How to send website form entries to a spreadsheet and your inbox automatically

Every enquiry from your website lands in your inbox. Someone copies the name, email and message into a spreadsheet, then tells the team. On a busy day, one gets missed. This guide shows how to make that happen automatically, in about an hour, usually on a free plan.

Before you start: check your form builder

Open your form’s settings first. Many website builders and form tools can already send entries to email, and some can connect to a spreadsheet directly. If yours can, use that: it is one less tool to look after. Use Zapier or Make when your form cannot do it, or when you want several things to happen at once.

Which tool to use

What you want	Tool	Plan
Add each entry as a spreadsheet row	Zapier	Free: two-step Zaps, 100 tasks a month
Add a row and send an email or chat alert	Make	Free: 1,000 credits a month, several steps in one scenario
Several steps in Zapier	Zapier	Paid Professional, displayed from $19.99 a month

A “task” in Zapier and a “credit” in Make are counted differently, so 1,000 credits is not ten times as much as 100 tasks. As a rough guide, if you get fewer than 100 enquiries a month and need one action, Zapier Free covers it.

Step 1: Prepare the spreadsheet

Create a new sheet with one column for each form field, plus two extra columns:

Date received	Name	Email	Phone	Message	Source page	Status

The Status column (New, Contacted, Won, Lost) turns the sheet into a simple follow-up list. Keep the header row exactly as it is once the workflow is running; renaming columns can break it.

Step 2: Connect your form

In Zapier or Make, start a new workflow and choose your form tool as the trigger (“new form entry”). Sign in to your form account when asked and pick the right form. Then submit one test entry on your website so the tool can see what the data looks like.

If your form tool is not in the list, look for a webhook option in your form settings. A webhook sends each entry to a web address that the automation tool gives you.

Step 3: Add the spreadsheet row

Add an action: “create spreadsheet row” in your spreadsheet app. Choose the sheet, then match each column to a form field: Name to Name, Email to Email and so on. For Date received, use the entry’s submission time. Leave Status as “New”.

Run a test. Check that the row appears with every field in the right column.

Step 4: Add an alert (optional)

In Make, add a second step that sends an email or a chat message to the person who handles enquiries. Include the name, the message and a link to the sheet. In Zapier, this second action needs a paid plan, or a separate two-step Zap that uses another task per entry.

Keep the alert short. The goal is that someone replies the same day.

Step 5: Test five fake entries

Before switching it on, submit five test entries:

1. A normal enquiry.
2. One with no phone number.
3. One with a very long message.
4. One with an accent or special character in the name, such as “José”.
5. The same email twice.

Check each one in the sheet and the alert. Delete the test rows afterwards.

Step 6: Plan for failures

Automations break quietly. Turn on error emails in your automation tool, and check its run history once a week for the first month. Things that commonly break a workflow:

• the sheet or a column is renamed;
• the person who connected the account leaves, or their password changes;
• the form gets a new field that is not mapped;
• the free plan’s monthly limit runs out.

Keep the original email notification from your form switched on as a backup.

Common mistakes

• Collecting more than you need. Do not ask for data you will not use.
• Sharing the sheet with everyone. Enquiries contain personal details; share only with the people who reply.
• No one owns the sheet. Decide who checks new rows each day.
• Forgetting the limit. If enquiries grow, check your monthly usage before it runs out mid-month.

What to do next

Once entries arrive reliably, add a follow-up step: a reminder if the Status is still “New” after two days. When your team outgrows a spreadsheet, a CRM does the same job with more structure; see our guide to choosing a CRM. To choose between the two tools, read Make vs Zapier.