Instant AI Sign-up Forms

An Instant AI sign-up form appears on your website and asks new shoppers to subscribe. Shoppers who submit the form are added to your subscriber list and enrolled in your Welcome Flow.

You build the form in a block editor, the same way you build emails in Instant AI. You choose the blocks, the order of the steps, and how the form looks on desktop and on mobile.

Why you need one

Shopify only collects subscribers through your footer form and the checkbox at checkout. A sign-up form gives shoppers another way to subscribe while they browse.
Shoppers who subscribe through your Instant AI form go straight into your Welcome Flow.
A quiz step saves each shopper’s answer to their profile, so you can segment on it later.

How to set it up

Before you start

You can have one sign-up form per site.
Your form uses your Brand Kit for its fonts, colours and button styles. Check your Brand Kit first, so your form starts with the right look.
If you use another pop-up tool (for example, Klaviyo or Alia), turn off its sign-up form before you publish this one. If both are live, shoppers see two forms.

Click Signup Form in the left menu of your Instant AI dashboard.
Open the Template tab.

The Template tab shows each step of your form as a card, from left to right. The Configuration panel on the left holds the settings for the whole form.

Choose how and when your form shows

In the Configuration panel:

Select a Layout: Popup, Flyout, Full page or Banner.
Select a Pop-up delay: Immediate, Short (5 seconds), Medium (15 seconds) or Long (30 seconds).
Turn on Let shoppers skip if you want a skip link under the button.

Choose where shoppers see your form

Your form shows on all pages by default. To show it only on some pages, or to hide it on some pages:

In the Configuration panel, go to Where shoppers see this form and click Edit.
Add a filter. You can filter by Page type, Page URL contains, Page path is exactly, Device type or Known shopper.
Select Show if to show the form only where the filter matches, or Don’t show if to hide it there.
Click Save & Apply.

Don’t show if another pop-up is open is on by default. It stops your form from opening while another pop-up, like a Klaviyo form, is open on the page.

Tip: Page URL contains matches the full page address, including ?utm_ parameters. Use it to show your form only to shoppers from one campaign.

Open your form from your own button, link or script

You can open your form when a shopper clicks a button on your store or opens a link. Your developer can also open it with a script.

In the Configuration panel, go to Open from your own button (below Banner).
Click the copy button for the option you want. Each one fills in your form’s ID.

Copy code copies <button data-instant-form="FORM_ID">Sign up</button>. Add it to a button on your store. A click on the button opens the form.
Copy link copies https://yourstore.com/?instant_form=FORM_ID. Share it in an email, a social post or an ad. The form opens when the page loads.
Copy script copies window.InstantJS?.forms?.open("FORM_ID");. Give it to your developer to open the form from your own code.

Note: Your form must be published, and it still follows Where shoppers see this form. The button code and the script work on Shopify stores only. The link works on all stores.

Add and arrange steps

A form can have up to 4 steps before the success step.

To add a step, click Add quiz step or Add blank step in the New step column.
To change a step, hover over its card and use the toolbar to Edit step, Duplicate step, Move step left, Move step right or Delete step.
To rename a step, click its name above the card.

Note: A new quiz step always goes in as Step 1. You can move it later with the left and right arrows.

Edit a step

Hover over a step card and click Edit step.
Drag a block from the Add blocks panel onto the form.
Click a block on the form to change its settings in the side panel.
Click Save changes to save and go back to the Template tab.

To leave without your changes, click Discard changes. This puts the step back the way it was when you opened the editor.

These blocks are available:

Group	Blocks
Basics	Logo, Text, Button, Image, Disclosure
Field	Field, Quiz
Structure	Layout, Divider, Spacer

Field collects an email address, phone number, first name or last name. Select the type in the block’s settings. A form can have only one email field.
Layout splits a row into columns: 100, 50/50, 33/66 or 66/33. You can put any block inside a column, for example an image in one column and your text and fields in the other.
Text blocks show a toolbar when you click into them, so you can change the text style in place.
Disclosure holds the consent text for SMS. Your store name and your privacy policy and terms links fill in from your Shopify store.

Tip: Use the undo and redo buttons above the form if you change something by mistake.

Design for desktop and mobile

Use the device toggle above the form to switch between desktop and mobile.

To hide a block on mobile, turn off Show on mobile in the block’s settings.
To keep columns side by side on mobile, turn off Stack on mobile in the Layout block’s settings. When it is on, the columns stack on top of each other.

Turn on Preview to see the step without the editor controls.

Add a quiz

Click Add quiz step on the Template tab, then click Save in the Your quiz will run first window.
Write your question in a Text block.
Click the Quiz block and add your answers. A quiz needs at least 2 answers.

Each quiz saves the shopper’s answer to their profile. The first quiz on your site saves to QUIZ_1, the next one to QUIZ_2, and so on.

Note: A quiz does not collect an email address or phone number. Add a step after the quiz with an email or phone field, or the form cannot be published.

Use quiz answers in your emails

When a quiz answer adds a Shopify tag to the shopper, you can use that tag in a Smart Rule to show different content in your welcome flow or campaigns.

In the Quiz block, open each answer and add a Shopify tag (for example, quiz-sleep-light)
Open the email you want to personalise and click the block to change
Under Smart Rules, click Add Smart Rule, then Create New Rule
Click Add filter, select Shopify Tag, and choose the tag for one answer
Click Save & Apply and add the content for that answer
Repeat for each answer with + Add rule

The answer is also saved to the shopper’s profile as QUIZ_1, so you can use the Profile attributes filter instead of a tag.

