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Forms: Overview and Share

Publish your Form and share it as a link, iFrame, new window, or slide-up — matched to the right placement

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Forms: Overview and Share

This is the final step before your Form goes live: a last review, and then the decision that shapes how your audience will actually encounter the Form — as a link, embedded in a page, opened in a new window, or sliding up from a call-to-action.

Sharing is not a one-choice-forever commitment. The same Form can be distributed multiple ways: linked from a newsletter, embedded on a landing Page, and set to slide up from a CTA elsewhere on the site. Pick the right placement for each context — and measure what works.

In this article

Overview - the final check

If you'd like to change anything, jump back to the left menu and choose the step you want to return to — Name, Template, Design, or Form Action.

Check that all details are correct. When done, click Publish & Share to open sharing options. This will not publish the Form yet — you'll be asked to publish after selecting a sharing option. If you'd prefer to save the Form as a draft, click Save as Draft and it will be moved to the Drafts tab of the Activity page.

Publish & Share to open sharing options - options expanded. Form is still not activated (published).

If you'd still prefer to save the Form as a draft, click on the Exit button and it will be in the Active & Paused tab of the Form Activity page.

Final pre-publish checklist

Before you publish, run through this six-point check. Fixing these before go-live is much easier than fixing them after Profiles start submitting:

  1. Fields are mapped to Attributes. Every field that should populate a Profile is linked to the right Attribute — not left as "Form response only" by accident.
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  2. Required fields are actually required. Check the Required toggle on each Input Field element. Validation only fires on required fields.
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  3. Consent elements are in place. If you're collecting email or SMS consent, the Consent or Terms & Conditions element is present and points to the correct Subscription(s) in the correct Section.
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  4. Double opt-in destination is set (if enabled). If double opt-in is switched on inside the Consent or Terms & Conditions element, make sure the confirmation redirect URL is configured in the Action step. See Double opt-in.
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  5. The Action is set. Display Message, Go to Page, or Go to URL — not left on the default.
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  6. Preview on mobile. Use the mobile preview toggle. Tap targets, readable font sizes, no awkward overflow.

Sharing options

Choose how to share the Form. For example, as a link in an email or embedded on your website.

  • Shareable link

  • iFrame

  • New window

  • Slide up

Shareable Link

To create a shareable link to your Form, expand the Shareable Link dropdown and click Copy to copy the URL.

Use this link anywhere — in an email, on a website, in a social post, in a QR code, in a SMS, in a signature.

Note: to update Profile data more than once with a Form, the Form link has to be re-opened before filling out and submitting again. Simply submitting new data without re-opening the link won't work.

When to use:

  • Linking from an email to a preference centre or update Form

  • Sharing on social media or in a newsletter

  • Including in printed materials via a QR code

  • Handing to a partner to include in their communications

iFrame

To embed the Form via an iFrame, expand the iFrame dropdown and click Copy to copy the snippet, then paste it into your website's code.

iFrames are the most flexible embedding option — you can place them anywhere in your existing site and the Form inherits its surrounding context.

When to use:

  • Newsletter sign-up blocks on blog posts or article pages

  • Preference centres embedded in account or profile pages

  • Campaign Forms embedded on a campaign landing page

  • Registration Forms on event pages

💡 Tip. Use a transparent body colour in Form Settings when embedding via iFrame on a coloured page — you avoid an awkward white block breaking up your design.

New window

If you'd prefer the Form to open in a new window, expand the New window dropdown and click Copy to copy the HTML code. Add this code to your website to display the link that opens the Form.

When to use:

  • When the Form shouldn't disrupt the visitor's current browsing context (e.g. they're in the middle of reading an article)

  • Heavy or detailed Forms that deserve their own focused window

Slide Up

To make the Form appear when a visitor clicks a specific link, expand the Slide up dropdown and click Copy to copy the script.

Select a specific link on your website and adjust the script with that link before you paste it into the header.

When to use:

  • A "Subscribe" CTA in the header that slides up a sign-up Form

  • An event-registration CTA that slides up registration fields

  • "Download the guide" buttons that slide up a short lead-gen Form

Slide-up Forms feel lighter than full-page redirects or even iFrames — they keep the visitor in context while collecting what you need.

⚠️ Important: Regardless of sharing method - you MUST always publish the form to activate it.
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Publishing the Form

After selecting your sharing option(s), click Publish to publish the Form.

