Web Submission Forms

Do you need a way to collect email list opt-ins or volunteer sign ups right from your website? Take advantage of two web forms to collect this information and capture it directly in your DMS. Plus, customize the forms and easily embed them on your site with a quick copy/paste.

This article will cover how you can access, customize, and embed an Email Subscription or Volunteer Sign-up form for your charity. 

Accessing the Web Forms

1. Visit your administrative Settings.

2. Under Customize Data and Screens, select Website Forms

Settings > Website Forms

3. On the next page, you'll find (1) Email opt-in form and (1) Volunteer signup form that you can customize, preview, or access an embed code for.

Website forms actions

Customizing the Email Opt-in Form

1. From the main Website Forms screen, select the Settings option beside your Email Opt-in Form

Email Opt-in form > Settings

2. On the next screen, you'll be directed to fill out some basic information about your web form.

Basic form details

• Website Form Name: this field is for internal purposes and is view only (don't worry, this name won't show anywhere publicly).
• Form Name: give your web form a name (Note: this name is for your internal tracking only and won't show anywhere outside the DMS).
• Website Form Description: provide an optional description for your web form so that you and your team can easily identify it
• Used for:  this checkbox is also for internal purposes and is view only.

3. Just below, you can include text that will appear as the header and footer of your email opt-in form. Here, you can also deactivate your webform.

Header/footer

4. Click on the Advanced Settings tab to reveal some more customization options:

Email Opt-in: Advanced Settings

(a) Limit listings to a specific group: this field is for internal purposes only.

(b) Add contacts to a group?: automatically add any individual who fills out this web form to a (previously created) group (e.g., New Email Subscribers, Volunteers List)

(c) Email to receive new submissions through this form: choose an optional email address to receive notifications about any signups through this form

(d) Redirect URL: after submission, redirect any individuals signing up through the webform to a webpage of your choice (otherwise, they'll remain on the same page)

(e) Submit button text: customize the call-to-action on the submission button

(f) Include reCAPTCHA: include a reCAPTCHA prompt before submission to help reduce spam and use of malicious software through your webform

(g) What to do upon duplicate match: decide if you'd like the DMS to automatically merge any existing Contacts that sign up through your webform (to help avoid duplicate Contact creation)

(h) Colour picker: customize the colours of your webform's background, submission button, title bar, and text

Customizing the Volunteer Signup Form

1. From the main Website Forms screen, select the Settings option beside your Volunteer Signup Form

Volunteer Sign-up form > Settings

2. On the next screen, you'll be directed to fill out some basic information about your web form.

Basic form details

• Website Form Name: this field is for internal purposes and is view only (don't worry, this name won't show anywhere publicly).
• Form Name: give your web form a name (Note: this name is for your internal tracking only and won't show anywhere outside the DMS).
• Website Form Description: provide an optional description for your web form so that you and your team can easily identify it
• Used for:  this checkbox is also for internal purposes and is view only.

3. Just below, you can include text that will appear as the header and footer of your email opt-in form. Here, you can also deactivate your webform.

Header/footer

4. Click on the Advanced Settings tab to reveal some more customization options:

Volunteer form: Advanced Settings

(a) Limit listings to a specific group: this field is for internal purposes only.

(b) Add contacts to a group?: automatically add any individual who fills out this web form to a (previously created) group (e.g., New Email Subscribers, Volunteers List)

(c) Email to receive new submissions through this form: choose an optional email address to receive notifications about any signups through this form

(d) Redirect URL: after submission, redirect any individuals signing up through the webform to a webpage of your choice (otherwise, they'll remain on the same page)

(e) Submit button text: customize the call-to-action on the submission button

(f) Include reCAPTCHA: include a reCAPTCHA prompt before submission to help reduce spam and use of malicious software through your webform

(g) What to do upon duplicate match: decide if you'd like the DMS to automatically merge any existing Contacts that sign up through your webform (to help avoid duplicate Contact creation)

(h) Colour picker: customize the colours of your webform's background, submission button, title bar, and text

Embedding Your Web Forms

Once you've finished customizing your webforms, you can easily paste them right onto any page of your website to encourage email opt-ins and volunteer signups straight from your site.

1. From the main Website Forms screen, select the HTML Form Snippet option beside the web form you'd like to embed.

HMTL Form Snippet

2. On the next page, click Select HTML Code to highlight the entire code. Once highlighted, copy it to your clipboard.

Select HTML Code

3. If you make changes to your charity's website yourself, simply paste this code into the HTML file of your site (i.e., where you go to make changes to your site).

Paste the HTML code into your website's backend.

Once embedded, your web forms can look something like this:

Email opt-in form:

Example: email opt-in webform

Volunteer signup form:
Example: volunteer signup webform

Notice of Signups

As a reminder, when customizing either of your webforms (under Advanced Settings), you can set an  email address to receive email notices of any new submissions through your form. 

If you've also selected to add any Contacts to a specific group (following a submission), the notification email will tell you which mailing list (i.e., which group) has received a new signup:

If Contacts are being added to a group

Otherwise, if you've chosen not to add any Contacts to a specific group (following a submission), the notification email will instead just let you know of a generic new submission:

 If Contacts are not being added to a group

How will Signups Show in the DMS?

Any time someone fills out either your Email Opt-in or your Volunteer Signup web form, this information will sync directly into your DMS under each Contact's profile.

Email Opt-In Form

If someone opts-in through your webform with an email address that belongs to an existing Contact in your DMS, the system will automatically update that existing Contact's Communication Preferences to “Email Opt-in” (if this box was previously unchecked).

Similarly, if a Contact already exists in your DMS but was previously marked as “NO BULK EMAILS”, the system will uncheck this preference and check “Email Opt-in” instead.

Contact Profile > Communication Preferences

In the case of an Contact that did not previously exist in the DMS (i.e., submission of an entirely new email address), if they fill out your Email Opt-in form, they'll be automatically added as a new Contact (Individual) in the DMS.

And, in this case, the system will also update their Source to "Collect Email Opt-in" so that you'll be able to pull a report through Advanced Search of all new Contacts added through this webform.

Contact profile > Source

Volunteer Signup Form

If an individual who is not an existing Contact in the DMS fills out your Volunteer sign up webform, they'll be added as a new Contact  in the DMS. But, unlike regular Individual Contacts, these will instead show as Contact Type: Volunteer.

And, in this case, the system will also update their Source to "Volunteers forms" so that you'll be able to pull a report through Advanced Search of all new Contacts added through this webform.

Contact profile > Contact Type + Source

What's Next?

As you start to receive email opt-ins and volunteer signups, if you've decided to add these Contacts to a Group, learn how to manage them within this specific group. 

Or why not send all new email subscribers and/or volunteers a customized email?