Get more form fill-outs by breaking them into bite-sized chunks. With multi-step forms, create several linked pages.
Solutions keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Our Solutions
Ontraport's solutions work together to give you everything you need to run your business in one centralized, easy-to-use platform.
Sales +
CRMarrow_forward
Segment + Organizearrow_forward
Smart Pipelinesarrow_forward
Unified Contact Historyarrow_forward
Task Automationarrow_forward
Lead Scoring + Routingarrow_forward
Mobile Apparrow_forward
Trends arrow_forward
Ontraport Calendar arrow_forward
No-code Web Appsarrow_forward
Custom Objectsarrow_forward
Dynamic CMSarrow_forward
Conditional Contentarrow_forward
Membership Sitesarrow_forward
Paymentsarrow_forward
Order Formsarrow_forward
Offline Transactionsarrow_forward
Complex Offersarrow_forward
Upsells + Order bumpsarrow_forward
Decline Recoveryarrow_forward
Customer Centerarrow_forward
Referral Trackingarrow_forward
Pages + Formsarrow_forward
Drag and Drop Editorarrow_forward
Form Buildersarrow_forward
WordPress Integrationsarrow_forward
Marketing
Automationarrow_forward
Campaign Automationarrow_forward
Email + SMS Messagingarrow_forward
Email Deliverabilityarrow_forward
Tracking + Attributionarrow_forward
Facebook Custom Audiencesarrow_forward
Platformarrow_forward
API arrow_forward
Integrations arrow_forward
Security and Scalabilityarrow_forward
Industries we serve
Select your industry to see how our CRM and marketing software can support your growth
Learn more Resources keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Pricing Chat Resources
Find free content on the latest marketing strategies, using Ontraport in your business, and finding the right software.
Visit the blog Research and Education
Bootcamp
Coursearrow_forward
Attend a hands-on training course designed to give users a solid foundation of software skills and marketing strategy.
Expert Certification
Coursearrow_forward
A course for business owners and marketing professionals wanting to support our mutual clients. Learn advanced marketing strategies and get exclusive perks.
Ontraport
Blogarrow_forward
Browse a collection of articles on marketing automation, email marketing, CRM, membership sites and more.
Step-by-Step
Templatesarrow_forward
Implement proven marketing processes with our easy-to-follow worksheets and checklists.
In-Depth
Guidesarrow_forward
Download our best-practice guides, complete with data-driven insights and tactics to help you optimize your marketing.
Podcastarrow_forward
Listen in as Ontraport CEO Landon Ray talks with with a star-studded cast of entrepreneurs, marketers and thought leaders.
Marketing
Blueprintsarrow_forward
Learn everything you need to know to develop fundamental marketing strategies with our digital handbooks.
Using Ontraport in Your Business
Software
Comparisonsarrow_forward
See if Ontraport is the right fit for you — compare the top marketing automation and CRM software on the market.
Setup Wizards
Libraryarrow_forward
Our Setup Wizards walk you through the steps to customize and launch a marketing campaign for your business in minutes.
Get the
Factsarrow_forward
View the most frequently asked questions about Ontraport so you can get clarity and feel confident in your buying decision.
Feature Use
Casesarrow_forward
See exactly what you can do with Ontraport, and learn how you can personalize it to perform your specific needs.
Calculate Your
ROIarrow_forward
Get an honest estimate of the return you can expect from an investment in Ontraport's software.
Exploring
Ontraportarrow_forward
Take a guided tour through the five phases of the customer lifecycle in a simulated business powered by Ontraport.
Try our free interactive customer portal demo!
Want to offer the convenient, self-service experiences your customers are looking for? Check out this free demo to see what you can create in Ontraport without code or developers.
Want to offer the convenient, self-service experiences your customers want?
Check out this free customer portal demo to see what you can build in Ontraport without code or developers.
Home > Ontraport for marketing > Forms > Multi-step forms
Multi-step forms
You'll learn:
- What built out pages and forms look like in Ontraport
- How to link those forms together
- How to test your multi-step form
- The value of breaking up your long form into smaller, linked forms
Sam Flegal
Multi-step forms
Get more form fill-outs by breaking them into bite-sized chunks. With multi-step forms, create several linked pages.
