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Form Customization in Formaly: Every Setting, Explained

Most survey tools give you a color picker and call it customization. Formaly gives you theme colors, fonts, border radius, logo, background images, AI tone control, embedding options, translations, quotas, and more. Here is what each setting does and why it exists.

Arindam Majumder

Arindam Majumder

Founder, Formaly

Mar 3, 202610 min read

Why customization matters more than you think

A survey is an ask. You are asking a respondent to stop what they are doing, give you their attention, and share something honest. The design of that survey communicates how seriously you take that ask.

A form that looks like it could belong to anyone gets treated like it belongs to no one. A form that matches your brand colors, uses your logo, speaks in your AI assistant's voice, and shows up inline on your own website gets treated like a product. The completion rate difference between these two experiences is measurable.

Here is every customization layer Formaly gives you - organized from visual surface to behavioral depth.

01

Theme Colors

All plans

Make every form look like yours

Every Formaly survey ships with three color controls: Primary Color (buttons, links, accents), Background Color (the form canvas), and Text Color (all body copy and labels). Each one has both a color picker and a hex input, so you can click to explore or paste a brand code precisely.

Why this matters

A customer satisfaction survey sent with your brand's coral and navy will get treated seriously. A generic form with default blues and whites will get treated like spam. Color consistency signals professionalism and increases response rates by reinforcing trust.

What you get

  • Primary Color: controls interactive elements (CTA buttons, progress bar, active states)
  • Background Color: the canvas behind all questions (default: warm off-white #fffef5)
  • Text Color: all question text, labels, and placeholder copy (default: #1a1a2e)
  • Color picker + hex input for precise brand matching
  • Live preview updates instantly as you adjust each color
02

Font Family

All plans

8 typefaces, zero font licensing headaches

Formaly includes eight carefully selected Google Fonts: Space Grotesk (the Formaly default), Inter, DM Sans, Roboto, Open Sans, Lato, Montserrat, and Poppins. Switch fonts from the theme editor and the live preview immediately reflects the change. All fonts are loaded from Google's CDN; no self-hosting required.

Why this matters

Typography is the loudest part of a brand voice that nobody consciously notices. A medical practice running a patient feedback form should use something clean and neutral like Inter. A creative agency running an onboarding survey should use something with personality like DM Sans or Poppins. One dropdown switch, and your survey stops looking like a stranger's template.

What you get

  • Space Grotesk: geometric, modern, Formaly default
  • Inter: neutral, highly legible, tech industry standard
  • DM Sans: friendly, rounded, excellent for consumer forms
  • Roboto, Open Sans, Lato: classic workhorse sans-serifs
  • Montserrat, Poppins: strong character, great for branded content
03

Border Radius

All plans

Sharp corners or soft edges; your call

The border radius control adjusts the corner style of every card, input, and button in your form. Five options: None (perfectly sharp, editorial), Small, Medium (the default), Large, and Full (pill-shaped, very friendly). One setting applies globally across the whole form.

Why this matters

It sounds trivial. It is not. Sharp-cornered forms read as corporate and precise. Rounded forms read as approachable and modern. The right choice depends on your audience: a B2B enterprise product survey reads better with tight corners; a consumer lifestyle survey reads better with full rounds.

What you get

  • None: 0px radius, hard edges, precise and editorial
  • Small: subtle rounding, professional and clean
  • Medium: balanced default, works for most use cases
  • Large: noticeably rounded, friendly and modern
  • Full: pill-shaped, maximum softness, great for consumer brands
04

Logo

All plans · Upload requires Enterprise

Your brand mark, front and center

Add a logo to your form two ways: paste a direct URL to any publicly hosted image, or upload a file directly from your computer (Enterprise only; stored in your Media Library via Cloudinary). The logo appears at the top of the form before the first question and on the completion screen, so respondents always know whose survey they're taking.

Why this matters

Unbranded surveys look like phishing attempts to cautious respondents. A logo takes three seconds to add and can lift completion rates meaningfully. Respondents who recognize your brand are significantly more likely to trust the form and submit honest answers.

What you get

  • URL tab: paste any direct image URL, no upload needed (all plans)
  • Upload tab: drag-and-drop or file picker, stored in Media Library (Enterprise)
  • PNG, JPG, SVG, and WebP all supported
  • Live preview shows logo at the correct size before saving
  • Remove button to clear the logo if you need a clean form
05

Background Image

Enterprise

Full-bleed visuals from your Media Library

Enterprise users can set a full-bleed background image on any survey: a brand photo, a pattern, or a lifestyle shot. Images are picked directly from the Media Library (which is also enterprise-only), ensuring all assets are centrally managed and on-brand. The image applies behind the question card, creating a rich, immersive survey environment.

Why this matters

Background images are the difference between a survey and an experience. A travel company using a hero destination shot, an event organizer using the event venue photo, a product team using an in-use product image: these don't just look better, they prime respondents emotionally for the type of feedback you're trying to collect.

