Forms

20 min read Documentation

Forms is a purpose-built real estate form system included with the Real Estate 7 Yearly license. Create unlimited custom forms with 20 field types, conditional logic, Standard, Multi-Step, and Conversational experiences, built-in analytics, funnel tracking, and integrations with CT Leads Pro, Follow Up Boss, and Zapier.

Real Estate 7 also automatically creates five built-in forms that power your Contact page, Listing pages, Agent pages, Book a Showing, and Favorites page. These forms can be fully customized or used as a starting point for your own workflows.

Build forms from scratch or start with one of eight ready-to-use real estate templates, then place them anywhere on your website with a shortcode.

This guide covers everything from building your first form to configuring integrations, Email Branding, analytics, funnel tracking, migrations, and real estate-specific lead insights.

Features at a Glance

  • 5 built-in forms automatically connected to Real Estate 7 templates
  • Unlimited custom forms
  • Drag-and-drop form builder
  • 20 field types
  • Conditional logic
  • Standard, Multi-Step, and Conversational display modes
  • Live form preview
  • 8 ready-to-use real estate form templates
  • Confirmation emails and Email Branding
  • CT Leads Pro, Follow Up Boss, and Zapier integrations
  • Form revisions and restore
  • Submission logging and analytics
  • Marketing attribution tracking with UTM, GCLID, FBCLID, and landing page capture
  • Real estate insights and lead intelligence
  • Funnel tracking and field-level abandonment analysis
  • ROI email reports with weekly and monthly summaries
  • Save and resume later for Multi-Step and Conversational forms
  • Migration tools for Contact Form 7, WPForms, Fluent Forms, Gravity Forms, and Ninja Forms
  • Built-in Bot Protection

Forms combines lead capture, analytics, conversion tracking, and real estate-specific workflows into a single built-in system designed exclusively for Real Estate 7.

Why Forms?

Forms was built specifically for real estate professionals and the way agents, teams, and brokerages capture and qualify leads. Unlike generic form plugins, it includes built-in listing inquiries, showing requests, real estate templates, marketing attribution, funnel tracking, and lead analytics designed around how agents and brokerages capture and qualify leads.

Requirements

  • Real Estate 7 theme (active)
  • Contempo Real Estate Core plugin v3.5.6 or later
  • An active RE7 Yearly license

The Forms panel is visible to all RE7 users. Editing forms and creating new ones requires an active Yearly license. The five built-in forms work for everyone regardless of license tier.

Where to Find It

After activating the RE7 theme and Contempo Real Estate Core, navigate to your WordPress Admin. You will see a top-level Forms menu in the sidebar with four items.

  • Forms — the main builder where you create and edit forms
  • Submissions — a log of every form submission with analytics
  • Email Branding — global logo, sender name, sender email, and footer applied to every form notification
  • Reports — schedule weekly and monthly ROI reports delivered by email

Built-in Forms

Five forms are created automatically the first time the plugin loads. Each one is tied to a specific template or page type in Real Estate 7. No shortcode is needed for these forms because they appear automatically in the right place.

  • Contact Form — powers pages using the Contact page template
  • Listing Inquiry — appears on all listing detail pages
  • Agent Contact — appears on agent profile pages
  • Book a Showing — appears on listing detail pages alongside the Listing Inquiry form
  • Favorites Contact — appears on the Favorites page

Built-in forms cannot be deleted, but every field and setting can be customized. The Forms list shows each built-in form with an active status indicator and links to the pages where it is currently in use.

Creating a Custom Form

Custom forms can be placed on any page or post using the shortcode. You can start from a blank form or pick from one of eight real estate templates.

[ct_form id="X"]
  1. Go to WordPress Admin > Forms
  2. Click Create New Form
  3. Give your form a name
  4. Choose a template or start blank
  5. Add and arrange your fields
  6. Configure the form settings on the right panel
  7. Use the Preview button to test the form before publishing
  8. Click Save
  9. Copy the shortcode displayed at the top of the editor and paste it onto any page

Available Templates

  • Buyer Consultation
  • Seller Valuation Request
  • Home Search Request
  • Book a Showing
  • Open House Registration
  • Rental Inquiry
  • Luxury Buyer Intake
  • Mortgage Pre-Qualification

Field Types

Twenty field types are available. Select a type from the dropdown at the bottom of the field list and click Add Field.

