GOOD Examples:
- “Field Labels not showing”
- “Form in Widget only partly visible”
- “Email and Telephone fields – large gap between them”
This quickly tells us what you are having trouble with and how it is different from normal.
You’ll get better, quicker support if your follow these Guidelines
Many experienced WordPress users know that getting better, quicker support comes partly from being good at asking questions.
For example, if you give us all the information we need, we might be able to answer your question with a single email.
On the other hand, if information is missing, we will need to ask you to supply it. With response delays on both your end & ours, each request for additional information can increase the time taken to resolve your problem.
1) Search our FAQ and Documentation – FIRST
Before asking your question, please check our FAQ and Documentation.
Each of these presents the information in a different way to match peoples varying preferred learning methods and differing needs at different times.
Our system for collecting, organizing and processing common questions from our Premium customers, ensures all our our users, both Premium and Free, get benefit from our Premium users previous experiences. It is only natural, after all, that many users will experience similar issues.
We make sure our information includes answers to all common questions from our Premium customers. This makes support easier for both our users (this is often the quickest way to get an answer to your current issue) and ourselves by reducing frequent repetitive answering of similar questions.
2) Don’t ask questions that are primarily about Contact Form 7 or WordPress
Please only send us questions about our products. Our aim is to support CF7 Skins and we don’t wish to delay support for Premium customers wanting help with CF7 Skins by spending time answering questions that are primarily about Contact Form 7 or WordPress – instead we will direct you to the WordPress Support forum for assistance.
3) Use Summary to help us quickly see your problem
Give a brief overall description of your issue (Twitter style – 120 characters max.)
Try to write your summary in Noun + Verb + Description format.
e.g. Noun – “Input fields” + Verb & Description – “are not aligned”.
BAD Examples:
- “It doesn’t work”
- “I need help”
- “I didn’t change anything”
Refrain from using phrases like “It’s broken” or “Help needed – urgent” in your Summary – it doesn’t help us to help you.
4) Tell us what is wrong
4a) Explain your original goal – what we’re you trying to do
Stating your original goal, can help us to help you find the best course of action for achieving it.
By doing this in general terms, that are not to specific, we may be able to suggest easier and better ways of achieving the same results.
Examples:
- “I am trying to change the form’s background color”
- “I want the textarea to align with the input fields”
Also tell us what you expected to happen.
4b) List the symptoms – what went wrong
State any symptoms your form is showing. How is this different from what you expected to happen.
Examples:
- “My form disappeared”
- “My site is loading slower”
- “The input elements don’t line up vertically”
If you get an error message, please copy and paste the entire error for us to see.
4c) What happened before the symptoms?
Include what happened before the symptoms started showing.
Examples:
- “I installed a new plugin”
- “I just created a new form”
Include them in the order they happened if you can remember.
4d) What have you tried already?
If you’ve made an attempt to fix the issue yourself, let us know what you’ve tried already.
Example:
- “I tried reducing the padding on the textarea, but it didn’t move”
4e) Share Your Environment
As it is possible that your problem is related to your specific WordPress installation configuration, it is often helpful if you can supply the following information:
- WordPress version – available at WordPress >> Dashboard in WordPress Admin menu
- Is your form on a WordPress Multisite installation
- Theme – a link to your current WP theme
- Browser – Chrome | Firefox | IE | etc.
5) We need a link to your Contact Form 7 form
It’s often impractical to look at a problem without a link to your Contact Form 7 form. We may need to to use Firebug or Chrome Dev Tools to examine the HTML and CSS of your Contact Form 7 form in detail.
If you are working on your Contact Form 7 form on a website which currently doesn’t have public access, consider setting up a copy of your Contact Form 7 form temporarily on an extra page on a website that does have public access, so you can post a link to that page in the Premium Email Support form.
One Last Thing
We take great satisfaction in assisting our customers. If the solution we sent you works, please take a minute to let us know.
Following the steps above helps us tremendously in providing you with the best support we can.