Form: Checkbox element
The Checkbox element is how you let visitors pick one or more options from a list — interests, favourite topics, countries they've travelled to, product categories they care about. It makes Forms faster to fill in than open text fields and produces clean, structured data that's ready for segmentation.
Use Checkbox when multiple selections are valid. If only one answer should be possible, use the Radio element instead.
In this article
Quick start
Place the Checkbox element into the Canvas.
Add Checkbox options in the Canvas — name the options visitors can choose from (write directly in the Canvas).
Edit text with the Inline editor. Adjust colour for Unchecked and Checked boxes with the colour picker in the Inline editor.
Fill out a Checkbox name at the top of the Design panel. The name is internal and will name the Row or Column in the Structure panel. The name of the Checkbox is also used in the form submit event on the profile.
Open Mapping on the right, choose the Data type, and add the values that should be saved when each option is selected.
Label
Add a label name to the Checkbox element to enhance accessibility. The label works as a group name for the checkbox alternatives and helps screen readers understand the content.
A good label describes the question as a whole — for example, "Which topics are you interested in?" — while the checkbox options are the individual answers.
Style, alignment and margins
Style
Adjust the space between checkboxes. Set colour for border, fill and check with the colour picker. Click the X icon next to the colour code to make it transparent.
Margins, alignment, duplicate, required
Margins (padding) — maximum 100 pixels.
Alignment — align the element to the left, centre or right.
Duplicate — to copy the element, select it in the Canvas and click Duplicate.
Required field — activate if the field is mandatory. If toggled on, visitors will not be able to submit the Form without filling this out.
💡 Tip. The design options work interactively. Hold the icon for a pixel value and drag left/right to increase or decrease the number of pixels. The sizes update live in the Canvas.
Visible options vs Mapping options — the two sides of a Checkbox
This is one of the single most-misunderstood parts of the Checkbox element (and it applies equally to Radio and Dropdown). Two separate things control what happens when a visitor ticks a box:
The text in the Canvas — what the visitor sees and chooses from. This is the visible label on the Form itself. It can be as long and natural as you like: "The red berry grown on the ground", "I'd like to hear about upcoming events near me", "Weekly newsletter in English".
The Option value in the Mapping section — what gets saved on the Profile (or in the Event data) when that option is ticked. This is the actual data that ends up in your Audience, available for segmentation, personalisation and reporting.
The two are set independently. They can — and often should — be different. A friendly, descriptive label for the visitor, and a clean, short, structured value for your data.
Example
Visible in the Canvas (what the visitor sees) | Option value in Mapping (what gets saved) |
The red berry grown on the ground | Strawberries |
The green fruit grown on trees | Apples |
A visitor who ticks "The red berry grown on the ground" will have "Strawberries" saved to their Profile or Event data. The Form stays readable and engaging; the Audience data stays clean and usable in Segments like Favourite fruit equals Strawberries.
How to set them up — two ways
You can add options from either side of the split, and the editor keeps both sides in sync:
Method 1 — start in the Canvas
In the Canvas, click each checkbox option and type the visitor-facing label — the one that'll display on the published Form. Keep it clear, friendly and plain-language.
In the Mapping section on the right, fill in the matching Option 1, Option 2, Option 3 values. These are the values stored on the Profile when that option is selected. Keep them short, structured, and consistent with how you'd want to segment on them.
Method 2 — start in the Mapping panel
In the Mapping section on the right, click + Add option at the bottom of the options list to create a new option.
Type the Option value that should be saved (e.g. EBR).
Then switch to the Canvas and type the visitor-facing label for the matching checkbox (e.g. "The Email Benchmark Report").
Both methods produce the same result — the choice is just about which side of the split you want to think about first. If you're designing the Form from the visitor's point of view, start in the Canvas. If you're planning around how the data will segment and feed your Marketing Automation, start in Mapping.
💡 Tip — when in doubt, keep Mapping values short. Segments and personalisation read the Mapping value, not the visible label. If a Profile's Attribute shows "The red berry grown on the ground" as the value, that's what appears in email personalisation — which is rarely what you want. Short, clean values are almost always better.
If Mapping values are left blank
If you don't fill in the Option values in Mapping, you will not be able to go to Next step to activate the form:
Go back and make required changes, then try again.
