The Google Forms platform has many features built in to allow you to build a form for a variety of purposes; in this article we're covering the different question formats available to use and how to make use of them with the Payable add-on.
If you're building a Payable order form it's important to note that only responses containing a price will be listed on the Payable invoice; all response data is logged in the connected Google Sheet to review submissions in detail.
Short Answer
Short answer questions are just that, a text field where your customer can enter a short amount of information. Most often our users use these questions to collect personal information about the customer or registrant.
Short answer questions can be used as a payable question for user specified amounts - this can serve to collect donations for your organization or charity, pay-what-you-can purchases, or tips (to you!). Below is an example of formatting a short answer question for this purpose, for more information on configuring this question type see our short support article here.
With a payable short answer question, the invoice line item descriptor will be your question title. It is recommended to keep your title short, and use a question description field for additional information.
Paragraph
Paragraph questions enable you to collect a large amount of text response from a customer. This could range from a creative writing piece, to a test response, details about a rental applicant, sponsorship applicant, or information about a vendor.
Multiple Choice
A multiple choice question enables you to offer multiple selections to the customer from which they can only choose one response. These questions are great for tests, product sales, sponsorship packages, and more.
With the multiple choice question the line item descriptor on the Payable invoice will reflect the chosen response option.
Checkbox
The checkbox format question enables you to offer multiple selections to the customer from which they can choose multiple options. If you are selling a variety of products or services this may be a great format to use on your Payable form.
With this question type just the chosen response will appear on the invoice as the line item descriptor.
Dropdown
Dropdown questions enable you to offer multiple items to choose from, while enabling the customer to select just one. This question type is useful for keeping the appearance of your form minimal and streamlined, as the options are minimized in a dropdown menu.
With this question format the line item descriptor as shown on the invoice will combine the question title + chosen response option. It's recommended to keep your question title short and sweet, and use a question description field for additional details.
File Upload
Google Forms gives you the ability to receive file uploads from your respondents. Often our users will employ a file upload question to receive documents ranging from resumes, contracts, waivers, logos, and more.
It's important to note that a file upload question should only be added to your Payable form once you have completed the add-on setup, as otherwise they will block our add-ons ability to perform setup steps. File upload questions require the customer sign in to a Google account to fill out your form.
Linear Scale and Rating
There are two similar question types available on Google Forms - the linear scale and rating formats. These two questions allow you to create a range or grading scale. With the rating type you can set a range up to 10 and choose from 3 rating icons (stars, hearts, or a thumbs up). The linear scale allows you to create a range up to 10 and create your own rating titles. These questions cannot be made Payable but may have a role to play depending on your use case.
Multiple Choice Grid
The multiple choice grid format question can be used to offer products or services with 2 variables - be it size, colour, date, etc.
With the multiple choice grid question format just the column descriptor appears on the invoice.
Checkbox Grid
Checkbox grid questions are a format we typically recommend for merchandise sales but do have a wide application if you need to offer your customer multiple selections on products or services with 2 variables. In the below example the customer can choose from a variety of t-shirt prints, and the shirt size for each selection. If you wanted to offer multiple quantities, in the columns you could instead price out the quantity selections (one t-shirt $18, two t-shirts $36, etc).
With this question type the line item descriptor will read as "row descriptor (column descriptor)", for example "Youth XS (Black bear print) - $18".
Date & Time
Google Form's date and time questions are another format that cannot be made payable (you can't assign a price to it) but can be used to round out your form; whether you're scheduling a service, accepting registrations for a day course, collecting an important date, or whatnot.
Question Descriptions
We mention question descriptions a few times in this post; if you're unfamiliar with this element see our support article here to learn how to use them.
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