Getting Started with Auto Form CRM: Complete Setup Guide

Auto Form CRM transforms your WordPress website into a complete customer relationship management platform. Unlike SaaS CRMs that charge per-user fees and store your data on external servers, Auto Form CRM runs entirely on your WordPress installation — giving you full data ownership and predictable pricing.

This guide walks you through everything: downloading the plugin, activating your license, configuring core settings, importing your existing contacts, setting up your sales pipeline, and creating your first automated workflow. By the end, you'll have a fully operational CRM running on your WordPress site.

What You'll Need Before Starting

Before installing Auto Form CRM, make sure you have:

• WordPress 6.0 or higher — Auto Form CRM uses modern WordPress features for best performance.
• PHP 8.0 or higher — Required for the plugin to function. Most modern hosts support this by default.
• Your license key — You'll receive this via email after purchasing from our pricing page. Each license is tied to a specific number of WordPress sites.
• Admin access — You need WordPress administrator privileges to install plugins.

If you're unsure about your PHP version, go to Tools → Site Health → Info → Server in your WordPress dashboard to check.

Step 1: Download and Install the Plugin

After purchasing, you can download Auto Form CRM from your account dashboard. You'll get a .zip file containing the plugin.

To install:

1. Log into your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Click Choose File and select the auto-form-crm.zip file you downloaded.
4. Click Install Now, then Activate once installation completes.

After activation, you'll see a new Auto Form CRM menu item in your WordPress sidebar.

Step 2: Activate Your License

License activation is required to receive updates and access support. Without an active license, the plugin will work but won't receive feature updates or security patches.

1. Go to Auto Form CRM → Settings → License.
2. Enter your license key (from your purchase confirmation email or account dashboard).
3. Click Activate License.

You'll see a green "Active" badge once activation succeeds. If you need to move the plugin to a different site, you can deactivate the license first to free up the slot.

Step 3: Configure Your Company Settings

Basic configuration ensures your CRM displays correct information in emails and system notifications.

Go to Auto Form CRM → Settings → General and fill in:

• Company Name — Appears in email footers and system notifications.
• Company Email — The default "from" address for CRM-generated emails.
• Company Address — Required for CAN-SPAM compliance in email campaigns.
• Default Currency — Used for deal values and revenue reporting.
• Date Format — How dates appear throughout the CRM interface.

Step 4: Set Up Email Sending

Auto Form CRM sends emails through WordPress's default mail function, but for better deliverability, we strongly recommend connecting an SMTP service.

Go to Auto Form CRM → Settings → Email to configure:

• From Name — The sender name recipients see (e.g., "Sarah from Acme Co").
• From Email — Must match your domain for best deliverability.
• Reply-To Email — Where replies go (can differ from the "from" address).

For transactional and marketing emails, connect an SMTP provider like SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, or Postmark using a plugin like WP Mail SMTP. This ensures your emails actually reach inboxes instead of spam folders.

Step 5: Create Your Deal Pipeline Stages

The deal pipeline is where you track sales opportunities through your sales process. Auto Form CRM comes with default stages, but you should customize them to match how your business actually sells.

Go to Auto Form CRM → Settings → Pipeline to configure stages. A typical B2B pipeline might look like:

1. New Lead — Initial inquiry, not yet qualified.
2. Qualified — Confirmed fit and budget.
3. Proposal Sent — Pricing/proposal delivered.
4. Negotiation — Discussing terms.
5. Closed Won — Deal completed successfully.
6. Closed Lost — Deal did not close.

For an e-commerce business, you might use:

1. Cart Abandoned
2. Order Placed
3. Order Shipped
4. Delivered
5. Review Requested

You can add, remove, reorder, and rename stages at any time. Existing deals will keep their current stage even if you rename it.

Step 6: Import Your Existing Contacts

If you have contacts in a spreadsheet, another CRM, or an email marketing tool, you can import them in bulk.

1. Go to Auto Form CRM → Contacts → Import.
2. Upload a CSV file with your contact data.
3. Map your CSV columns to CRM fields (name, email, phone, company, etc.).
4. Choose whether to update existing contacts (matched by email) or skip duplicates.
5. Click Import and wait for processing to complete.

