Each form can send two emails: a notification to you with every answer and where the lead came from, and an optional thank you email to the person who filled it in. Both are set per form in the builder, and both come from a name and address you choose in Settings.
Where to find it:
- Per form: open the form in the builder. The Notification email and Confirmation email boxes are in the settings column.
- For every form: open the Settings tab, then the Notifications section.
The notification email to you:
- Email me each submission: ticked on every new form.
- Send to: one address, or several separated by commas. Blank uses the Default notification email from Settings, and when that is empty too, your site's admin email.
- Subject: New submission: {form_title} to start with. Use merge tags to make it useful in your inbox.
- Reply-To = the submitter: ticked on every new form. Click Reply in your email program and you answer the person directly.
What the notification contains:
The message is plain text, so it reads well in every email program. It starts with a line naming the form and your site, then lists every answered field as "Label: value", then a Where this lead came from block. A real notification from the Northfield Renovations contact form, with the subject "New message from Grace Morgan: Contact Us", began like this (the phone and consent lines are left out here):
- New submission on "Contact Us" (yoursite.com)
- Your name: Grace Morgan
- Email address: grace.morgan@example.com
- What is it about?: A new project
- Your message: Could you quote for a new bathroom? It is a small room on the first floor.
- Source: Email
- Campaign: november-home-tips
- UTM src: newsletter / email
- Page: yoursite.com/contact/ with the campaign tags
- Device: Desktop, Chrome, Windows
- Filled in: 74s
An uploaded file appears as its private download link, which opens for a logged in administrator.
The thank you email to the visitor:
- Send the submitter a thank-you email: off until you tick it. The form needs an Email address field.
- Subject: Thanks, we got your message to start with.
- Message: a friendly starting text with {name} and {all_fields}. Write your own; line breaks are kept.
Uploaded files appear by name only in the thank you email; the private link is only ever sent to you. One address receives at most 3 thank you emails an hour, so nobody can use your form to flood a stranger's inbox.
Merge tags:
Use these in either the subject or the message.
- {form_title}: the form's name.
- {name}: the submitter's full name, from the Name field (or a single line text field labelled with "name"). When there is no name it becomes "there", so "Hi {name}" reads "Hi there".
- {email}: the submitter's email.
- {source}: the traffic source, for example Paid traffic.
- {page_url}: the page the form was sent from.
- {all_fields}: every answered field as "Label: value" lines.
- {field:f3}: one field's answer. Each field card in the builder shows its own tag with a Copy button once the form has been saved.
Example, a subject that sorts your inbox:
The quote form's notification subject is "Quote request: {field:f7} from {name}", where f7 is Project type. Dana's inbox shows "Quote request: Kitchen from Emma Carter", and she can see the kind of job before opening it. The quote form sends to two people: quotes@yoursite.com, dana@yoursite.com.
Who your emails come from:
In Settings, under Notifications, set these three.
- Default notification email: used when a form's Send to is blank.
- From name: for example Northfield Renovations. Blank uses your site name.
- From email: for example hello@yoursite.com. Blank uses your admin email when it is on your site's own domain, otherwise info@ your domain.
Your notifications and thank you emails never come from "WordPress <wordpress@...>". Use an address on your own domain: if you type one on another domain, the screen suggests switching. If an SMTP plugin on your site sets its own sender, that sender is kept. Click Save settings.
Delivery:
Emails go out through WordPress's own mail, so any SMTP service your site uses, set up by ResultsAiX Mailer or any SMTP plugin, carries them too. The Emails section of the Diagnostics tab shows who your emails come from, where notifications go and the thank you limit. Any email that could not be sent is written to the error log on the same tab.
Writing a good thank you email:
- Use the subject to confirm what happened: "We got your quote request, {name}".
- Say what happens next and when.
- Include {all_fields} so the person has a copy of what they sent, or just the key answers with {field:fN} tags.
- Sign off with a real name.
The Northfield Renovations contact form uses this message, line by line.
- Hi {name},
- Thanks for getting in touch with Northfield Renovations. We read every message ourselves and reply within one working day.
- Here is a copy of what you sent: {all_fields}
- Dana and the Northfield team
A notification per team member:
Each form has its own Send to, so you can route each form to the right person: quotes to the estimator, feedback to the owner, job applications to the office. Northfield Renovations sends the feedback form to dana@yoursite.com and job applications to jobs@yoursite.com, while the contact form goes to hello@yoursite.com.
Turning the notification off:
Some forms do not need a notification for every entry, such as a newsletter form with dozens of sign ups a week. Untick Email me each submission. Entries still arrive in the Entries tab and still go to Mailer and WP Sync.
Filtering your inbox by source:
Put {source} in the subject, for example "{source} lead: {form_title}". Your email program can then file paid leads, email leads and so on into folders with a simple rule.
When the person gave no email:
A form without an Email address field, or a visitor who left an optional email empty, still sends you the notification. There is just no Reply-To and no thank you email, because there is no address to send it to.
Example, a complete set up for a quote form:
- Notification email: ticked. Send to quotes@yoursite.com, dana@yoursite.com. Subject "Quote request: {field:f7} from {name}". Reply-To ticked.
- Confirmation email: ticked. Subject "Your quote request, {name}". Message: "Hi {name}, thanks for asking Northfield Renovations for a quote. An estimator will call you within one working day. Your project: {field:f7}. Budget: {field:f10}."
- Settings, Notifications: From name Northfield Renovations, From email hello@yoursite.com.
- Send a test entry and check both inboxes.
Where to copy a field's tag:
Open the field's card in the builder. Under Merge tag for emails you see the tag, for example {field:f10}, and a Copy button. The tag also shows on the card's header, next to the field type. A new field gets its tag when the form is saved for the first time.
What a tag prints for each kind of answer:
- Checkboxes print every ticked option, separated by commas.
- A file upload prints the private download link in your notification, and the file name in the visitor's thank you email.
- An empty answer prints nothing, so write the line so it still reads well, for example "Budget: {field:f10}".
Tips:
- Put the most useful answer in the subject with a {field:fN} tag.
- Leave Reply-To ticked: answering a lead becomes one click.
- Send a test entry after changing an email, then check your inbox and the visitor's.