  • Text — a single-line text input
  • Email — an email address input with format validation
  • Phone — a telephone number input
  • Textarea — a multi-line text area for longer responses and messages
  • Number — a numeric input for values such as budgets, prices, bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage
  • Select / Dropdown — a dropdown with a list of options you define
  • Multi Select — allows visitors to select multiple options from a predefined list
  • Radio Group — a set of mutually exclusive options displayed as radio buttons
  • Checkbox — a single opt-in checkbox with a label
  • Checkbox Group — a list of checkboxes that allows visitors to select multiple options
  • Date — a native date picker
  • Time — a native time picker
  • Slider — an interactive slider for selecting values such as budgets, square footage, or timelines
  • File Upload — allows visitors to upload documents, images, and other files with their submission
  • Hidden — stores values that are submitted with the form but are not displayed to the visitor
  • Divider — visually separates sections of a form with headings, lines, or spacing
  • Content Block — displays rich text instructions, notices, links, or explanatory content within a form
  • HTML — allows developers to insert custom HTML, embeds, and advanced content into a form
  • Signature — captures a handwritten signature using mouse or touch input
  • reCAPTCHA — adds Google reCAPTCHA protection to help prevent spam and automated submissions

Field Settings

Each field has its own settings. Click a field card to expand it.

  • Label — the visible label shown above the field
  • Placeholder — hint text shown inside the field before the user types
  • Required — toggle on to make the field mandatory before the form can be submitted
  • Width — set to Full (100%) or Half (50%) to control the layout on wider screens
  • Options — for Select and Radio fields, add the list of choices one per line

Drag any field card up or down to reorder fields in the form.

Conditional Logic

Any field can be shown or hidden based on the value of another field. This lets you build smart, context-aware forms without creating separate forms for each variation.

To add a condition to a field, expand the field card and open the Conditional Logic section.

  • Field — the field whose value triggers the rule
  • Operator — the comparison to apply. Options are: equals, not equals, contains, does not contain, is empty, is not empty
  • Value — the value to compare against

When a field has multiple conditions, choose whether All conditions must be true or Any one condition must be true before the field appears.

Display Modes

Each form can be presented in one of three display modes. Set the mode in the Form Settings panel on the right side of the editor.

Standard

All fields appear on a single page. This is the default and works well for most contact and inquiry forms.

Multi-Step

Fields are grouped into named steps and the visitor moves through them one step at a time. A progress bar at the top shows how far along they are. Each step has a label you define, and you assign each field to a step from the field card.

Multi-step forms include Back and Next buttons. You can customize the text on those buttons from the Form Settings panel.

Progress is automatically saved in the visitor’s browser. If they leave the page and return later, they can continue where they left off. Saved data is cleared automatically after a successful submission.

Conversational

One field appears at a time and the visitor advances through them one by one. This style works well for intake forms and qualification flows where a focused experience increases completion rates.

Like Multi-Step forms, Conversational forms automatically save progress in the visitor’s browser so they can continue later if they leave before submitting.

Form Settings

The right panel of the form editor contains all notification and behavior settings.

Notifications

  • Recipient Email — the address that receives the submission notification. Defaults to the WordPress admin email if left blank.
  • CC Email — one or more email addresses to copy on every notification
  • BCC Email — one or more email addresses to receive a blind copy of every notification
  • Subject — the subject line of the notification email. Supports the variables {site_name} and {form_name}.
  • Success Message — the message shown to the visitor after a successful submission. Click Insert Variable to personalize it using submitted field values, for example: Thanks {first_name}, we will be in touch shortly.
  • Submit Button Text — the label on the submit button. Defaults to Submit.
  • Back Button Text — the label on the Back button in multi-step and conversational forms. Defaults to Back.
  • Next Button Text — the label on the Next button in multi-step and conversational forms. Defaults to Next.

Redirect After Submit

By default, Forms shows the success message inline after submission. If you prefer to send the visitor to a thank-you page instead, expand the Redirect After Submit section, toggle it on, and enter a URL.

Confirmation Email

Send an automatic reply to the person who submitted the form. Expand the Confirmation Email section and toggle it on.

  • From Email — the address the confirmation sends from. Leave blank to use the From Email set in Email Branding.
  • Subject — supports field variables like {name} and {site_name}
  • Message — the body of the confirmation. Supports all field variables. Click Insert Variable to browse available tokens.

Available variables for subjects and messages include: {site_name}, {form_name}, {name}, {first_name}, {last_name}, {email}, {phone}, plus any custom field label converted to a token, for example a field labeled “Message” becomes {message}.

