Building your contact form
Your contact form should ask just enough to start a good conversation. The builder lets you add the questions you need, save answers like phone numbers straight onto the new contact, and choose what people see once they've hit send.
Open the builder by clicking a form on the Contacts → Contact forms list. It has three parts: Form description, Fields and Confirmation message.
Saving your changes
Changes don't save as you type. As soon as you change something, a bar appears at the bottom with Save and Discard. Click Save and you'll see "Changes saved". On a published form, your changes go live straight away. New forms start as drafts, so nobody sees them until you publish and share the form.
Form description
A line or two shown under the form's name, telling visitors what to expect. "Tell me a little about your day and I'll reply within 24 hours with availability and pricing" sets the tone nicely. It's optional, and worth writing.
Fields
The three you can't remove
Every form collects First name, Last name and Email. They carry a Required badge with a small lock, and hovering it explains: "Always collected, so it cannot be removed or made optional." Without them, a submission would be a message you can't reply to.
New forms also start with Phone number and Message, which you can edit or delete.
Adding a question
Click Add item under the field list. It offers three groups.
Contact information fields save the answer onto the new contact:
| Field | Saves to |
|---|---|
| Contact phone | Their phone number |
| Company | Their business |
| Street address, City, State or region, ZIP or postal code, Country | Their address |
| Message | Their main message, shown as the conversation's preview in Messages |
Each one can be used once, so it drops out of the menu after you add it (the starter Phone number field is the contact phone field). Apart from Message, they show a Contact field badge, and their type is fixed.
Response fields are plain questions. The answer appears in the conversation:
| Type | Good for |
|---|---|
| Short text | The venue, a one-line answer |
| Long text | "Tell me about your day" |
| Single choice | Session type, budget range |
| Multiple choice | Which services they're interested in |
| Date | Their event date |
| Email, Phone, URL | Answers that are checked before the form sends |
| Number | Guest count |
| Yes / No | A straight question |
Content blocks aren't questions: Section heading breaks a longer form up, and Instruction text explains something.
A Contact phone field fills in the contact's phone number for you. A plain Phone question only puts the answer in the conversation, leaving the contact's phone empty. If you want the number on file, use the contact field.
Contact forms don't take file uploads. If you need photos or documents, ask for them in your reply once the conversation has started.
Editing a field
Click a field to open it. You can set:
- Question, the label visitors read (Text on a content block)
- Helper text, a hint underneath
- Placeholder, the grey text inside the box
- Options, on single and multiple choice
- Required
- Display logic
Reorder fields by dragging them, or use Move up and Move down in the field's menu. Delete is there too, on anything that isn't locked.
A form needs at least three fields and can hold up to 100. In practice, short forms get finished and long ones get abandoned.
Showing a question only when it's needed
Display logic hides a question until an earlier answer calls for it. Ask "Which venue?" only of people who said they've booked one.
- Open the field and find Display logic.
- Pick a Source question from the questions above it.
- Choose a Rule and a Value.
The rules depend on the source question. Multiple choice offers Includes. Single choice, Yes / No, Date and Number offer Is and Is not. Other questions offer Is exactly, Is not and Contains. A line underneath spells the rule out in words, and the field gets a Conditional badge. Clear removes the rule.
Confirmation message
This replaces the form once someone sends it, under the heading "Your form has been submitted!". The starting message says hi, thanks them, and confirms their submission was sent to your business.
Make it yours. Say when you'll reply and what happens next. The editor has bold, italic, lists and links, and the Variables menu adds Client's first name so it greets each person by name. See Filling in client details automatically.
CoreHue doesn't email the person a copy of their submission, so this message is the only acknowledgement they get until you reply. See Handling contact form submissions.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change a form after it's published?
Yes. Edit it in the builder and click Save, and the live form updates. Anyone who had the old version open sees "This contact form was updated. Refresh and try again." when they press Send message, and refreshing clears what they typed, so make big changes at a quiet time.
Can I make First name, Last name or Email optional?
No. First name, Last name and Email are always collected on a CoreHue contact form, so every submission arrives with someone you can reply to.
Can people upload files on my contact form?
No. Contact forms don't have file uploads. Ask for files in your reply, or use a questionnaire once you're working together.
Why can't I edit my form?
A contact form you can't edit has been archived. Archived forms are read-only, and the builder shows "This form is archived". Create a new form if you need one again.