As part of your marketing campaign you may be sending newsletters or other communications that allow you to create custom URLs for your prospects based on information you already know about them from the email list.
For example, you may have a dedicated email service provider containing the email address and name of your leads.
If your system allows you to build dynamic URLs contaning this type of user information, you can direct the recipient to a jInbound Landing Page and pre-fill the sign-up form.
By reducing the amount of work required for your prospects to complete your landing page form, you can increase conversion rates on the form.
This feature requires jInbound 2.1.3 or greater.
Formatting the Form Value Populating URL
It is recommended that you use the raw non-SEF URL to the Landing page, and add the form field population parameters to it.
The Base URL
Generally speaking the URL to your jInbound landing page will be in the format
index.php?option=com_jinbound&view=page&id=XYZ&itemid=ABC
where XYZ is the ID of the Landing Page as found in the first column of the jInbound Landing Page Manager,
and where ABC is the menu item ID associated with the Landing Page found in your menu setup (this is a Joomla feature which ensures that the page is displayed correctly)
The Population Parameter format
The "pop" (for "populate") parameter is an array of default values passed directly to the form's "lead" elements
pop[FIELD_NAME]=FIELD VALUE
where Field Name is the database name of the field as entered in the Field Manager, Not that this is not the Field Title, in order to view the Field Name you will need to go to the Field Manager and select to edit the field you wish to add in order to see the details of the field,
and FIELD VALUE is the value that you wish to pass to that field in the form.
The Form Value Populating URL
Simply add the Population Parameter to your URL using an &
index.php?option=com_jinbound&view=page&id=XYZ&itemid=XXX&pop[FIELD_NAME]=FIELD VALUE
of course if you are using the URL externally you will need to add your domain name as well
https://www.mydomain.com/index.php?option=com_jinbound&view=page&id=XYZ&itemid=XXX&pop[FIELD_NAME]=FIELD VALUE
Example Form Value Populating URLs
For these examples we assume that the ID of the Landing Page is 9, which is has an entry in the menu with item ID 111
Passing a Single Value
Automatically enter the first name
index.php?option=com_jinbound&view=page&id=9&itemid=111&pop[first_name]=Jane
Passing Multiple Values
Automatically enter the first and last name
index.php?option=com_jinbound&view=page&id=9&itemid=111&pop[first_name]=Jane&pop[last_name]=Doe
Passing Values to Lists or Checkboxes
Selecting values for lists and checkboxes works the same as passing values to fields that enter values, however in addition to the Field Name you must enter two square brackets to denote that there is a field increment involved ensuring that multiple items for that field could possibly selected (also use it if only one is required)
Passing the values that populates the fields for Jane Doe , who we know from previously talking to her that she prefers to camp at waterfront sites, in a tent, at radio free and pet free. We have a form that has the checklist for camping (FIELD NAME = camp_choices) preferences that includes the values we happen to know (as well as other values she will be able to enter herself).
index.php?option=com_jinbound&view=page&id=9&itemid=111&pop[first_name]=Jane&pop[last_name]=Doe&pop[camp_choices][]=Waterfront&pop[camp_choices][]=Tent&pop[camp_choices][]=Radio_Free&pop[camp_choices][]=Pet_Free
Populating Data in hidden fields
<>You may want to include fields in your form which the Lead cannot see, but you wish to have populated by the URL. Examples of such fields may be referral or affiliate codes that you have added to the URL in order to track the source of the lead.There is no difference in how you enter such data, the form will recognize the information even though the lead is unable to see it.
Correcting or Changing Fields
While the URL populates the fields, the Lead can still change the options as long as the fields are not "read-only" fields or hidden fields.
Using with MailChimp Merge Tags
MailChimp is a popular email provider and allows you to use Merge Tags to dyanically create content in your newsletters (see the Merge Tags Cheat Sheet for details). For example, *|FNAME|* is the Merge tag for First Name.
Merge tags are commonly used to add a recipients name to the top of a newsletter, but you can also use them when creating links to your jInbound landing page. Here is a sample set of custom values you can add to any jInbound link when inserting URLs in content to pre-populate the fields on the target jInbound Landing page:
&pop[first_name]=*|FNAME|*&pop[last_name]=*|LNAME|*&pop[email]=*|EMAIL|*