Form element

8 min

The Form element collects information from visitors in a widget: email and SMS sign-ups, lead forms, birthday capture or quiz answers. Each submission is saved to the visitor's profile in Personizely, turns anonymous visitors into Contacts and form submissions, and can be synced to your email or SMS platform with Widget automations.

Available on: all platforms.

How it works

The visitor fills in the form. In popups and callouts, the first field is focused automatically when the widget opens.

The email is checked as they type. If the form has an email field, Personizely checks that the address is well formed and that its domain can receive email (or checks it with Integrations if you've connected it). An invalid address is marked and the form can't be submitted.

Required fields are checked on submit.

The submission is saved. Values are written to the visitor's profile, one profile per visitor. A new value for a field replaces the old one. If the submission includes identifying data such as an email address, the visitor becomes a contact attributed to this widget.

Automations and the action run. The default action is Close widget. New forms also get Track widget conversion, so a submit counts as a conversion.

If the action is Open URL in the same tab, the redirect waits until the submission has been saved.

Fields

Add fields from the Fields list in the Settings tab. You can use any default field (Email, First name, Phone, Birthdate, consent fields and more) or a Custom fields, or create a custom field from the menu. Drag fields to reorder them. A new form contains First name, Email address and a marketing consent checkbox.

Field types

The input shown depends on the field's type:

Field type	Shown as	Notes
Text, Email, Number	A single-line input	Email fields get the email check above
Textarea	A multi-line input
Phone (tel)	A phone input, optionally with a country code picker	See Phone numbers
Date	A calendar picker or a masked text input	See Dates
Checkbox	One checkbox with the label as its text	Use it for consent fields such as Marketing consent - Email and SMS, Email marketing consent, SMS marketing consent or Privacy consent
Select	A dropdown of the field's choices	The placeholder becomes the empty first option
Radio	One radio button per choice	One answer
Multiple	One checkbox per choice	Several answers

Field options

Click a field to edit it:

Option	What it does	Available for	Values / default
Label	The field's label (also used as its accessible name)	All	Required
Placeholder	Hint text inside the empty input	Text, Textarea, Email, Select, Phone, Date (text input)	Defaults to the label
Validation	A regular expression the value must match	Text, Textarea	Empty (no check)
Error message	Message shown when the value doesn't match Validation	Text, Textarea, when a pattern is set	—
Width	Share of the form row the field takes	All	1/3, 1/2, 1/1 (default)
Input type	Calendar picker or typed text	Date	Calendar (default), Text
Format	Order and separator of a typed date	Date with Text input	MM/DD by default; DD MM, MM DD, MM DD YYYY, DD MM YYYY, YYYY MM DD, each with ., / or -
Include country code	Adds a country code picker	Phone	On by default
Required	The form can't be submitted without it	All	On for new fields

Phone numbers

With Include country code, the picker is preselected with the visitor's country and the number is saved as +<country code><number>, with leading zeros of the local number removed. For example, Moldova and 069 123 456 are saved as +37369123456. Without the picker, spaces, dashes and other characters are removed and a leading + is kept.

Dates

Calendar uses the browser's date picker. Text shows a masked input in the format you pick, which is faster on mobile for birthdays. MM/DD and DD/MM collect a day and month without a year.

Other settings

Option	What it does	Values / default
Filled fields (Advanced)	What to do with fields the visitor already has a value for	Show empty (default), Show prefilled (fills in the known value), Hide (removes the field)
Action, Conditional actions	What happens after a successful submit	Close widget by default. See Element actions. Spin the wheel is offered when a Wheel of Fortune is on the same step
Automation	Side effects of the submit	Track widget conversion added by default
Layout	Stack fields or put them in one row	Vertical (default), Horizontal
Justify, Gap	Alignment and space between fields	—
Components	Field, Label (hidden by default; still read by screen readers), Input (with hover, focus and checked states and a placeholder color), Submit (label "Submit")	—

Behavior details and limitations

Submissions overwrite profile values. A visitor who submits a new email replaces the old one. Personizely keeps one profile per visitor, not a history of submissions. Exports show the current values. See Contacts and form submissions.

Hidden and prefilled fields wait for visitor data. With Show prefilled or Hide, the widget waits until the visitor's profile has loaded before it shows. If every field is hidden, only the submit button remains, so keep at least one field that's never prefilled or use a separate step for known visitors.

Horizontal layout puts inputs and the submit button in one row and moves checkboxes below it. Width applies to the vertical layout.

Wheel of Fortune gating. A form whose action is Spin the wheel records the lead on the first submit only. If the wheel lands on Spin again, the next spin doesn't create a second submission.

Only the first email field is checked. If a widget has several email inputs, the email check applies to the first one.

Syncing to your ESP. Submitting the form doesn't send data to Klaviyo, Mailchimp or another platform by itself. Add that platform's automation (for example "Add to list") to the form. See Integrations.

Spam protection

Email addresses are validated automatically, and you can add Bouncer verification and Google reCAPTCHA v3. To use reCAPTCHA, connect it under Settings → Integrations with your reCAPTCHA secret key in API Key and your site key in Site Key, and make sure Google's reCAPTCHA v3 script is loaded on your site (Personizely doesn't load it for you). See Form spam protection and email validation for setup.

Examples

Email capture with consent: fields Email (required) and Email marketing consent (checkbox, not required), automation "Add to list" for your ESP, action Go to step → a "Thank you" step with a Coupon and discount codes.

Birthday club: First name and Birthdate with input type Text and format MM/DD, Filled fields: Hide so known members only see the fields they haven't filled in.

SMS sign-up: Phone with Include country code and SMS marketing consent, horizontal layout in a Bars (top and bottom banners).

Troubleshooting

The submit button spins and nothing happens → the email check marked the address invalid. Look for the red outline on the email field.

Data doesn't reach Klaviyo (or another ESP) → the form has no integration automation, or the integration isn't connected. Check the form's Automation section.