Troubleshooting list addition issues in the Constant Contact Forms Plugin for WordPress

Submissions from your WordPress sign-up or "contact us" form are not ending up on your Constant Contact List

WordPress Plugin users only: The following instructions are for customers who are using Constant Contact Forms for WordPress on their WordPress site. This plugin will let visitors to your WordPress site join your mailing list through a form that is synced to your Constant Contact account.

If you experience issues with people joining your list through the Contact Form on your WordPress site, but the names aren't ending up on your Constant Contact list, there are two things you should check:

• Opt-in checkbox
• WP_CRON

If you continue to experience an issue after trying the steps above, please visit our Constant Contact Forms Plugin Support Forum.

Opt-in checkbox

If you chose to enable the opt-in checkbox when you created your form, it prevents sign-ups to your list unless the box is checked. It's an extra step to ensure that the people submitting the form want to be added to your list and is especially handy if you're using a "contact us" form instead of a sign-up form. To check that the Opt-in checkbox is working properly:

1. Click Contact Form > Forms.
2. Place your cursor over your sign-up form and click "Edit."
   
   
    
3. Expand the Form Options menu.
4. Scroll down to the Email opt-in section and look for the "Opt-in checkbox." If it is selected, it's likely that your sign-ups aren't checking the box when they submit the form and therefore aren't being added to the list. If it isn't selected, continue to the WP_CRON section.
   
   
    
5. Preview the form on your webpage or blog post to see if the box is visible:

• Human error - It may just be that your contacts aren't checking the box. If you preview the form on your webpage or blog post and see the checkbox, there isn't much you can do beyond updating the messaging on your form to make it more clear that the box needs to be checked.
• Conflicting code - If you have the option checked and you don't see it when you preview your webpage or blog post, you may have code that is hiding the checkbox and making it un-checkable. The conflicting code needs to be removed so the box becomes visible for your contacts to select.

Get permission: Using sign-up forms ensure that you receive and document express consent from your contacts, which satisfies Constant Contact's email permission policy as well as GDPR and CASL regulations. Enabling the opt-in checkbox gives you the confidence that those who are signing up for your list really want to receive your content and are less likely to unsubscribe later.

WP_CRON

If you have WP_CRON disabled for any reason, or have issues with WP_CRON, the API request to add the name from the form to your Constant Contact list might not execute. Constant Contact Forms will opt-in the sign-up through a cron job roughly a minute after the form is submitted. If WP_CRON is disabled, or there are other issues that hinder WP_CRON's execution, the opt-in code won’t run, and the name won't get added to your list.

• If WP_CRON has been disabled purposely, you'll need to evaluate why - it needs to be enabled for the Contact Form to work properly.
• If it has not been disabled intentionally, debugging why WP_CRON scheduled items are failing to run is a broader topic, requiring someone with developer knowledge to help.

Constant Contact Forms version 1.2.5 has an option available to bypass using the WP_CRON system. The option was originally implemented to prevent potential performance degradation or lag due to remote requests and makes the API requests send immediately after form emails have been sent.

1. Click Contact Form > Settings.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Check/deselect "Bypass Constant Contact cron scheduling."
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.
   
   
    

WordPress resources:

• Core Control
• WP-Crontrol
• W Cron Status Checker

Any links we provide from non-Constant Contact sites or information about non-Constant Contact products or services are provided as a courtesy and should not be construed as an endorsement by Constant Contact.

Questions?