Overview
Multi-step forms make it easy to learn about your subscribers and collect consent for multiple marketing channels without intimidating visitors with a large or clunky form. Use this feature to present just a few questions at a time, and capture as much information as your subscribers are willing to provide.
In this guide, you’ll learn about how multi-step forms work and some best practices for using them. If you’d like to learn how to create a multi-step form, head to our guide How to Create a Multi-Step Form.
Use Cases for Multi-Step Forms
Grow Your SMS List without Slowing Email Growth
In general, signup forms that collect email consent have higher conversion rates than forms that collect SMS consent. When collecting SMS and email consent in a single form, you can inadvertently slow down the growth of your email list.
To avoid this, use a multi-step form. Collect email addresses in the first step, then SMS consent in the second step. If a visitor only completes step one, you’ll be able to reach them via email, and can encourage them to subscribe to SMS marketing in the future.
Collect Profile Data
Detailed profile data, like a subscriber’s name, birthday, or interests, can help you target your marketing and provide a highly personalized experience to your subscribers. Using a multi-step form, you can ask new subscribers to share this information without needing a large signup form with a lot of fields.
To collect additional profile data in a multi-step form, add some basic fields to your form’s first page (e.g., first name, last name, and email address). Then add a second page with other fields, like birthday or interests. Once subscribers have filled out the form, you can create segments to better target them, or use flows to send personalized messages (e.g., a birthday flow).
Add Pre-engagement Steps
If you’d prefer to get buy-in from your visitors before asking them for any information, create a signup form with a pre-engagement step. For example, create a form with the message “Want 15% off your next order?” and a “Yes” button (and, optionally, a “No, thanks” button), but no input fields. Then, in the second step of the form, ask for an email address or phone number where the customer can receive the offer.
How Multi-Step Forms Collect Information
Klaviyo stores information from each step of your form as the visitor proceeds through it. This means that if someone only fills out one page, any information they submit from that page will be added to their Klaviyo profile.
If your form’s first page collects profile properties, but doesn’t collect an email or phone number, Klaviyo will hold the information until the visitor adds either an email or phone number. If an email or phone number is never provided, the information will not be added to a Klaviyo profile. Klaviyo does not track anonymous visitors.
Targeting Multi-Step Forms
A multi-step form offers the same targeting options as a single-page signup form. This means you can set a multi-step form to appear to users in certain locations, or who meet certain criteria.
Targeting based on lists and segments relies on Klaviyo’s cookies. Learn more about cookies in Klaviyo.
If your multi-step form collects both email and SMS consent, consider setting the form to not appear for subscribers who have already signed up for either channel. To do so, click Behaviors. In the section labeled Targeting, select visitors in a list or segment, then check Don’t show to visitors in certain lists or segments. Select your main email and SMS lists.
You can create separate forms to target profiles that have subscribed to just one channel. For example, create a form to collect SMS consent, and set it to display only to email subscribers who have never subscribed to SMS. Create a segment like this:
If someone is in / is not in list > is in [Email List]
AND
If someone is or is not consented to receive SMS > Is consented to receive SMS
Then, in your form’s Behaviors, set the form to only appear to this segment.
Limitations of Multi-Step Forms
Multi-step forms offer a linear path through a series of pages. It is not possible to skip a single page of a form for certain site visitors. However, you can clone your multi-step form, then target the two copies of the form to different audiences and customize them as desired.
The maximum number of pages in a form is four, plus an optional success message.
Klaviyo’s forms cannot track information from anonymous visitors, so if someone fills out a form step but never provides a unique identifier (either an email or phone number), their information will not be available in your account.