Using Form Submission Triggers
The Form Submitted trigger starts an automation whenever someone submits a form, making it ideal for applications, registrations, contact requests, surveys, volunteer signups, and many other processes. One small configuration step is responsible for many automation problems: filtering the trigger to the correct form.
The Form Submitted Trigger
When you choose Form Submitted as your trigger, JourneyCARE listens for form submissions. Without additional configuration, the automation may respond to every form submission in your account. In most cases, that's not what you want.
Form Submitted is one of the Events workflow triggers. For how triggers, actions, waits, and branches fit together, see What Are JourneyCARE Automations?.
Filter to One Form
After selecting the trigger, specify which form should start the automation. For example: Membership Application, Event Registration, Contact Us, Volunteer Interest, Sponsorship Request.
Open Automations > Workflows.
Add a new trigger.
Choose Form Submitted.
Select the specific form from the dropdown.
By filtering to a single form, the automation only runs when that specific form is submitted. This keeps your workflows accurate and predictable.
If several forms should start the same workflow, you can select more than one from the dropdown — multiple selections combine with OR behavior, so the automation runs when any of them is submitted (Workflow triggers). You can also add a filter so the automation runs only when a specific answer is given to a particular question.
Why This Filter Matters
A missing filter can cause an automation to run when it shouldn't. Imagine an automation that sends a volunteer welcome email: if you forget to filter the trigger, someone registering for a conference could accidentally receive the volunteer email simply because they submitted a different form.
The same issue can affect tags, staff notifications, membership updates, payment workflows, and follow-up sequences.
Testing Your Trigger
Publish the workflow before you test — a workflow runs only after it is Published (see Workflows Overview). Then verify both scenarios:
Submit the correct form.
Confirm the automation starts.
Submit a different form.
Verify the automation does not run.
Testing both scenarios helps ensure your trigger has been configured correctly.
Best Practices
A correctly configured trigger is the foundation of a reliable automation.
Filter every Form Submitted trigger to the intended form unless you intentionally want it to respond to all forms.
Give automations names that clearly identify the form they monitor.
Test with both matching and non-matching forms.
Review trigger settings whenever you duplicate an automation.
If an automation runs unexpectedly, check the trigger filter first.
Taking a few extra seconds to verify the form filter can prevent hours of troubleshooting later.