Email Templates - TopFormBuilder

What are Email Templates?

Email templates let you customize the content of notification emails sent when someone submits your form. Use variables to include submission data dynamically. Template Types:

Admin Notification - Sent to you when form is submitted
Auto-responder - Sent to respondent after submission
Confirmation with Summary - Sent to respondent with their answers
Custom Templates - Create your own

Use Cases:

Personalized thank you emails
Order confirmations with details
Application received notifications
Support ticket confirmations
Event registration confirmations

Available Variables

Variables are placeholders replaced with actual submission data.

Standard Variables

Available in all templates:

Variable	Description	Example
`{{form_title}}`	Form name	”Customer Feedback Form”
`{{submission_id}}`	Unique submission ID	”12345”
`{{submitted_at}}`	Date and time	”March 15, 2024, 2:30 PM”
`{{completion_time}}`	Time taken	”2.5 minutes”
`{{workspace_name}}`	Workspace name	”Acme Inc”
`{{answers}}`	All answers formatted	See below
`{{respondent_email}}`	Email from form	”[email protected]”

Question-Based Variables

Each form question becomes a variable: Format: Question title converted to lowercase with underscores Examples:

Question Title	Variable
”What’s your name?”	`{{whats_your_name}}`
”Email Address”	`{{email_address}}`
”Phone Number”	`{{phone_number}}`
”Company Name”	`{{company_name}}`
”How did you hear about us?”	`{{how_did_you_hear_about_us}}`

Contact Info Fields: For contact_info question type, additional variables:

Variable	Description
`{{contact_info}}`	Full JSON
`{{contact_info_first_name}}`	First name only
`{{contact_info_last_name}}`	Last name only
`{{contact_info_email}}`	Email only
`{{contact_info_phone}}`	Phone only

Example Question Variables:

Question: "What's your email?"
Variable: {{whats_your_email}}
Result: [email protected]

Question: "Preferred Contact Method"
Variable: {{preferred_contact_method}}
Result: Email

Question: "How satisfied are you?"
Variable: {{how_satisfied_are_you}}
Result: Very Satisfied

Variable

Special variable that includes all form answers formatted as HTML. Example Output:

📝 Submission Details

Name
John Doe

Email Address
[email protected]

Phone Number
(555) 123-4567

How did you hear about us?
Google Search

Message
I'm interested in your services...

Creating Email Templates

Access Email Templates

Go to Workspace Settings
Click “Email Templates” in sidebar
Click “Create Template” button

Quick Access:

Workspace Settings → Email Templates → Create Template

Template Creation Steps

Step 1: Template Name

Name: Welcome Email with Summary
Description: Sent to customers with order details

Step 2: Email Subject

Subject: Thank you {{whats_your_name}} - Order Confirmation

Step 3: Email Body

Hello {{whats_your_name}},

Thank you for your order! We've received your submission.

Order Details:
- Order ID: {{submission_id}}
- Submitted: {{submitted_at}}
- Email: {{email_address}}

{{answers}}

We'll process your order and get back to you within 24 hours.

Best regards,
{{workspace_name}} Team

Step 4: Save Template

Click “Save Template”
Template now available for all forms in workspace

Default Templates

TopFormBuilder includes 3 default templates: 1. Admin Notification

Subject: New submission for {{form_title}}

Hello,

You have received a new submission for your form "{{form_title}}".

Submission ID: {{submission_id}}
Submitted at: {{submitted_at}}
Time taken: {{completion_time}}

Thank you!

2. Auto-responder

Subject: Thank you for your submission

Hello,

Thank you for submitting "{{form_title}}".

We have received your response and will get back to you soon.

Submission ID: {{submission_id}}
Submitted at: {{submitted_at}}

Best regards

3. Confirmation with Summary

Subject: Your submission has been received

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to "{{form_title}}".

Your responses have been recorded.

Submission ID: {{submission_id}}
Submitted at: {{submitted_at}}

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Best regards

Using Email Templates

Assign Template to Form

Method 1: Form Settings

Open Form Builder
Go to Settings tab
Scroll to “Notifications” section
Under “Admin Email Template”, select template
Under “Respondent Email Template”, select template
Save form

Method 2: Quick Settings

Form Builder → Settings
Enable notifications
Select templates from dropdown
Done!

Admin vs Respondent Templates

Admin Notification:

Sent to form owner/admins
Can include all submission details
Use {{answers}} variable
Configure recipient in Form Settings

Respondent Notification:

Sent to person who filled form
Personalized with their data
Use question variables
Sent to email field in form

Example Setup:

Admin Template: "New Lead Notification"
→ Sent to: [email protected]
→ Contains: All form data

Respondent Template: "Thank You Email"
→ Sent to: {{email_address}}
→ Contains: Personalized thank you

Template Examples

Example 1: Event Registration

Template Name: Event Registration Confirmation Subject:

Registration Confirmed: {{event_name}} - {{whats_your_name}}

Body:

Hello {{whats_your_name}},

Thank you for registering for {{event_name}}!

