Private vs Public Forms

Find out the difference between Private and Public Forms when using zkipster's Email Campaign

Carolin Gonschorrek avatar
Written by Carolin Gonschorrek
Updated over a week ago

The form part of your online campaign is where your guests confirm or decline their attendance. It additionally gives you as the event planner the chance to gather further information from your attendees, such as dietary requirements, names of their +1s, etc.

When setting up your response form in Campaign, you will be given the option to choose between using a Private or a Public Form for your event via a toggle in the Form Settings:

  • Private Forms are only accessible via a unique, personalized URL that each guest receives in their RSVP invitation message (embedded in the RSVP button) sent through zkipster

  • Public Forms are accessible directly via a shareable Public Page URL which can be passed along to potential guests who are not being invited directly via email or SMS/WhatsApp through zkipster and are currently not on your guest list

Please note: Your zkipster forms will always be switched to Private by default unless you choose to turn them Public for your specific event purpose.



Private Forms

A unique, non-transferable, personalized form URL is generated for each of your guests when using Private Forms. This creates a direct link between each guest profile and the corresponding response form. This private form URL is distributed to guests via their zkipster RSVP campaign and accessed by clicking on the RSVP button or link inside the message.

If a guest on your list were to forward their RSVP message to a third person, that person would consequently see your guest's details (first name, last name, etc.) automatically populated on the private form after clicking the RSVP button, as the form draws this information directly from the guest's zkipster profile.

However, the third person could still potentially overwrite your original guest's name and other guest data in zkipster unless those fields are 'locked'. To lock response fields for First and Last Name, click on each field in the Form Builder to reveal the lock/ unlock toggle. This is explained further in this article.


Please see an example of a Private Form with locked fields below:

Public Forms

It is possible to generate a Public Page URL for a blank response form, which automatically makes your form open to the public. A Public Form can be used to gather RSVPs from anyone in possession of this URL, including guests that are currently not on your existing guest list(s).

Please only turn your response form into a Public Form if you wish to open your event to anyone from the public! 

Any person that inputs their information on a public form and clicks 'Attending' will create a brand new guest entry for themselves in zkipster and appear as a confirmed guest inside your event.

Please note: Users usually create a standalone response form when working with Public Forms (using it as a registration form, etc.). However, you can also switch a response form that you are using as part of an RSVP campaign to public - to open up your event more widely by spreading the URL while still enabling guests to respond to your event via the invitation they have received. It is important to note here that the response form will still behave like a private one to guests that have received the form directly via zkipster campaigns.

To determine:

  • Which guest list these newly created guests will be added to, select the respective list from the 'Add new guests to guestlist' drop down 

  • How many +1s they are allowed to bring, set a restriction via the 'Max. total guests for new guests' drop-down

Please see an example of a Public Form below:



Pro Tip: you can enable the ‘Attachments’ and ‘Guest Picture’ Response Fields on your Response Form and Consent Form in order to have your guest submit a document such as Proof of Vaccination, ID/Passport image, an Event Waiver or any other documents you might require. The uploaded documents will be available for visualization and download under the Guest Profile. Please check out this article for more information on Form Attachments.

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