When you were a new user getting confident with Act-On, you designed a basic Form with checkboxes and reCAPTCHA and embedded it in a Landing Page.
Now we'll talk about some advanced Forms features to maximize the conversion rate of your prospects from anonymous to known (having an associated email address).
Form Templates
- Save a Form as a template In the Forms composer, and use saved templates when creating new Forms in Content > Forms > Templates. See Creating Forms From a Template
- The Act-On content catalog has ready-made Form templates for you to use as-is or as a basis for your design. Go to Content > Catalog > Forms
- Create folders and tags to organize your Form templates in Content > Forms > Templates > Template Manager
More Building Blocks!
The following blocks are available in the Forms composer:
- Hidden fields: capture data without user input, such as the source, or campaign that led to the Form submission. See Using Hidden Fields to Capture UTMs and Other Values
- Paragraph: allow Form visitors to submit responses in a free text box, for example, if you want to ask for any other comments
- Date: capture date entries, for example, a Form visitor can choose a date & time they would like to be contacted or enter their birth date
See the Form Design Guide.
Form Fragments
- Save & reuse frequently used input fields as a fragment. For example, when capturing postal addresses, use a fragment containing fields for Street Name, Town, State/County, and Country. See Create Content Fragments and Saved Sections in Forms
- The Act-On content catalog has ready-made Form fragments for you to use, for example, ready-made drop-down lists to select US State or Country. Go to Content > Catalog > Content Fragments
- Create folders and tags to organize your Form fragments in Content > Content Fragments > Fragment manager
More Forms design options
- Opt-in: Use a Form to collect permissions to send contacts marketing content.
For email opt-in, see Creating a Single Opt-In Form
For SMS opt-in see Add SMS Opt-In to a Form - Some browser extensions known as ad blockers may prevent an Act-On Form From loading. Detect when this happens and advise your visitor to update their settings with a customizable notification. See Enable Ad Blocker Detection for Act-On Forms
- Minimize incorrect email address submissions by adding two Form fields that are required to match. See Creating a Second Form Field to Confirm Email Address
- Allow visitors to create a password in your Form, for example, if their Form submission is setting up an account. See Creating a Password Field in a Form
- Reassure your contacts that you've successfully received their Form submissions with a confirmation email. See Using Emails to Confirm Form Submissions
- Limit Form submissions with a quantity (for example, to cap sign-ups for a capacity-limited event), or an expiration date (for example, for an event on a specific date). See Limiting Form Sign-Ups
- Gated content: Require contacts to complete a Form to access the content they want, such as an e-book or whitepaper. See Add Gated Content to Forms
- Get a notification email when a contact submits your Form. This notification can be based on the content of the Form submission (for example, if the contact checks a box saying that they want to hear back from you about a purchase), or based on geographical data (for example, if the contact is in your area). See Form Alerts.
- Change the content shown to your Form's visitors based on the information they provide. For example, hiding the submit button until the required data is entered, or hiding questions that become irrelevant on the basis of previous answers. See Adding Form Conditions to Selectively Display Fields
- Form field mapping: Submitted Form data is collected into a Form submission list. Tell Act-On which input fields on your form belong to which columns on your form submissions list with field mapping. See the Form Settings Guide and Check Your Field Mapping to Prevent Data Issues
Also see the Forms Composer User Guide.