How do I get the most out of forms?
Forms are one of the most versatile tools in Flexmail. Beyond basic data collection, they can enrich your contact database, personalise your communication, trigger automation, and turn
a single campaign into a two-way conversation with your audience.
Connect every form to your database
The single most important thing you can do with a form is link its fields to your contact database fields. Without this connection, responses sit in the form report but don't update your contacts. With it, every submission automatically enriches the contact's profile.
Before building a form, check that all the fields you want to collect have corresponding fields in your database. If not, create them first in Settings > Manage custom fields. Forms cannot create new database fields on their own.
Use personalisation to increase completion rates
A form that greets a contact by name and has their known details pre-filled requires less effort to complete and feels less like a generic survey. Both effects increase completion rates.
Pre-fill fields you already have data for, name, company, language, email. Ask only for what you don't yet know. This also signals to the contact that you've paid attention, which builds trust.
Ask only what you'll actually use
Every additional question in a form reduces the completion rate. Before adding a field, ask yourself: will we segment on this? Will we use it for personalisation? Will it trigger a workflow? If the answer is no, leave it out. You can always collect more data in a follow-up form later.
Trigger workflows from form submissions
A form submission is a workflow trigger. When a contact completes a form, a registration, a feedback form, a preference update, a workflow can kick in immediately: sending a confirmation email, alerting a sales rep, assigning an interest, or updating a field.
In your workflow's start block, select 'Has completed form' and choose the form. This makes every form submission the start of an automated follow-up sequence.
Use forms for progressive profiling
Rather than asking for all data at once, spread data collection across multiple forms sent at different points in the contact lifecycle. When a contact first subscribes, collect only their
email. When they click a product link, send a form asking about their preferences in that category. When they register for an event, ask for their job title.
Each interaction adds a layer to their contact profile without ever overwhelming them with a long form. Over time, your contact database becomes richer without your contacts ever feeling like they filled in a questionnaire.
Review form reports regularly
The form report shows you all submissions, field by field. Export the data to analyse patterns, what answers are most common, which fields are left blank most often (a sign that the question is unclear or unnecessary), and how completion rates compare across different forms.
Low completion rates on a specific form usually point to one of three things: the form is too long, a question is confusing, or the intro doesn't explain the value clearly enough.
Support tip If you notice that contacts regularly skip a specific field even though it's marked as optional, that's a signal the question isn't landing. Either make it clearer, change the field type, or remove it, it's not worth collecting data that nobody provides.