Mapped Forms

In certain cases, Paminga is able to monitor pre-existing web forms and "capture" their submissions without any changes required to the existing form or the web page where that form is published.

These are known as "Mapped Forms".

Your pre-existing form continues to function as it always has, but in addition to its normal function, Paminga will be notified that your form has been submitted.

A contact is created (or updated) in Paminga automatically, and you are able to trigger various actions in Paminga upon form submission.

Form Mapping Only Works with Basic Web Forms

Form mapping works with "basic" web forms.

Putting it technically, your form must be submitted using the HTTP POST method. Forms that are submitted this way normally start out with something like the following HTML:

<form method="post" action="url_the_form_is_posted_to"> ...your form here... </form>

If your existing form is submitted using javascript, web form mapping will not work with that form.

We're happy to help you understand whether your existing form is compatible with web form mapping.

Mapping An Existing Web Form

To create a new web form mapping, go to Marketing Center > Mapped Forms > Create Mapped Form.

1. Enter a name for your Mapped Form
2. In the Form URL field, enter the complete URL of the form you wish to map (including http:// or https://) and click Retrieve Form Fields
   • Each Web Form Mapping is unique to the URL being mapped. If your form lives in multiple locations (or is in multiple languages using different URLs), each one will need to be mapped separately–except in the case where GET variables are used. Read more on this below in the Setup Issues section

3. Once you have retrieved the forms fields, you will see the names of the fields as set within your web page code. Select the appropriate match for each field using the drop down boxes on the right. For example, if your form on your website says ‘Company’, you would want to match that with Company Name in the drop-down box

4. Unnecessary fields may also be read by Paminga. If that information is not important to use, leave the drop-down option as ‘Do Not Record’.

5. Your web form may also include custom fields. You will need to set up custom fields on the Custom Fields page before creating a new form mapping, or you can continue saving this form mapping and editing it later

   • When using a drop-down menu in your form make sure each option has a value attribute

     info

     By default, contact names are divided into First Name and Last Name fields. We do not offer a standard field for ‘Full Name’ and we recommend that contacts are entered and uploaded using First Name and Last Name fields. However, you may elect to create a custom field for Full Name using the Custom Field page. Understand that doing so may compromise the uniformity of contact records and make filtering, segmenting, and creating lists difficult.

6. Select a list or multiple lists to associate with this web form. Visitors who complete the web form will be automatically added to that list

7. Remember to click the Save button and save your work before navigating away from this page

8. We recommend you test your web form mapping by filling out the form on your website and then checking for list membership

   • Remember, you might already be a contact on your own account, so you will not be added as a new contact if you complete your own web form on your computer
   • You may want to have someone who has never been tracked by Paminga on your website as a defined contact (personally identified) test the form mapping on another computer

Troubleshooting Mapped Forms

• Testing is best performed in private browsing mode. Private browsing will not use any of your existing cookies, nor will it store any cookies or history once you close the session. Submitting a form in this way confirms whether Paminga is able to collect data from the form
• When troubleshooting, it’s sometimes necessary to reproduce an issue on multiple browsers to identify the source of the issue
• Once you submit, check the My Visitors area for the details you entered using the All Contacts segment. If you don’t see them there, the cause may be one of these issues

Setup Issues

• Is the Paminga Tracking Beacon present on the web page?
  • View the source of your web form and search for the tracking code provided under your My Account tab. If the capture code is not on the page, no page views or submitted data can be captured
• Is the mapping setup complete and enabled?
  • Make sure that your mapping is saved by confirming it is listed when you access the My Web Form Mappings page under the Forms section of the Marketing Center
• Is the product enabled?
  • Confirm with the Customer Success team that your instance of Paminga has not been canceled or otherwise suspended
• Does the URL match exactly what is in the setup?
  • Some browsers will “hide” a trailing slash on a URL for cosmetic reasons. The best practice is to copy and paste the full URL from the address bar of your browser. Note that this must be the exact URL, minus any GET variables (below), that will be accessed by a website visitor
• Does the URL begin with HTTP or HTTPS?
  • If it can be reached by both, two different mappings will need to be created
• Are GET variables being appended onto the form URL by your links?
  • If the destination URL contains variables that are not unique to each visitor, you will need to map the “static” portion of the URL (meaning everything prior to the question mark) and select the “Ignore Additional GET variables” checkbox.
    Example of GET string in form URL:
    http://www.mydomain.com/contactus?field1=value1\&field2=value2\&etc

Form Issues

• Is there an email address field mapped?
  • Check the mapping to make sure your email address field is mapped properly. If this is incorrect, Paminga will not be able to associate a form submission to a contact
• Does each field to be mapped have a name attribute in the HTML tag?
  • The name attribute is how Paminga knows which fields to use. Note: the use of array syntax with empty values is not currently supported
• Is the for page composed of an iFrame?
  • We discourage the use of iFrames because they require additional javascript to be built into the form. Typically you would not need an iFrame for this function
• Is the form composed of AJAX?
  • For the same reason as iFrames, we discourage the use of AJAX on web forms to be mapped. While it is possible, it requires additional scripting to be created by your development team
• Is the browser using a cached copy of the form?
  • Especially when testing, it is important to be using a fresh version of the form page. If any changes are made (to the form or the Web Form Mapping) make sure to force a refresh in your browser (usually Ctrl+Shift+R)
• Are any other JavaScript libraries being included on the form page?
  • These can be responsible for interrupting the capture operation. To check if there are any other javascript libraries, do the following:
    • Right Click on the form
    • Hit “Inspect"
    • Navigate to the “Console” tab
    • Refresh the page, & note if there are any javascript errors on the page
    • If there are errors, take a screenshot and send it in to support. Our team will explain more about what is going on
• Is the form page composed of Flash?
  • Flash does not function at all with our web form mapping

FAQ

1. Do web form mappings work with third-party form generators like MailChimp, Formstack, and Wufoo?
   • Web Forms Mapping works with basic forms. If your form generator uses a special/custom Javascript submission method, we are unable to capture the information entered into it.
   • If the form is “hosted” on a site that is not yours, such as yoursite.wufoo.com, it cannot be tracked because a domain you don’t own cannot be added to a domain group.
   • Currently, forms created through Unbounce.com can be mapped using our Unbounce Forms integration even though a custom submit is used for these forms. But for other sites like MailChimp, Formstack, Wufoo, and WebToLead Forms generated by SugarCRM are not supported by Web Form Mappings.
   • If you are looking for a form generator and use WordPress, we recommend Gravity Forms as it has worked consistently for our customers with both mapping and capture.