With eduConverse, you can create forms to grow your contact database and your email marketing list(s).
In this article:
- Create a form
- Add fields to your form
- Make form fields required
- Change default text and headers for your input fields
- Customize the look of your form
- Customize form messages
- About the opt-in process
- Publish your form
Take note
- Inline forms are available on all plan tiers
- Floating Box, Floating Bar, and Modal forms are available with Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans
- The type of form you create determines your customization options
Create a form
Forms are created in the Forms section of your eduConverse account.
1. Click "Site" on the left menu of your account.
2. Click the "Forms" option on the Site menu.
3. If this is the first time you're creating a form, a "Create a form" modal window will appear. Click the "Create a form" button.
If this is not the first time you're creating a form with ActiveCampaign, click the "Create a form" button on the top right of your screen.
4. Type the name of your form into the field provided and click the form style you wish to use.
5. Click the "Action" dropdown then click an action to select it. You can choose from:
- Add a Tag
Adds a tag to each contact who submits your form. - Email Results
Sends a notification to anyone on your team each time a contact submits your form. - Subscribe to a list
Subscribes the contact to your list. You can use a double opt-in (default) or single opt-in. - Add to a Deal (Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans)
Creates a deal for each contact who submits your form.
Note that you can add as many actions as you like to a form. You can also update actions and add more actions to your form during the form creation process or after it's been published.
6. Click the "Options" dropdown to select an option to match your action.
The items displayed in this dropdown will differ based on the selected action. For example, if you choose "Subscribe to List" for your action, then you need to select which list contacts will be subscribed to from the "Options" dropdown.
7. Click the “Create" button.
You will be directed to the form builder where you can begin to customize your form.
Add fields to your form
The types of fields you can add to a form depends on the type of form you're creating.
Modal, Floating Box, and Floating Bar forms
The information you can collect from contacts using these form types include:
- Name
- Phone
- Email (required by default)
To use these fields in your form:
1. From the form builder, click the "Options" tab.
2. Use the toggles in the "Fields" section to make the Name and Phone fields visible on your form.
Any changes you make to your form will save automatically.
Inline forms
Inline forms offer more variety with the kind of information you can collect from contacts. For example, you can collect basic information such as name and phone number as well as information for any custom contact field you create in your account. In addition, you can add the CAPTCHA field to your form, making submissions more secure.
The "Fields" tab for this form type has two sections: Standard and My Fields. "Standard fields" are the fields we supply you with. "My Fields" are custom contact fields that you create.
Fields available with the Inline form:
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Full name | Full name of contact |
| First name | First name of contact |
| Last name | Last name of contact |
| Email address of the contact | |
| Phone | Phone number of the contact |
| Account | Account name for the contact (Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans) |
| Header | Use this field to add a header to your form |
| HTML Code | Use this field to add custom HTML to your form |
| Image | Use this field to add an image to your form |
| CAPTCHA | Use this field to add extra security to your form |
| List Selector | Use this field to let contacts choose which list(s) they can subscribe to |
| Subscribe/Unsubscribe | Use this field to let contacts subscribe or subscribe from the selected lists on your form |
| Custom fields | Any custom contact field you create |
To add any of these fields to your form:
1. From the form builder, make sure that the "Fields" tab is selected in the right menu.
2. Drag the field from the right menu to your form.
Make form fields required
You can make one, some, or all fields on your form required. This means that contacts will not be able to submit your form until they provide all information requested.
Modal, Floating Box, and Floating Bar forms
1. From the form builder, click the "Options" tab on the right menu.
2. Click the "Required" checkbox. This is located to the right of the field's name in the right menu.
Inline forms
1. From the form builder, click the field you wish to make required.
2. The right menu will display the fields header, default text, and a required option. Click the "Required" checkbox.
Allow blank fields to overwrite existing data
By default, each form you create has "Allow blank fields to overwrite existing field data" selected. This means that if a contact submits your form and does not complete all fields, those blank fields will also appear as blank in their contact profile record, even if you collected information previously for these fields.