For the full steps, see How to use Smart Rules in your emails.

Capture phone numbers

Add a step, or open an existing one.
Add a Field block and set its type to Phone.
Keep the Disclosure block that Instant adds with the phone field. You cannot publish an SMS step without it.

Keep email and phone on separate steps. Shoppers can skip the phone step if you turn on Let shoppers skip.

Publish your form

Your changes save automatically as a draft. The status next to the page title shows Draft or Live.

Go to the Template tab.
Click Publish.
Click Publish again in the Publish sign-up form window.

If something on the form stops it from working on your site, the window says This form cannot be published yet and lists what to fix. Click Open editor to go to the step that needs fixing. Common alerts are:

Identity field is missing: add an email or phone field.
Messaging disclosure is missing: add a Disclosure block to the step with the phone field.
Image alt text is missing: add alt text to the image in the block’s settings.
Button label is empty: add text to the button.

Some alerts are cautions. They do not stop the form from working, so you can still click Publish with cautions.

To take your form off your site, click Unpublish.

How it works

When the form shows

The form shows on your site after the Pop-up delay you chose.
It shows only on the pages you set in Where shoppers see this form. By default, this is all pages.
It shows on desktop and mobile, unless you filter by Device type.
It does not open while another pop-up is open, unless you turn off Don’t show if another pop-up is open.
Shoppers who submit the form do not see it again.
Your own button, link or script opens the form when the shopper clicks or opens it. A shopper who closed the form can open it again this way.

What happens when a shopper subscribes

The shopper is added to your subscriber list in Instant AI and enrolled in your Welcome Flow.
Their name, phone number and quiz answers are saved to their profile.
If you are connected to Klaviyo, the shopper syncs to Klaviyo as a new profile. Instant also syncs their marketing consent to Shopify.

How fonts and styling are applied

Your form carries its own fonts and styles. It takes them from your Brand Kit, and you can change them in the editor. Your Shopify theme does not change how your form looks, so the form in the editor matches the form on your site.

How to read your analytics

Open the Insights tab on the Signup Form page. It compares sign-ups from your Instant AI form with sign-ups from all other sources.

Use the controls at the top of the tab to choose what you see:

Change the date range to see a different period.
Select emails, SMS or emails & SMS to see one channel or both. The default is emails & SMS.

The cards, the chart and the table all use the date range and channel you choose.

Instant form submissions: the number of shoppers who subscribed through your Instant AI form, and their share of all new subscribers.
Total new subscribers: new subscribers from every source, including Shopify, Klaviyo, Alia and Instant.
Submissions by source: the percentage of new subscribers from each source.
Submissions: new subscribers over time.
Email/SMS submissions: each submission, with the email address, phone number, date and the form it came from. You can search it by email.

Export your submissions

Open the Insights tab on the Signup Form page.
Set the date range.
Select emails, SMS or emails & SMS.
To export only some shoppers, type in Search email.
Click the download button next to Search email.
Click Download CSV in the Export ready window.

The export has the same submissions as the Email/SMS submissions table. Each row is one submission, with these columns:

Email
Phone
Submitted At (in UTC)
Form Provider (Instant, Klaviyo or Shopify)

Note: emails and SMS both include shoppers who gave an email address and a phone number. The cards above count only shoppers who gave one or the other, so the table and the export can have more rows than the cards show.

FAQ

Can I have more than one sign-up form? No. Each site has one sign-up form.

Can I show my form only on some pages? Yes. Use Where shoppers see this form to show or hide the form by page type, page URL, page path, device or known shopper. See Choose where shoppers see your form above. You cannot target the form by location or cart.

Can I open my form from my own button or link? Yes. In the Configuration panel, go to Open from your own button and copy the button code, the link or the script. The button code and the script work on Shopify stores only. The link works on all stores. See Open your form from your own button, link or script above.

Can a shopper open the form again after they close it? Yes, if they click your own button or open your form link.

Can I add a coupon block, a spin-to-win wheel or a countdown? No. These blocks are not available. Write your offer in a Text block. Your Welcome Flow sends the coupon code by email.

Can I add other field types, like a birthday or a dropdown? No. A Field block collects an email address, phone number, first name or last name. Use a Quiz block to ask a question with set answers.

Where do I find quiz answers? On each shopper’s profile, under the quiz property (for example, QUIZ_1). You can filter shoppers and build segments on it.

I had a sign-up form before the new editor. Do I need to rebuild it? No. Instant converted your existing form to the new editor. Open it on the Template tab to check it and make changes.

Why does my form look different from my website? Your form uses your Brand Kit, not your Shopify theme. Update your Brand Kit or change the styles in the editor.

Can I export the shoppers who signed up? Yes. Open the Insights tab, set the date range and channel, and click the download button next to Search email. See Export your submissions above.

Can I export submissions from my Instant AI form only? Not from the dashboard. The export includes your Instant AI, Klaviyo and Shopify form submissions. Filter the Form Provider column in your spreadsheet to keep one source.

For more on how your form and Welcome Flow work together, see How to Use Sign Up Forms and Welcome Flows with Instant AI.

Need more help? Submit a ticket.