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Create a signup form

Generate HTML code that you can copy and add to a page on your website.

Laura Russell avatar
Written by Laura Russell
Updated over 3 months ago

Signup forms allow new contacts sign up, enter their data, opt-in to public preferences and lists, and provide consent information.

You can also enable an unsubscribe option on the form, so existing contacts can unsubscribe from your email and SMS communications if they want to.

Signup forms are secure

Our signup forms run over HTTPS and are secure.

1. Enter Subscribe options

  1. Expand the User menu and go to Settings > Contacts.

  2. Select Signup forms.
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  3. Expand the Signup channels drop-down menu and select which channels you want contacts to be able to sign up for:

    • Email only
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    • SMS only
      Optionally, expand the Country code drop-down menu to specify the country code for mobile numbers inputted into the form. To allow any country code, select Any.
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    • Both email and SMS

      1. Optionally, expand the Country code drop-down menu to specify the country code for mobile numbers inputted into the form. To allow any country code, select Any.

      2. Expand the Choose which identifiers are required drop-down menu and select which channel data contacts must provide in order to be able to submit the form.
        ​Contacts must submit either an email address or mobile number, or you can choose to require that they submit both.
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  4. For Show public contact data fields, select SELECT DATA FIELDS and choose the contact data fields you want to show and collect information for.
    ​Any information the contact enters in these fields gets stored in their contact record.
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    If you select the Require all fields to be filled in? check box, the contact must complete all fields before they can submit the form.
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  5. For Show public preferences, select YES to show any public marketing preferences options on your form. If you don't want preferences to be shown, select NO. If you choose to show preferences, the contact can opt-in to their chosen preferences using your form.

  6. Select SELECT LISTS to choose any public lists you want to show. Contacts can then choose which lists to subscribe to.

2. Enter Display settings

  1. To include consent text on your form, For Include consent text, select YES . If you don't want to include consent text on your form, select NO.
    ​Including consent text lets you describe the content you send to your contacts and the frequency that you send it. It's best to also include a brief summary of how you use their data.
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  2. In the Consent text field, enter the text you'd like to use.
    ​If you have previously created a ConsentInsight data collection, the length of the consent text is limited to 255 characters, if you haven't, it's 1000 characters.
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    Optionally, select the Only allow signups when consent is given check box to enforce mandatory consent. If consent isn't given, then contacts can’t submit the form.
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  3. To include an unsubscribe option for existing contacts in your form, for Include unsubscribe option, select YES.

This unsubscribes a contact’s email address, mobile number, or both, depending on the information provided, from your account and all communications on the relevant channels. This doesn't give contacts the option to unsubscribe themselves from a specific list – you can do this with a preference centre.

Consent is recorded with the contact data

When consent is given by a contact, this information is stored alongside their contact data as ConsentInsight, and is useful for demonstrating consent under the EU's GDPR. It's also useful if you wish to be CASL compliant.

The following consent data is stored:

  • consent text

  • the date and time of consent (in UTC)

  • the form's URL

  • the IP address of the signup

  • the full user agent

  • the date and time the record was created (in UTC)

  • any marketing preferences they've opted into

3. Set up form completion settings

  1. For Add to, select SELECT LISTS to choose one or more lists to add a contact to once they complete the form.
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  2. To enrol a contact onto a program, for Enrol on, select SELECT PROGRAMS and choose one or more programs to enrol a contact onto once they've completed the form.

  3. To redirect the contact to a URL or a page after completing the form, expand the Redirect to drop-down menu and choose to redirect the contact to either a URL of your own choice or one of your Dotdigital surveys, pages, or forms.

    • For URL, enter the URL of the page you want contacts to be directed to once they’ve submitted the signup form. You must include http:// or https:// in your URL.

    • For Survey, page or form, expand the drop-down menu and select the page you want contacts to be directed to once they’ve submitted the signup form.
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  4. If you’ve chosen to include an unsubscribe option in your form, then, optionally, expand the If a contact unsubscribes, redirect to drop-down menu and select URL or Survey, page or form.

    • For URL, enter the URL of the page you want contacts to be directed to once they’ve unsubscribed. You must include http:// or https:// in your URL.

    • For Survey, page or form, expand the drop-down menu and select the page you want contacts to be directed to once they’ve unsubscribed.

4. Embed the form on your site

  1. Select GENERATE CODE. A panel slides in from the right with your signup form HTML. This HTML inherits your site styles, and you can modify it if you need to.

  2. Select COPY TO CLIPBOARD.
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  3. Paste the HTML code into your site.

You can use a signup form with a triggered email campaign. When a contact joins a particular list using this web form, you can trigger an email to be sent to them automatically. This is done by changing the settings of the list.

Learn more in Send contacts an email campaign or enrol them on a program when they join a list.

If you want more ways to customise a form, you can learn more in:

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Set up a preference centre
Use a customised unsubscribe form
Add an unsubscribe option to your page
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