On this page · 6 sections
The short answer
A configurator replaces the first phone call; a contact form schedules it. If most of your requests need two or three emails before you can put a number on paper, the form is costing you time and a share of buyers who never answer the follow-up questions.
What a contact form actually captures
The typical “request a quote” form on an installer’s website asks for name, email, phone, postcode and a free-text box. What comes back is “Interested in a veranda, about 5 metres, anthracite, what does it cost?”, sometimes less.
Before you can quote, you still need the projection, the roof type (glass, polycarbonate, louvres), whether side walls or ZIP screens are wanted, the mounting situation and the colour. That is a phone call or a measuring visit, booked for a buyer you know nothing about yet.
What a configurator captures
A 3D configurator asks the same questions, but the buyer answers them while designing. Width 5,000 mm, projection 3,500 mm, glass roof, RAL 7016, one glass sliding wall, LED spots. They see the structure change in 3D, see a live or “from” price (your choice per product) and then send the request.
The request lands in your pipeline as a full configuration with a price attached. Optional extras: up to five site photos and a slot for a measuring visit from your calendar.
When a contact form is still fine
A configurator is not the answer to every request. Keep a plain form (or add one next to the configurator) when:
- The job is pure repair or service work. A leaking gutter, a broken louvre motor.
- The product is a one-off that no parametric model describes, such as a structure built around an existing building with odd angles.
- You only get a handful of requests a month and you enjoy the first call.
Most companies end up with both: the configurator on the product pages, a short form on the contact page for everything else.
What changes after the request
The bigger difference shows up after the request. With a form, the next step is manual: call, take notes, calculate in a spreadsheet, write a PDF. With a configurator the request becomes a numbered quote with optional Basic/Comfort/Premium versions, a PDF and an online quote page the buyer can sign. Follow-ups run on their own: an unanswered request becomes a task, an opened-but-unsigned quote gets a reminder.
How to switch
- Pick your best-selling product, usually a veranda or a pergola, and build it from one of the 120 templates. It takes about three minutes to get a first version.
- Set your sizes, options and prices, or run it quote-only while you test.
- Put it on your existing site with one script line next to the current form.
- Watch where requests come from in the Results dashboard for a few weeks, then decide whether the old form stays.
See the plan on the pricing page. One plan, €499 per month excl. VAT, with a 14-day free trial for your first store.