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Technical Guide • Marketing Cloud • 20 min read • Intermediate

How to Track Marketing Cloud Form Submissions

A comprehensive guide to capturing individual form submitter data in Salesforce Marketing Cloud Next (Growth & Advanced editions), including Data Extension setup, API integration, CRM synchronization, and compliance-ready reporting.

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What You'll Learn

4 Proven Tracking Solutions

Data Extensions, Journey Builder, API integration, and CRM connector approaches

Compliance Framework

GDPR, CCPA, SEC, and FINRA requirements for form tracking

Automated Reporting Setup

Daily/weekly submission reports with Automation Studio

CRM Integration Patterns

Real-time sync to Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRMs

The Challenge: Marketing Cloud's Aggregated Reporting

What You Can't See in Marketing Cloud Next Form Dashboards:

✗Individual Names – Who submitted the form
✗Contact Details – Email addresses, phone numbers
✗Submission Context – What specific information they provided
✗Timestamps – When each individual submitted

The Form Engagement dashboards in Marketing Cloud Next (Growth and Advanced editions) only show aggregated metrics:

Total form submissions
Conversion rates
Form abandonment rates
Average time to completion

For marketing and sales teams, this creates a critical blind spot. You know how many people submitted a form, but not who they are—making immediate follow-up impossible.

Solution 1: Form Submissions to Data Extensions (Recommended)

Why This Is the Best Approach

Writing form submissions to a Data Extension creates a persistent, queryable record of every individual submitter. This is the most flexible, compliant, and scalable solution.

Step 1: Create Your Form Submissions Data Extension

In Contact Builder → Data Extensions, create a new Data Extension with these fields:

Field Name	Data Type	Length	Purpose
`SubmissionID`	Text	50	Primary Key (auto-generated)
`FormID`	Text	100	Identifies which form was submitted
`FormName`	Text	255	Human-readable form name
`FirstName`	Text	100	Submitter's first name
`LastName`	Text	100	Submitter's last name
`EmailAddress`	Email Address	254	Primary email (required)
`Phone`	Phone	50	Contact phone number
`Company`	Text	255	Company/organization name
`SubmissionDate`	Date	-	Timestamp of submission
`UTMSource`	Text	255	Campaign source tracking
`UTMMedium`	Text	255	Campaign medium tracking
`LandingPageURL`	Text	500	Where form was submitted

Step 2: Configure Form to Write to Data Extension

1. Edit Your Form in Marketing Cloud

Navigate to Web & Mobile → CloudPages → Forms and open your form for editing.

2. Add Data Extension Action

In the form builder, click Processing → Add Action → Update Data Extension.

3. Map Form Fields to Data Extension

Map each form field to the corresponding Data Extension column:

First Name field → FirstName column
Last Name field → LastName column
Email field → EmailAddress column
Use system fields for SubmissionDate (current timestamp)

4. Test Your Configuration

Submit a test form and verify the data appears in your Data Extension. Check all fields for accuracy.

Step 3: Query and Report on Form Submissions

Once submissions are in your Data Extension, you can:

View in Contact Builder

Browse the Data Extension directly to see all submitters with filtering and sorting capabilities

Export to CSV

Download submission data for analysis in Excel, Google Sheets, or your BI tool

SQL Query Activity

Write custom SQL queries to segment, aggregate, and analyze form submission patterns

Automation Studio

Set up daily/weekly automated email reports with submission summaries sent to your sales team

Solution 2: Journey Builder Tracking

If you prefer a workflow-based approach, Journey Builder can track form submissions by creating a journey that triggers on form submission events.

Implementation Steps:

Create a Form Submission Journey

In Journey Builder, create a new journey with the entry source set to CloudPages Form Submission.

Add Update Contact Activity

Immediately after entry, add an Update Contact activity to flag the contact record with:

FormSubmitted = True
LastFormSubmissionDate = TODAY()
FormName = "Your Form Name"

View Journey History

Use Journey History to see all contacts who entered the journey (indicating form submission). You can export this list or build segments based on the flags.

Limitation to Consider

Journey Builder approach works well for triggering workflows, but doesn't provide as robust reporting as Data Extensions. For comprehensive analytics, use Solution 1 (Data Extensions) or combine both approaches.

Solution 3: Marketing Cloud API Integration

For advanced use cases requiring real-time visibility and custom dashboards, integrate with the Marketing Cloud REST API.

