Two different emails
A form usually sends two emails, with different jobs:
- The notification tells your team something came in. Its job is to get the right person to act, so put the useful details in the subject: the form's name and, where it helps, who sent it.
- The confirmation goes to the person who filled the form in. Its job is to confirm the message arrived and say what happens next. "Thanks, we have your enquiry and will reply within two working days" prevents most repeat submissions and chasers.
How they are sent
Both are sent by jobs (formerly hooks), which run when a submission is completed and can email, or send the submission to another system. Forms Autoresponder shows how to set up a confirmation email, and Hooks covers jobs in general. Setting them up is usually an administrator's task, so tell them what each email should say and who should receive it.
Sending to the right place
Send notifications to a shared address rather than a person: people change roles and take leave, an enquiries address does not. When different submissions need different teams, route on an answer in the form, such as an enquiry-type dropdown, instead of having one person forward everything.
Beyond email
When a form feeds a process rather than an inbox, a job can send each submission to another system, such as a chat channel or a CRM. It is worth knowing before anyone starts copying submissions across by hand.
Check it still works
Notifications fail quietly: an address changes, someone leaves, a mail filter is added. Every so often, send a test through the live form and check that it arrives where it should.