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Best practices for interactive forms

Here you will find our guidelines on creating effective interactive forms that both maximize engagement and ensure reliable delivery.

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Limit the Number of Questions

We recommend keeping your forms concise and focused:
  • Start small and test your form before adding more questions
    • Begin with around 3-4 questions per form to see what resonates with your audience and avoid overwhelming them
    • If necessary, add questions slowly to find an optimal length
  • Use Kinetic’s form analytics to determine which questions perform best

Analytics Dashboard

Track performance, analyze user behavior, and measure the uplift of interactive forms.
 Starting with fewer questions helps you understand what resonates with your audience and prevents form fatigue.

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Monitor Email Size Limits

Email size is critical for deliverability and functionality:
  • Hard limit: Your email cannot exceed 200kb total or interactive elements will not display
  • Recommended size: Stay under 110kb for optimal deliverability
  • Check your email size: You can see the size of your email inside the Kinetic template-preview panel, which shows the total template size including all interactive form elements

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Start with Clickable Questions

The first question sets the tone for engagement:
  • Avoid starting with open text input fields - they create a higher barrier to entry
  • Begin with choice questions or NPS ratings that require just a click
  • Once users click and see the email is interactive, they’re much more likely to continue engaging
This approach makes the initial interaction effortless for the user and demonstrates the interactive nature immediately.

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Use Pages

Multi-page forms improve the user experience and enhance data collection:
  • Collect partial responses in AMP and Apple Mail (default for all Pro plans)
    • Answers are stored when the user navigates to new pages, allowing you to collect data even if they do not fully complete the form
  • We recommend using 1 question per page for simple forms such as preference surveys
  • Splitting forms into pages can help to:
    • Keep emails shorter and reduce scrolling
    • Create a cleaner, less cluttered appearance
    • Reduce hesitancy / friction to begin your form

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Communicate Interactivity Clearly

Help users understand they can interact directly in the email:
  • Keep in mind that many subscribers have never received an interactive email before
  • We provide an Interactivity Indicator (enabled by default) that displays a small animated gif to indicate the form’s interactivity.
    • We recommend leaving this enabled
  • Consider adding instructional text when fitting, such as:
    • “Click below to respond directly in this email”
    • “This form works inside your email”
Clear communication encourages participation by setting proper expectations and reducing friction.

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Additional Tips

  • Test your forms thoroughly across different email clients

Email testing checklist

Read more about the best practices for testing your interactive email templates before sending.
  • Monitor analytics regularly to optimize question types and order
  • Consider your audience’s context when timing form deployment
  • A/B test different question formats to maximize engagement
    • Create two versions of your form to test the best fit for your audience. Consider testing:
      • Amount of questions
      • Question type (e.g. image selection vs. choice buttons, free text input vs. choice)
      • Wording
    • Check the analytics for your different forms in the Kinetic dashboard to determine which is converting better. More details on our analytics dashboard can be found here.