Registration Details:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: {{whats_your_name}}
Email: {{email_address}}
Phone: {{phone_number}}
Ticket Type: {{ticket_type}}
Number of Attendees: {{number_of_attendees}}

Event Information:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Date: March 20, 2024
Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: Convention Center, Hall A

Your confirmation number is: {{submission_id}}

Please bring this email or your confirmation number to the event.

See you there!

Best regards,
Events Team

Example 2: Support Ticket

Template Name: Support Ticket Created Subject:

[Ticket #{{submission_id}}] Your support request

Body:

Hello {{whats_your_name}},

We've received your support request and created ticket #{{submission_id}}.

Your Request:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Subject: {{issue_subject}}
Priority: {{priority_level}}
Category: {{category}}

Description:
{{issue_description}}

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Our support team will review your request and respond within:
- High Priority: 2 hours
- Medium Priority: 24 hours
- Low Priority: 48 hours

You can track your ticket status at:
https://support.company.com/ticket/{{submission_id}}

Need urgent help? Call us at (555) 123-4567

Best regards,
Support Team

Example 3: Job Application

Template Name: Application Received Subject:

Application Received - {{position_applying_for}}

Body:

Dear {{whats_your_name}},

Thank you for applying for the {{position_applying_for}} position at {{workspace_name}}.

Application Summary:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Position: {{position_applying_for}}
Application ID: {{submission_id}}
Submitted: {{submitted_at}}
Email: {{email_address}}
Phone: {{phone_number}}

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Next Steps:
1. Our hiring team will review your application within 5 business days
2. Qualified candidates will be contacted for a phone interview
3. Selected candidates will be invited for an in-person interview

What to Expect:
- Application review: 3-5 days
- Phone screening: 30 minutes
- In-person interview: 1-2 hours

You'll hear from us at {{email_address}} by March 20, 2024.

In the meantime, check out our company culture:
https://company.com/careers/culture

Thank you for your interest in joining our team!

Best regards,
HR Department
{{workspace_name}}

Example 4: Order Confirmation

Template Name: Order Confirmation with Details Subject:

Order #{{submission_id}} Confirmed - Thank You!

Body:

Hi {{customer_name}},

Your order has been confirmed! 🎉

Order Information:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Order ID: {{submission_id}}
Order Date: {{submitted_at}}
Total Amount: {{total_amount}}

Shipping Address:
{{shipping_address}}
{{city}}, {{state}} {{zip_code}}
{{country}}

Contact Information:
Email: {{email_address}}
Phone: {{phone_number}}

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Items Ordered:
{{answers}}

Estimated Delivery:
Your order will be delivered within 5-7 business days.

Track Your Order:
https://shop.company.com/track/{{submission_id}}

Need Help?
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: (555) 123-4567
- Live Chat: https://shop.company.com/chat

Thank you for shopping with us!

Best regards,
{{workspace_name}}

Viewing Available Variables

See all variables for a specific form: Method 1: Template Editor

Create/edit template
Click “View Variables” button
Modal shows all available variables for selected form
Click variable to copy

Method 2: Form Builder

Open Form Builder
Go to Settings → Notifications
Click “Available Variables” link
List of all variables for this form

Variable List Example:

Standard Variables:
- {{form_title}} - The form title
- {{submission_id}} - Unique submission ID
- {{submitted_at}} - Submission date and time
- {{completion_time}} - Time taken to complete

Question Variables:
- {{whats_your_name}} - What's your name?
- {{email_address}} - Email Address
- {{phone_number}} - Phone Number
- {{company_name}} - Company Name
- {{message}} - Your Message

Email Formatting

HTML vs Plain Text

Plain Text (Default):

Simple formatting
Line breaks with \n
No styling
Better deliverability
Works in all email clients

HTML (Auto-converted):

Line breaks converted to <br>
Variables replaced
Basic formatting applied
Professional appearance

Formatting Tips

Line Breaks:

Hello {{name}},

Thank you for your submission.
[Empty line creates paragraph break]
We'll be in touch soon.

Section Dividers:

Order Details:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Order ID: {{submission_id}}
Date: {{submitted_at}}
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Lists:

Next Steps:
Review your submission
Wait for confirmation email
Check your dashboard

Bold/Emphasis:

**Important:** Please respond within 24 hours
*Note:* This is a test email

Managing Templates

Edit Template

Go to Workspace Settings → Email Templates
Click template to edit
Update subject and body
Click “Save”

Changes Apply:

To all future emails
Forms using this template updated automatically
Previously sent emails NOT changed

Duplicate Template

Create variation of existing template:

Open template
Click “Duplicate” button
New template created with ” (Copy)” suffix
Edit as needed
Save

Use Case:

Original: "Admin Notification"
Duplicate: "Admin Notification - Sales Team"
Customize for sales with sales-specific info

