Forms vs Custom Codes for lead capture in SGEN
How to choose between native Forms and Custom Codes for capturing leads
When you want to capture leads on your SGEN site — contact requests, newsletter signups, event RSVPs, wholesale inquiries — you have two paths available. The first is SGEN's built-in Forms feature: a form builder that creates and manages forms entirely within your dashboard, stores submissions internally, and sends notification emails. The second is Custom Codes: an area where you paste embed code from third-party services — HubSpot, Mailchimp, Typeform, and similar — so their form renders on your page.
Both paths put a form on your site. They differ significantly in what they give you control over, what they integrate with, and how much overhead they create as your site grows.
This guide lays out the trade-offs honestly, shows you when each path makes sense, and walks through the steps for each. There is also a section on migrating from one to the other, because the decision you make today does not have to be permanent — and some teams start with one and later switch to the other as their needs change.
The starting question is simpler than it sounds: do you want your lead data to live in SGEN, or do you want it to live in a tool you are already using outside SGEN?
What is this for?
This guide is for any SGEN admin who is setting up a lead capture flow and has not decided — or is second-guessing their decision — about whether to use SGEN's native Forms feature or to embed a form from an external tool via Custom Codes.
Both paths are supported and both are used by SGEN sites in production. This is not a "one is right, one is wrong" comparison. It is a "here are the conditions under which each one is the better choice" guide.
You will find this guide most useful when you are setting up a new lead capture flow from scratch, when you are evaluating whether to migrate from Custom Codes to native Forms (or vice versa), or when you want to understand why submissions are going somewhere unexpected.
Decision matrix at a glance
Scan this table first. The rest of the guide explains each row with examples from Acme Coffee Roasters.
| Question | Native Forms | Custom Codes embed |
|---|---|---|
| Where are submissions stored? | Inside SGEN — visible in admin | The third-party tool (HubSpot, Mailchimp, Calendly...) |
| Do you need a CRM workflow on submit? | Not built in — export or webhook | Yes — the third-party tool runs it |
| Build effort | Minutes — drag-and-drop | Account setup + paste the embed |
| Conditional logic + multi-step? | Basic — single page | Advanced — depends on the embed tool |
| Email notification to your team | Yes — built in | Through the third-party tool |
| Spam filtering | Built-in honeypot + rate-limit | Depends on the third-party tool |
| Survives the third-party going down? | Yes — self-contained | No — broken embed if the tool is down |
| GDPR / cookie footprint | Minimal — first-party | Adds the third-party cookies + policy text |
| Cost beyond SGEN plan | None | Often a paid tier on the third-party |
| Submissions you can search inside the admin | Yes | No — only inside the third-party |
Feature side-by-side
| Capability | Native Forms | Custom Codes embed |
|---|---|---|
| Inline on any page | Yes | Yes |
| Inline on a blog post | Yes | Yes |
| Custom thank-you redirect | Yes | Yes |
| Conditional fields | Limited | Yes (depending on embed tool) |
| File upload field | Yes | Yes (depending on embed tool) |
| Webhook on submit | Yes | Yes (through embed tool) |
| Native CSV export | Yes | Through the embed tool |
| Removable without site editing | Yes — unpublish | Yes — remove the embed |
Good use cases
Use these examples to map your situation to the right approach. All examples are from Acme Coffee Roasters and its sister brands.
Acme Coffee Roasters has a Wholesale Inquiry form — Name, Cafe Name, City, Volume, Message. It is a five-field form that notifies their sales team by email whenever a new inquiry comes in. Submissions are stored in the SGEN dashboard and reviewed weekly. Native Forms is the right choice here — no external tool needed, zero overhead.
What NOT to use this for
If you need to take payment on a form — deposits, event tickets, subscriptions — you need a proper payment form from a payment processor (Stripe, Square, etc.) or your SGEN e-commerce setup. Custom Codes that paste a payment form from an external tool can work, but it is not a SGEN-managed flow and SGEN support cannot help if the payment fails.
How this connects to other features
Your choice of Forms vs Custom Codes affects several other parts of your SGEN site.
— Native Forms stores every submission in Dashboard then Forms then Submissions. You can view, export, and filter submissions by form and date. This feature is only available if you use native Forms. Custom Codes submissions go to the external tool, not to SGEN's Submissions area.
Before you start
Before you choose a path and start building, answer these questions about your lead capture requirements.
Where do you want lead data to live? If the answer is "in SGEN, where I can review it in the dashboard," native Forms is your path. If the answer is "in our CRM / email tool / booking platform," Custom Codes is your path.
