Drip offers two ways you can collect subscriber information: Embedded Forms and Onsite. Both are designed to help you grow your list, but they serve different purposes and include different functionality. Understanding the differences will help you decide which tool is best suited for your needs.
In short:
- Embedded Forms are best when you need simple, static forms with spam protection
- Onsite Pop-ups are best when you want dynamic, personalized experiences that adapt to visitor behavior.
Let’s get to know more about the two features below.
Embedded Forms
Embedded Forms are simple, static forms that you place directly into your website’s code. They are always present on the page where you embed them, and their behavior does not change based on visitor activity.
Key Capabilities
- reCAPTCHA v3 integration for spam protection.
- This helps reduce bot signups and ensures higher-quality leads.
- Full control over styling through your website’s CSS.
- Once placed on a page, the form remains available to any visitor without additional targeting rules.
- Data collection through fields and tags that can be mapped directly into Drip.
- GDPR and compliance support with consent checkboxes and data fields.
When to use Embedded Forms
- Newsletter signups in the footer or sidebar of your website.
- A contact form that is always available on a “Contact Us” page.
- Lightweight, static signups that don’t require personalization.
- When needing to add the same form multiple times on the same page.
What to Consider
- Embedded Forms require manual placement in your website’s code.
- They are not dynamic or behavior-based. Every visitor sees the same form in the same location.
- Styling requires familiarity with CSS for customization.
- Embedded Forms don’t show submission analytics in the forms list view, submission data has to be pulled via a “Submitted a form” Segment.
Onsite Pop-ups
Onsite is Drip’s advanced, modern pop-up product. It allows you to display dynamic, personalized experiences to your visitors without touching your website’s code once it’s installed. Onsite supports a variety of form formats and includes tools for targeting and segmentation.
Key Capabilities
- Dynamic form experiences, including popups, slide-ins, sticky bars, and inline placements.
- Advanced opt-in experiences like multi-step, quizzes, and gamification are available.
- Built-in design editor to customize the look and feel of forms without coding.
When to use Onsite Pop-ups
- Offering a discount pop-up to first-time visitors.
- Showing a cart abandonment bar to returning customers.
- Running seasonal or campaign-based promotions that appear only under certain conditions.
- Collect emails with engaging gamification campaigns.
- Collect zero-party data with Onsite quizzes.
What to Consider
- Onsite does not currently include reCAPTCHA v3.
- If spam protection is your primary concern, Embedded Forms may be more appropriate.
- Since Onsite forms are loaded via Drip’s script, they are not permanently visible unless conditions are met.
- Drip’s JavaScript snippet is the direct link between your Drip account and your website.
- Because targeting rules can be complex, more setup time may be required compared to Embedded Forms.
- Onsite embedded forms can only be added once per page.
Using Both Embedded Forms and Onsite Together
In review:
- Embedded Forms are great for static, always-available signups that require strong spam filtering.
- Onsite can help create more dynamic, personalized experiences that capture attention and drive conversions at key moments in the customer journey.
By combining the two, you can balance reliability and security with flexibility and growth.