How to Use Public Forms for Managing Group Responses and Allocating Head Count Limits in zkipster Campaigns
When using zkipster's Communication feature, typically an RSVP invitation is sent to a guest list in order to collect RSVPs for each of those Main Guests (plus any potential +1s).
This article goes over how to set up Campaigns in zkipster in order to collect RSVPs of corporations, sponsors, etc. that have been allocated a certain head count for an event.
The process involves creating a Campaign Email that includes a Public Response Form URL, designed to gather the names of guests who are not yet on your zkipster guest list and whose identities are still unknown. This assumes that the invitation will be sent to a single person or sponsor within the company, who is responsible for collecting the additional RSVPs by sharing the public URL.
Please note: When working with public response forms anyone clicking on the public URL will be able to RSVP to your event and create a brand new guest entry on your guest list (as they are not private/ non-transferable like private forms are). You can of course set up the form to close automatically after a certain number of people have RSVPed via the public URL. However, generally only choose to work with public forms if you wish to open your event more widely to the public!
Setting up the Email Part of your Invitation
A few things to pay attention to when initially setting up the Email:
Choose either the 'Email/Message + Response Form' which combines messaging and response collection in one or the 'Response Form' template dedicated exclusively to gathering responses without any accompanying messaging.
Please Note: Alternatively, in case you want to keep the email and form completely separate from each other inside zkipster, you can also choose the work with a Standalone Email (Message) focusing solely on delivering your message and a Standalone Response Form and follow the same instructions.
The Internal Name of your Campaign should reference exactly who the invitation will be sent to to avoid confusion
In the 'Send To' section, select the individual guest the invitation is being sent to rather than choosing the entire guest list.
Continue customizing your Email via the Email Composer tabs as you wish.
Setting up the Form Part of your Invitation
A few things to pay attention to when initially setting up the Form:
In the Form Settings, switch the toggle from 'Form Is Private' to 'Form Is Public'. This generates the unique public URL and QR Code that will have to be placed in the Body Text of the Email part of your invitation.
Select the guest list the new guests will be added to in zkipster upon RSVPing. They can be added to an existing guest list, or you can create a brand new guest list specifically dedicated to this invitation/ sponsor.
Set the Total Guests field for new guests to 'Main Guest Only' to ensure that anyone filling out the form only RSVPs for themselves.
Set a guest limit through the 'Close after "XX" form confirmations' option in the 'Form Is Taking Responses' section in the Form Settings tab. This number needs to be the head count allocated for the company to which the invitation is being sent.
Set up the Response Fields and anything else on the form that needs to be customized.
Place the Public Form URL into the Email Part of the Invitation
Now copy and paste the Public URL or the QR Code of the Response Form into the main body text of the email part of your invitation. You can either choose to copy in the raw URL or QR Code or hyperlink the URL with some text.
Please Note: It is up to you how you would like to phrase the specific instructions of how the recipient should distribute the RSVP link to the other guests who will be filling out the remaining head count.
The recipient of your email can either:
Forward the invitation to their own guest list and phrase instructions accordingly to make sure that their guests only click on the (hyperlinked) Public Form URL in the body text rather than on the main RSVP button.
Please note: If you are not inviting the email recipient to the event, it might be clearer to disable the RSVP button to avoid confusion.Also, the recipient can copy the Public Form URL or QR Code and distribute it in a separate email to those they want to invite to the event.
Either way, the Body Text section of your email should look something like the below:
