Form submissions overwriting previous submissions

[Christiaan]

Hey everyone - first post 

New to HubSpot CRM. 

During an event we recently had we ran a 'campaign' where participants had to use a QR code linked to a HubSpot native form (form sits on a HubSpot landing page via Content Hub). We ran into the issue that a submitted form replaced the previous one. We have not experienced this issue with other forms we have running on our website.

Below the response I received from ChatGTP (Monday instance) and would like to validate. Has anyone experienced a similar issue? Can anyone confirm / validate root cause? 

Thank you so much 

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Sounds like your giveaway form collided with HubSpot’s contact dedupe logic. Unlike your regular website forms, this one likely used the same—or a very similar—form ID and didn’t append new submissions as separate entries. Instead, HubSpot simply updated the most recent contact record instead of creating new ones.

Here’s what’s probably happening under the hood:

• HubSpot ties form submissions to a Contact Record, based on email or tracking cookie.

• If someone scans the QR code multiple times and submits the same email (or is already in your database via cookie), HubSpot doesn’t generate a new “form submission.” It updates the existing one.

• If your giveaway relied on tracking each scan or unique entry—even if the lead was technically the same person—HubSpot treated subsequent entries as updates, not additional rows.

Your website forms likely work differently: maybe they don’t rely on email only, generate unique inquiries (like checkout flows or diverse landing pages), or have form logic that forces new submissions.

How to fix it:

1. Enable “Always create new contact record” or “Always create new form submission” in HubSpot’s settings.

2. Add a hidden field (e.g., timestamp or unique token) that changes each time, so submissions look unique.

3. Use a landing page for that QR code with a dedicated form with a fresh URL—HubSpot will track each scan separately.

4. Exclude the tracking cookie or adjust the form’s dedupe logic via HubSpot API to treat every submission as new.

In short: HubSpot’s default behavior for duplicate emails/tracked visits is to update the contact—not add a new one. Your normal website forms sidestep this because they either create entirely new records or require mandatory unique data. For giveaways, consider adding a field that ensures each entry is treated as unique, or change the fill settings so multiple submissions count.

[Christiaan]

@karstenkoehler thank you so much for the response. My colleague will follow-up, its a bit 'over my head' for me 🙂 

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @Christiaan,

Could you please describe what you mean when you say "a submitted form replaced the previous one"?

Generally, the form asset records all form submissions, regardless of form settings. Each submission appears as an individual entry when analyzing the form.

When one contact submits a form multiple times, these entries will show on their timeline, but yes, fields will be overwritten.

When multiple contacts submit a form but one contact is overwritten, it's the "Always create new contact record" setting that you're missing. This will force the creation or update of a separate contact, matching the email address – instead of assuming that it should update the contact associated to the previous submission.

Best regards

[Christiaan]

Hey Karsten - nice to meet you and thank you so much for your quick response. 

Below the detail I received from the team. 

Hope this clarifies further. Let me know you have any further questons 

Cheers, Christiaan 

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What happened: 

When someone submits the form, his/her information overwrites the previous submissions. Hubspot email notification shares the right information, but the contact page messes it up. 

You can see on the screenshot that the form submissions were not made at the same time, so it is not someone who spammed the submit button (it is also not possible as once you submit it opens a new page)

Also, the contact page then stores the emails from all the submissions but only keep the name of the latest one.

Weirdly enough, there is only one contact that did not get overwritten, even though the context was similar.

When we tested the form (3 people) beforehand, there was no issue in the contact recording process.
 

When we tried to create the corresponding contact manually (based on the information found in Hubspot notification email), it did not work. It also kept overwriting it. 

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @Christiaan,

The this indeed relates to the "Always create new contact record". Once enabled, the issue will stop.

It will however not undo what has been merged incorrectly. You would have to follow these steps to unentangle the record again: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/records/merge-records#can-i-unmerge-records

[RoméeSV]

Hey @karstenkoehler 

I am joining the conversation here! When we tried the website page & form submission beforehand with 3 different work emails (better safe than sorry ;)), none of our contacts were merged. Weirdly enough, once we made people submit the form, all contacts were overwritten except 1. So in total, out of 10 submissions we only have 2 records. Also, for context, we kept the submission website page open for people to submit their info. Once submitted, we just clicked on "going back" to get the page again. Thanks for the help 🙂

[karstenkoehler]

@RoméeSV at this point, unfortunately I can only repeat myself:

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The this indeed relates to the "Always create new contact record". Once enabled, the issue will stop.

It will however not undo what has been merged incorrectly. You would have to follow these steps to unentangle the record again: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/records/merge-records#can-i-unmerge-records

🙂

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Could you please confirm that:

1. You've enabled the settings.
2. Reviewed the second link.
3. Tested again

What is the outcome?

[RoméeSV]

Hello Karsten,

Apologies for the repeating of yourself. I tested again with the "create new contact and delete pre-filled information" and it worked. 

Thanks