How to Use a WordPress Contact Form to Redirect After Submit

Looking to use a WordPress contact form to redirect after submit? This guide will show you how to easily redirect website visitors easily!

Approximate read time: 4.5 minutes

Controlling your visitor’s experience is powerful.

And redirecting them to private content or a thank you page can help turn them into loyal visitors.

Formidable Forms is the best WordPress Form Builder plugin. Get it for free!

But how can you use a contact form to redirect visitors after form submission?

You’re not a form expert!

Well, this guide is for you. This post will teach you how to redirect your visitors to whatever you want — a page, a file, or even another form!

In a few minutes, you’ll be a master of redirecting users.

Let’s get into it.

How to use a WordPress contact form to redirect after submit
Why redirect website visitors after form submission?

How to use a WordPress contact form to redirect after submit

First, you need Formidable Forms.

Formidable Forms is the most advanced form builder WordPress plugin for your WordPress site.

It makes forms simple while making them eye-catching to your visitors.

And while other plugins (like the Contact Form 7 plugin) do similar things, we don’t think they do as well.

Plus, it’s compatible with all the top themes (like Elementor Pro).

But, best of all, you can use the free version of Formidable Forms and create something amazing.

We recommend checking out the premium version of the plugin. It has tons of great features like:

Email service integration (MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, and more)
Plenty of form templates
Conditional logic
Form landing pages
And waaaaay more features!

Get Formidable Forms now!

But know you don’t need the premium version for this tutorial. So, get Formidable Forms installed and activated, then it’s super simple.

Follow these three easy steps, and you’ll have a beautiful contact form in no time:

Create your contact form
Set up your redirect settings
Display your contact form

Step 1: Create your contact form

First, head to your WordPress dashboard.

Then, go to Formidable → Forms and click Add New in the top left.

You can start with a pre-made template (premium) or a Blank Form.

If you’re a premium member, you have access to a library of templates, like:

So, we recommend picking one that suits you best.

Then, type in a name for your form and click Create.

Next, you’ll use its drag-and-drop form builder.

This builder makes things simple for anyone who has used a computer before. (Which is basically everyone at this point, right?)

Formidable's drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to build forms

Simply drag any field you need to the form.

Another benefit of the premium version is accessing more form fields.

But creating a great contact form doesn’t need these fields.

So, feel free to play around with your form and create something that fits your needs.

Then, once you’re finished, click Update to save your changes.

Now, we’ll head to our Settings tab at the top of the page to set up our redirect action for when users submit their forms!

Step 2: Set up your redirect settings

In your Settings tab, choose Actions & Notifications.

Next, scroll down to FORM ACTIONS and choose Confirmation.

Then, scroll down to the Confirmation action.

Choose Redirect to URL, then paste your URL into the Redirect URL section.

For example, if you want to redirect a contact form to a Thank You page, this is where you enter the page’s external URL.

Once you enter your URL, click Update.

Your form is ready to redirect visitors when they click the submit button.

But what if you want open a new page for your redirect?

How to open redirect URL in new tab

Let's say you want to keep your website page open and have the form redirect to a URL in a new tab.

Is that possible?

It is!

To do this, we'll switch it up a bit. Instead of going to the Redirect to URL tab, we'll choose the Show Message tab.

Next, type the following into the message box:

<script>
window.open('**YOUR URL**', '_blank');
</script>

This will redirect the user to your URL in a new tab as soon as they submit the form. So, for example, this would redirect users to Formidable's home page:

So, if you want your form to redirect users to a page in a new tab, this is an easy way to do it!

Now we need to get your form on your site! But you've done the hard work.

Step 3: Display your contact form

First, head to the page for your form.

Next, add a WordPress block, search for Formidable, and then add Formidable’s block.

Formidable's WordPress block displays a form easily

Last, choose your form from the dropdown menu and click Update on your post or page.

And your form is live!

If you’d prefer to use a shortcode, Formidable can do that, too!

Displaying your form with a shortcode

First, go to your form, click Embed → Insert Manually and then copy the WordPress shortcode.

Next, head back to your post or page, add a WordPress shortcode block, and paste your code.

Last, click Update, and your form is ready to go.

Why redirect website visitors after form submission?

Okay, you know how to redirect your form visitors, but you may not know why you would.

And there are many ways to benefit your website visitors with this method.

Let’s look at a few.

Submission confirmation. Make it clear. Visitors will know they submitted their form successfully and you received the info.
Provide more information. Giving the visitor more information helps improve your relationship!! And that leads to a better connection with them.
Offer next steps. Sometimes it’s unclear what the visitor should do next. So tell them! You lower the chance they bounce out of your user flow and build a relationship.
Sell something. This is the perfect chance to offer your product, depending on the situation! Or upsell them if they’re already a customer!
Avoid more than one submission. Multiple submissions happen from time to time. And a redirection helps make sure it doesn’t…at all.
Show off your branding. Your brand is everything in the online world. Reinforce it with a page to show off your nice logo and a custom message (with your personal touch).
Privacy information. Show that you care about your customer’s privacy by redirecting a contact form after submitting to a page that gives privacy and security information.
Nurture those leads. When a customer submits a form, it’s an opportunity to open a relationship with them. And the perfect way to do that is with more information or a follow-up email or call.
Alert. You may need to display DOM events or related alerts. So redirect the visitors straight to it.

So, for all those reasons, here's a better question.

Why wouldn’t you redirect visitors after form submission with Formidable Forms?

Get Formidable Forms now!

Wrapping up

Well, whaddya think? Pretty easy, right?

There are other plugins (WPForms, the Contact Form 7 redirection (CF7 redirect), Gravity Forms), but they don't offer the flexibility of Formidable.

And you’ll understand what we mean once you use it.

You don't have to stop here, though. You can keep learning about redirecting after form submissions!

And, if you want more tips and tricks straight to your device, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube!

How to Use a WordPress Contact Form to Redirect After Submit