- What built out pages and forms look like in Ontraport
- How to link those forms together
- How to test your multi-step form
- The value of breaking up your long form into smaller, linked forms
Course Instructor
Sam Flegal
Related resources
[Block//Author//First Name] [Block//Author//Last Name] on [Block//Date Added %F j, Y g:i a%+0d0h0m]
[Block//Comment]
Transcript
Sometimes, you need to collect a lot of information from your visitors. But if you give them a long list of fields to fill out, they might feel intimidated and abandon the form altogether — and we don't want that.
One way to avoid this is by creating a form with multiple steps. By breaking up your form into bite-sized chunks, they’ll be more likely to complete it.
What we'll do is create several pages, and each page will have one step of your form on it, and each step may have a few fields.
So, for example, the first step might ask for their name and the second step can ask them for their job title . At some point, make sure to get their email address, too.
But there's a trick to making multi-step forms work. The key is that you have to make sure that when someone fills it out, the same contact record gets updated with each new bit of data. What you don't want is to create a new contact record from each form. Making sure we get this right is what this video is about.
Fortunately, it's super easy in Ontraport.
We'll do it in 3 steps: First we'll create a page for each step of our form. Next, we'll link the forms together and check one special setting. And then we'll test our work.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Build your forms
The first step is to build our pages with the forms on them. Since we've got other videos that explain all this, we're going to just show you what we've done here. Three pages, three forms. Boom.
Onward.
Step 2: Link forms together
Next, we've got to link our forms together. So, go to the first form in your series, get yourself to the form settings, and find the 'send contacts here' section. What you want to do is select the second form in your series here, click save and publish and you're done.
The second one needs to be a little different though, so let's check that one out.
So we'll go to “Form Settings” on the second form and in the “Send contacts here” section, select your third page. That part's the same, but now we have one more setting to make.
Scroll down to the advanced settings section and check the box for “Overwrite email address merge with cookie data”. Click “Save” and “Publish” again.
Now, you'll do the same thing for each step in your form, making sure to check that advanced setting for every form except the first one.
That's the box that's going to make the magic happen to make sure all these forms add data to the same record.
And that's all there is to it.
You can also do the same thing with pop-up Ontraforms, using the same method. Just make a form for each step and set the same settings.
Step 3: test your work
Before we crack open the champagne, we'll run a quick test to make sure it’s working right.
And we're done. Now, you know how to make a Multi-step Form.
If you have any questions about this setup, make sure to watch our video on “Updating Existing Records with Forms” — the setup is very similar. You can also learn more about advanced form settings in the “Form Settings and Advanced Features” video.
Next, let’s tackle Multi-Object Forms.
Sometimes, you need to collect a lot of information from your contacts. But if you give them a long list of fields to fill out, they might feel intimidated or off-put and abandon the form altogether — ultimately lowering your conversion rates.
One way to avoid this is by creating a form with multiple steps. By having your contacts complete a form in small, bite-sized chunks, they’ll be more likely to fill out the rest of it.
Setting up Multi-step Forms with Ontraport is super easy. We’ll show you how to do it, step by step.
But before we begin, a quick note: With Multi-step Forms, it’s important to ensure that when your contacts fill them out, the same contact record gets updated with each new piece of data, rather than create new contact records out of each form.
Let’s get started. Each page of your form will have a single step on it. For example, the first step might have contacts fill out their first and last name while the second step asks them to write in their job title [Page//show an example of this]. For your third step, you might want to collect their email address [Page//show an example of this].
So let’s create our own Multi-step Form. [Page//Step 1: Select your form] Hover over the “Contacts” tab and click “Forms.” Select the form that you want to turn into a Multi-step Form [Page//show demonstrator selecting a form].
[Page//Step 2: Select second page in settings] Now, go to “Form Settings” on the first page of your form and in the “Send contacts here” section, select your second page [Page//show]. Click “Save” and “Publish” [Page//show].
[Page//Step 3: Configure advanced form settings] On each of the pages after the first, click the “Overwrite email address merge with cookie data” checkbox in the advanced form settings [Page//show]. Click “Save” and “Publish” once more [Page//show].
Note that you can also create a pop-up form for this using our Ontraform builder. In that case, you would just make a form for each step.
After that, you’re done! Now, just test your Multi-step Form to make sure it’s working properly.
That’s all there is to it! Now, you know how to make a Multi-step Form.
