Creating a Form

Create a new form

1. Go to Forms in the main sidebar.
2. Click the add button in the upper right corner to open the Create New Form panel.
3. Give the form a name and choose its Form Type: Signup (adds the visitor to your contacts) or Contact (emails the message to you).
4. For a signup form, choose a list under Add to List. For a contact form, enter the address messages should go to under Send messages to.
5. Set the Thank You Message and, optionally, a Redirect URL.
6. Create the form, then open it to choose fields, set protection options and copy the embed code.

The form's detail page shows the embed code and a direct API endpoint; the snippet uses plain, inline-styled inputs so it fits most sites as-is.

Form type: signup or contact

A signup form does what forms have always done in SendBeam: it creates a contact, adds them to the target list, and fires any automations that trigger on form submission or list join.

A contact form does the opposite job. The visitor writes a message, and SendBeam emails it to the address in Send messages to, from your verified sending address, with the visitor's address as Reply-To. You answer by hitting reply. Nothing is added to your contacts, lists or automations, because writing in is not the same as subscribing. The destination must be the address of a member of this workspace or an address on one of the workspace's verified sending domains; anything else is refused when the form is saved.

Two optional settings apply to both types: Notification subject prefix puts a fixed tag at the start of every notification subject (for example [Acme site]), and on a signup form Email me about new subscribers sends you a short note each time someone joins. See Contact forms for the details and Protecting public forms for the anti-abuse settings.

Form name and target list

The form name is internal — visitors never see it. Use a descriptive name that tells you where the form lives and what it is for, such as "Blog sidebar — newsletter" or "Pricing page — product updates". Clear names make it easy to find the right form later.

The target list is the list that new subscribers are added to when they submit the form. Select any of this workspace's lists from the Add to List dropdown, or leave it as No list to create contacts without a list membership. If you need a new list, create it first under Lists, then return to the form. Through the API, a list_id that is not one of the workspace's lists is refused with a 400.

Choosing fields

The Email field is always present and cannot be removed — it is the core identifier for every contact in SendBeam. Under Form Fields on the form's detail page, tick any additional fields you want to collect:

• First name — useful for personalising campaigns with merge tags like {"{{first_name}}"}.
• Last name — helpful when you need the full name on record.
• Custom fields — enter extra field keys in the Custom fields box, comma-separated (for example company, plan, region). Each becomes an input in the embed code and is stored in the contact's custom fields, ready for merge tags and segments. Fields not declared on the form are ignored. Through the API, the same list is the form's fields array.

Only the email address is required. Placeholders in the embed code are plain text you can edit to match your brand voice.

Double opt-in and saving

Double opt-in behaviour is inherited from the target list, not set on the form itself. If the list you selected has double opt-in enabled, every submission through this form will trigger a confirmation email automatically. There is nothing to configure on the form.

To check the double opt-in setting, go to Lists — the table shows which lists require it. On the Free plan every list behaves as double opt-in. See Double Opt-In for the full workflow.

A confirmation email is sent at most once per address every 10 minutes, however many times the form is submitted, and each one counts towards your monthly email allowance.

When you are happy with the form's settings, save them on the detail page. The embed code underneath reflects the current fields and protection settings; copy it whenever they change. A form's Status can be set to Inactive to stop accepting submissions without deleting it.