Tip: Clean your CSV before importing. Remove duplicates, fix formatting issues, and ensure email addresses are valid. This saves cleanup work later.

Step 7: Create Custom Fields

Every business collects different data. Custom fields let you capture exactly what you need beyond the default name, email, and phone fields.

Go to Auto Form CRM → Settings → Custom Fields to create fields for contacts or deals. Available field types include:

• Text — Short text input (e.g., Job Title).
• Textarea — Longer text (e.g., Notes).
• Number — Numeric values (e.g., Employee Count).
• Date — Date picker (e.g., Contract Renewal Date).
• Dropdown — Select from predefined options (e.g., Industry).
• Checkbox — Yes/No toggle (e.g., Newsletter Subscribed).
• Email — Validated email field.
• Phone — Phone number field.
• URL — Website/link field.

Custom fields appear on contact and deal edit screens, can be used in email merge tags, and are available in filters and workflow conditions.

Step 8: Set Up Tags for Organization

Tags are labels you apply to contacts for quick categorization and filtering. Unlike custom fields, tags are simple on/off labels — a contact either has a tag or doesn't.

Go to Auto Form CRM → Tags to create your initial tags. Good starting tags include:

• Lead sources: Website Form, Referral, Trade Show, Cold Outreach
• Interests: Product A, Product B, Service X
• Status: VIP, Do Not Contact, Competitor
• Engagement: Newsletter Subscriber, Downloaded Ebook, Attended Webinar

You can assign colors to tags for visual organization. Tags can be added manually, through form submissions, via workflows, or through the API.

Step 9: Connect Your Forms

Auto Form CRM works with any WordPress form plugin. When someone submits a form, you can automatically create a contact in your CRM.

If you use Auto Form Builder (our companion form plugin), the integration is automatic — just map form fields to CRM fields in the form settings.

For other form plugins (Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms), you can:

• Use the form plugin's webhook/API feature to POST data to Auto Form CRM's REST API.
• Use a third-party connector like Zapier or Make.
• Write a simple custom integration using the CRM's action hooks.

See our form builder integration guide for detailed setup instructions for each form plugin.

Step 10: Create Your First Workflow

Now for the powerful part: automation. Workflows let you trigger actions automatically based on events in your CRM.

Let's create a simple welcome email workflow:

1. Go to Auto Form CRM → Workflows → Add New.
2. Name it "Welcome Email Sequence".
3. Add a Trigger: "Contact Created".
4. Add an Action: "Send Email".
5. Compose your welcome email using merge tags like {{contact.first_name}}.
6. Add a Delay: "Wait 2 days".
7. Add another Action: "Send Email" (a follow-up with helpful resources).
8. Save and activate the workflow.

Now every new contact automatically receives a welcome email immediately, then a follow-up email two days later. This runs 24/7 without any manual effort.

Step 11: Set Up WooCommerce Integration (Optional)

If you run a WooCommerce store, connect it to Auto Form CRM to automatically create contacts from orders.

Go to Auto Form CRM → Settings → Integrations → WooCommerce and enable the integration. Configure:

• Auto-create contacts — Create a CRM contact for each order.
• Auto-create deals — Optionally create deals with order values.
• Default pipeline stage — Where new order-deals land.
• Tags to apply — Auto-tag customers (e.g., "WooCommerce Customer").

Once enabled, historical orders can be synced with one click, and all future orders flow into your CRM automatically. See our full WooCommerce integration guide for advanced configurations.

What to Do Next

You now have a fully operational CRM on your WordPress site. Here's how to go deeper:

• Explore the Dashboard: See your KPIs, pipeline summary, and recent activity at a glance.
• Set up Meeting Scheduling: Let prospects book calls directly from your site with public booking pages.
• Build Email Campaigns: Create targeted email campaigns for different segments.
• Connect Integrations: Link Google Calendar, Zoom, and other tools from Settings → Integrations.
• Read the Documentation: Our full documentation covers every feature in detail.

If you hit any issues, check our Help Center or submit a support ticket. We typically respond within 24 hours on business days.

Welcome to Auto Form CRM — your WordPress-powered CRM that grows with your business.