Form Distribution

Sharing a form via a public link works when anyone can respond. But when you need to send a form to a specific list of people and track who has responded, you need distribution.

ProBeya form distribution lets you send personalized form links to a list of recipients, monitor per-recipient engagement in real time, and send reminders to people who have not yet responded.

Overview

Distribution differs from public link sharing in several ways:

Feature	Public link	Distribution
Audience	Anyone with the link	Specific named recipients
Tracking	Aggregate submission count only	Per-recipient status (pending, opened, started, completed)
Reminders	Not available	Manual or automatic reminders to non-responders
Identity	Anonymous unless respondent provides email	Email address known from the recipient list
Unique links	Same URL for everyone	Each recipient gets a unique URL with a tracking token

Setting Up Distribution

Step 1: Prepare the Form

Distribution is only available for published forms. If your form is still in draft, publish it first.

Step 2: Open the Distribution Panel

1. Navigate to the form in your project.
2. Click the Distribution tab.
3. Click + Distribute Form.

Step 3: Add Recipients

You can add recipients in two ways:

Manual entry: Type each recipient's email address and optional name. Click Add to add them to the list.

CSV import: Upload a CSV file with columns for email and name (name is optional). The system validates email addresses and skips duplicates.

Example CSV format:

email,name
[email protected],Maria Santos
[email protected],Kenji Watanabe
[email protected],Claire Dupont

Step 4: Customize the Email

The distribution email includes:

• The form title and description
• A personalized greeting using the recipient's name (if provided)
• A unique link to the form with a tracking token embedded in the URL
• Your organization's branding

Step 5: Send

Click Distribute to send the invitation emails. Each recipient receives their personalized link immediately.

Tracking Responses

After sending a distribution, the Distribution Status panel shows real-time engagement data.

Per-Recipient Status

Each recipient progresses through these states:

Status	Meaning
Pending	Email sent, but the recipient has not clicked the link yet
Opened	Recipient clicked the link and viewed the form
Started	Recipient began filling in the form (partial submission)
Completed	Recipient submitted the form successfully

Aggregate Statistics

The dashboard shows:

• Total recipients — how many people received the form
• Opened — how many clicked the link (includes started and completed)
• Started — how many began filling in the form
• Completed — how many submitted a complete response
• Response rate — percentage of recipients who completed the form

Reminders

Manual Reminders

Click Send Reminders on the distribution panel to send a reminder email to all recipients who have not yet completed the form. This includes recipients in pending, opened, and started states.

Each recipient's reminder count and last reminder timestamp are tracked so you can see how many reminders have been sent.

Reminder Best Practices

• Wait at least 2-3 business days between reminders
• Send no more than 3 reminders total before following up personally
• Review which recipients are in "opened" vs "pending" state — those who opened but did not start may have a problem with the form itself

OTP Verification

For forms that require identity verification but where respondents do not have ProBeya accounts, you can enable OTP (One-Time Password) verification.

How It Works

1. The respondent navigates to the form URL.
2. Instead of seeing the form immediately, they are prompted to enter their email address.
3. ProBeya sends a 6-digit OTP code to their email.
4. The respondent enters the code on the form page.
5. Once verified, the form is displayed and the respondent can fill it in.

Security Details

• OTP codes are 6 digits, cryptographically random
• Codes expire after 10 minutes
• Maximum 5 attempts per code before it is invalidated
• Codes are stored as SHA-256 hashes in the database (the plaintext code is only in the email)
• Previous codes for the same (form, email) pair are invalidated when a new code is generated
• The response always returns { sent: true } regardless of whether the email exists, preventing email enumeration attacks

When to Use OTP

• Internal surveys where you want to verify respondent identity without requiring a ProBeya account
• Compliance forms where the respondent's email must be confirmed
• Any form where you need verified identity but the audience does not have login credentials

Combine distribution with OTP

You can use distribution (personalized links) together with OTP verification. The distribution token tracks engagement, while OTP confirms the respondent's email identity. This gives you both tracking and identity verification.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Recipient did not receive email	Check that the email address is correct. Verify your email delivery service (Resend) is configured. Check spam folders.
Distribution token shows as invalid	The token may have been used with a different form, or the form may have been unpublished.
OTP code not arriving	Ask the respondent to check spam. OTP emails are sent via Resend and may be filtered by corporate email security.
Response rate stuck at 0%	Verify that the form is still published. Check that distribution emails were actually sent (look for delivery errors in the logs).
Cannot distribute a form	Only published forms can be distributed. Change the form status from draft to published first.