Delete Template

Go to Email Templates
Click template to delete
Click “Delete” button
Confirm deletion

Warning:

Forms using this template will revert to default
Action cannot be undone
Template history lost

Before Deleting:

Check which forms use template
Reassign forms to different template
Export template content if needed

Test Template

Send test email before using template:

Open template
Click “Send Test” button
Enter test email address
Select form to test with
Click “Send”
Check inbox

Test Email Includes:

Sample data from form
All variables replaced
Actual formatting
Subject line

Template Best Practices

Writing Effective Templates

Do:

Use clear, concise language
Personalize with variables
Include submission ID for reference
Add contact information
Provide next steps
Use professional tone
Test before launching

Don’t:

Use ALL CAPS (spam trigger)
Include too many links
Write generic messages
Forget submission details
Make it too long
Use spam trigger words (“FREE”, “ACT NOW”)

Variable Usage

Best Practices:

Always include {{submission_id}}
Use {{answers}} for full details
Personalize with name variable
Include submission date
Add workspace name for branding

Testing Variables:

Test with actual form submission
Verify variables display correctly
Check for missing variables
Ensure formatting is clean

Email Deliverability

Improve Deliverability:

Keep subject under 50 characters
Avoid spam trigger words
Don’t use excessive punctuation!!!
Include plain text version
Add unsubscribe link (for newsletters)
Use professional email address
Verify sender domain

Spam Trigger Words to Avoid:

FREE, WIN, PRIZE
ACT NOW, URGENT
CLICK HERE
100% GUARANTEED

Troubleshooting

Variables Not Replacing

Problem: Variables show as {{variable_name}} in email Solutions:

Check Variable Name - Ensure exact match (case-sensitive)
Remove Spaces - Use {{variable}} not {{ variable }}
Verify Question Exists - Variable matches form question
Test Email - Send test to verify

Missing Data

Problem: Variable replaced with empty value Reasons:

Question Not Answered - User skipped optional question
Wrong Variable Name - Typo in variable
Deleted Question - Variable for removed question

Solutions:

Make questions required
Check variable spelling
Update template if question changed

Email Not Sending

Problem: Template configured but emails not arriving Solutions:

Check Email Settings - Form Settings → Notifications enabled
Verify Recipient - Correct email address
Check Spam - Email in spam folder
Template Assigned - Form has template selected
SMTP Configured - Workspace email settings correct

Formatting Issues

Problem: Email looks wrong or broken Solutions:

Check Line Breaks - Use proper formatting
Test Template - Send test email first
Variable Spacing - Ensure spaces around variables
HTML Tags - Remove if using (plain text recommended)

Advanced Features

Conditional Content

Show different content based on form answers: Not Currently Supported Workaround: Create multiple templates and use conditional logic to determine which notification is sent.

Multi-Language Templates

Create templates in different languages: Setup:

Template: "Confirmation - English"
Template: "Confirmation - Spanish"
Template: "Confirmation - French"

Assign template based on form language setting or user selection.

Custom Sender

Change email sender name and address: Configure in:

Workspace Settings → Email Settings → SMTP

Options:

Use default ([email protected])
Custom SMTP (your own email server)
Your domain email

Need help? Contact [email protected]

Getting started

Customization

​What are Email Templates?

​Available Variables

​Standard Variables

​Question-Based Variables

​ Variable

​Creating Email Templates

​Access Email Templates

​Template Creation Steps

​Default Templates

​Using Email Templates

​Assign Template to Form

​Admin vs Respondent Templates

​Template Examples

​Example 1: Event Registration

​Example 2: Support Ticket

​Example 3: Job Application

​Example 4: Order Confirmation

​Viewing Available Variables

​Email Formatting

​HTML vs Plain Text

​Formatting Tips

​Managing Templates

​Edit Template

​Duplicate Template

​Delete Template

​Test Template

​Template Best Practices

​Writing Effective Templates

​Variable Usage

​Email Deliverability

​Troubleshooting

​Variables Not Replacing

​Missing Data

​Email Not Sending

​Formatting Issues

​Advanced Features

​Conditional Content

​Multi-Language Templates

​Custom Sender

What are Email Templates?

Available Variables

Standard Variables

Question-Based Variables

Variable

Creating Email Templates

Access Email Templates

Template Creation Steps

Default Templates

Using Email Templates

Assign Template to Form

Admin vs Respondent Templates

Template Examples

Example 1: Event Registration

Example 2: Support Ticket

Example 3: Job Application

Example 4: Order Confirmation

Viewing Available Variables

Email Formatting

HTML vs Plain Text

Formatting Tips

Managing Templates

Edit Template

Duplicate Template

Delete Template

Test Template

Template Best Practices

Writing Effective Templates

Variable Usage

Email Deliverability

Troubleshooting

Variables Not Replacing

Missing Data

Email Not Sending

Formatting Issues

Advanced Features

Conditional Content

Multi-Language Templates

Custom Sender