How to use smart forms in HubSpot

Last updated on May 4, 2026 by Lusine Sargsyan

Goal

In this guide, we'll show you how to display the right HubSpot form to the right person at the right time based on specific visitor criteria to reduce friction and personalize the user experience.

How to use smart forms in HubSpot - YouTube

How to use smart forms in HubSpot

In this video

• 00:00 What are smart forms?
• 00:28 How to create a smart form?
• 03:05 Publish your smart form

Step-by-step guide

Requirements

• A HubSpot Professional or Enterprise subscription.

1. Navigate to Your Page

• Go to the Content section in the left navigation bar.
• Select either Landing Pages or Website Pages depending on where your form is located.
• Click on the name of the specific page you wish to edit (e.g., a webinar registration page).
• Inside the Content editor, click directly on the form module to select it.

2. Configure Smart Rules

• Locate the Smart rules section in the left panel.
• Click the dropdown menu labeled Select a category under the Show different content based on section.
• Choose a category for your rule:
  • Ad source: UTM parameters in the page URL
  • Contact list (segment) membership: cookie-based contact matching
  • Contact lifecycle stage: cookie-based contact matching
  • Country: visitor's IP address
  • Device type: browser user agent
  • Referral source: where the visitor came from
  • Preferred language: browser language settings
  • Query parameter: values in the page URL
• Click Add a rule.
• Select the specific criteria you want to target (e.g., specific lifecycle stages like leads, marketing qualified leads, or customers).
• Click Save.

3. Customize the Form for the Smart Rule

• Look at the Editing for field at the top of the left panel.
• Click the dropdown to switch from the Default version to the smart rule audience you just created.
• Select the specific form you want this audience to see.
• Click Apply changes.

4. Publish the Changes

• Review both the Default and Smart versions of the form.
• Click the Publish button (for new pages) or the Update button (for live pages) in the upper right corner of the editor.

Common problems and solutions

What happens if a visitor matches more than one Smart Rule?

HubSpot applies rules in the order they are listed. The first matching rule takes priority, so arrange your rules from most specific to most general.

Why is my device type rule not targeting visitors accurately?

Device type is determined by the user agent of the visitor's browser, which can sometimes be manually changed on a device. HubSpot notes that accurate segmentation for device type cannot always be guaranteed for this reason.