Mapping
Open the Mapping section on the right. This is where you set the values stored on the Profile of whoever submits the Form.
In the Data type dropdown, select how to store the responses. Choose Attribute to save answers as values for the visitor's Profile Attributes, or Form response only to collect them as Event data.
Add Option values in the Mapping section. Fill out the values under Option 1, Option 2, Option 3 and so on. The value you enter here will be added to the Profile as an Attribute value (or Event data) when the visitor selects the corresponding checkbox on the Form.
If the visitor chooses more than one option, multiple values will be added — separated by commas. For example: Interests equals "Sports", "Music", "Theatre".
To only allow selection of one option, use a Radio element instead.
Results: Populated Profile
Stored as an Attribute
When the Checkbox element is mapped to an Attribute (for example, Country), the selected value(s) appear directly on the Profile — usable in Segments, in personalisation, and as branching logic in Marketing Automation flows.
Stored as Form response only
If the Checkbox element is mapped to Form response only, the value is saved as Event data. Find it in Profile view under Form & Page Interactions — click the Submit activity in the timeline.
Use cases
Lead nurturing — topic-based segmentation from day one
Ask new subscribers "Which topics interest you?" with a Checkbox element listing 3–5 topics. Map to an Interests Attribute. The very first Email they receive can then be tailored to their stated interests — a dramatically better start than a generic welcome.
The moment a Profile submits, you have the raw material for Segment-based sends, content recommendations, and automation branching.
Retention — preference centre multi-topic opt-in
In a preference centre, Checkbox is the natural choice for letting existing Profiles pick and choose what they want to hear about. Each unchecked box is an implicit "no thanks" that reduces unsubscribes over time, because Profiles are choosing exactly what they want.
Combine with the Consent element (for Subscriptions) when different topics map to different Subscription Folders.
Brand building — event session selection
For multi-track, let profiles pick which sessions they want to register to. Each checkbox option maps to a value on a Sessions Attribute, and Marketing Automation can then send tailored reminders for exactly the sessions they chose.
Loyalty — rich profiling for a VIP audience
A loyalty audience is usually willing to give you richer data. A Checkbox element with "Tell us what you love" (categories, product types, locations) enriches VIP Profiles with the exact interest data that drives personalised offers and deeper engagement.
Common mistakes & how to troubleshoot
Visitors can only select one option when they should be able to select many
Cause. You used a Radio element instead of a Checkbox.
Fix. Swap to Checkbox. Radio is for single-select; Checkbox is for multi-select.
Multiple selections look like one long string on the Profile
This is by design. Multiple checked values are stored on the Attribute separated by commas, e.g. "Sports, Music, Theatre". In Segments, you can still filter on individual values (e.g. "Interests contains Music").
Option values in Mapping don't match what visitors see on the Form
Cause. The text displayed in the Canvas (what visitors see) and the Option values in the Mapping section (what's saved) are set separately.
Fix. Make sure each Option in Mapping matches the visible label in the Canvas — otherwise you'll get segmentation surprises later when the stored value doesn't match the visible choice. You may and often should, use a shorter version in the mapping.
Checkbox responses aren't appearing on the Profile
Cause. Data type is set to Form response only rather than Attribute.
Fix. In Mapping, switch Data type to Attribute and pick the right Attribute. Only future submissions will carry the Attribute value.
For a wider set of Form issues, see Forms & Pages: Troubleshooting.
💡 Tips & tricks
Match visible label to stored value. Always make sure the text in the Canvas and the Option value in Mapping are consistent. Inconsistent values lead to bad Segments.
Always name your Checkbox element. The internal name appears on every Profile's Form – Submit Event. A named field shows as
Interests-[ID]; an unnamed one shows as the uninterpretablenone-[ID]. Makes the Profile timeline far easier to read.
3 to 7 options is the sweet spot. More than 7 options tend to cause "decision paralysis" and lower completion.
Use short, parallel language. "Men's clothing / Women's clothing / Home accessories" works better than mixed phrasings.
Don't pre-check by default. Pre-checked consent-adjacent boxes are a GDPR risk in many jurisdictions. Let the visitor choose actively.
Use Checkbox for interest collection, Consent for Subscriptions. If the checkbox affects which Subscriptions a Profile joins, use the Consent element (which maps to Subscriptions) rather than a generic Checkbox (which maps to an Attribute).