If you have any questions about this setup, make sure to watch our video on “Updating Existing Records with Forms” — the setup is very similar. You can also check out more information about advanced form settings in our “Form Settings and Advanced Features” video.
If you’re up for it, let’s tackle Multi-Object Forms.
One way to avoid this is by creating a form with multiple steps. By breaking up your form into bite-sized chunks, they’ll be more likely to complete it.
What we'll do is create several pages, and each page will have one step of your form on it, and each step may have a few fields.
So, for example, the first step might ask for their name and the second step can ask them for their job title . At some point, make sure to get their email address, too.
But there's a trick to making multi-step forms work. The key is that you have to make sure that when someone fills it out, the same contact record gets updated with each new bit of data. What you don't want is to create a new contact record from each form. Making sure we get this right is what this video is about.
Fortunately, it's super easy in Ontraport.
We'll do it in 3 steps: First we'll create a page for each step of our form. Next, we'll link the forms together and check one special setting. And then we'll test our work.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Build your forms
The first step is to build our pages with the forms on them. Since we've got other videos that explain all this, we're going to just show you what we've done here. Three pages, three forms. Boom.
Onward.
Step 2: Link forms together
Next, we've got to link our forms together. So, go to the first form in your series, get yourself to the form settings, and find the 'send contacts here' section. What you want to do is select the second form in your series here, click save and publish and you're done.
The second one needs to be a little different though, so let's check that one out.
So we'll go to “Form Settings” on the second form and in the “Send contacts here” section, select your third page. That part's the same, but now we have one more setting to make.
Scroll down to the advanced settings section and check the box for “Overwrite email address merge with cookie data”. Click “Save” and “Publish” again.
Now, you'll do the same thing for each step in your form, making sure to check that advanced setting for every form except the first one.
That's the box that's going to make the magic happen to make sure all these forms add data to the same record.
And that's all there is to it.
You can also do the same thing with pop-up Ontraforms, using the same method. Just make a form for each step and set the same settings.
Step 3: test your work
Before we crack open the champagne, we'll run a quick test to make sure it’s working right.
And we're done. Now, you know how to make a Multi-step Form.
If you have any questions about this setup, make sure to watch our video on “Updating Existing Records with Forms” — the setup is very similar. You can also learn more about advanced form settings in the “Form Settings and Advanced Features” video.
Next, let’s tackle Multi-Object Forms.
Sometimes, you need to collect a lot of information from your contacts. But if you give them a long list of fields to fill out, they might feel intimidated or off-put and abandon the form altogether — ultimately lowering your conversion rates.
One way to avoid this is by creating a form with multiple steps. By having your contacts complete a form in small, bite-sized chunks, they’ll be more likely to fill out the rest of it.
Setting up Multi-step Forms with Ontraport is super easy. We’ll show you how to do it, step by step.
But before we begin, a quick note: With Multi-step Forms, it’s important to ensure that when your contacts fill them out, the same contact record gets updated with each new piece of data, rather than create new contact records out of each form.
Let’s get started. Each page of your form will have a single step on it. For example, the first step might have contacts fill out their first and last name while the second step asks them to write in their job title [Page//show an example of this]. For your third step, you might want to collect their email address [Page//show an example of this].
So let’s create our own Multi-step Form. [Page//Step 1: Select your form] Hover over the “Contacts” tab and click “Forms.” Select the form that you want to turn into a Multi-step Form [Page//show demonstrator selecting a form].
[Page//Step 2: Select second page in settings] Now, go to “Form Settings” on the first page of your form and in the “Send contacts here” section, select your second page [Page//show]. Click “Save” and “Publish” [Page//show].
[Page//Step 3: Configure advanced form settings] On each of the pages after the first, click the “Overwrite email address merge with cookie data” checkbox in the advanced form settings [Page//show]. Click “Save” and “Publish” once more [Page//show].
Note that you can also create a pop-up form for this using our Ontraform builder. In that case, you would just make a form for each step.
After that, you’re done! Now, just test your Multi-step Form to make sure it’s working properly.
That’s all there is to it! Now, you know how to make a Multi-step Form.
If you have any questions about this setup, make sure to watch our video on “Updating Existing Records with Forms” — the setup is very similar. You can also check out more information about advanced form settings in our “Form Settings and Advanced Features” video.
If you’re up for it, let’s tackle Multi-Object Forms.
settings
Turn your business on with Ontraport.