Send Test Email

After saving your form, use the Send Test Email section to send a sample notification to any address. This confirms your email routing, branding, and field layout are all working correctly before the form goes live.

Live Preview

Use the Preview button in the editor toolbar to open a full-screen preview of your form before publishing. Preview mode supports Standard, Multi-Step, and Conversational forms and allows you to test conditional logic, field behavior, navigation, and layout without placing the form on a page.

Integrations

The Integrations section appears in the Form Settings panel when at least one integration is configured globally in RE7 Options.

CT Leads Pro

If the CT Leads Pro plugin is active, a CT Leads Pro toggle appears in the Integrations section of each form. When enabled, submissions are captured as leads in your CRM and linked to the visitor’s session. CT Leads Pro will suppress the standard notification email for that form and handle routing through the CRM instead.

Follow Up Boss

When Follow Up Boss is connected in RE7 Options, you can enable it per form. Submissions are sent to Follow Up Boss as a new person with the contact name, email, phone, and all field values as a note. Built-in forms are automatically categorized as General Inquiry, Listing Inquiry, Agent Inquiry, Showing Request, or Favorites Inquiry.

To connect Follow Up Boss, go to WordPress Admin > RE7 Options > Integrations > Follow Up Boss and enter your API key.

Zapier

When Zapier is connected in RE7 Options, you can enable it per form. Each submission sends a JSON payload to your Zapier webhook containing all field values and, for listing-related forms, the listing details as well.

You can override the global webhook with a per-form webhook URL if you want different forms to trigger different Zaps.

  1. Log into Zapier and create a new Zap
  2. Choose Webhooks by Zapier as the trigger
  3. Select Catch Hook as the event
  4. Copy the Webhook URL from Zapier
  5. Go to WordPress Admin > RE7 Options > Integrations and paste the URL into the Zapier Webhook field
  6. Enable Zapier on the individual form you want to connect
  7. Submit a test entry to verify the data arrives in Zapier

Form History and Revision Restore

Every time you save a form, Real Estate 7 creates a revision snapshot. You can view the last 25 revisions for any form and restore any previous version.

  1. Open the form you want to review
  2. Click the history icon in the editor toolbar
  3. Select a revision from the list to preview it
  4. Click Restore to roll back to that version

Duplicating and Exporting Forms

From the Forms list, each form has a menu with additional actions.

  • Duplicate — creates a copy of the form with all fields and settings. The copy is always a custom form, even if the original was a built-in form.
  • Export — downloads a .json file containing the complete form definition. Use this to transfer forms between sites or keep a backup.
  • Import — upload a previously exported .json file to create a new form on the current site.

Shortcode

Place any form on any page or post using the shortcode below. Replace X with the ID shown in the Forms list.

[ct_form id="X"]

Built-in forms do not require a shortcode. They are placed automatically by the corresponding Real Estate 7 templates.

Email Branding

Go to WordPress Admin > Forms > Email Branding to configure the global look of all notification emails sent by Forms.

  • Logo — displayed at the top of every notification email. Upload via the WordPress media library. Recommended max height of 60px.
  • From Name — the sender name shown in email clients. Should be your name or your agency name.
  • From Email — the address emails are sent from. Must be an authorized sender for your domain.
  • Footer Text — shown below the field data in every notification. HTML is allowed including links and line breaks.

The Email Branding page includes a live preview with a Desktop and Mobile toggle so you can see exactly how your branded email will look before saving.

Submissions

Go to WordPress Admin > Forms > Submissions to view a complete record of every form submission across all your forms. The Submissions dashboard lets you browse, filter, search, and analyze form activity and leads without leaving WordPress.

Submission Details

Each submission stores the following information.

  • Form name and submission date
  • Contact name, email, and phone (resolved automatically from the submitted field types regardless of how you labeled those fields)
  • All submitted field values
  • The page the form was submitted from
  • Referrer URL
  • UTM parameters: source, medium, campaign, term, and content
  • Landing page URL
  • Google Click ID (GCLID)
  • Facebook Click ID (FBCLID)
  • Device type (desktop, tablet, or mobile)
  • Browser name and version
  • Operating system
  • IP address
  • Submission status: success, sent to CT Leads Pro, Follow Up Boss, routed to CRM, or failed
  • Linked CT Leads Pro lead record when available

Filtering and Searching

Use the filters at the top of the Submissions view to narrow down records by form, date range, and submission status. A search field lets you look up submissions by name, email, or field content.

