Forms in dialogues are often how you capture leads, sign-ups and registrations, so when one stops working you usually notice quickly. This article covers the most common form problems and how to fix them:
What happens after submit isn't what you expected
Form responses aren't saved to the profile
The form is missing or shows a blank box
Clicks and conversions from the form don't add up
Form submissions aren't reaching another system
For how to build a form, see Forms Toolbar.
Before you start
These quick checks solve many form problems:
Test on the live page. The Simulator always shows the dialogue and doesn't behave exactly like a real visit.
Check a real profile. Submit the form, then open your own profile and confirm the values were saved. In the browser console,
blueConicClient.profile.getProfile().getId()returns your profile ID; search for it under Profiles.Use BlueConic's form fields and buttons. Forms built with the Forms Toolbar handle saving, validation and click tracking for you. Custom-coded fields and buttons often don't.
What happens after submit isn't what you expected
What happens after a visitor clicks the submit button is set in the form's Submit settings and the button's actions.
What you see | Why it happens | How to fix it |
The thank-you message appears, but the form fields stay visible too | The thank-you text was added as normal content, not as the submit message | Remove it from the content and add it as the inline message shown after submit, which replaces the form |
The popup closes immediately and the thank-you message never shows | The button includes a Close overlay action | Remove the Close overlay action, so the dialogue stays open and shows the message |
The form fields are replaced, but images and headings around them stay | Show inline text only replaces the form itself, not content outside it | Move that content into a Plain text field inside the form and style it with CSS, or hide it with an Execute JavaScript action on submit |
The visitor goes to another page and you lose tracking | A Redirect action leaves the page before tracking finishes | See "Clicks and conversions from the form don't add up" below |
Form responses aren't saved to the profile
If visitors can submit the form but the values don't appear on their profiles, check these causes in order.
The submit button is in a different form from the fields. Values are only saved when the fields and the submit button are in the same form. Select one of the fields, click Add field, choose Button, and set it up as the submit button. Then remove any extra, empty forms from the dialogue.
The field isn't mapped to a profile property. Select the field itself by clicking its border dots, not the surrounding form, and check Field settings. If you select the form container instead, the mapping can look empty even when it's set.
The value doesn't match the property's data type. A value is only stored if it fits the property type. For example, a date-time property needs a date, not free text. Check the property type under Profile Properties.
Two forms on the same page save to the same property. If, for example, a newsletter form in the page body and another in the footer both write to the same property, they can overwrite each other, so data seems to disappear or change. Give each form its own profile property.
The property can't be written to. Check that the profile property allows values to be written from the website.
The form is missing or shows a blank box
Turning a dialogue on or off only controls whether it can show. It never changes or restores the dialogue's content. If a form disappears, the cause is in the dialogue's content, its position, or which dialogue is switched on.
A test copy is switched on instead of the live dialogue. If you have similar dialogues for the same form, for example a development copy and the live version, check which one is on. A test copy without the form shows as an empty box. Turn off the test copy, turn on the dialogue that contains the working form, and save.
The dialogue no longer contains the form. Open the What tab and check that the form is still there. If it isn't, copy the form from a working dialogue.
The position no longer exists on the page. If your website changed, for example a page section was removed, the dialogue's position may no longer match anything. You may see a message that the position isn't on the page. Choose a position that exists on the current page.
A file the dialogue uses can't be loaded. If the dialogue references a custom JavaScript file that no longer exists, the dialogue may not render at all. Fix or remove the reference.
After making changes, check the dialogue in the Simulator, then on the live page.
Tip: if the What tab preview shows a login page instead of your form page, don't click Place on this page. That moves the dialogue to the login page. Navigate to the correct page first.
Clicks and conversions from the form don't add up
Clicks are recorded, but no conversions. If the submit button redirects the visitor to another page, the browser can leave before the conversion is recorded. For a more reliable result:
Use the thank-you page as the conversion moment, ideally hosted on your own domain where BlueConic runs.
Review the conversion settings on the dialogue's Why tab.
Clicks are zero. Custom-coded HTML buttons don't record a click for the dialogue. Use a button from the Forms Toolbar, or set a Click event selector that matches your button.
Conversions don't match the number of completed forms. By default, every successful submit counts as a conversion. A direct conversion is counted when the visitor clicks the conversion element and this dialogue was their last interaction, whether or not their email was captured. Segments and listeners are separate measurements:
A segment counts profiles that match its rules, so it won't necessarily match your conversion total. Some of those profiles may not have an email address.
A Behavior listener set on the submit button counts clicks, including clicks on a form that failed validation. If your listener and your conversion moment watch different elements, their totals won't match.
For how each metric is counted, see Tracking Views, Clicks, and Conversions.
Forms built on your website
This article covers forms built in a dialogue. If you capture forms built on your own website with a listener, see Why Isn't My Listener Capturing Data?.
Form submissions aren't reaching another system
If you use a webhook connection to send form submissions to another platform, the webhook may check the profile before it has been added to your segment. The webhook then doesn't fire, even though a manual test works.
To make it reliable:
Create a profile property that only this form sets, and that changes on every submit, such as a submit timestamp.
Set that property when the form is submitted.
In the webhook goal, use a stable segment, such as All visitors, and make the new property the only trigger.
This also stops other forms that share the same email property from triggering the webhook.
Still need help?
Contact BlueConic Support. Include the dialogue name, the page URL, and the profile ID you tested with.