# Identify visitors from website forms

Recognize people who fill out your website forms so you can use their contact data and save their answers. Check whether Email Watcher fits your forms too.

Connect a website form submission to the right contact so you can use what you know about them and save their later answers. A Popup set to appear **After a form is submitted** can capture an email from a supported form and use it for a contact lookup.

Install the RightMessage snippet on the form's page and connect your email platform if the identification method needs a provider lookup. Keep a synthetic contact, such as `jordan@example.com`, ready to test. Installing the snippet alone doesn't start the Popup's form observer.

## Set the Popup to follow your form

1. Open the Popup widget that should appear after the form.
2. Select **Display**, then open **When it appears**.
3. Choose **After a form is submitted**.
4. Choose **Specific forms only** and enter a CSS selector that matches your form element. To watch every supported form instead, choose **All form submissions**.
5. Check that the widget is enabled and its targeting includes the intended page and visitor.
6. Review and [publish your project changes](https://rightmessage.com/help/publishing-your-changes).

![Popup display settings with After a form is submitted selected and a CSS selector restricting observation to a specific form](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/verify-audience-form-trigger.light.webp)

*This Popup watches the form matching `#signup-form`. Use the selector for your own form, or choose **All form submissions**.*

While that Popup's form trigger is active, the observer captures the email for lookup and triggers the Popup. A disabled widget or a different trigger doesn't enable it. See [widget display settings](https://rightmessage.com/help/widget-display-reference) for the other controls.

## Check the form and the contact

1. Open your form's page in a clean browser session.
2. Submit it with your synthetic contact's email.
3. Check that the form's own submission succeeded.
4. Open the [RightMessage debugger](https://rightmessage.com/help/using-the-rightmessage-debugger) and inspect **Visitor**.
5. Check that the displayed identity matches your test contact.
6. If you collect mapped answers afterward, check the destination field or tag in your email platform too.

A form submission can supply an email without creating a contact or completing a later field update. Your provider's lookup rules still apply. For example, Userlist's email lookup can create or update a user. Lookup-only providers need the contact to exist first. Check your [provider's integration guide](https://rightmessage.com/help/topics/esps-and-crms).

## Check whether your form can be detected

The Popup observer watches matching standard forms, including forms added to the page later. It also handles supported events or markup from Kit, Klaviyo, EmailOctopus, OptinMonster, Pico, MemberSpace, ClickFunnels, Wisepops, Unbounce, GoHighLevel, Gravity Forms, Elementor, and Squarespace.

These are ways to detect forms, not extra email-platform integrations. Detection depends on the form's actual markup or events. Custom forms and inaccessible embedded forms can behave differently, so test your own page.

With HubSpot connected, RightMessage also listens for its `onFormSubmit` and `onFormSubmitted` callbacks. This works without the Popup form trigger. The callback needs a valid email and must come from your page or an allowed HubSpot form domain. RightMessage uses that email to look up the contact. Receiving the callback doesn't create one.

If your form isn't detected, use a supported [redirect handoff](https://rightmessage.com/help/identifying-visitors-with-email-query-parameters) or ask your developer to use a [JavaScript identity command](https://rightmessage.com/help/javascript-hooks).

## Use Email Watcher only if it fits your forms

**Email Watcher** is a separate option that doesn't need the Popup form trigger. It starts off. When enabled, it reads input and text-area values when someone leaves a field or presses Enter. It can capture a valid email before submission.

The field doesn't need to be named `email`. The watcher ignores RightMessage question inputs, so their own consent and identification settings stay in control. It also leaves an existing saved subscriber identity or inferred email unchanged.

> **Warning**
>
> Don't enable Email Watcher where visitors enter another person's email, such as a gift recipient's or colleague's address. It can mistake that address for the visitor's identity. Entering an email doesn't prove ownership or permission to send marketing.

You'll need permission to edit project settings. Review your site's consent requirements before enabling this pre-submission capture.

1. Open project settings and select **General**.
2. Under **Visitor Identification**, turn on **Email Watcher**.
3. Review and publish the project changes.
4. Open your website in a clean browser session.
5. Enter your synthetic contact's email in the intended field, then leave the field.
6. Check the visitor identity in the debugger.
7. Complete the form and check that its own submission succeeded.

![Email Watcher switch and its explanation in General settings](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/reporting-email-watcher.light.webp)

Check for the correct contact, not just an email-looking value. To stop using the watcher, turn off **Email Watcher** and publish the change.

## Using a RightMessage Email question instead?

Use **Identify the visitor** and the appropriate contact action. If a displayed consent checkbox isn't checked, RightMessage keeps the answer in Responses without identification or provider writeback. **Required** controls whether the question can be skipped, not whether the consent checkbox must be selected. See [identify contacts with an email question](https://rightmessage.com/help/email-questions-and-consent).

When your test submission shows the right contact and any mapped answer reaches its destination, identification is working. If responses still appear as anonymous, follow [identity and contact-update troubleshooting](https://rightmessage.com/help/why-visitors-appear-as-anonymous-in-your-people-feed).