type and have the old one (“Newsletter” or whatever it’s named) stay separate, since you won’t be able to use it for some things, like including addresses in emails, etc.
Then, I’d suggest hardcoding your new form into the template inside of a pod; here are the generic Wine Direct directions as to how to 1. insert a component, and 2. set up a pod. If these seem difficult/confusing, that’s the sign you should probably hire someone. 
Hope that’s helpful!
Thanks Lindsay. You are correct, we do want to collect more information than the Subscribe widget does, and also correct that this information confirms we will need to hire a designer. Had hoped there was an option for those of us who customized standard templates instead of hiring someone for a Designer Launch. J
Leary
Leary Cox, Proprietor
(803) 467-5484 (mobile)
Glad I could help, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. If it helps, this is a task that shouldn’t take an experienced developer more than 2 hours—and that’s with plenty of wiggle room (I’m normally loathe to speak for other devs but this is so basic).