Do you already have an external tool managing leads? If yes, Custom Codes. The overhead of managing two lead sources — one in SGEN and one in HubSpot, for example — is rarely worth it. Consolidate in the tool your team already uses.
How complex is the form? If the form has more than ten fields, conditional branching, or payment, it is likely beyond what native Forms handles well. Custom Codes with a purpose-built form tool is the better fit.
Do you need the form to match your site's visual design? If visual consistency is important and you cannot control the styling of an external embed, native Forms gives you more control.
Where to go
For native Forms: go to Forms in the left sidebar. Click Add New to create a form. Once the form is published, embed it on a page using the form block or shortcode in the page editor.
For Custom Codes: go to Custom Codes in the left sidebar. Create a new code block, paste the embed code from your external tool, and set the page or pages where it should appear.
Steps — Set up lead capture via native Forms
Follow this path if you chose native Forms.
1. Open Forms and create a new form
Go to Forms in the left sidebar. Click Add New. The form editor opens with a default layout — Name, Email, Phone, Message. These defaults work for a basic contact form.
Give the form a clear internal title: "Wholesale Inquiry," "Newsletter Signup," "Event RSVP." This title is your internal label — visitors never see it. A descriptive title saves confusion when you have multiple forms in the list.
2. Adjust the fields for your lead capture goal
In the Content area, add, remove, or rename fields to match what your lead capture flow actually needs. For a wholesale inquiry, Acme Coffee keeps Name, adds Cafe Name and City, and removes Phone (their sales team prefers email).
Keep the field count short. Every extra field is friction. For a newsletter signup, Name and Email is enough. For a wholesale inquiry, five or six fields is reasonable. Resist the temptation to ask for everything you might ever want.
3. Set the notification email in Mail Settings
Open the Mail Settings card on the right side of the editor. Set the To field to the email address or team alias that should receive notifications when someone submits the form.
This step is the one most often skipped, and it causes the most "my form isn't working" tickets. If the To field is empty, submissions save silently — no notification is sent. The lead is captured, but nobody knows about it.
4. Publish the form and embed it on a page
Flip the form Status to Published and click Save Form. Then open the page where you want the form to appear. In the page editor, look for the Forms block in the sidebar or under Insert. Select your form from the list. Save the page.
Test the form by submitting it from a private browser window. Confirm the notification email arrives at the address you set in Mail Settings. Check the submission in Dashboard then Forms then Submissions to confirm the data came through.
5. Review submissions in the dashboard
After the form is live, check Dashboard then Forms then
Submissions regularly. Submissions are stored in a table that shows the submitter's data, the form they used, and the date and time of submission. You can view individual submissions, export the table as a spreadsheet, or filter by date range.
Set a recurring calendar reminder to review submissions if your notification emails are your primary alert. Forms with active traffic and no regular review are where leads get lost.
6. Steps — Set up lead capture via Custom Codes
If you chose Custom Codes instead of native Forms, follow these steps.
Get the embed code from your external tool. In HubSpot, this is under Marketing then Forms then the form you want then Embed. In Mailchimp, it is under Audience then Signup Forms then Embedded forms. In Typeform, it is under the form's Share settings then Embed. Copy the full embed code provided by the tool.
Go to Custom Codes in your SGEN dashboard left sidebar. Click Add New Code Block. Give it an internal name. Paste the embed code exactly as provided — do not modify the code. Set the Display on option to the specific page where you want the form to appear. Save.
Visit the page in a private browser window and confirm the form renders correctly. Submit a test entry. Confirm the test submission appears in the external tool (HubSpot, Mailchimp, etc.) within a few minutes.
What success looks like
When lead capture is set up correctly — whichever path you chose — the experience is reliable and transparent.
- A visitor fills out the form on your site and clicks Submit. The form confirms the submission with a success message.
- If you used native Forms: a notification email arrives at the address you set. The submission appears in Dashboard then Forms then Submissions within a few seconds.
- If you used Custom Codes: the submission appears in your external tool (HubSpot, Mailchimp, etc.) within a few minutes. Any automated sequences in that tool trigger correctly.
- Test submissions from a private browser window (no admin session) behave the same as a real visitor's submission. The form does not behave differently for logged-in users.
- You can find and reference any submission later — in SGEN Submissions (native Forms) or in your external tool (Custom Codes) — when you need to follow up with a specific lead.
What to do if it does not work
Check the Mail Settings on the form — specifically the To field. If it is blank, add the notification address, save the form, and test again. If the To field is set, check your spam folder. If neither explains the missing email, contact your SGEN support team with the form name and approximate submission time.