How to Build an SGEN Contact Form

SG-Admin My Forms index then the form builder — fields panel with name/email/message and the New form button

⏱ 60-second answer below · full page ~5 min · skim the bold step headers to move faster.

In short. Open SG-Admin → My Forms, click New form, add your fields (name, email, message), configure Mail Settings so submissions reach the right inbox, set the form to Active, drop a Form block on any page in SG-Builder, and submit a test. The whole flow takes under 20 minutes.

On this page: Before you start · Steps · What success looks like · Troubleshooting · Common questions

My Forms is the form surface inside SG-Admin — lists every form, shows submission counts, and gives access to the builder, Mail Settings, and submission history. Use this guide to build a form from scratch. For notification routing on an existing form, see Route Form Submissions.

What forms are a good fit for

Use case	Fields to add
General contact	Name, email, message
Wholesale inquiry	Name, email, company, monthly order volume
Event RSVP	Name, email, party size, event date (dropdown)
Intake form with branching	Any of the above + conditional fields

Conditional logic lets follow-up fields appear only when relevant, keeping the form short for most visitors.

Not a fit for: file upload collection, payment collection (use the Orders surface), or survey-style branching beyond My Forms' conditional depth — check your version's settings before designing around those cases.

Before you start

Admin access — My Forms is visible to admin-level users. If it's missing from the sidebar, contact your site owner.
Know your fields — decide what the form asks before opening the builder. For a contact form: name, email, message.
Know your destination page — which page will the form live on? Is it already published?
Have the recipient address ready — you'll enter it in Mail Settings in step 5.

Related guides: Route Form Submissions · Set Up Form Notifications · SGEN Analytics

Where to go

Navigate to SG-Admin → My Forms. The My Forms index lists all forms on your site, with submission counts and status indicators.

Click New form to open the form builder for a blank form.

How to build a contact form in SGEN

Steps — Build, configure, and publish a form

1. Name the form and set its basic properties

Enter a name that identifies the form internally — visitors do not see this. For this example: Contact Us.

Set the status to Draft while building — Draft forms are not live. Switch to Active only after testing and configuring notifications.

Choose a submission handling option:

Show a success message — a confirmation appears in place of the form after submission.
Redirect to a page — the visitor is taken to a thank-you page.

For a general contact form, use the success message. A good default: "Thank you for reaching out. We'll reply within one business day."

2. Add fields

The Fields panel is where the form takes shape. Each field you add becomes a form input on the front end.

For a standard contact form, add these fields in order:

Full name — text field, required, label "Your name"
Email address — email field, required, label "Your email"
Message — textarea field, required, label "Your message", minimum height 4 rows

Click Add field, select the type, and label each field clearly — unclear labels produce incomplete submissions. Set the Full name placeholder to "First and last name". SGEN validates the email format client-side. Avoid a character limit on the message textarea; limits increase abandonment when visitors have something real to say.

3. Configure the submit button

Scroll past the fields to the Submit button configuration. Replace the default "Submit" label with something action-specific — "Send message" or "Get in touch" converts better than a generic verb.

Alignment: left-aligned works consistently on desktop and mobile; centered is fine; right-aligned is non-standard for contact forms.

4. Review the form preview

Check the live preview before moving to notifications. Confirm: field order is logical (name → email → message), labels are clear, required markers are visible, and the submit button label matches your choice. Drag fields to reorder in the Fields panel if needed.

5. Configure Mail Settings

Open the Mail Settings tab. This controls who receives an email on each submission and what the email contains.

Notification recipient — the inbox that should receive submissions (for example, marketing@yoursite.com).
Subject — use something scannable without opening: New contact form submission — {site_name}.
Reply-to — set to {field:email} so replies go directly to the visitor, not to a no-reply address.

Click Send test notification and verify the email arrives, the subject resolves, and reply routes correctly.

6. Set the form to Active

Return to the form's basic properties and change the status from Draft to Active. An active form accepts submissions — but it's not visible to visitors until embedded on a published page. Save the change.

7. Embed the form on a page

Open the destination page in SG-Builder. Locate the Form block in the component library and add it to the section where the form should appear. In the block settings, select Contact Us from the form selector — only Active forms appear here. Publish the page.

8. Test the live form

Open the page in a browser where you are not logged in to the dashboard. Fill in the form with real-looking data and submit. Verify three things:

The success message appears — no raw template variables or placeholder text.
The notification arrives in the recipient inbox within two minutes — check subject, body, and reply-to.
The submission appears in My Forms — navigate to SG-Admin → My Forms → Contact Us → Submissions.

What success looks like

When the form is fully built and verified:

The form appears on the correct published page with no layout issues.
All required fields show required indicators.
The submit button label is clear and action-oriented.
The success message appears immediately on submission without page reload.
The notification email arrives at the recipient inbox within two minutes.
The notification subject resolves dynamic variables correctly.
Replying to the notification routes to the visitor's email address, not to a no-reply.
The submission record appears in My Forms → Submissions with all field values intact.

What to do if it does not work

The form does not appear on the page. Confirm the form status is Active — Draft forms do not render in the embedded form block. Set to Active, save, and reload.

The success message does not appear after submission. The page may be refreshing instead of showing the inline confirmation. Open the form's basic properties and confirm "Show success message" is selected, not "Redirect."

The notification is not arriving. Open SG-Admin → Audit Log and filter for form notification events. A "delivered" status means SGEN sent it — check the recipient's spam folder. A "failed" status means the recipient address may be wrong; verify it in Mail Settings character by character.

The submission does not appear in My Forms. Wait one minute and refresh. If still absent, open the page in SG-Builder, open the Form block settings, and confirm the correct form is selected.

The reply-to is not routing to the visitor. In Mail Settings, confirm the reply-to field is {field:email} and that the email field's slug is exactly email. If the slug differs (e.g., contact_email), update the reply-to to {field:contact_email}.

Common questions

Can I have more than one form on a page? Yes — add multiple Form blocks and select a different form in each. Submissions route independently through each form's Mail Settings.

Can I duplicate an existing form? Check whether My Forms includes a duplicate action in your SGEN version. Duplicating copies the fields and layout but resets the submission count — you will need to reconfigure Mail Settings on the copy.

How many fields can a form have? There is no published hard limit. Contact forms with more than eight visible fields tend to see higher abandonment — use conditional logic to show additional fields only when relevant.

Can I add a CAPTCHA to reduce spam? SGEN includes submission filtering options. Review the spam protection settings in the form's advanced configuration — some versions include CAPTCHA or honeypot options.

What happens to submissions if I set the form back to Draft? The form stops accepting new submissions and the Form block stops rendering for visitors. Existing submissions are retained in My Forms → Submissions.