Invisible fields are one of those tiny features in our product that power users love and enterprises use all the time. Maybe right now you find yourself saying, “What are invisible fields? I have never seen them…” Hehe, Get it?...Okay moving on...All puns aside, invisible fields are really neat and can do some powerful things. Invisible fields are regular text fields and multiple choice fields that you can set as invisible on your page. They are still there, but become invisible to your customers who are completing the page. We will explain more below.
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Here are 3 methods to get data into invisible fields.

  • Use Default Value: This is found in the advanced settings as well. Not only are you setting the field to invisible, you are giving it a value as well. This is if you want to add a piece of data to every customer without them having to insert it or know it was there.
  • Set the Value through a URL: Once your invisible field is on your page, you can dynamically populate it with any value (say a code or reference) using a special URL at the end of your page. Learn more about setting values through a URL.
  • Set the Value When Editing A Order: When editing a customer’s order or registration, the admin will be able to see the invisible field and insert a value in it.

Okay, now that you know the basics of the invisible fields and how to set their values, here are 6 powerful ways the pros use invisible fields.
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1. Sales Tracking For Affiliates and Partners

Create an invisible field called affiliate and make it not-required. Then as you want to track sales agents, affiliates, partners or heck, even specific ad links, you would set the value of the invisible field through the URL. For each source you want to track, you would create a link like: mydomain.regfox.com/myform?registrants.affiliate=yourcode.
‍ProTip: Use a URL shortener service like Bitly to make your urls short and hide your secret parameters.
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2. Unlock Secret Features or Pricing

Similar to using the secret affiliate tracking URL, you can use the URL to unlock other features of your page or even give modified pricing. You would create a hidden text field and could call it override. The you would use actions to set conditional logic for what happens for each override. Here a few examples of some actions.

  • When Override value contains “VIP”, show VIP options
  • When Override field contains “brodeal”, discount the price 60%
  • When Override field contains “comp”, modify price to $0

You would set the invisible field for override through the URL to unlock these fields and pricing options.
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3. CRM Settings for Salesforce or Hubspot

If you use a CRM like Salesforce or Hubspot and want to sync your data to them, it’s likely your CRM will require specific values for each customer in order to integrate. Some examples of this might be include settings for pipeline, stage, source types, accounting codes, etc. You can easily overcome this by creating an invisible field for each requirement of your CRM.
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For example, you can create an invisible text field labeled "Stage" and use the default value of “closed.” The default value means that when a customer loads your page, the value will automatically be inserted into the page and their order (without them knowing of course). Then when each customer submits an order and their data goes to your CRM, the appropriate stage or pipeline is set.
‍ProTip: Be sure to check out our Zapier integration that gives you over 400 integrations!
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4. A/B Testing

If you want to A/B test your page, you could set up multiple variations of options on your page. Then add an invisible text field and call it “version.” Using a combination of show/hide actions, you hide or show the different variations of your form when the invisible field is triggered. Then sending the version type (ie: version a, version b) through the URL to the invisible field, you can run your experiments. Then, each customer order will contain the the version number and you can compare the highest performing version.
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5. Accounting Codes

If you have an accounting department that really needs detailed tracking for accounting purposes (such as long accounting codes for their general ledger), you can make their dreams come true.  This works especially well if you are trying to track multiple options within the page. You would create a multiple choice field with the various possible accounting codes. Then make that multiple choice invisible. Then using actions, use the Set Value property to set the appropriate accounting code for the option you need to track. Ex: When Premium Registration is selected, Set Value of Accounting Code to XXX-XXXX.
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6. Admin Overrides

Similar to unlocking pricing or special fields, you can build in a way to give your administrators some secret admin overrides when editing orders. Remember, invisible fields will be visible to admins when editing an order. In this case, you can create a hidden multiple choice field that will run some operations when choosing the selection as an admin when editing the order. You can make these selections run some super admin powers with actions. Here are a few examples.

  • Make specific fields not required any more
  • Add additional notes for follow-up
  • Make overrides on pricing or upgrade people at no charge
  • Retroactively apply discounts and incentives
  • Display previously hidden selections and options
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The Sky's The Limit

Invisible fields are really powerful once you understand how they work and what they can do. While this covers the most common uses of invisible fields, you really can use them for whatever purposes you need. Let us know in the comments below for what you think and any other uses you have used them for. Thanks for reading!