CollateBox Blog

Collecting data online got cleaner

Keeping our data clean is one big thing, but collecting cleaner data is even BIGGER. Think about all the ways we collect data everyday and trying to keep it clean is really messy. Why…?

Imagine your website contact form data is without spam, getting your next online survey filled with accurate choices or maybe registering guests online for your next event comes with valid date, time, currency, country formats. Woooh – can we do these without writing code or developing a complex Online Form…?

Discovering this facet of data collection has been interesting learning for us in CollateBox and the outcome - Brand new way of collecting data online using CollateBox Online Forms.

Hopefully something you will enjoy using too. See the screenshot below:

Here are a few key highlights:

• No more spending time on creating Forms, just click and generate.
• Field validations get auto generated, date means a date in any format to us.
• Auto dropdown get created based on existing data value, you can populate too.
• Public URL lets you collect data from customers, partners via a single click.
• Embedding online forms helps you to white-label & collect data from your site.

And much more…

So, once you are done collecting a few records - don’t forget, we offer a better way to organize, share and act on these growing data list too :-)

 

Best,

Santa

Terms of use: The Online Forms are made available FREE for all active CB account holders only.  

Is there a way to collect validated data using spreadsheets without significant efforts?

If you add an invalid date in a cell, spreadsheets let you move forward. In an email column if you enter an invalid email ID - it does not warn you and you live with this error forever. Add a special character before your number and you might get a warning with suggestions to convert the cell value to numbers or text. But you are free to ignore the warning and move forward.

Now imagine a bit more. You are working on a sheet that has age, date and country columns. If I share this sheet with 3 different team members and ask them to add their data based on existing date range, age range and country list – how would I achieve this without setting validation criteria?

If some of these points were addressed in spreadsheets without efforts, I doubt online forms would be in any demand for collecting validated data.

We are rethinking the best way to work and manage our data lists with a spreadsheet-like experience. Will love to have your thoughts on how you do all of these today. Spreadsheets or online forms….?

 

Best,

Sunny Ghosh
Founder, CollateBox Inc. 

 

Moving from old-fashioned Paper Sheets to trendy Online Forms for data collection

Long before online forms had become common, people used to send/collect the data via paper sheets and later emailing spreadsheets. The old-fashioned method of data collection had its own share of usability but now with most businesses moving online, collecting data using paper sheets have become quite obsolete. We had recently run a survey on data collection and asked people what was their most preferred way of running surveys and online forms came out winners. Here’s a snapshot to our survey and you can see the results for yourself:

Why did paper sheets and spreadsheets have a downfall?

• Data validation - With multiple typographical errors in the data collected from multiple sources, a lot of time and energy was wasted validating and correcting the data and arranging them in order.
• Different formats - Data came in various formats (Paper Sheets, XLS, CSV, RSS, Web links, Documents, Emails, etc.) which made it difficult to put them together which led to piled up copies of spreadsheets.
• Data to Information - Data becomes information once it is broken down and analyzed and made understandable. A huge learning curve was required to use different tools like spreadsheets to convert the data into information.
• The Green Factor – With most of the business world going green, abandoning the paper sheets was a very obvious choice.

Why online forms became phenomenal?

Online forms gave a very new perspective to businesses leading to a whole new system for data collection. Some of the common returns that online forms bring on our tables are: 

• Save time and money - As you move from paper to web forms, it saves a lot of time and makes it quick and easy.
• Eliminate e-mailing - Easily send notifications to people that have not yet updated their data or just get confirmations that the forms have been received.
• Removes typos, improve accuracy with data validation - Validated, guided responses prevent errors and provide accurate data that doesn't need cleansing.
• Timeliness of Results - The data is immediately available, and results can be tracked and analyzed even while the job of data collection is ongoing.
• Increase response rates - Since electronic and web-based surveys and online forms are easier and faster to fill out than paper, response rates naturally improve.
• Accessibility - Distribution via web access and email is easy. Web surveys and forms can be accessed from any computer or mobile device with web access.

Where does CollateBox fit into this discussion of online forms?

CollateBox is the simplest tool you can find that brings two worlds together – spreadsheets and online forms. The spreadsheet like flexibility powered by ready online forms makes data collection, sharing and collaboration quite magical. Your data comes and sits right on to your spreadsheets (which you can download anytime) and CollateBox gives you multiple options to work off data. Your data is auto-validated and can be sorted, grouped and filtered using any device you want, accessed from anywhere in the world. And yeah ... you can do a lot more with this magic box and your data :)

 

- Santa