Form Field Validation Rules

Use validation rules to ensure that contacts enter the correct type of data in your Act-On forms, such as requiring a properly formatted email address or a five-digit ZIP code. This helps reduce submission errors and keeps your contact records clean.

Assign validation rules to your Form's input fields in the Form Builder. Your choice of validation will vary depending on the type of information you need to collect in each field.

Add Form Validation Rules to a Field

To add or edit Form validation rules:

1. Open your Form in the Form Builder and go to the Design tab at the top of the page:

   

2. Click on an input field in your Form to open the Edit Input Field panel:

   

From here, you can make the field required, or you can create more advanced validation for the field values your input will accept.

Make a Field Required

This requires that the field be completed to submit the Form.

3. Click the asterisk at the top right of the panel to create a basic Required validation rule.

Add Validation Rules for Accepted Field Values

3. Go to the Validation tab:

   

4. Click to add a new validation rule:

   

5. Select a rule from the drop-down menu:

   

6. Under Error Messages, check the default error message for the validation rule is suitable & customize it if required. Users will receive this error message on the Form if their responses don't meet the field's validation rules.
7. To create more validation rules for the same field, click again & repeat the steps above.
8. To remove a validation rule, hover over the rule and click
9. At the bottom right, click OK, & at the top right, Save your changes.
10. Test your form to check that the validation works as expected. Learn more

Available Validation Rules

The validation rules available work well for most common field types. 

These are the validation rules available in the Form Builder (rule name in bold), along with descriptions and examples:

• Required
  The field must have content.
  Example: Cannot be empty.
• Match
  Field content has to match another field in the Form.
  Example: Verify email has been typed correctly twice.

• Email
  Must have a valid email with @ and . 
  Example: test@domain.com
  Regex:

  /^[a-zA-Z0-9]+([\w'._+-])*@[\w-]+\.[\w-.]{2,}$/

• Non-Consumer Email
  Does not allow consumer email domains.
  Examples listed here.
  Regex: Use email regex above, plus:

  ^.*@(?!163[.]com|aol[.]com|bellsouth[.]net|blueyonder[.]co[.][a-z]{2}|btconnect[.]com|charter[.]com|comcast[.]net|cox[.]net|earthlink[.]net|email[.]com|gmail[.]co.[a-z]{2}|gmail[.]com|hotmail[.]co[.][a-z]{2}|hotmail[.]com|juno[.]com|mail[.]com|mail[.]ru|mindspring[.]com|msn[.]com|ntlworld[.]com|orange[.]fr|rogers[.]com|outlook[.]com|sbcglobal[.]net|shaw[.]ca|sympatico[.]ca|telus[.]net|verizon[.]net|virgin[.]net|virginmedia[.]com|yahoo[.]ca|yahoo[.]co[.][a-z]{2}|yahoo[.]com|ymail[.]com|icloud[.]com|me[.]com|mac[.]com).*$

• Non-Generic Email
  Does not allow consumer email domains.
  Examples listed here.
  Regex: Use email regex above, plus:

  /^(?!(abuse@|accounting@|accounts@|adm@|admin@|administration@|administrator@|admissions@|ads@|all@|answers@|anti-spam@|antispam@|asdf@|billing@|ceo@|comments@|compliance@|contact@|contactus@|customer@|customercare@|customerservice@|database@|decliend@|decline@|declined@|denied@|designer@|devnull@|director@|dns@|email@|employment@|enquiries@|everyone@|fbl@|feedback@|finance@|ftp@|general@|hello@|helpdesk@|home@|hostmaster@|hr@|info@|information@|inoc@|investorrelations@|ispfeedback@|ispsupport@|jobs@|lawyer@|lawyers@|legal@|list@|list-request@|mail@|mailbox@|mail-daemon@|maildaemon@|mail-deamon@|manager@|managers@|marketing@|me@|media@|mediarelations@|mkt@|news@|noc@|noreplies@|no-reply@|noreply@|noemail@|nospam@|nothanks@|null@|office@|operations@|orders@|phish@|phishing@|post@|postbox@|postmaster@|prepress@|president@|press@|privacy@|purchasing@|qwer@|qwert@|qwerty@|reception@|refuse@|refused@|registrar@|remove@|request@|reservations@|returns@|root@|sales@|secretary@|security@|service@|services@|shop@|spam@|staff@|studio@|subscribe@|support@|sysadmin@|tech@|undisclosed-recipients@|unsubscribe@|usenet@|users@|uucp@|web@|webmaster@|welcome@|www@)).*/i

• URL
  Field content needs to be a URL that begins with "https://"
  Example: https://www.domain.com
  Regex:

  /(http|ftp|https):\/\/[\w-]+(\.[\w-]+)+([\w.,@?^=%&:/~+#-]*[\w@?^=%&/~+#-])?/

• Phone US
  Valid phone Format for a 10-digit US phone number, including +1 for country code.
  Examples: 

  Valid:
  +1 555-555-5555
  (555) 555-5555

  Causes error:
  +12 555 -555-5555
  555-155-5555 

  Regex:

  /^(\+?1?)?(-?\s?\.?)?(\([2-9]([02-9]\d|1[02-9])\)|[2-9]([02-9]\d|1[02-9]))-?\s?\.?[2-9]([0-9]{2})\s?-?\.?\d{4}$/

• Phone International
  Valid phone Format for a 7-15 digit international phone number including + (international prefix symbol).
  Examples: 

  Valid:
  +1 1234 567890

  Causes error:
  01234 567890

  Regex:

  /^\+(?:[0-9] ?){6,14}[0-9]$/

• Phone US or International
  Verify for either Formatting.
  Examples as above.
  Regex:

  /(^(\+?1?)?(-?\s?\.?)?(\([2-9]([02-9]\d|1[02-9])\)|[2-9]([02-9]\d|1[02-9]))-?\s?\.?[2-9]([0-9]{2})\s?-?\.?\d{4}$)|(^\+(?:[0-9]
      ?){6,14}[0-9]$)/

• Numeric
  Field input must be a number.
  Regex:

  /^\d+$/

• Alphanumeric
  Field input must include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, but no symbols
  Regex:

  /^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$/

• Minimum Length
  Sets the minimum number of characters in the field.
• Maximum Length
  Sets the maximum number of characters in the field.
• Custom
  See Custom Validation Rules.

Tips & Best Practices

• Use the built-in options when possible — they’re easier to maintain.
• Always include a clear error message for your users.
• Test your form to check that the validation works as expected. Learn more