Marketing Channel

Every submission is automatically classified into a marketing channel based on UTM parameters and referrer data.

  • Direct — no referrer and no UTM parameters
  • Organic Search — referrer matches a search engine or utm_source is google, bing, yahoo, duckduckgo, or ecosia
  • Paid Search — utm_medium is cpc, ppc, paid, or display
  • Social — utm_source or referrer matches a social platform (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube)
  • Email — utm_medium or utm_source is email or newsletter
  • Referral — a referrer URL is present but no UTM source is set

Analytics

Forms includes built-in analytics and reporting for every form on your website. No event tracking, custom tagging, or third-party analytics setup is required. Analytics are generated automatically from form activity and submissions, update automatically as new data is received, and respect the forms and date range you have selected.

Track performance metrics such as submissions, completion rates, drop-off rates, completion times, conversion rates, traffic sources, popular forms, and real estate-specific insights, all without leaving WordPress.

Performance Metrics

The Analytics dashboard includes the following metrics.

  • Total Submissions — the total number of successful form submissions.
  • Unique Contacts — the number of unique people who submitted forms.
  • Completion Rate — the percentage of visitors who completed a form after starting it.
  • Average Drop-Off Rate — the percentage of visitors who abandoned a form before submitting it.
  • Average Completion Time — the average time it takes visitors to complete and submit a form.
  • Conversion Rate — the percentage of form views that resulted in a successful submission.
  • Most Viewed Form — the form receiving the highest number of views.
  • Highest Converting Form — the form generating the strongest conversion rate.
  • Form Type Comparison — compares Standard, Multi-Step, and Conversational form performance.

Traffic and Attribution

Forms automatically captures first-touch attribution data and reports on the following.

  • Incoming by Channel — Direct, Organic Search, Paid Search, Social, Email, and Referral traffic
  • Top Referrers — the websites sending the most form submissions
  • Top Pages — the pages generating the most submissions and highest conversion rates
  • Top 5 Popular Forms — the forms receiving the highest number of submissions
  • Device Breakdown — Desktop, Mobile, and Tablet usage
  • Browser Breakdown — Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox, and other browsers
  • UTM Performance — campaign reporting using UTM Source, Medium, Campaign, Term, and Content parameters
  • Landing Pages — the pages where visitors first entered your website before submitting a form
  • Paid Ad Tracking — reporting for Google Click IDs (GCLID) and Facebook Click IDs (FBCLID)

Real Estate Insights

Forms automatically extracts real estate-specific signals from submission data and surfaces them as aggregated charts. No tagging or manual configuration is required.

  • Lead Intent analyzes fields such as Buyer Type, Are You Looking To, Client Type, or Role to identify common lead types such as first-time buyers, investors, sellers, or relocating customers.
  • Price Range analyzes budget and price-related fields to determine which price brackets are most common across your submissions.
  • Purchase Timeline analyzes timeline and urgency-related fields to show when leads are planning to buy, sell, or move.
  • Geographic Interest analyzes area, city, neighborhood, and location fields to identify which markets and communities generate the most interest.
  • Property Type identifies the types of properties visitors are searching for including single-family homes, condos, townhomes, land, and multi-family properties.
  • Financing Readiness analyzes mortgage and financing-related responses to identify pre-approved, cash, financed, and financing-needed buyers.
  • Seller Motivation identifies common reasons homeowners are considering selling.
  • Size Preferences analyzes bedroom, bathroom, square footage, and property size requirements across submissions.

These insights update automatically as new submissions are received and reflect only the forms and date range currently selected.

Funnel Analytics

For Multi-Step and Conversational forms, Forms tracks step-level engagement events in addition to completed submissions. This allows you to see exactly where visitors abandon a form and identify opportunities to improve completion rates.

Events Tracked

  • Form Viewed — the form became visible to the visitor on the page
  • Started — the visitor began filling out the form
  • Step Viewed — a form step was displayed to the visitor
  • Step Completed — the visitor completed a step and advanced to the next one
  • Field Abandoned — the visitor left a field or step without completing it

Funnel Reporting

The funnel view helps you identify the following.

  • Where visitors abandon a form
  • Which steps have the highest drop-off rates
  • Which fields create friction
  • How changes to field order, required fields, or step labels affect completion rates

This data is especially valuable for Buyer Consultation, Seller Valuation, Home Search, and other qualification forms where reducing friction can significantly increase conversions.

