Use automations with forms

You can choose what happens after a form is submitted by turning on simple automation features. This can include sending a follow-up email to a contact or sending automatic internal email notifications to other HubSpot users when a form is submitted. 

Before you get started

Before you begin using automations with forms, take note of the steps that should be taken ahead of time, as well as the limits of the feature.

Understand requirements

• To create or edit a simple workflow in the forms tool, users must have Edit access to workflows. 
• To view simple workflows on the workflows index page, users in a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise account must have View access to workflows. You can filter these simple workflows on the workflows index page by applying the Created in filter and selecting Forms.

Understanding simple workflow behavior

Set up a simple workflow directly from the form editor to automate follow-up actions, such as sending an email or creating a task. When creating a simple workflow:

• By default, the simple workflow's enrollment trigger will be set to the form submission. This enrollment trigger cannot be changed.
• Contacts are enrolled in the simple workflow each time the form is submitted, even if they have been enrolled before.
• Contacts must be set as marketing contacts to receive emails sent from workflows. Learn more about setting contacts as marketing.

After a contact submits a form, the actions you've configured will be triggered. For example, you can set up a workflow to automatically send an internal email notification to a team member.

Understanding simple workflow limits

The number of simple workflows you can create, the number of actions, and the type of actions you can add depends on your subscription:

• Accounts that do not have a Marketing Hub subscription will only be able to create a Send an email after form submission simple workflow.
• In a Marketing Hub Starter account, you can add up to 10 actions in a simple workflow and create one simple workflow for each form.
• In a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise account, you can add as many actions as you need to your simple workflow. You can also add multiple simple workflows for each form.

If you need to create more workflows or add more actions and have a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise subscription, build custom workflows in the workflows tool.

Choose your simple workflow actions

• Communications: send a marketing email, internal email notification or an internal marketing email.
• CRM: create a new record, task or assign the enrolled contact within a selected team or between specified users. This action is only compatible with activated, paid users.
• Marketing: add to or remove from an ads audience or static list.
• Data ops: send a webhook to an external application. For example, webhooks can send a HubSpot company's information (formatted in JSON) to an external CRM. Learn more about triggering webhooks.

If you have a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise subscription, you can access more actions by building a workflow using the workflows tool. Learn more about the workflow actions available.

Create a simple workflow in the form editor

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Forms.
2. Hover over the name of an existing form, and click Edit. Or, create a new form.
3. In the form editor, click the workflows automation icon in the left panel. If you're editing a legacy form, navigate to the Automation tab.
4. Create a workflow to send an email after a form submission or create a custom workflow and select what actions are taken after a form submission. 

• • To automatically trigger a follow-up email after each form submission, under Send an email after form submission, click Create this workflow.
  • To create your own workflow from a blank template, under Create your own simple workflow, click Create new workflow. In the right slide-in panel, under Trigger the action(s) when, select the option A contact submitted a form.

5. To add other workflow actions, click the + plus icon.
• To edit an action, click the workflow action, then make changes in the left panel.

• To delete workflow actions, on the workflow action, click the delete delete icon. Select This action to delete only the selected action, or select This action and all after it to delete the selected action and all following actions.

• To leave a note on a workflow action for you or your team's reference, hover over the action and click the comments comments icon. Learn how to add comments to workflow actions.

6. To edit the workflow’s name, at the workflow header, click the edit edit icon.
7. To delete a workflow, click Actions at the top. Then, select Delete workflow.
8. To turn on a workflow, next to the workflow name, toggle the switch on. Then, click Got it. After publishing your simple workflow, any changes made to the workflow will automatically apply to currently enrolled contacts.

Add another simple workflow

To add another simple workflow to your form:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Forms.
2. Click the name of an existing form, and click Edit. If you don't have an existing form, learn how to create a new form.
3. In the form editor, click the workflows automation icon in the left panel. If you're editing a legacy form, navigate to the Automation tab.
4. In the top right, click + Add a new simple workflow.
5. In the right panel, under Trigger the action(s) when, select the A contact submitted a form option.
6. Click Create, then set up your workflow.

You can also use simple workflows with Facebook, Google or LinkedIn ad campaigns. Learn more about using automation with HubSpot's ads tool.