Forms

1. Overview

The Forms module lets you create simple forms that can be added to a client website or shared using a direct link.

You can use it to:

– Create enquiry, registration, application and feedback forms.
– Collect contact details and other information.
– Show or hide questions using conditional logic.
– Match the form design to the client website.
– Email each submission to one or more people.
– Send an automatic confirmation email to the visitor.
– Create or match a GatherCRM contact or secondary user.
– Add the visitor to a pipeline.
– Review entries and export them to CSV.

The form builder has four steps:

1. Build
2. Style
3. Submissions
4. Embed

2. Creating a form

Open Forms and select New form.

Under Build, enter:

– A form name.
– Introductory text.
– The wording for the submit button.
– A message to show after the form has been submitted.

New forms become Active as soon as they are saved. Change the status to Draft only when you deliberately want the form to be unavailable.

3. Building the form

Add the fields you want visitors to complete.

Available field types are:

– Short text
– Email
– Phone
– Long text
– Number
– Date
– Dropdown
– Radio buttons
– Checkboxes
– Consent
– Section heading
– Paragraph

Section heading and Paragraph are display-only content. They help organise or explain the form but do not collect an answer.

The Options — one per line box is used only for Dropdown, Radio buttons and Checkboxes.

For each answer field, you can:

– Make it required.
– Set it to full or half width.
– Add placeholder or help text.
– Map it to First name, Last name, Email, Phone or Company in GatherCRM.
– Add conditional logic.

Fields can be dragged into a different order. Click a field row to edit it.

4. Conditional logic

Conditional logic shows a field only when an earlier answer matches a rule.

For example, you could add a question called Would you like a callback? and show the Phone field only when the visitor selects Yes.

To add a rule:

1. Open the field you want to show conditionally.
   2. Turn Conditional logic on.
   3. Choose an earlier answer field.
   4. Choose a rule such as Is, Is not, Contains, Is answered or Is blank.
   5. Enter or select the value to match when required.

The source question must appear above the conditional field.

5. Thank-you screen

The Thank-you screen appears after a successful submission.

You can add:

– A confirmation message.
– A logo from the Media Library or a logo URL.
– A button with custom text and a custom link.

For example, the button could say Return to home page and link back to the client website.

You can also enter an immediate redirect URL. When a redirect is used, the Thank-you screen is skipped.

6. Styling the form

Open Style to change the appearance of the form.

You can control:

– Page and form background colours.
– Field and border colours.
– Label, text and placeholder colours.
– Button and button-text colours.
– Success and error colours.
– Font family and size.
– Maximum form width.
– Corner radius.

You can also turn the following on or off:

– Form title
– Intro text
– Field labels

If labels are hidden, check that every field is still clear to the visitor. Date labels, choice options and consent wording remain visible where they are needed.

7. Submission settings

Open Submissions to decide what happens when somebody completes the form.

Form URL

Use Form URL to choose the final address for the form.

If you change this after the form has been published, the old direct link and embed will stop working. Copy the updated details from Embed and replace them on the client website.

Entries and notification emails

Turn Log entries in Gather on if submissions should appear under Entries and be available for CSV export.

Email each submission is switched on by default for new forms. Add the people who should receive the notification. You can enter one email address per line or separate addresses with commas or semicolons.

Contacts and pipelines

Turn Add or match a Gather record on if the visitor should be added to Contacts or Secondary Users. You can also choose a category.

GatherCRM uses the submitted email address to match an existing record before creating a new one.

Turn Add to a pipeline on and choose a pipeline if a new card should be created. The card is added to the first active stage.

Automatic reply

Turn Send an automatic reply on to email the visitor after submission.

Choose the sender, then write the subject and message. Merge tags can be used to personalise the email, including:

{{form_title}}
{{submission_date}}
{{all_fields}}
{{first_name}}

Each answer field also has its own merge tag.

You can attach one file from the Media Library, such as a brochure or information pack. The attachment is sent only with the visitor’s automatic reply.

The form must contain a valid email field for the visitor to receive an automatic reply.

reCAPTCHA

Google reCAPTCHA v3 can be turned on to provide additional protection against spam submissions.

The shared Site key and Secret key must first be added under Forms → Settings. The keys should be registered for the Gather form domain, not the client website containing the embed.

8. Sharing the form

Save the form, then open Embed.

You can share the form in two ways:

– Website embed — displays the form inside a page on the client website.
– Direct link — opens the form on its own page.

For a website embed, copy the complete code shown in GatherCRM and paste it into a Custom HTML or code element on the client website.

The code includes both a `<div>` and a `<script>`. Both parts are required.

Test the published website page after adding the code. Some website builders, optimisation tools or security settings may remove or block scripts.

9. Entries

Select Entries beside a form to review its stored submissions.

The Entries screen shows:

– Total logged submissions.
– Submissions this month.
– Submissions during the last seven days.
– Linked GatherCRM records.
– Created pipeline cards.
– A seven-day submission chart.

Open an entry to see the submitted answers and any linked record or pipeline card.

Use Export CSV to download the entries.

Only submissions made while Log entries in Gather was enabled appear here.

10. Testing the form

Before sharing a form or adding it to a live website:

1. Confirm the form is Active.
   2. Test all required fields and choice options.
   3. Test every conditional field.
   4. Submit the form using the direct link.
   5. Check the Thank-you screen, logo and button.
   6. Check the internal notification email.
   7. Check the visitor’s automatic reply and attachment, if enabled.
   8. Check any contact, category or pipeline action.
   9. Test the final website embed on desktop and mobile.

11. Top tips

1. Keep the form as short as possible.
2. Ask only for information that will actually be used.
3. Use clear field labels and helpful button wording.
4. Make only essential questions required.
5. Put the source question above any field that uses conditional logic.
6. Map name, email, phone and company fields when creating GatherCRM records.
7. Test notification and automatic-reply emails before publishing.
8. Test the direct link before adding the form to a website.
9. Recopy the embed code whenever the Form URL is changed.
10. Keep the form in Draft only when it needs to be deliberately unavailable.