How to Use EngageBay to Turn Form Sign-Ups Into an Email Nurture

The short answer: import the subscribers you already have, build an inline form with double opt-in and a hidden field that tags every sign-up, add reCAPTCHA, embed the form with EngageBay's tracking code, make a smart list on the tag, write the sequence, then add the list to it in bulk on Free or Basic, or with a Joins a form automation from Growth, and read the sequence report each week.

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The job: someone downloads a guide from your site, and over the next three weeks they get four emails that earn the right to a sales call. EngageBay holds the form, the list and the emails in one place. For the product, its modules and prices, see the EngageBay glossary entry.

Before you build:

• Size it against the free plan. For example, a four-email sequence to 250 contacts is 250 x 4 = 1,000 emails, which is the Free plan's whole branded-email allowance on the plan comparison (checked on 24 October 2026).
• Start with the list you have. Import only people who opted in, from a CSV export of your current tool, and match each column to an EngageBay field, as the import guide describes.
• Pick the numbers you will read. The sequence report shows recipients, delivered, opens, clicks, unsubscribes, spam and soft and hard bounces.

What you need

• An account. The free plan needs no card. The plan cards list Marketing Automation from Growth, which matters in step 7.
• Access to your website's code, or to whoever edits it, for the embed code and the tracking code.
• A reCAPTCHA site key and secret key from your reCAPTCHA account.
• A lawful basis for the emails. Double opt-in, built into the form below, gives you a record of each confirmation, and Article 7 of the GDPR requires the business relying on consent to be able to show it was given.

Step 1: Import your current subscribers

Go to Contacts, Contacts, click Import, upload the CSV and match the fields, per the import guide. If a column holds dates, the import window asks for the date format. Keep this group apart from new sign-ups: the sequence below is for people who arrive through the form.

Step 2: Build the inline form

In the Marketing dashboard, open Forms, click Create Form and choose Embed form, per the forms guide. Name it, pick a style, write the title and description under Change Text, adjust colours under Look and Feel, and keep the fields short on the Field tab. Under Settings, set the success message or a redirect to the guide, switch on the Double Opt-in Email, and use the Autoresponder for the download link.

Step 3: Tag every sign-up without asking

On the Field tab, click Add New Field and choose Hidden Fields, then enter the tag and choose Add as Tag. The hidden fields guide says the visitor never sees or changes it, and the tag lands on the contact record the moment they submit.

Step 4: Keep bots out

In the form editor, add reCaptcha from the Misc Fields panel. Then go to Account Settings, Integrations, Others, enable reCAPTCHA and enter the Site ID and Site Secret Key, per the reCAPTCHA guide. The form step alone does nothing until the integration is saved.

Step 5: Put the form on your site

Save the form, open Settings, then Embed, and paste the code where the form should appear. The first time, also add the code from Account Settings, API and Tracking Code to your homepage, as the embedding guide explains.

Step 6: Make a list that fills itself

Go to Contacts, Lists, click Create List, choose Smart list and add the condition that the contact has your tag, per the lists guide. A smart list adds people as they meet the condition and drops them when they stop; a static list never changes on its own, according to the list types article.

Step 7: Write the sequence and start it

Go to Campaigns, Sequences, Create Sequence. For each email, set Delay Sending By, the subject, preview text and content, and use Personalization for first names, per the sequence guide. Preview, then save.

How people enter it depends on the plan. On Free or Basic, open Contacts, filter to the tag, click the Select all subscribers link, then Bulk action, Add to Sequence, per the enrolment guide. From Growth, an automation can do the sending instead: start it with the Joins a form trigger from the trigger list, then chain Send Email and Delay actions, which the automations guide lists, with conditions such as whether the last email was opened, per the actions guide.

Step 8: Hand the warm ones to sales, with an agent

The EngageBay MCP server lets an AI assistant read and write contacts, deals and tasks. A practical weekly step: ask the assistant to list contacts with the campaign tag who have an open deal, and draft one follow-up task per contact for its owner. The human check is that you read the list before you tell it to create anything; the server can create and update records but never delete them, so a wrong batch of tasks has to be closed by hand.

What EngageBay's help centre warns about

• Editing a live sequence. The enrolment guide says not to change a sequence once contacts are in it: remove them, edit, then add them again.
• A form without the tracking code. The embedding guide makes the tracking code a first-time requirement for inline forms.
• Half-installed reCAPTCHA. It needs both the form field and the integration settings.
• Static lists for a running campaign. They do not pick up new sign-ups.

Count your contacts before the form goes live. A free plan exists to bring your list inside the platform, and the 250-contact cap on the plan comparison is where the upgrade conversation starts, so know which tier your list needs before a busy week decides it for you.

FAQ

Can the sequence start automatically on the free plan?

Not through an automation: the plan cards list Marketing Automation from Growth. The form's Autoresponder still sends one email the moment someone submits, per the forms guide, and the rest of the sequence is a weekly bulk add.

Why did a new sign-up not appear in my list?

Check that the hidden field adds the tag and that the list is a smart list. A static list only changes when you add people yourself, per the list types article.

Can I send sign-ups from other tools into EngageBay?

Yes. The Zapier integration page lists, among others, creating contacts from Typeform and Gravity Forms submissions and from Facebook Lead Ads.