Forms, Surveys & Quizzes

Common Form Mistakes

Forms are one of the most powerful tools in JourneyCARE, but a few common mistakes can lead to confusing behavior, incorrect data, or unnecessary Help Desk requests. Fortunately, most of these issues are easy to avoid once you know what to look for.

Creating Duplicate Fields

One of the most common mistakes is creating a new custom field when an existing field already exists. For example, instead of using the existing Company field, someone creates Organization, Employer, or Company Name.

Now different forms update different fields, making reporting, automations, and communications much more difficult.

Best Practice: Always search for an existing field before creating a new one — reusing an existing contact field keeps every form that collects the same information writing to one place.

Accidentally Creating Anonymous Forms

Some forms are intended to update an existing contact record, while others may be completed by anyone. If a form isn't configured correctly, JourneyCARE may create duplicate contacts instead of updating existing ones.

This can result in:

  • Multiple contact records for the same person

  • Split communication history

  • Broken automations

  • Inaccurate reporting

Before publishing a form, consider how JourneyCARE should identify the person completing it. See How forms update contact records to understand how submissions match to contacts.

Forgetting to Switch to Live Mode

If your form collects payments, remember to verify whether it is using Test Mode or Live Mode. It's surprisingly common to finish building a form, test everything successfully, and then forget to switch it to Live Mode before sharing it.

Always complete one final review before publishing any payment form, and confirm the payment element is in Live Mode — the mode that processes actual payments. See Add products to a form for the Test Mode and Live Mode steps.

Forgetting to Update Notifications After Cloning

Cloning a form can save a lot of time, but it's easy to overlook the notification settings. When you duplicate a form, the Bell notification settings are copied as well.

This means:

  • Staff notifications may still go to the previous team.

  • Autoresponder emails may contain outdated information.

  • PDF copies may be sent to the wrong recipients.

After cloning a form, always review the notification settings before publishing. Email notifications in forms and surveys shows where the team notification, auto responder, and PDF attachment options are configured.

Only Seeing the Last 30 Days of Submissions

If you're looking for an older submission and can't find it, the problem may simply be the date filter. Many administrators forget that the submission list is often filtered to the most recent 30 days.

Before assuming a submission is missing:

  1. Check the current date filter.

  2. Expand the date range if necessary.

  3. Search again.

Older submissions are often still there — they just aren't currently being displayed. Use the Date Filter in the Submissions view to widen the range; see Viewing Form Submissions for how filters work.

Sticky Contact

JourneyCARE remembers the contact you're working with while testing forms. This is often called a Sticky Contact.

While convenient during testing, it can sometimes cause confusion because every submission continues updating the same contact record.

If your form doesn't appear to be creating or updating the expected contact, check whether a Sticky Contact is active before continuing your troubleshooting.

Best Practices

  • Search for existing fields before creating new ones.

  • Verify how contacts will be identified.

  • Confirm payment forms are in Live Mode.

  • Review notification settings after cloning a form.

  • Check your submission date filters.

  • Be aware of Sticky Contacts while testing.

A quick review of these items before publishing can prevent many of the most common support issues.

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