Use Cases for API Integration:

Real-Time Alerts

Send instant Slack/Teams notifications when high-value prospects submit forms (based on company size, industry, or other criteria)

Custom Dashboards

Build custom reporting dashboards in your CRM or BI tool showing form submissions alongside other marketing metrics

Lead Routing

Automatically assign form submissions to sales reps based on territory, product interest, or account ownership

Advanced Analytics

Combine form submission data with other data sources for attribution modeling and campaign ROI analysis

API Implementation Overview:

// Example: Query Data Extension via REST API
POST https://YOUR_SUBDOMAIN.rest.marketingcloudapis.com/data/v1/customobjectdata/key/FormSubmissions_DE/rowset

Headers:
{
  "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN",
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

Body:
{
  "keys": {},
  "values": {
    "SubmissionDate": {
      "$gte": "2025-01-01T00:00:00"
    }
  }
}

// Response: Returns all form submissions since Jan 1, 2025

Note: You'll need to set up API authentication (OAuth 2.0) and obtain proper permissions. Vantage Point can handle this implementation for you.

Solution 4: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connector

If you're using Salesforce CRM, the Marketing Cloud Connector provides native bi-directional synchronization.

How It Works:

1.Configure your form to sync with a Salesforce object (Leads, Contacts, or Campaign Members)
2.Form submissions automatically create or update Salesforce records in real-time
3.Use Salesforce Reports & Dashboards to track and analyze form submitters
4.Trigger Salesforce workflows (lead assignment, email alerts, task creation) based on form submission

Key Benefits for Financial Services:

Complete Audit Trail

All form submissions tracked in Salesforce for SEC/FINRA compliance

Unified View

See form submission history alongside all other client interactions

Automated Workflows

Trigger lead assignment, nurture campaigns, and compliance checks

No Manual Export

Eliminate CSV exports—data flows automatically to your CRM

Compliance & Security Best Practices

For financial services firms, form tracking must comply with regulations like GDPR, CCPA, SEC Rule 17a-4, and FINRA guidelines.

Privacy Consent Management (GDPR/CCPA)

Include explicit opt-in checkboxes for marketing communications
Capture consent timestamp, IP address, and language version
Store consent records in a dedicated "Consent Audit" Data Extension
Implement double opt-in workflows for EU/California residents

Financial Services Requirements

SEC Rule 17a-4: Retain form submission records for 6+ years
FINRA 3110: Archive form communications if used for client acquisition
GLBA: Encrypt PII (SSN, account numbers) at rest and in transit
KYC/AML: Implement identity verification for high-risk form submissions

Data Security Checklist

Field-level encryption for sensitive data

Role-based access controls

HTTPS/SSL for all form pages

Automated data retention policies

Audit logs for data access

DLP rules to prevent unauthorized exports

Automated Reporting with Automation Studio

Once you're capturing form submissions in a Data Extension, set up automated daily or weekly reports to keep your sales team informed.

Example: Daily Form Submission Report

Create SQL Query Activity

In Automation Studio, create a SQL Query Activity to extract yesterday's form submissions:

SELECT FirstName, LastName, EmailAddress, Phone, Company, 
       FormName, SubmissionDate, UTMSource
FROM FormSubmissions_DE
WHERE CONVERT(DATE, SubmissionDate) = DATEADD(day, -1, CONVERT(DATE, GETDATE()))
ORDER BY SubmissionDate DESC

Create Email Template

Build an email template that displays the query results in a table format, showing all submitters from the previous day.

Schedule Automation

Set the automation to run daily at 8:00 AM, sending the report to your sales team's email distribution list.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

✗Not Testing Form-to-Data Extension Mapping

Solution: Always submit test forms and verify data appears correctly in the Data Extension before launching. Check for field truncation, formatting issues, and null values.

✗Overlooking Duplicate Management

Solution: Configure your Data Extension update logic to either overwrite existing records (using email as key) or append new submissions. Document your deduplication strategy.

✗Failing to Capture UTM Parameters

Solution: Always include UTM source, medium, and campaign fields to track which marketing efforts are driving form submissions. This is critical for ROI analysis.

✗Not Setting Up Error Notifications

Solution: Configure automated alerts when form submissions fail to write to your Data Extension. Use Journey Builder or Automation Studio to send immediate notifications to your admin team.

✗Neglecting Data Retention Policies

Solution: For GDPR/CCPA compliance, set up automated data retention rules. For financial services, ensure 6+ year retention for SEC/FINRA requirements.

Let Vantage Point Handle Your Marketing Cloud Form Tracking

Our team specializes in Marketing Cloud implementations for financial services firms with strict compliance requirements. We'll design and implement a complete form tracking architecture tailored to your needs.