Connection Card Pro Help & Documentation

Using Automations with Custom Forms

Custom Form automations can automatically take action when someone submits a form.

This can help your church follow up more consistently, organize people into the right groups or lists, assign tags, start workflows, or add someone to a campaign.

Where to find form automations

When editing a Custom Form, go to the form’s Automations section.

From there, click Add Automation to create a new automation.

Who the automation applies to

Custom Form automations apply to the Primary Submitter of the form.

The primary submitter is the person connected to the form submission, usually based on the first set of contact information fields when Link submission to Person is enabled.

Because automations apply to the primary submitter, make sure your form is collecting the submitter’s information clearly.

Available automation actions

Depending on your account and form settings, Custom Form automations may allow you to:

• Add the primary submitter to a campaign, custom list, group or workflow
• Assign the primary submitter to a classification, point of contact, another person.
• Assign tags
• Send an email or text message to the primary submitter. 

Automations can also be applied to other individuals created by specific sections of the form. 

Add to Group

Use Add to Group when the person who submits the form should be added to a group.

Examples:

• Add someone to a Baptism Interest group.
• Add someone to a New Volunteer Applicants group.
• Add someone to a Small Group Interest group.
• Add someone to a ministry-specific follow-up group.

When adding someone to a group, you may also be able to choose a classification for that person in the group, such as Member, Supporter, Leader, or another classification used by your church.

Add to Workflow

Use Add to Workflow when the form submission should begin a follow-up process.

Examples:

• A guest follow-up workflow
• A baptism follow-up workflow
• A volunteer application workflow
• A care request workflow
• A membership process workflow

Workflows are helpful when the follow-up process includes multiple steps, staff assignments, messages, or manual actions.

Assign Tags

Use Assign Tag(s) when you want to mark the person with one or more tags.

Examples:

• Volunteer Applicant
• Baptism Interest
• Small Group Interest
• Needs Follow-Up
• Prayer Request
• Membership Interest

Tags can help you organize, filter, report, and communicate with people later.

Add to Campaign

Use Add to Campaign when the person should receive a sequence of communications after submitting the form.

Examples:

• Daily devotional series
• New guest welcome series
• Volunteer onboarding series
• Baptism preparation series
• Follow-up emails or texts after a ministry interest form

Campaigns are useful when the response should trigger a planned sequence of messages.

Form tags vs automation tags

A form itself can have tags in the form settings. These tags help organize the form.

Automation tags are different. Automation tags are assigned to the person who submits the form.

Tags applied directly to the form do not automatically carry over to the submissions or the person who submitted a form. 

For example:

• A form tag might help your team identify the form as a Youth Ministry form.
• An automation tag might add Youth Volunteer Applicant to the person who submitted the form.

Using automations carefully

Automations can save time, but they should be used thoughtfully.

Before sharing a form widely:

1. Submit a test response.
2. Confirm the form links to the correct person.
3. Confirm the automation runs as expected.
4. Check that the person is added to the correct group, workflow, campaign, or tag.
5. Make sure the automation does not add people to places they should not be added.

Common examples

Important notes

Automations run when the form is submitted.

Automations are intended to help with future form submissions. They should be tested before the form is shared publicly.

If you add an automation after people have already submitted the form, the automation may not apply to older submissions unless you manually take action or use another available process.