How a sign-up form fills your list
A sign-up form on your website adds people to one list, keeps bots and throwaway addresses out, and has every new address checked before it's ever mailed.
A sign-up form on your website adds people to your list. Every sign-up is sorted before it's saved, so bots stay out. Then every new address is checked like any list you upload, before it's ever mailed.
The path a sign-up takes
- Someone signs up on your website.
- Bots are kept out.
- A real person joins the form's list.
- Their address is checked before it's ever mailed.
Who gets in, and who doesn't
| The sign-up | What happens |
|---|---|
| A bot fills in the hidden trap field | It's told the sign-up worked, and nothing is saved |
| It's sent faster than a person could (2 seconds, unless you change it) | It's told the sign-up worked, and nothing is saved |
| It comes from a website you haven't allowed | Refused |
| A known throwaway address, a shared inbox like info@, or a common typo of a big provider's name | Refused: This email address cannot be used. |
| Too many from one visitor, or too many for the form in a day | Refused: Too many submissions, try again later. |
| A real person | Joins the form's list |
A bot that's told it worked has no reason to try again.
Double opt-in
With Double opt-in on, each person is emailed a confirmation link first, and joins the list only when they click it. Until then they see Almost there — check your inbox to confirm your subscription. With it off, they join the list as soon as they sign up.
Checked before it's mailed
- Adding someone to a list starts its cleaning, as it does for a list you upload.
- If the address has been checked before, on any list, that answer is reused.
- If not, its own mail server is asked. Where the server can't say, a probe confirms it first.
- Only someone whose address checked out is mailed.
Why every list is cleaned and What probing is explain the checks.
See a form's settings
Open Forms. Each sign-up form shows the list it fills.
Open the form.
Open its Settings tab. Adds people to shows the list every sign-up joins, beside the Double opt-in switch.
Under Spam protection: Websites allowed to use this form, Fastest a person can submit (seconds), the sign-ups each visitor can make per hour and per day, and the sign-ups per day in total.
To make a form and put it on your website, follow Collect sign-ups with a form.