# Forms and where submissions go

> Set up a contact or sign-up form — save submissions to the CRM, add them to an email list with consent, get an email or chat notification, map answers to CRM fields, and send a test.

Source: https://knowledge.estage.com/visual-editor/forms/
Part of the ESTAGE knowledge base (https://knowledge.estage.com). Full corpus: https://knowledge.estage.com/llms-full.txt

---
Every form on your site — contact, newsletter, quote request, RSVP — has **Form Settings** that
decide where its submissions go. (Checkout forms are different: see
[Order forms](/order-forms/).)

A form the AI adds already saves each submission to your [CRM contacts](/crm/contacts/), so
nothing is lost from the first day. Everything else — an email list, a notification to you, a
thank-you message — you choose in Form Settings.

## Opening Form Settings

Click the form in the builder preview. The sidebar opens with **Form Settings** and a status:

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Configured** | Submissions go where you chose |
| **Partially mapped** | Some answers have no CRM field yet — see *Map fields* |
| **Not connected** | Settings are saved, but no destination is chosen — submissions go nowhere |
| **Not configured** | The form has never been set up |

The settings are five steps — **Purpose · Lists · Fields · After · Review** — with **Back** and
**Next**.

## 1. Purpose and destination

**What is this form for?** — **Contact / enquiry**, **Newsletter / lead magnet**, **Quote
request**, **Event / RSVP** or **Other**. The purpose fills in sensible defaults (a contact or
quote form emails you each submission, and each purpose has its own thank-you text). It never
overwrites something you typed. On a form that was never set up, the purpose is guessed from its
fields — choose another if it's wrong.

**Where should submissions go?**

- **Save to ESTAGE CRM contacts** — every submission becomes a contact, with its answers.
  Recommended, and always on while a CRM list or tag is chosen.
- **Add to an email list** — ESTAGE's own lists, or a connected email tool (Mailchimp,
  GetResponse, AWeber and others, connected in **Settings → Email Integrations**).

## 2. Lists & tags

Pick the CRM lists and tags a new contact gets — pair them with a CRM
[automation](/email/automations/) to welcome or onboard people. For an email tool, pick its list
and tags.

### Consent for an email list

When the form adds people to a list, turn on **Ask for consent before adding to the list**. The
form then shows an unticked checkbox (you can change its **Checkbox wording**). People who leave
it unticked are still saved and you're still notified — they just aren't added to the list. Each
tick is recorded on the contact: the wording, page, form and time.

:::caution
In the UK and EU, a contact enquiry is not permission to send marketing email. Keep consent on for
any form that adds people to a list.
:::

## 3. Map fields

Each answer is matched to a field on the CRM contact. Email, name and phone match on their own;
for the rest, pick a CRM field or **Create CRM field**. An answer with no field is still kept on
the contact's timeline. The same table maps answers to an email tool's fields.

## 4. After submission

- **Show Message** or **Redirect to URL** (optionally after the message, or in a new tab).
- **Notify admin by email** — an email with the submitted details on every submission. Reply to
  it and you're writing to the person who filled in the form.
- **Also notify in** — Telegram, Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, once connected in
  [Settings → Connectors](/connectors/).

Spam protection (reCAPTCHA) is set for the whole site, not per form.

## 5. Review and test

**Apply to Form** saves the settings. It won't apply until at least one destination is chosen —
the CRM, an email list or a notification email.

Once applied, **Test this form → Send a test** sends sample answers as you to everything you
chose: it creates a real contact, adds it to the lists and sends the notifications, then shows
for each destination whether it received the test, skipped it or failed — and why.

## Just email me the submissions

For a quick setup, select the form (or its submit button) in the visual editor and open
**On click → Action → Send form to email**. Enter the address in **Send submissions to**: every
submission is emailed there — the visitor's email app isn't opened. If the form wasn't set up yet,
this connects it too, so submissions are also saved to the CRM.

If the form is built in a way this can't connect automatically, ask the AI instead:
*"send this form's submissions to you@example.com"*.