Autoresponses

Overview

An autoresponse is a confirmation email sent to the submitterright after they submit your form — “thanks, we got your message.” You write the subject and body once, and SimplyForms personalises and sends it on every submission.

Autoresponses:

• go only to the submitter's own email (never an arbitrary address);
• support {{field}} placeholders to insert what they submitted;
• set the Reply-To to your form's notification address, so replies reach you;
• send only for real, saved submissions — never for spam, honeypot, or test submissions.

Setting one up

1. Open a form in your dashboard and switch to the Autoresponse tab.
2. Toggle Enable autoresponse.
3. Choose the Submitter email field— the field that collects the person's email address (see below).
4. Write the Subject and Message, using placeholders if you like.
5. Optionally set a From name (a display name; the sending address stays SimplyForms's verified address).
6. Save.

The submitter email field

This tells SimplyForms which field holds the recipient's address. The dropdown shows your email fields by default and pre-selects one for you. If your form collects the email in a non-email field (e.g. a plain text field), use Show all fieldsto pick it — you'll get a reminder that the autoresponse only sends when that field's value is a valid email.

Placeholders

Insert any submitted value with {{field_name}} in the subject or message, using the field's name. For example:

Subject:  Thanks for reaching out, {{name}}

Message:  Hi {{name}},

We've received your message and will get back to you soon.

— The team

A placeholder for a field that wasn't filled in renders as empty. Internal fields (honeypot, spam-protection tokens) can't be inserted.

What the submitter receives

The email is sent from SimplyForms's address (with your From name if set) and its Reply-Tois your form's notification address — so if the submitter replies, it reaches you, not a no-reply inbox. A short footer explains why they received it (they submitted your form), which keeps the message clearly transactional.

When it does — and doesn't — send

An autoresponse is skipped (no email sent) when:

• the chosen field is empty or isn't a valid email address;
• the submitter's address is the same as the form owner's (avoids emailing yourself when testing);
• the submission was blocked as spam, tripped the honeypot, or came through the form tester.

Autoresponses are transactional (triggered by the recipient's own action), sent fire-and-forget so they never delay or affect the submission itself.