Partial Submissions
Partial submissions capture data from visitors who start your form but don't complete it. This is valuable for understanding where people drop off and for following up with interested leads who didn't finish.
Enabling partial submissions
- Open your form → Settings → Submissions
- Toggle Save partial submissions to ON
- Configure when to start saving:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Save after first interaction | Start saving as soon as the visitor types in any field |
| Save after specific field | Start saving after a key field is completed (e.g., email) |
| Save on page change | Save when the visitor moves to the next page (multi-page forms) |
Viewing partial submissions
In the Responses tab, partial submissions appear alongside completed ones:
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green checkmark | Completed submission |
| Yellow clock | Partial submission: visitor started but didn't finish |
| Red X | Abandoned: visitor left after significant progress |
What you see for each partial submission
| Data | Description |
|---|---|
| Fields filled | Values for every field they completed |
| Last active field | The field they were on when they left |
| Progress | Percentage of the form completed |
| Time spent | Total time from first interaction to abandonment |
| Timestamp | When they started and when they left |
| Device | Desktop, mobile, or tablet |
Drop-off analysis
The Analytics tab includes a drop-off funnel:
100% — Started form
85% — Completed name field
72% — Completed email field
65% — Completed company field
45% — Reached page 2
38% — Completed budget field
30% — Submitted
This shows you exactly which questions cause people to abandon the form.
Common drop-off reasons and fixes
| Drop-off point | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| First question | Form is too long or title isn't compelling | Improve welcome screen, remove unnecessary fields |
| Email field | Visitors don't want to give email yet | Move email later, add trust signals |
| File upload | Too much friction | Make upload optional, accept more file types |
| Page 2+ | Form feels too long | Show progress bar, reduce questions |
| Payment field | Price objection or trust issues | Add testimonials, security badges, explain value |
Following up on partial submissions
Manual follow-up
- Filter responses to show only partial submissions
- Sort by progress (highest first; these were most interested)
- If they provided an email, reach out with a helpful message
Automated follow-up
Connect a workflow to re-engage abandoners:
Partial Submission (after 1 hour, with email) →
Send Email ("You left something behind. Here's where you left off") →
Delay (24 hours) →
If-Else (form completed?) →
No: Send follow-up email with incentive
Privacy considerations
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Data retention | How long to keep partial submissions (7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or forever) |
| Auto-delete | Automatically delete partial submissions after the retention period |
| Exclude from export | Optionally exclude partials from data exports |
Focus on partial submissions that got past 50% completion. These visitors were genuinely interested. Someone who bounced after seeing the first question likely wasn't the right audience.
Partial submissions don't trigger submission notifications or webhooks. They only trigger the partial submission event, which you can use in workflows with the Form trigger's "Partial submission" event type.