Forms
Redirect after a form submission
A form is usually a step in something longer. Sending people onward afterwards is the difference between a dead end and a flow, and there are two ways to do it depending on whether the next step is optional.
The two mechanisms
The redirect add-on sends people to a URL after submission. The thank-you screen offers a button with a URL, plus an optional automatic redirect after a number of seconds you choose. Setting that number to zero, or leaving it unset, means no automatic redirect happens at all.
When an automatic redirect is right
When the form was a gate rather than a destination. Someone filling in a short form to reach a download, a booking page or a checkout expects to arrive somewhere, and making them click again is friction for its own sake. Give them two or three seconds on the confirmation so they know it worked, then move them.
When a button is right
When the next step is genuinely optional, or when the confirmation itself carries information they need. A support request confirmation that says "we reply within one working day" should stay on screen. Redirecting away from that sentence three seconds later means nobody reads it.
Never redirect without confirming
The one thing to avoid is a redirect so fast that the person never sees confirmation. They end up on a page they did not ask for, unsure whether the form went through, and they either submit again or email you to ask. Two seconds is the minimum that reads as a confirmation.
How it works, in three steps
Step 1
Decide if the next step is optional
Optional means a button. Expected means an automatic redirect.
Step 2
Set the destination
Use the redirect add-on, or set a button URL on the thank-you screen with a delay in seconds.
Step 3
Leave time to read the confirmation
Two to three seconds minimum, and longer if the confirmation says something people need to remember.
The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the guide Automate your form with add-ons.
Limits worth knowing
- A redirect goes to one URL for everybody. It cannot branch on the answers.
- The timed redirect only fires when a button URL is set on the thank-you screen.
- A delay of zero, or an unset delay, means no automatic redirect.
See it on a finished piece
Questions people ask
Can I redirect different people to different pages?
No. One destination serves every submission. Branching by answer would need to happen on the page you send them to.
How long should the delay be?
Two to three seconds is enough to read a short confirmation. If the confirmation carries information people need, use a button instead and let them leave when they are ready.
Can I pass the answers through to the destination page?
Not through the redirect. If the next system needs the data, send it with the webhook, which posts the whole submission as JSON.
Make your own form
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match yours, generate, then edit anything you like.
Create a form with OneCraftRelated pages
Form submission webhook
A webhook posts each submission to a URL you own as JSON, which is how a form becomes part of a system rather than a list you copy from. The important detail is that it fires once and does not retry.
Sticky submit button
A submit button can sit at the end of the form or stay pinned to the bottom of the screen. It is a small setting with a real effect on long forms, where the end of the page is a long way from where somebody finishes.
Email notification on a form submission
A responses table only works if somebody opens it. An email alert puts the submission where people already look, with the answers in the body, so an enquiry gets acted on the same day rather than the same week.
More finished work of this kind is on the form examples hub.