Html form in email

Question

I have created an html form with text boxes and radio buttons ect. I can email the form to an email address.

now the problem, when i fill in the form and click reply, i only get my blank html form back no values were left inside the textbox's.

Please help

Answer 1

Complex HTML doesn't mix with many email clients. Forms are especially poorly supported.

Link to an HTML document available over HTTP instead. People can click a link and open it in a regular web browser.

Answer 2

What Quentin said holds water, many email clients (cough, outlook) are very specific in regards to their support for HTML emails. In fact most don't even support div's or embedded <style> blocks. Let alone an HTML form.

Your best bet is to use a URL that they click on, which in-turn opens up a form for them to fill out. If you need to capture some of their information automatically (such as email). you can generate query strings and in your mailer have it add the information in dynamicallly..

i.e; <a href="http://awesomeform.com/form.php?email=$client_email">

In email it would look like: http://awesomeform.com/form.php?email=[e-mail]

Either way

If you are insistent on attempting this, use the email boilerplate to get you started. It has a ton of "best practices" and tips/tricks built right into it.

http://htmlemailboilerplate.com/

Answer 3

We did some fairly extensive research about HTML forms in emails for a client of ours. The bottom line is that it barely works, so it’s best to link to a form in a browser. Here’s the article (and chart) with our results:

http://www.flitehaus.com/blog/2011-06-20-can-i-include-form-email