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Multi-step forms

Last updated on: December 26, 2024

Multi-step forms — also known as progressive forms — are two or more forms linked together. It’s helpful to break up long forms this way to make the process easier for your site visitors.

Progressive forms are great for collecting basic details before payment information or for when your visitors need to provide a lot of information, such as a job application.

Check out this Ontraport University lesson on progressive forms:

Table of contents

Create progressive forms on pages (recommended)
1. Create your form pages
2. Edit your first page
3. Edit your intermediate pages
4. Edit your last page
Create progressive Ontraforms

Create progressive forms on pages (recommended)

Ontraport’s drag-and-drop page builder is the best way to create your multi-step forms. The forms you build on pages give you more flexibility and allow you to create more complex designs than standalone forms.

1. Create the pages of your form

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The first step of the process is to create and publish all of the pages of your form. Keep your published URLs handy for the next steps.

  • Learn more about creating forms on pages here.

Note, it’s best practice to add the “email” field to the first page of your form so that if your visitors only submit a portion of your multi-step form, you can still send them emails.

2. Edit your first page

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  1. Navigate to your first form page.
  2. Open your form’s settings and select your section page from the “use this landing page” dropdown in the “Send contacts here” section.
  3. Save and publish your changes to your first page.

3. Edit your intermediate pages

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Follow the same steps for all of the pages of your form in between the first and the last page.

  1. Navigate to the next page in your series.
  2. Edit your form’s settings and select your next page from the “use this landing page” dropdown in the “Send contacts here” section.

  1. Then scroll down to the advanced section and check the “Override email address merge with cookie data” setting.
    • Checking this box allows the information you collect on the second form to be added to the same contact record as the first form.

  1. Save and publish your changes.
  2. Repeat this step for all of your intermediary pages.

4. Edit your last page

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In this step, instead of linking to the next page of your form, you’ll link to your “Thank You” page so your visitors know that they successfully submitted your form.

  1. Open your final page and edit your form’s settings.
  2. Select your “Thank You” page from the “use this landing page” dropdown in “Send contacts here” section.

  1. Then scroll down to the advanced section and check the “Override email address merge with cookie data” setting.

  1. Save and publish your changes.

Create progressive Ontraforms

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Create multi-step forms using Ontraforms if you want your form to be a pop-up on a page.

Creating a progressive form using Ontraforms is almost exactly the same as using Ontraport Pages. The only difference is that you’ll select the next form from the “Pop Ontraform lightbox” dropdown.

Related university lessons

Form basics
Forms are for gathering information from visitors to your site — and how you’ll ultimately sell products. Learn the different types of forms you can set up and their components.
When to use each form builder
This lesson covers how to know when to use each type of form: Forms on Ontraport Pages, stand-alone Ontraport Forms, and Legacy Forms.
Multi-step forms
Get more form fill-outs by breaking them into bite-sized chunks. With multi-step forms, create several linked pages.
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Related support articles

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Form settings
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Create a form on an Ontraport page
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Create an upsell offer

 Pro tips

Tip #1: Multi-step forms are only meant for use with contacts; custom objects do not support multi-step forms.
Tip #2: If you would like to create a multi-step form that automatically fills in your contacts’ information, create custom links to your pages that pass contact information that can prefill both visible and hidden form fields.
Tip #3 Test your multi-step forms by filling out your form with test contact data. Then check the contact record to be sure that all information went into the same record.
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