ROI Email Reports

Forms includes automated ROI email reports that summarize form performance in plain English. Reports focus on what is working, what needs attention, and where opportunities may be slipping through the cracks.

Reports can be sent weekly, monthly, or both.

To configure reports:

  1. Go to WordPress Admin > Forms > Reports
  2. Add one or more recipient email addresses
  3. Enable Weekly Report and/or Monthly Report
  4. Click Save Settings

Reports include:

  • Submission totals
  • Lead volume trends
  • Top-performing forms
  • Top communities and markets
  • Top lead sources
  • Conversion insights
  • Recommendations and opportunities

Use Send Test Report Now to generate and email a sample report immediately.

Migrating from Contact Form 7

If Contact Form 7 is active on your site, a migration tool will appear automatically in the WordPress admin. The tool converts all existing Contact Form 7 forms to Forms, replaces every Contact Form 7 shortcode across your pages and posts with the equivalent Forms shortcode, and offers to deactivate and remove Contact Form 7 when the migration is complete.

  1. Go to WordPress Admin
  2. Locate the Contact Form 7 Migrator notice at the top of the page
  3. Review the list of CF7 forms that will be converted
  4. Click Run Migration
  5. Once complete, optionally deactivate and delete Contact Form 7

The migration does not delete your original CF7 forms until you choose to remove CF7. All existing content is preserved throughout the process.

Migrating from WPForms

If WPForms is active on your site, a migration tool will appear automatically in the WordPress admin. The tool converts supported WPForms forms to Forms and preserves your original WPForms forms during the migration process.

  1. Go to WordPress Admin
  2. Locate the WPForms notice at the top of the page
  3. Review the list of WPForms forms that can be migrated
  4. Review any compatibility warnings for unsupported fields
  5. Click Run Migration

Supported fields are converted automatically and imported into Forms. If unsupported fields are detected, you will be notified before migration begins. Your original WPForms forms and content remain unchanged throughout the process.

Migrating from Fluent Forms

If Fluent Forms is active on your site, a migration tool will appear automatically in the WordPress admin. The tool converts supported Fluent Forms forms to Forms and preserves your original Fluent Forms forms during the migration process.

  1. Go to WordPress Admin
  2. Locate the Fluent Forms Migrator notice at the top of the page
  3. Review the list of Fluent Forms forms that can be migrated
  4. Review any compatibility warnings for unsupported fields
  5. Click Run Migration

Supported fields are converted automatically and imported into Forms. If unsupported fields are detected, you will be notified before migration begins. Your original Fluent Forms forms and content remain unchanged throughout the process.

Migrating from Gravity Forms

If Gravity Forms is active on your site, a migration tool will appear automatically in the WordPress admin. The tool scans your Gravity Forms forms, identifies supported and unsupported fields, and converts compatible forms to Forms while preserving your original Gravity Forms forms.

  1. Go to WordPress Admin
  2. Locate the Gravity Forms Migrator notice at the top of the page
  3. Review the list of Gravity Forms forms that can be migrated
  4. Review any compatibility warnings for unsupported fields
  5. Click Run Migration

Forms performs a pre-migration compatibility scan before importing Gravity Forms forms. Supported fields are converted automatically and unsupported fields are clearly identified for manual review. Your original Gravity Forms forms and content remain unchanged throughout the process.

Migrating from Ninja Forms

If Ninja Forms is active on your site, a migration tool will appear automatically in the WordPress admin. The tool scans your Ninja Forms forms, identifies supported and unsupported fields, and converts compatible forms to Forms while preserving your original Ninja Forms forms.

  1. Go to WordPress Admin
  2. Locate the Ninja Forms Migrator notice at the top of the page
  3. Review the list of Ninja Forms forms that can be migrated
  4. Review any compatibility warnings for unsupported fields
  5. Click Run Migration

Forms performs a pre-migration compatibility scan before importing Ninja Forms forms. Supported fields are converted automatically and unsupported fields are clearly identified for manual review. Your original Ninja Forms forms and content remain unchanged throughout the process.

Bot Protection

All Forms submissions are automatically covered by Real Estate 7’s built-in Bot Protection. No additional configuration is required. To review or adjust the protection settings, go to WordPress Admin > RE7 Options > Bot Protection.

Forms is built directly into Real Estate 7 and gives agents, teams, and developers a single place to create forms, capture leads, analyze performance, and optimize conversions without relying on multiple third-party plugins.