What you get

  • Pick image from your Media Library (Cloudinary-hosted CDN URLs)
  • Background positions behind the question card for readability
  • Replace or remove any time from the Theme Editor
  • Pairs with background color as a fallback while the image loads
  • Requires Enterprise plan; contact sales@formaly.io to unlock
06

Hide Formaly Branding

Paid plans

Remove the 'Powered by Formaly' footer

All Formaly forms display a small 'Powered by Formaly' badge at the bottom. On paid plans, a single toggle in the Theme Editor removes it entirely. Your form, your brand. Nothing else. The toggle applies instantly when the theme is saved.

Why this matters

White-label matters when you're collecting feedback on behalf of clients, running surveys for an enterprise product, or simply maintaining brand coherence. The badge is deliberately subtle so it doesn't hurt free-tier users, and deliberately removable so it never gets in the way of professionals.

What you get

  • Single toggle in the Theme Editor; no code required
  • Applies to both chat mode and form mode views
  • Also applies to embedded forms (iframe and script embed)
  • Available on all paid plans (Starter, Pro, Enterprise)
07

Survey Mode

All plans

Chat or traditional form, or let respondents choose

Every Formaly survey runs in one of two modes: Chat Mode (conversational AI, one question at a time) or Form Mode (traditional scroll-through form with all questions visible). You set the default in the edit page, but respondents always see a toggle at the top of the survey letting them switch between modes mid-session. No answer loss; the data carries over.

Why this matters

Different respondents have different preferences. Power users who want to fly through a form will pick form mode. People who want a natural conversation will stay in chat. Defaulting to chat increases completion rates for emotional or qualitative surveys. Defaulting to form is better for operational data collection where speed matters.

What you get

  • Default Chat: AI converses naturally, one question at a time
  • Default Form: all questions on a scrollable page, traditional UX
  • Mode toggle always visible to respondents; they control their experience
  • Mode preference does not affect how data is stored or analyzed
  • Different surveys can have different defaults; set per form
08

AI System Prompt

All plans

Shape the AI's tone, style, and persona for each form

The System Prompt field in the AI Behavior section lets you override how the AI behaves for a specific survey. Write anything from a one-liner ('Be formal and concise') to a detailed persona ('You are Maya, a friendly HR coordinator at Acme Corp. Always ask follow-up questions if the respondent mentions a challenge.'). The per-form system prompt takes precedence over any organization-level prompt.

Why this matters

The default Formaly AI is helpful and neutral, good for most surveys. But a customer exit survey needs empathy. A B2B product feedback survey needs technical precision. An employee NPS survey needs approachability and anonymity assurance. The system prompt gives you this without touching the questions themselves.

What you get

  • Plain-text input, no special syntax required
  • Overrides organization-level system prompt for this specific form
  • Real-time safety validation; flags potentially harmful content before saving
  • Examples: 'Be formal and precise', 'Always acknowledge long answers', 'Reassure respondents their answers are anonymous'
  • Leave blank to use the default Formaly AI behavior
09

Edit Settings

All plans

Every form field you can tweak without touching questions

Beyond theme and AI, the Settings card in the edit page covers the administrative layer of your form: Title, Description, Status (Draft / Active / Closed), Collect Contact Info toggle, and Default Survey Mode. These control discoverability, data enrichment, and lifecycle, not the content of the survey.

Why this matters

Keeping a form in Draft prevents public access while you're still building. Switching to Active publishes it. Switching to Closed stops new responses but keeps all historical data. Contact Info collection is a one-toggle enrichment layer. You get a name and email alongside every response without adding a manual question.

What you get

  • Title and Description: shown to respondents before they start
  • Status: Draft (private, not accessible), Active (live), Closed (stops new responses)
  • Collect Contact Info: asks for name + email before the first question
  • Contact fields are separate from survey questions and always appear first
  • Status can be changed at any time; no data is ever lost when closing
10

AI Assistant (Regenerate)

All plans

Describe changes in plain language, let AI handle the rest

The AI Assistant card in the edit page lets you describe changes to your form in plain English and have the AI regenerate the question script. 'Make it shorter', 'Add a question about pricing', 'Change question 3 to a rating scale', 'Reorder so demographics come last': any instruction works. The regenerated script replaces the current one, and you can save or continue editing manually.

Why this matters

Editing a 12-question survey manually is tedious. Describing what you want in one sentence and getting a revised script in 10 seconds is not. The AI Assistant is especially useful when you need to pivot a survey mid-run. A quick regeneration with 'remove the competitor comparison questions' gets you a clean v2 without rebuilding from scratch.

