topic Re: Forms - If value is already known, not replacing it in Lead Capture Tools

Forms - If value is already known, not replacing it

Hannass — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 13:27:54 GMT

Hello,

I would like to add a First Form Filled property on my forms (hidden).
But if this value is already known, I don't want it to be replaced.
How is this possible?

Re: Forms - If value is already known, not replacing it

karstenkoehler — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 14:42:20 GMT

Hi @Hannass,

Default form behavior is to overwrite existing values. Other users have requested more options here: https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/Update-Overwrite-Append-Data-Options-for-Contact-Property-Fields/idi-p/5166/page/2

As far as workarounds go, the only one that I can think of would require workflows (available in Professional and Enterprise portals). You would have to create two properties, one intermediary for use in forms only and an "actual" one. In a workflow, you would enroll contacts when the form property value is known. The workflow then branches out to check whether the "actual" property is also known. If yes, nothing happens. If no, then the workflow would copy the value from the form property into the actual one.

Hope this helps!

Re: Forms - If value is already known, not replacing it

Hannass — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 15:13:25 GMT

Hi Karsten,

Thanks for your anwser. I

'm a freelancer working for a school, and the school team is not really an Hubspot expert, so I would like to do it the simplest way.... Creating workflows for each form is a bit tricky for the...

What if I put the property as a progressive field in my form? This way, if it's already known, it won't appear in the form and won't be sent?
WDYT?

Thanks!

Hanna

Re: Forms - If value is already known, not replacing it

karstenkoehler — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 15:25:35 GMT

Hi @Hannass,

I think that won't work. The same property can only be used once in a form – this approach would require the same field to be shown again (hidden), pre-populated with a default value, if its first version was empty.

Could you explain what the default value is used for? There might be an entirely different approach to this. For example, a workflow could fill all empty fields with default values or someone could create a contact view filtered for all contacts without this value, for manual bulk edit.

Best regards!

Re: Forms - If value is already known, not replacing it

Hannass — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 15:50:43 GMT

My property is called First Touch Type and is used to define the type of form the lead first filled.
-> Contact:the first form filled by a lead was a contact form.
-> Content: the first form filled by a lead was a content form
-> Meeting: the first form filled by a lead was a meeting form.

So in my ebooks form, I wanted to fill the property with the value Content for example.
Is that clear?

I have also the same property with First Touch Content and First Touch Form.

Thanks for your help 🙂

Re: Forms - If value is already known, not replacing it

karstenkoehler — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 06:35:53 GMT

Hi @Hannass,

Thanks for the additional context. I still think a workflow would be the easiest solution here.

If contact has submitted a contact form and first touch type is unknown then set it to contact.

If contact has submitted a content form and first touch type is unknown then set it to content.

If contact has submitted a meeting form and first touche type is unknown then set it to meeting.

This can't be done within the forms tool alone, unfortunately.

Best regards!