Creative Ways to Spice Up Your Pardot Forms: Part 1

Looking for some creative ways to spice up your Pardot forms? In this post, I will show you how to implement the popular floating label technique in three easy steps. I will also show you how to turn your long drop down menus into user-friendly, searchable dropdowns.

This is part 1 of the 3 part series. Have you come accross a form recently and didn’t know to replicate the functionality in Pardot? Share it with me via email, a tweet @jennamolby, or in the comments.

1. Floating labels

You have probably seen this technique before. The label appears as placeholder text and when you click on the field the text moves out of the way and allows you to type. This technique can be applied to your Pardot forms in three steps.

Here’s an example of what it looks like. Click on the field to see the effect.

See the Pen Pardot form floated labels (Styled) by Jenna Molby (@jennamolby) on CodePen.

Adding this effect to your Pardot forms

Step 1: Edit your layout template

In order for this to work the labels within your forms must be placed below the fields. By default, the labels are above the form fields. To modify this, you will need to edit the layout template, click on the form tab and replace everything within the editor with the code below.

Step 2: Add the CSS

Add the CSS below to your layout template. This will create the effect of the floating labels for all form field other than radio buttons and checkboxes.

Step 3: Add the Javascript

In addition to the CSS, this method uses some Javascript. Place the code below within your layout template as well.

The result

Here’s what the floating labels look like after implementing all the code within the layout template.

See the Pen Pardot form floated labels (Simple) by Jenna Molby (@jennamolby) on CodePen.

2. Searchable dropdowns

I came across this technique when I was registering for a webinar recently. When I went to select my Country from the drop-down, I was greeted with a search feature for the drop-down. I immediately started Googling what JavaScript plugin they were using to see if I could use it on Pardot forms. It turns out, you can and not only is it super easy to implement, but it also makes long drop-down in your Pardot forms more user-friendly.

Demo

Here is what a searchable drop down looks like in action.

See the Pen Chosen.js Demo (Single Select) with Pardot Forms by Jenna Molby (@jennamolby) on CodePen.

Adding this effect to your Pardot forms

Navigate to your form and click edit form. Go to step 3: Look and Feel, click on the below form tab, click on the HTML icon and paste this code:

Update country with the name of your drop down field. Optionally, you can update the no_results_text to what ever you want to display when the no results are found for the searched term.

Questions?

Send them to me via email, send me a tweet @jennamolby, or leave a comment.