Form automation: how to set it up and make the most of it

Form automation is a rule that Quanda carries out on its own when a visitor submits a form on your website. It runs on every submission or only on submissions with the consent box ticked. It can then add a tag to the contact or remove one, send them a confirmation email, alert you or a colleague, fill in up to 6 user fields, assign an owner to the contact and save GDPR details about the consent. You schedule each action for minutes, hours or days after submission. And since 6 October 2026, forms are created in a new drag and drop editor and embedded on the website as HTML.

At a glance

1. One automation takes one action, there is no limit on their number per form and you schedule each one for minutes, hours or days after submission.
2. The basics are four automations: a tag, a confirmation email, an alert to a salesperson and GDPR details for consent.
3. Set the tag up as the first automation with a 1 minute wait and name it after the form, for example Webinar October.
4. For a form with consent, you save the legal title, the purpose of processing and the length of processing to the contact.
5. Double opt-in verifies the sender's email, and a verified contact gets the Verified flag.
6. Since 6 October 2026, forms are created in a new drag and drop editor that brings together the form pages, design and animation and handles desktop and mobile separately.

In short: what form automation is, when it runs, what it can do and what you risk without it

• What it is: a rule that takes an action with a new contact on its own after a form is submitted.
• When it runs: after the form is submitted, or only after it is submitted with the consent box ticked.
• What it can do: seven kinds of action in three groups: labelling the contact (tags, user fields, owner), communication (email to the contact, alert to a colleague) and consent records (GDPR details).
• What you risk without it: contacts from the form get lost in the database, nobody knows about them and you have no record of the consent.

What has changed since the article was published: The article first came out in February 2019 and described three automations: an alert to a colleague, a confirmation email and a tag. In October 2026 we rewrote it to match today's Quanda. New additions are the second trigger Form was submitted with consent, actions for user fields, the contact owner and GDPR details, the summary notice and double opt-in. Since 6 October 2026, Quanda also uses a new form editor. All screenshots are new.

What form automation is

Form automation is a rule that Quanda carries out automatically after a form is submitted. You do not have to retype contacts by hand, tag them or send confirmations. You only need to set up once what should happen with every new contact. This applies to a contact form, an enquiry form and a newsletter sign-up form alike.

Every automation has three parts, just like automations in email campaigns or surveys:

• Run, when: the event that triggers the automation. For a form, it is always its submission.
• Set action: what Quanda does, for example adds a tag or sends an email.
• Schedule: when the action runs, how many minutes, hours or days after submission.

One automation takes one action. If you want several things to happen after submission, for example a tag, a confirmation email and an alert to a salesperson, you set up three automations. You add each one with the Add trigger button, and there is no limit on their number. In the interface Quanda calls an automation a trigger, which is why the button is called Add trigger. How automations work across Quanda is described in the article Email automation: 8 scenarios that work for you.

The new form editor in Quanda

Quanda launched the new form editor on 6 October 2026. It is a drag and drop editor in which you build the form from fields and elements and design it to match your website exactly. The form pages, design and animation are now in one place; previously they were separate steps. The form editor is part of the Quanda marketing platform.

What the new editor brings:

• The form as HTML, not as an iframe (an iframe is a frame that embeds content from another address into the page). The page where you place the form gets the HTML generated directly. This makes its conversions easier to measure.
• Everything in one editor. You set up fields, design, animation and custom CSS in one place and see the result straight away.
• Desktop and mobile separately. The switch at the top takes you to the mobile view. Quanda asks whether you want a different design for mobile, and then you edit each version separately.
• A thank-you page for both versions. You also design the page shown after submission separately for desktop and for mobile.

Since 6 October 2026, new forms are created only in the new editor. For now, you edit forms created earlier in the original editor. Quanda will announce in good time how long it will keep maintaining it, so you have enough time to move your forms over. You will find automations, double opt-in and the embed code in the form's left menu.

Two triggers: when the automation runs

A form automation is always triggered by the form being submitted. In the Run, when section, you choose between two triggers:

• Form sent: the automation runs on every submission. It suits tags, confirmation emails and alerts.
• Form was submitted with consent: the automation runs only when the visitor ticked the consent box. Only with this trigger can you use the Set GDPR details action.

The second trigger is useful for forms where consent is optional. For example, an event registration form can include consent to receiving news. Those who tick it get the newsletter tag, the others only a registration confirmation.

7 actions you can set up after a form is submitted

A form automation can take seven kinds of action: add a tag, remove a tag, send an email to the contact, send an alert to a Quanda user, fill in a user field, assign an owner to the contact and set GDPR details. You choose them in the Set action section.

You prepare the email for the Send email and Send alerts actions in advance as a transactional email. A transactional email is an email Quanda sends to one contact in response to their action, not a bulk campaign. The procedure is described in the guide Automation and transactional emails in a simple campaign. Insert personalisation tags into the alert, and Quanda replaces them with the details the contact filled in on the form.

Tip: User fields filled in by an automation are handy for the contact source. If you place the same form on your website and on your stand at a trade fair, fill in a different text for each version, for example Website and Trade fair 2026. In your contacts you then see at once where each person came from. You can also rename user fields in their settings and clear their content in bulk, so you can use them for different purposes over time.

