How to Send Confirmation Emails After Form Submission

Want to learn how to send confirmation emails to users after they’ve submitted your WordPress form?

Sending a confirmation email is not only a nice gesture, but it also serves as an official acknowledgment for the user that you’ve successfully received their submission.

In this article, we’ll show you how to send a confirmation email to site visitors once they’ve completed your online form.

Customize Form Confirmation Emails Now ✅

How to Send Confirmation Emails to Users after Contact Form Submission

Confirmation emails improve user engagement and reinforce your business’s credibility. They reassure users that their form submissions have been received and provide an opportunity to set clear expectations for next steps.

Follow these step-by-step instructions to learn how to send emails after form submission.

[Video Tutorial] Create a Form Confirmation Email

Want to watch how this process works? Here’s a video explainer.

If you prefer to follow the written steps, please keep reading.

Step 1: Install WPForms and Create Your First Form

WPForms lets you set up confirmation emails that promote trust and professionalism right from the start.

By reducing customer support inquiries related to form submissions, you save valuable time and resources. You can use the emails to to cross-sell products, encourage social media follows, or provide valuable content, potentially increasing customer lifetime value. You can check out all of the features in our confirmation emails deep dive.

I’ll show you how to get started.

The first thing you’ll need to do is install and activate the WPForms plugin. WPForms is the best-rated form plugin for WordPress, having 13+ thousand 5-star reviews on WordPress.org.

If you don’t know how to install the plugin, follow this step-by-step guide on how to install a plugin in WordPress.

Next, you’ll need to create a new WordPress form. For help with this, check out our tutorial on how to create a simple contact form in WordPress.

If you’re using WPForms Lite, you can set up 1 confirmation email per form. You need an active WPForms license in order to set up multiple email notifications. 

Step 2: Set Up a New Confirmation Email

If you’re using WPForms, setting up a form confirmation is easy and requires no code at all.

From the form builder screen, go to Settings » Notifications.

Here you’ll notice that a notification intended for the site admin is already enabled by default. This email serves to notify you immediately of new form submissions as they happen.

You’re free to change the subject line and even the email body of this notification by editing the default notification settings.

However, our goal here is to create a new confirmation email that’s meant for the end user submitting the form.

Naturally, the confirmation email for the customer needs to be different from the admin-focused email in many aspects. For instance, you’ll need a more suitable customer-facing email subject line, body text, and so on.

To create this new confirmation email, click on the Add New Notification button on the top right of the Notifications area.

Next, give it a name to differentiate it from the default admin notification and then press OK.

With that done, it’s time to configure the new notification.

Step 3: Set the Send to Email Address and Subject Line

The new notification that you’ve just created should now appear with its own settings to configure.

The first setting here, the Send to Email Address, will have the admin email smart tag in it already. But we need to change this because we’re trying to send an email confirmation to site visitors after they’ve submitted your form.

To do this, first remove the {admin_email} tag from the Send To Email Address.

Then, click on Show Smart Tags next to the Send To Email Address field.

Now, select the Email smart tag from the dropdown.

By using the Email smart tag, you’re simply instructing WPForms to send this confirmation email to the email address provided by the user when they filled out your form.

The next setting right underneath Send To Email Address is the Email Subject Line. It’s a good idea to edit the subject line to read more like a confirmation of the form submission.

I also recommend checking out our doc guide on smart tags to learn more about using these effectively in your forms.

Step 4: Check Sender Details and Reply-to Email

There are two important settings that together comprise the sender details of your email message: From Name and From Email.

You can check out this guide on best practices for setting your From Name and From Email. As a general guide:

• You can use your brand name as the From Name or even the name of any individual that customers recognize in your company.
• Ensure that your From Email matches your website domain name to avoid getting flagged as spam by email servers.

If your admin email has your website’s domain in it rather than a generic domain like @gmail.com, you can also use the {admin_email}  tag in the From Email too.

If you want your site visitors to be able to reply to the email confirmation you send them, make sure to include your site’s admin email, or any other email you want replies to go to, in the Reply-To field.

(I don’t recommend using ‘noreply@…’ as a From Email or Reply-To email. You can read about noreply pros and cons to learn more.)

Great! That’s all the basic notification settings taken care of. In the next step, we can move on to editing the confirmation email message.

Step 5: Write the Form Confirmation Email Message

The last step in customizing your email confirmation is the Email Message section. It’s good practice to use a conversational tone in your confirmation message, with the message clearly implying that the form was successfully submitted.

If you want to include all of the form fields filled out by your site visitor in the confirmation message, use the all_fields Smart Tag. This is a helpful way of letting your visitors have a copy of their submitted message in their inbox.

You can also use any other Smart Tags available from the dropdown menu when you click on Show Smart Tags. So if you want to do some more personalization in the message by adding a smart tag for the visitor’s name or inserting any other piece of info from the form, you can easily do that.

(Optional): Select an Email Template

WPForms includes multiple templates for email confirmations. The best part is that you can select a unique template for each individual email notification in any form.

To select the template for a particular notification, click on the Advanced section at the bottom of the notification area, then use the Email Template dropdown to select your notification template.

(The compact template is a personal favorite, but they all look super nice. Feel free to experiment!)

If you’re serious about branding, you shouldn’t ignore your form confirmation emails. You can customize confirmation email styles with more precision in the global email settings of WPForms.

This lets you choose a default email template, add a header image, set the color scheme and typography, and even choose between light and dark mode!

Finally, in order for confirmation emails to send successfully, make sure WordPress email settings are properly configured on your site.

So there you have it! You now know how to send contact form confirmation emails to users after they’ve submitted your WordPress forms.

FAQs on Confirmation Emails

Do you have more questions about form confirmation emails? Many of our customers have reached out to us in the past with these frequently asked questions that might also provide some answers for you:

Can I send different confirmation emails based on user responses?

Yes, you can set multiple confirmation emails in WPForms and send them conditionally to the user based on the response. This feature can help you tailor your confirmations to the exact nature of the user’s query so your users can resonate with your emails on a more personal level.

Can I include a copy of the user’s form submission in the confirmation email?

Yes, by using the {all_fields} Smart Tag, you can include all the details the user submitted in the confirmation email in a sweet and compact manner.

How can I add a logo or customize the design of the confirmation email?

You can add a logo to your form confirmation emails by going to the WPForms Settings area and selecting the Email tab. Here, you can add a logo, select an email template, and choose the color scheme and typography for your emails without any code.

For details, check out our guide on custom email templates for WordPress.

Is there a way to send a confirmation email only after payment is successfully processed?

When you’re editing confirmation emails for a payment form, WPForms allows you to send the confirmation email conditionally upon successful payment. This can be easily set up by enabling the option for your selected payment processor under the Email Message textbox.

Can I track if the confirmation emails are successfully delivered and opened?

You’ll need a third-party plugin like WP Mail SMTP to track delivery, open, and click statistics for confirmation emails. You can learn about adding this functionality to your WordPress site in our guide on enabling WordPress email tracking.

Next, Create Multiple Form Notifications

If you’re looking to send different types of email confirmations to one user, check out this helpful guide on creating multiple notifications in WordPress forms. You can even use your forms to add your visitor to a Slack channel.

In addition, check out this article to learn how to market your email campaigns to those who have been in touch with you in the past.

Customize Form Confirmation Emails Now

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