Knowledge Base: Form Fields

Concept

Form Fields are various data fields available for use in your forms and landing pages. They can be a variety of data formats (text, checkbox, etc.) and are tied to either default fields or custom fields. Values entered into these fields can later be used to trigger automation rules and can generally also be synced with your connected CRM system if applicable.

Instructions

1. Click on Administration in the left navigation.
   
2. Click on Form Fields in the resulting sub-navigation.
   
3. Click on + Create new form field.
   Note: Creating a form field is only for making a new version of an existing field. To create a completely new field, you will need to use the Create New Custom Field link. More Details.
4. Choose a Form Field Source, which tells your field where to push data to. It will either be a Default Prospect Field (those that came with Prospect Insight) or a Custom Prospect Field, which you have created yourself.
   
5. Enter the field Type (text, checkbox, etc.). Note that if you are using a custom field where this has already been defined, those settings will overwrite your selection here.
   
6. Enter a Data Format. This will generally be Text but for Email fields you may wish to only accept data with a certain validation.
   For example, 'Email with valid mail server' requires the submitted email to have valid looking email address syntax and requires that the email address' domain name is live and has a receiving email server listed in its DNS records.
   'Email not from ISPs and free email providers' is more stringent and checks for both of the above plus requires the email to not be at a known free ISP or free email provider.
7. Choose a Name for the field that will be used internally. The prospect will not see this name.
   
8. Choose a Label that will appear in your forms and be visible to prospects.
   
9. Enter an optional Description that can be set to appear under a given form field in your form (i.e. instructions on using a multi-select field).
   
10. Enter an optional Error Message if the field validation fails during a form submission.
    
11. Choose any other options by using the checkboxes in the Options
    
12. Required:- Makes the field required for a prospect to complete in order to submit the form it is being used in.
13. Always display even if previously completed: Useful for fields such as "comments" where the prospect may want to submit a value more than once (if this is not checked, the field will not display again once the prospect has completed it).
14. Do not prefill: Useful for fields such as "comments" where the prospects may want to submit a value more than once (and you would not want to display their previous response).
15. Maintain the initial value upon subsequent form submissions: Retains the initial field value even if the prospect has submitted additional forms with other values for the same field (for example, if they cleared their cookies or are using another machine). Note: If a prospect completes a form with a new email address, a new prospect record will be created rather than overwriting the email in the original record. This helps prevent merging records when a prospect forwards an email to another prospect and they click on a tracked link and complete the form with their own email address.
16. Conditionally display this field only if other fields have been completed previously: If this option is selected, you will need to designate which fields you would like to have before displaying this field. Please see the section below titled "Advanced Feature: Conditional Fields" for more information.
17. Set a default mail merge value to be used when this field doesn't have a value: Useful when pulling in variable tags into email templates. For example, you could use something like "Valued Customer" for First Name in case a prospect does not have a First Name in their record in Prospect Insight.
18. Use pre-defined values (for checkboxes, radio buttons, drop downs, and multi-selects): Select this option if prospects will be choosing from a list of items. A list will appear where you can enter the values, using the [+] or [-] to add and delete values. You can also select a Profile or List for the pre-defined values so that prospects who select the field value will be assigned to the appropriate profile or list.Note: If you update your field later, add new values using the [+] button. Do not simply change old values to new ones. Changing values without deleting or adding will cause the field value to be overwritten in the prospect record and may effect automation rules in place.
19. Click Create form field to save your new field.

Advanced Feature: Conditional Fields

One of the more powerful features is the ability to conditionally display a form field based on other fields already being complete. For example, you only want to show a small number of fields on any one form to maintain a high conversion rate. By default, all forms could show first name, last name, company, and email. Then, conditionally, if first name was previously completed, show a job title field instead. If job title was already completed, show a number of company employees field. If number of employees was completed, show a drop down of industries to choose from field. This functionality allows marketers to progressively gather more information over time and build a profile of the prospect. Each form thank you page should provide links to request more resources, like white papers, to streamline the profile building process. For more information see: How do I set up a progressive form using conditional fields?