This setting applies to the following field types: text input, text area, checkboxes, date fields, and multi-selection lists.
To change this, click the "Options" tab in the form builder for any form. Then uncheck this option located in the "Advanced" section.
Change default text and headers for your input fields
You can change the default text that appears in the input fields on your form.
1. From the form builder, click the input field you wish to change the default text for.
2. Type the new text into the "Default Text" field provided in the right menu.
If you're working with an Inline form, you can also change the field header. This option appears in the right menu when you click the field in the form builder.
Customize the look of your form
You can change the look of your form by adding background images, changing the form's color, changing the font type, and more.
For more detailed information and instructions, see this "Design and customize your eduConverse form" help article.
Remove eduConverse branding from your form
eduConverse branding appears on every form you create by default. If you are on a Plus, Professional, or Enterprise plan, you can remove this branding from your form. Lite plans are not able to remove this branding.
1. From the form builder, click the "Style" tab on the right menu.
2. Scroll down to the "Miscellaneous" section.
3. Click the branding toggle to set it to the "Off" position.
Additional customization for Modal, Floating Box, and Floating Bar forms
These form types have additional customization options that dictate when and how the form should appear for site visitors.
These settings are located under the "Options" tab in the right menu of the form builder.
Modal
- Choose if the form should fade in or no effect
- Choose if the form should appear when the page visitor scrolls or no delay
- Hide the form after they interact with the page, show the form once then hide it, or never hide the form
- Choose how long the form should be hidden for that page visitor
Floating Box
- Choose if the form should fade in, slide in, or no effect
- Choose if the form should appear when the page visitor scrolls or no delay
- Choose if the form should appear on the bottom left or bottom right of the page
- Hide the form after they interact with the page, show the form once then hide it, or never hide the form
- Choose how long the form should be hidden for that page visitor
Floating Bar
- Choose if the form should fade in, slide in, or no effect
- Choose if the form should appear when the page visitor scrolls or no delay
- Choose if the form should appear on the bottom or top of the page
- Hide the form after they interact with the page, show the form once then hide it, or never hide the form
- Choose how long the form should be hidden for that page visitor
Customize form messages
When a contact submits your form, you can choose to show them a thank you message or you can direct them to a page on your site.
1. From the form builder of any form, click the "Options" tab on the right menu.
2. Locate the "On Submit" section.
3. The "Show Thank You" option is selected by default. Here you can input different text by typing it into the box provided.
To direct contacts to a URL instead, click the "Show Thank You" dropdown then click "Open URL." In the field provided, type the URL you wish to direct contacts to.
About the opt-in process
An opt-in is consent from a contact who wants to receive your marketing emails. Usually, contacts provide this consent by submitting a subscription form. If you're using forms to grow your email marketing lists, double opt-in is enabled by default.
You can customize the opt-in process that a contact experiences when they submit your form. This customization is available for all form types.
Here are some additional resources you can use to learn more about customizing the opt-in process:
- Double opt-in vs. single opt-in
- How do I enable single opt-in confirmation?
- How to edit your opt-in confirmation email
- How do I send contacts to my site when they confirm their list subscription?
Publish your form
The "Integrate" button lists all options available for publishing your form.
Modal, Floating Box, and Floating Bar forms
The publishing options available with these form types include:
- Simple embed code
Copy the code provided and paste it onto your website to publish it. - WordPress
Use this option to publish the form to your WordPress site using the WordPress plugin.
Inline forms
The publishing options available with this form type:
- Embed
Copy the simple or full embed code and paste it onto your website.- Simple embed code uses Javascript; any change you make to the form in your ActiveCampaign account will automatically appear wherever the form is published
- Full embed code uses CSS and HTML. Any change you make to the form in your ActiveCampaign will not appear where the form is published. To publish any form changes, you'll need to repaste this code on your site
- Link
This is a direct link to your form. Share this link with potential subscribers so they can complete and submit your form. - WordPress
Use this option to publish the form to your WordPress site using the WordPress plugin. - Facebook
Use this option to publish the form to your Facebook page.