How to set up a form automation

You set up a form automation in Quanda in six steps: open the form, choose Automation in the left menu, add a trigger, choose an action, schedule it and save it. One automation takes about 2 minutes.

1. Open the form and choose Automation in the left menu.
2. Click Add trigger and give the automation a name.
3. In the Run, when section, choose Form sent or Form was submitted with consent.
4. In the Set action section, choose what should happen and complete the action, for example by selecting a tag or a transactional email.
5. In the Schedule section, set how many minutes, hours or days later the action should run.
6. Save the automation. For each further action, add another automation.

You will see your saved automations in the Trigger setting overview: the name, the trigger, the action, the creation date and when the automation last ran. The basic procedure is described in the guide Automation in a form.

GDPR details from the consent in a form

The Set GDPR details action saves to the contact on what basis and for how long you process their personal data. It is only available with the Form was submitted with consent trigger, and you fill in three details:

• Legal title: consent to the processing of personal data, the legitimate interest of the controller, performance of a contract or negotiations on concluding one, compliance with a legal obligation, public interest or vital interest.
• Purpose of processing: for example sending business and advertising messages, sending information about news, providing expert content, running educational events or running a customer competition.
• Length of processing of personal data: from 1 day to 20 years.

Choose the legal title, purpose and length according to the consent text the visitor ticks in the form. Whatever you promise in the consent should also match the details saved to the contact. The consent box must not be ticked in advance; the visitor has to give consent themselves.

4 automations to set up for every form

Set up four automations for every form: a tag, a confirmation email to the contact, an alert to a salesperson and GDPR details for consent. Most forms need nothing more.

1. A tag for everyone who submitted the form. Trigger Form sent, action Add label, wait 1 minute. Name the tag after the form, for example Webinar October or Automation e-book.
2. A confirmation email to the contact (automatic reply, autoresponder). Trigger Form sent, action Send email. Say thank you, confirm what the contact signed up for and send the promised content. The confirmation email arrives at the moment the contact is expecting it.
3. An alert to a salesperson. Trigger Form sent, the Send alerts action sends the details from the form to a colleague.
4. GDPR details for consent. Trigger Form was submitted with consent, action Set GDPR details according to the consent text.

For enquiries and demo requests, add a fifth automation with the Assign an owner to a contact action.

A real example: Quanda's own form "60+ tips for catchy email subject lines" has been running since 2020. Over that time it has brought in 446 contacts, and 7.1% of the people who saw it submitted it. The contacts get the tips directly in the confirmation email. 60.2% of recipients opened it, and 9.2% clicked the button linking to more tips on improving email campaigns.

Watch out: A contact who submitted a form without a tag can only be found in the database by hand. So always set the tag up as the first automation, before you place the form on your website.

The tag from the form is then the starting point for further communication, for example a welcome series. You will find examples in the article Email automation: 8 scenarios that work for you.

Summary notice to the form manager

A summary notice is an overview of new form submissions that Quanda sends to the form manager daily, weekly or monthly. You switch it on below the automation overview in the Send a summary notice to the form manager setting. You choose the form manager in the form settings. The Do not send option switches notices off. For a new form, Weekly is selected by default.

The summary notice is useful where you do not need to react to every contact straight away, for example for newsletter sign-ups. For enquiries, use the Send alerts action instead, which arrives right after submission.

Double opt-in: verifying the email from a form

Double opt-in is verification of the email address the visitor entered in the form. You switch it on in the Double opt in section of the form's left menu with the Enable email owner authentication with Double opt in toggle. Then you write the subject and text of the verification email and insert a verification link into it.

After the form is submitted, the contact receives a verification email. Only by clicking the link do they verify their address. A verified contact has the Verified flag in the contact list, and in the contact history you can see when and through which form the verification happened.

The verification link does not have to be only in the email from the form. The email editor offers it as one of the link types, so you can also insert it into a regular campaign or a transactional email, for example when you want to verify older contacts. Why double opt-in pays off and what the data say is covered in the article Double opt-in. What is it and how does it work?, and the step by step setup is described in the guide Double opt-in.

Form automation checklist

Before you place a form on your website, check seven things: the tag, the confirmation email, the alert, GDPR details, an unticked consent box, double opt-in and a test submission.

• The form has an automation that adds a tag to every contact.
• The contact receives a confirmation email with everything you promised in the form.
• Whoever needs to react to new contacts learns about them, through an alert or a summary notice.
• A form with consent saves GDPR details that match the consent text.
• The consent box is not ticked in advance.
• Double opt-in is switched on wherever you need verified addresses.
• You have tested the form: you submitted it and checked the tag, the emails and the details saved to the contact.

Conclusion

Form automation decides whether a completed form becomes a new customer or a forgotten row in the database. You set up the tag, confirmation email, alert and GDPR details in a few minutes, and from then on they work on their own for every contact. With the new editor, you can also design the form separately for desktop and for mobile.

How to help your form collect as many contacts as possible is covered in the article Animated forms: a vending machine for new contacts, and what to offer in exchange for a contact in the article Lead magnets in B2B marketing. You can go through the whole topic in the free online course Collecting contacts: forms and lead magnets. And if you would like to set up your automations with us, get in touch.