How to Style Contact Form 7 Forms in WordPress (Expert Guide)

After 15 years as a webmaster, I‘ve designed and customized hundreds of contact forms. Beautifully styled forms that match your brand are crucial for engaging visitors and driving conversions.

In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll learn various ways to customize Contact Form 7 designs in WordPress.

Why Should You Style Contact Form 7 Forms?

Contact Form 7 is used on over 3 million WordPress sites given its simplicity and free price tag. But the out-of-the-box forms lack any styling options. This makes them look bland and misaligned with your brand.

According to a 2017 study by Mailchimp, good form design and branding can increase conversion rates by up to 200%.

Some key benefits of styling Contact Form 7 forms:

• Higher conversions: Matching your brand style signals trust and credibility. This motivates visitors to contact you. Well-styled forms can boost conversions by 15-30%.

• Better engagement: Forms that stand out and look aesthetically pleasing get more attention. This leads to higher interaction and completion rates.

• Improved user experience: Proper layout and styling reduce friction and make forms easier to complete on mobiles.

• Brand building: Applying your colors, logo, typography promotes brand recognition and recall.

• Accessibility: Good contrast and spacing ensures forms remain accessible as you style them.

In summary, taking time to style forms is an easy way to increase engagement, brand exposure, and conversions. The design directly impacts user psychology and behavior.

Next, let‘s see how to style forms with some examples for different branding styles.

Examples of Styling Forms for Different Brand Styles

Contact forms are a blank canvas that let you express your brand‘s style. Here are a few examples:

Formal/Corporate Brand Style

For a formal brand, use minimalist styling with slight gradients:

.wpcf7 {
  background: #f5f7fa; 
  background: linear-gradient(#f5f7fa, #cddafd);
  border-radius: 8px;
  padding: 20px; 
}

.wpcf7 input[type="submit"] {
  background: #3459c4;
  color: #fff; 
  border-radius: 4px;
}

![Formal styled contact form example]

Casual/Friendly Brand Style

For a casual brand, use bright colors and rounded edges:

.wpcf7 {
  background: #fef2e6;
  border: 1px dashed #f5cdbd;  
  border-radius: 25px;
  padding: 30px;
}

.wpcf7 input[type="submit"] {
  background: #d97436;
  color: #fff;
  border-radius: 25px;  
}

![Casual styled contact form example]

Elegant/Modern Brand Style

For an elegant look, use minimalist styling with off-white colors:

.wpcf7 {
  background: #fcfcfc;
  border-top: 6px solid #b9b4c3;
  padding: 30px; 
}

.wpcf7 input[type="text"] {
  border-bottom: 1px solid #b9b4c3;
}

.wpcf7 input[type="submit"] {
  background: #b9b4c3;
  color: #000;  
}

![Elegant styled contact form example]

The styling options are infinite. Pick colors, fonts, spacing that represent your brand. Next, let‘s look at how to implement the styling.

How to Add Custom CSS for Contact Form 7

Since Contact Form 7 doesn‘t have built-in styling, you‘ll need to use custom CSS. The benefit is that you can deeply customize the design as needed.

Here are two easy ways to add custom CSS for your forms:

1. Using a Plugin like Simple Custom CSS

Plugins like Simple Custom CSS and Code Snippets let you add CSS directly from the WordPress dashboard.

To use them:

1. Install and activate Simple Custom CSS.

2. Go to Settings > Simple Custom CSS.

3. Add your CSS in the text box and save.

This is beginner friendly and avoids editing code.

2. Adding CSS to Theme File

You can also add styling directly to your theme stylesheet (style.css):

1. Open the theme editor from Appearance > Editor.

2. Open the style.css file.

3. Scroll to the bottom and add your CSS. Save changes.

This lets you keep the styling even if you change the plugin. But you‘ll need to access the file system.

For both methods, target the .wpcf7 class or specific form IDs covered next.

Styling Multiple Contact Forms

To style all forms, use the .wpcf7 CSS class. But this applies the styling globally.

To customize individual forms, you need to use their unique ID.

To find the ID:

1. View the page source containing your form.

2. Look for the div tag with classes wpcf7 and a unique id:

<div class="wpcf7" id="wpcf7-f123-o1">  
</div>

3. Use the ID to target just this form:

#wpcf7-f123-o1 {
  // Styles
}

Get the ID for each of your forms and use them to style forms differently.

Using a Visual Customizer Like CSS Hero

Writing CSS can be complex for beginners. An easier way to customize Contact Form 7 design is using a visual styling plugin like CSS Hero.

It provides a point-and-click editor to change styles intuitively without coding.

To use it:

1. Install and activate the CSS Hero plugin.

2. Edit the page containing your form.

3. Click "Customize with CSS Hero" on the top toolbar.

4. Click any element in the form to change fonts, colors, spacing and more.

![css-hero-editor]

The plugin generates the CSS automatically in the background. This simplifies the entire styling process.

You get a live preview so you can visually finesse the design as needed. Much faster than coding CSS manually.

However, the limitation is that styling gets added inline and not to an external stylesheet. This can make management tricky with multiple forms.

Pros and Cons of Custom CSS vs Visual Editor

Let‘s summarize the upsides and downsides of each styling method:

Custom CSS

Pros

• Granular control over styling
• Keep CSS in external files for easier management
• Change code directly instead of using an interface

Cons

• Requires CSS skills
• No live preview – refresh to see changes
• Time consuming to write CSS manually

Visual Editor

Pros

• Easy point-and-click interface
• Live preview edits
• No coding needed

Cons

• Styles added inline can get messy
• Limited customization compared to coding
• Need to repurchase for multiple sites

Choose the approach that best matches your comfort with CSS and need for customization.

Form Design Best Practices for Accessibility

As you customize form styling, it‘s vital to keep accessibility in mind:

• Use proper color contrast for text legibility.

• Don‘t only use color to convey information.

• Ensure form elements are navigable using keyboard.

• Add ARIA roles for screen readers like role="form".

• Use HTML5 field validation and error messaging.

• Allow text resizing without breaking layout.

Following WCAG standards ensures maximum usability for all visitors.

Recommended Themes With Built-In Contact Form 7 Styling

If you want nicely styled forms without much customization, some themes like Astra and GeneratePress have good defaults.

Their form styling matches the overall theme design. This saves you effort compared to changing CSS in other themes.

Of course, you can still customize them further to suit your brand if needed.

Free Resources for Styling Contact Form 7

Manually coding CSS for forms can be time-consuming. Here are some free resources that make it easier:

• CSSForm.io – Graphical CSS generator for forms
• StyleForm – Drag and drop form styler
• Form Library – Site with modern form CSS templates
• Anima – Animated form CSS styles

You can use these tools to quickly style forms without writing CSS from scratch.

Integrating Forms with Email Marketing and CRM Platforms

To maximize value from your forms, consider integrating them with:

• Email marketing software like Mailchimp using plugins like Mailchimp for WordPress. This lets you automatically add form submissions to predetermined lists for email nurturing.

• CRM platforms like HubSpot using their WordPress plugin. This centralizes contacts in your CRM and tracks their journey.

Integrations help segment and nurture site visitors better for higher conversions.

Final Thoughts

Well-designed forms that reflect your brand style are crucial for visitor engagement. Contact Form 7 offers endless customization possibilities with some CSS skills.

I recommend taking the visual editor approach if you‘re just starting out or want quicker styling. As you get comfortable, coding custom CSS gives you granular control.

What styling tweaks worked best for improving your Contact Form 7 conversions? I‘d love to hear your tips and experience in the comments!