Form Submissions higher than those added to a list

[JJD2000]

Hi there, 

We are running an event and have created a form for those wanting to attend. Once the attendee has filled out the form they are added to a list via a workflow. However, the number of attendees on the list is smaller than the form submissions. I have exported and cross-referenced and while there are some duplicates there is still a discrepancy. Any ideas and suggestions would be most appreciated. Many thanks

[Ben_M · Accepted solution]

The list should always be smaller in the case of a person submitting it multiple times. Because there is a workflow involved, are you able to go back in the history of the workflow with your variance and see what happened to those leads and why they were not added to the list? Also, as a test, could you pull a dynamic list of anyone who submitted that form, and see if you are closer to where you expect to be? It may not even be necessary to put the in the list, unless this is a global form shared with other activities.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @JJD2000,

This sounds like it may be related to a form setting.

In the settings for each form, there is a toggle "Always create contact for new email address". https://knowledge.hubspot.com/forms/create-forms#customize-your-form-options Once you enable this, HubSpot will not attempt to associate activity with an existing contact when a new submission with a new email address comes in.

Here is what's potentially currently happening with your forms: by forwarding marketing emails between contacts, multiple people using the same computer or simply one person registering multiple other people, HubSpot thinks that it's the same person submitting the form. This is because of marketing email tracking and cookies. (By enabling the setting above you're telling HubSpot to not attempt to do this and to treat each email address like a new contact.)

If this has happened during your campaign, some contact records were updated in their place with information by other people. The number of submissions would change, the number of contacts wouldn't.

You could verify this by exporting your form submissions and exporting your list members, comparing the files and searching for the contacts that make up the discrepancy, either through the HubSpot search or by finding the "missing" email addresses in the submissions tab of the form.

Let me know what you find.

[Ben_M · Accepted solution]

The list should always be smaller in the case of a person submitting it multiple times. Because there is a workflow involved, are you able to go back in the history of the workflow with your variance and see what happened to those leads and why they were not added to the list? Also, as a test, could you pull a dynamic list of anyone who submitted that form, and see if you are closer to where you expect to be? It may not even be necessary to put the in the list, unless this is a global form shared with other activities.