What you get

  • Plain-English instructions; no special commands or formatting needed
  • Uses 5 credits per regeneration (vs 10 for initial generation)
  • Real-time content safety validation before submission
  • Current questions are preserved as context; AI edits, not rewrites, unless told to
  • Regenerated script loads immediately; save or keep editing manually
11

Embedding Options

All plans

Put your survey anywhere (in 2 lines of code)

Every Formaly survey can be embedded on any website two ways: as an inline iframe using the /embed/[id] route, or via the embed.js JavaScript snippet that renders a floating widget. Both options are accessible from the Embed button on the survey detail page. The embed route is designed to live inside an iframe. It drops all nav chrome and runs full-screen with frame-ancestors: * CORS headers.

Why this matters

Embedding turns a survey link into a survey experience. Instead of redirecting visitors away from your site, the form appears inline on your pricing page, docs site, or confirmation screen. Embedded surveys see significantly higher completion rates than redirect-based surveys because respondents never leave their current context.

What you get

  • Iframe embed: standard HTML `<iframe src="https://formaly.io/embed/[id]">`, fully responsive
  • Script embed: a two-line JS snippet that adds a floating chat widget to any page
  • Both options support all theme customizations (colors, fonts, logo, branding toggle)
  • frame-ancestors: * header allows embedding on any domain; no whitelist required
  • QR code also available; auto-generates a scannable code for physical placement
12

Translations

All plans

One survey, 13 languages, zero copy-paste

The Translations section in the edit page lets you generate localized versions of your entire survey (titles, questions, options, opening and closing messages) in 13 languages. Each translation is stored against the base survey and activated when a respondent selects a language from the language picker on the survey page. Two credits per language.

Why this matters

A product used globally cannot collect global feedback through a form that only speaks English. Translations remove the 30-40% of potential respondents who abandon forms in a language they don't read fluently. And since translations are AI-generated from your exact content rather than templated, they stay true to your question intent.

What you get

  • 13 supported languages including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, and more
  • AI generates translations from your exact question content, not generic templates
  • Language picker appears automatically on the survey when translations exist
  • Translations cover: title, opening message, all questions, all options, closing message
  • 2 credits per language translation (billed once per generation)
13

Quotas

All plans

Cap responses by segment to prevent unbalanced data

Quotas let you set maximum response counts for any answer segment. For example: max 200 Female, max 150 aged 18 to 34, max 100 Enterprise customers. Once a quota is filled, respondents who match that segment see a custom 'quota full' message and cannot submit further answers for that segment. The rest of the form remains open until all quotas are met or you manually close the survey.

Why this matters

Without quotas, a survey about product satisfaction can end up with 80% responses from power users, who are the least representative sample for most product decisions. Quotas enforce a balanced dataset before analysis begins, which is especially important for market research, pricing studies, and NPS benchmarking.

What you get

  • Set quotas on any multiple-choice or yes/no question
  • Per-answer cap - different limits for different options in the same question
  • Custom 'quota full' message per survey
  • Quota counts update in real time as responses come in
  • Quota status visible in the Analytics tab of the survey dashboard

What is available on each plan

Most customization features are available on all plans. A small number - logo upload, background images - require Enterprise.

CustomizationFreePaidEnterprise
Theme colors (primary, background, text)✓✓✓
Font family (8 options)✓✓✓
Border radius control✓✓✓
Logo via URL✓✓✓
Logo upload (Media Library)--✓
Background image--✓
Hide Formaly branding-✓✓
AI system prompt (per form)✓✓✓
Survey mode (chat / form)✓✓✓
AI Assistant (regenerate)✓✓✓
Iframe + script embedding✓✓✓
Translations (13 languages)✓✓✓
Response quotas✓✓✓

The customization stack, in order

Each layer of customization in Formaly serves a different audience signal. Here is how they stack from surface to depth.

Visual layer
Colors, fonts, border radius
First impression - does this form look like it belongs to you?
Brand layer
Logo, background image, hide branding
Trust signal - are respondents confident in who is asking?
Behavioral layer
Survey mode (chat/form), contact info toggle
UX preference - how do respondents experience the questions?
AI layer
System prompt, AI assistant
Voice control - does the AI sound like your brand?
Distribution layer
Iframe embed, script embed, QR code
Reach - where does the survey live and how does it get to respondents?
Data quality layer
Translations, quotas
Signal clarity - is the data you collect representative and unambiguous?

5-minute form customization checklist

Open any Formaly survey, go to Edit, and run through this list.

  1. 1Set Primary Color to your brand's main color
  2. 2Set Background Color to your brand's canvas color (off-white, dark, whatever fits)
  3. 3Pick a font that matches your brand voice
  4. 4Add your logo via URL (or upload if you have Enterprise)
  5. 5Write a one-sentence system prompt that captures your brand's tone
  6. 6Toggle 'Collect Contact Info' on if you need a name and email with each response
  7. 7Copy the embed code and drop it on your website

Build a form that looks like yours

Every customization covered in this post is live in Formaly today. Create your first fully branded survey in minutes - no credit card required.

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