Unpublishing the Form

If you want to unpublish the Form, go to the Forms and Pages start page. Select the Form and click Pause in the bottom bar.

Pausing a Form stops it from accepting new submissions but keeps the activity — including its Report — intact. Use Pause for seasonal Forms, time-limited campaigns, or Forms you want to retire gracefully without deleting the history.

Use cases — where Forms live across the lifecycle

Lead nurturing — acquisition surfaces

  • Blog sign-up (iFrame). A short newsletter sign-up embedded at the bottom of every blog post. Low friction, contextual to content, consistently visible.

  • Gated download (Shareable link or iFrame). A Form behind a CTA on a landing Page. After submit, redirect to a download Page.

  • Webinar or event registration (iFrame on a campaign Page). Build a Page that tells the event story, then embed the registration Form inside it. Trigger reminder flows via Marketing Automation.

Retention — in-lifecycle surfaces

  • Preference centre (Shareable link from email footer). The most important link in your email footers. Every send, every campaign, every automation reminder — one consistent Shareable link to the preference centre Form.

  • "Update your details" (Shareable link inside a Marketing Automation flow). An annual data-hygiene email with a link to a simple update Form. Sent via a Marketing Automation flow triggered by Profiles whose Last Updated date is older than 12 months.

Brand building — campaigns and launches

  • Campaign microsite (Page + embedded Form via iFrame). A campaign-branded Page hosts the story; the Form lives inside it. Single URL to share everywhere.

  • Event or launch countdown (Slide-up). A slide-up registration Form from a prominent CTA on your homepage. High visibility without a modal takeover.

Loyalty — exclusive access

  • VIP list (Shareable link, email-only). A Form shared only via email to existing loyal customers. Hidden values tag each submission as VIP. Never linked on the public site.

  • Feedback / NPS (Shareable link from a follow-up email). A short feedback Form linked from an NPS or post-purchase email. Results enrich Profiles and inform retention segments.

💡 Tips & tricks

  • One Form, multiple placements. Don't build a new Form for every location. The same Form can live as a link, an iFrame, and a slide-up simultaneously — each submission lands in the same place.

  • Use Pages as landing spaces. A branded Page gives an embedded Form context and story. Together they convert better than either alone.

  • Match sharing method to intent. Ambient sign-ups live in iFrames. Focused campaigns live on Pages. High-priority CTAs use slide-ups. Low-friction invitations go in emails as Shareable links.

  • Use Save as Draft. Don't feel pressure to publish before the Form is ready. Drafts keep everything configured, you can preview and share internally, and publish when the rest of the campaign is live.

  • Pause, don't delete. When a seasonal Form wraps up, Pause it. You keep the data, the Report, and the ability to re-publish next year without rebuilding.

  • Watch the Report after publishing. Within minutes of publishing, start monitoring Views and Submits. A low View-to-Start ratio suggests the headline isn't landing; a low Start-to-Submit ratio suggests the Form is too long or a field is blocking.

⚠️ Important: editing a Form after it's designed

The five-step menu on the left lets you jump back to any earlier step to adjust something — which is useful, but there's one specific path that can cost you your work.

If you go back to an earlier step (for example, Name) and click Next all the way forward, you will land on the Template step again. Selecting a template here replaces your current Form's design completely.

Clicking back to Name to change it:

I am asked to choose my template:

Now if I click on any of the templates - I may risk loosing my form design. Apsis One does warn you before this happens — but it's easy to click past the dialog without reading it:

If you see this message and you've already built your Form, click Cancel.

Clicking Accept will discard your entire design and replace it with the blank starting point of the template you just clicked.

How to avoid the trap

  • Jump directly to the step you need. Use the side menu to click straight to (for example) Design, rather than going back to Name and clicking Next through every step.

  • If you do need to change the Name or other earlier settings, adjust them in place and then jump forward via the side menu — don't click Next, which walks you through Template again.

  • Read the warning before clicking Accept. If the dialog in the second screenshot appears, stop and check — if you've designed anything at all, the answer is almost always Cancel.

  • Save important Forms as a Draft first. If you're mid-build and need to step away or experiment, Save as Draft gives you a recoverable version in the Drafts tab.

💡 Tip. If you've spent serious time on a Form's design and want to protect it permanently, save it as a template of your own (under Your templates) as soon as the design is solid. Then even if you somehow overwrite the active Form, your design lives on as a reusable starting point for next time.

Next steps

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