A form that already creates a deal, and an automation that makes another

Who can use it. Staff building automations. Nothing changes for the people filling in your forms.

The problem it solves

A website enquiry form can be set up to create a deal for every submission. The deal lands in the form's own pipeline and stage, with a note listing the visitor's answers.

An automation that starts with "when a form is submitted" can also have a Create deal step. If both are in play, each enquiry used to make two deals: the form's, with the note, and the automation's, in whatever pipeline the step names. The second one has no note and sits in a different pipeline, which is confusing to work from.

The warning in the editor

When you open an automation that:

• starts with A form is submitted,
• picks a form that creates a deal for every submission, and
• has a Create deal step,

a notice appears above the canvas. It names the form and says the form already creates a deal for every submission, so this Create deal step is skipped and won't make a second deal. It suggests removing the step, and what else to do depends on where the step puts its deal:

• The step uses the same pipeline as the form. Use a Move stage step instead, to shift the deal the form created into the stage you want.
• The step uses a different pipeline (or the form has no pipeline). A Move stage step only moves a deal within its own pipeline, so it can't help here. Instead, go to Settings, Client experience, Lead Capture, open the form, and change New leads go to pipeline and Starting stage so new enquiries land where you want them.

The notice also appears when the trigger is set to Any form, the automation has a Create deal step, and the organisation has a switched-on form that creates a deal. It names those forms and says the step is skipped for them but still creates a deal for forms that only capture a contact. If you only meant one form, pick it in Which form?. If the automation is meant for contact-only forms, you can leave it as it is.

The notice also appears for the original website enquiry form on an organisation that has not yet opened Lead Capture settings, since that form creates a deal too.

The notice is only a heads-up. You can still save and run the automation, and the step simply skips itself each time. It goes away once you take out the Create deal step or pick a form that only creates a contact. The warning reflects the saved version of the automation, so save your changes to see it update.

Forms that create only a contact never show the warning, and neither do automations that start from something other than a form.

Seeing it before you build

In the trigger's Which form? dropdown, each form says what it creates, for example "Website enquiry form, creates a deal in Lead Pipeline / Enquiry" or "Reno guide form, contact only".

In Settings, Client experience, Lead Capture, a form that creates a deal has a note saying so. It links to any switched-on automation that also has a Create deal step for that form. Automations set to that form are told to take the step out. Automations set to Any form are listed separately, because they may still need the step for contact-only forms.

Stopping the second deal

A Create deal step skips itself when the form has already created the deal:

• an enquiry through a deal-creating form produces one deal, the form's, with its note;
• the Create deal step shows as skipped in the record's journey, with a reason ("the form submission already created a deal") and the deal it left alone;
• the rest of the automation carries on as normal.

Create deal steps on forms that only create a contact, and on any other kind of trigger, keep creating deals as before. Automations that were already making a second deal stop doing so from this release, so an enquiry that used to appear twice now appears once, in the form's pipeline.