Using Forms to Contact Properties without asking Email Address

[NCondon22]

We are looking to send an email to existing contacts to update their program of interest after a certain time period.  Ideally they would click the link we sent to a landing page form with only 1 question on it and the email address being automatically populated into a hidden field.  In my research it seems like the only way to do this was through a query string, but we would like to avoid PII being placed in a link.  Are their any other ways to accomplish this?

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @NCondon22,

I don't think there is a reliable way to achieve this and I would always lean towards simply asking for the email address again. The risk for error is simply too high and I've seen to many HubSpot users try this against recommendations not to do so and then being faced with contact records that apparently were mixed up.

The parameters added to a URL by, using a personalization token, e.g. acme.com/?email={{ contact.email }} would work. Yes, you would be including personal information in the email but in this case, it would already be included as it's the recipient?

In any case, I would not make it a hidden field just in case the parameter is stripped away – by privacy extensions or users, you never know.

Beyond that, HubSpot forms are simply not a tool that can accomplish this reliably. With the pre-filled forms feature, a forwarded email can ruin everything: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/forms/form-fields-pre-populated-with-your-own-or-someone-else-s-inform...

With the query string, you'd include information about the recipient in the email: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/forms/can-i-auto-populate-form-fields-through-a-query-string

Best regards!