Forms are where chatbots feel least human. The conversation is going well, and then a wall of fields appears: name, email, phone, date, budget, "anything else?". Half of them ask for things the visitor already said. The visitor closes the window.

Yet businesses genuinely need structured answers. A caterer needs the date, the headcount and the dietary needs. A clinic needs the symptom and a preferred time. A wedding planner needs the colour theme. Gydr 3.3 introduces Data Forms, built on a simple idea: a form should be a conversation with structure, not an interruption to one.

Write the questions once, collect the answers everywhere

Under Data → Forms you write your own forms: the questions you need answered, in the order you want. Attach a form to a widget, and your assistant asks the questions at the start of a session, or when the conversation calls for it.

Every set of answers becomes a row in a table you can browse, filter and export as CSV. It works on your website widget and on every channel you have connected, from WhatsApp to Telegram.

Built to feel like talking

Data Forms build on two earlier pieces of work. In July we rebuilt forms in the chat window to ask one question at a time, with a progress bar, a review screen before submitting, and calendar and time pickers for bookings. In August, Gydr 3.0 taught forms to work inside messaging apps, one question per message, with each answer saved as it arrives.

Data Forms add three things.

Your visitor's language, automatically. The questions are asked in whatever language the visitor is writing in. You write the form once, with no per-language setup.

Answers your team can read. Free-text answers can optionally be stored in one language of your choosing, so your team reads every response in the language they work in. The visitor's original wording is kept beside it.

Never asking twice. Contact details you already hold are filled in for you, so a returning visitor is not asked for their name and email again.

Clear about cost and retention

Each response costs one credit, however many questions it spans. Responses are kept for twelve months from when they are first received. Export anything you need to keep longer.

We tell you both up front because collecting data is a responsibility, not just a feature. In the same release you can erase everything a visitor gave you, including their remembered details and every Data Form response across every form, in one confirmed action from the visitor's view.

Small fixes that matter

This release also made the assistant more careful with your catalogue. When an item has no description, it now gives the item's name and price only, instead of filling in details it does not have. When a visitor mentions a personal circumstance mid-conversation, like an allergy or a budget, they now get an answer instead of a sudden switch into product recommendations.

Frequently asked questions

What are Data Forms?

Forms you write under Data → Forms. Your chatbot asks the questions in the chat, and each set of answers becomes a row you can filter and export as CSV.

Do Data Forms work on WhatsApp and other messaging apps?

Yes. They work on the website widget and on every connected channel, where the questions are asked one at a time in the thread.

How long are Data Form responses kept?

Twelve months from when each response is first received. Each response uses one credit, however many questions it spans.

The full list of changes is in the 3.3.0 release notes.