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Update 16th August 2018:10 things you need to know about ConvertKit/Seva’s new form builder On July 1st, ConvertKit introduced their new form builder, which now makes this tutorial pretty much obsolete. You can now add checkboxes and dropdown selects straight into any form from inside ConvertKit’s form settings. If you’ve not yet had a play with the new form builder, check out my blog post:
“But how do I add a checkbox to my ConvertKit form so I can get explicit, unbundled consent to send them promotional/marketing emails so I’m GDPR compliant?!”
In order to add a checkbox or a dropdown select box to a ConvertKit form, you need to use the raw html embed code, as opposed to the one line of Javascript.
My workaround below works for both ConvertKit forms, and any integration that allows you to embed the raw html code from ConvertKit into the form e.g. ThriveThemes or Leadpages. (Please see below the video for more on this)
You will need to replace all existing ConvertKit forms with the html code. If you’d like to make changes to the forms in future, you will have to update the html form code in every location of the form – unfortunately you can’t just update it inside ConvertKit.
The video below is a bit of a workaround but it’s much easier for most people than wading into complex code that either doesn’t reliably work or looks super messy/ugly.
At the time of publishing this blog post (3rd May 2018), I think this is the best way to do it. However, if I later find a better way, make sure you’re subscribed to my list so I can update you! 😉
Update 14th May 2018: ConvertKit have added a new article about an easier way to do this, although it doesn’t really change much and can still only be used for embedded ConvertKit forms: Adding checkboxes to your form to tag subscribers
The video will show you how to create something that looks like this, and tags anyone who checks the checkbox.
<a href="URL TO PRIVACY POLICY" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a>
And yes, this method also works if you’re using something else to design/style your forms and you’re using the raw html code to integrate with ConvertKit e.g. ThriveThemes or Leadpages. You may need to change the following bit of code though:
<div class="ck_control_group ck_captcha2_h_field_group ck-captcha2-h" style="position: absolute !important;left: -999em !important;"> <input type="text" name="captcha2_h" class="ck-captcha2-h" id="ck_captcha2_h" placeholder="We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer."> </div>
Change where it says ‘text’ in bold blue to ‘hidden’.
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This sucks!! I mean, excellent tutorial 😉 But what a total PITA. I’m hoping ConvertKit will enable an automatic GDPR-compliant checkbox on their forms prior to the deadline..
But that being said, I need help. I have a form that automatically goes to the bottom of every post… is there a place to custom-change that code even if it’s added through the CK plugin on WordPress?
Thanks in advance!!
Yeah, I know. I think it’s unlikely there will be any further features added relating to GDPR before the deadline (it’s only 12 days away now!), but I think there may be other solutions when they bring out their new form builder. Nathan Barry posted about it in The ConvertKit Family facebook group the other day.
Unfortunately you’d need to manually add each form if you’re using the workaround in this blog post. The WordPress CK plugin won’t help 🙁 You might want to look into using a plugin that allows you to add content to the bottom of every blog post though, that could speed things up.
This is super helpful Liz! Quick question – I use leadboxes, and they have a check box option now that I can add — do you know if there is a way to integrate this (i.e. if someone checks the box) with convertkit?
Unfortunately Leadpages’ new GDPR checkbox doesn’t integrate with ConvertKit. There’s no way to record if they checked it or not in ConvertKit. (There’s been several requests in The ConvertKit Family to email Leadpages and build this into the integration as ConvertKit’s API does allow for it).
Leadpages suggestion for times when the checkbox can’t be integrated with your email service provider is to make the checkbox a compulsory field, although it’s very much my understanding that this would not be GDPR compliant as you’re effectively bundling the consent.
If you’re using a Standard Builder, it’s possible to use the info on this blog post to get an integrated checkbox showing in Leadpages.
If you’re using the Drag & Drop Builder and you don’t make the field compulsory though, your next best option is to get consent at a later point (of which there are a couple of options which I cover in my GDPR & ConvertKit Tutorials training).
Ok so if they don’t check the box, what sequence would they put into?
If they don’t check the box, they won’t be added to the GDPR ‘dummy’ sequence and they won’t be tagged. If they do or don’t check the checkbox, whatever you had setup before when they subscribe to that form will still happen.
This was SO useful. With a bit of style tweaking I was able to make all my forms a) compliant and b) beautiful. Hopefully CK add this in to their forms, but in the mean time this is the best workaround I’ve come across.
Yay! So glad you found it helpful 🙂 ConvertKit are completely redoing their form builder, so this will be much easier when that’s released, but sadly not before Friday!
Hey! Thanks for this. I’m trying to add a checkbox to an Instapage landing page but I’m not sure how to map it into ConvertKit as a tag which is what would be awesome! Any suggestions for this kind of workflow? TIA!! 🙂
Hey Laila,
Great question! Unfortunately I don’t think Instapage will map checkboxes across to ConvertKit’s new form builder (or the old one in this workaround blog post). Your best bet is probably to create a form in the new form builder, with checkboxes that tag them, and then embed that into a code block on an Instapage. The downside to this would be that you wouldn’t get the conversion stats in Instapage, you’d get them in ConvertKit.
Hi Lizzy! We are migrating over to ConvertKit right now and I am still learning how to use the platform. I really like your video, it gives me the information I was looking for!
Just one question: Can I make checking the box mandatory and how to do that on ConvertKit? I don’t mean pre-checking the box (because not GDPR compliant). What I mean is that the submit/download button cannot be clicked before the box has been ticked. Any ideas?
Hey Laura,
Welcome to the world of ConvertKit!
The tutorial video in this blog post is kinda now obsolete since ConvertKit introduced their new form builder on July 1st: https://help.convertkit.com/article/835-the-new-form-builder
This allows you to have checkboxes and dropdowns automatically built into the form. Have a play and see how you get on! Please do let me know if you have any other Qs about it 🙂