Most WordPress contact forms are plugins that send an email from your own server. That has two weak spots: mail sent from a web host often lands in spam or never arrives, and the plugin's spam protection is one more thing to configure and keep updated.
A form that posts to InboxPanda skips both. Your site only shows the form. The message goes to your inbox, where spam is set aside, each real message is labeled and summarized, and you get the email from InboxPanda's mail servers, not your host's.
1
Before you start
Create an inbox: type your email on the home page and press Create your inbox. There's no password and no card. Open the link we email you to claim it.
2
Step by step
- 1
In InboxPanda, open Settings, then Messages in, and copy the HTML code. It's a form with name, email and message, already pointing at your inbox, with a hidden spam trap.
- 2
In WordPress, open your contact page in the editor.
- 3
Add a Custom HTML block where the form should go, and paste the code.
- 4
Press Preview to see it in your theme, then Update or Publish.
The code looks like this, with your own endpoint in it:
HTML<form action="https://inboxpanda.io/f/your-form-id" method="POST"> <label>Name <input name="name" autocomplete="name" required></label> <label>Email <input name="email" type="email" autocomplete="email" required></label> <label>Message <textarea name="message" required></textarea></label> <!-- Spam trap: keep it hidden --> <input name="_honey" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off"> <button type="submit">Send</button> </form>
Your theme styles the inputs and the button like any other on your site. Add or remove fields as you like: every field needs a
name, and that name is what you'll see in your inbox.- 1
3
Send visitors back to your site
After sending, visitors see a thank-you page. To send them to a page of your own instead, like
/thanks, either set it in InboxPanda under Settings, then After someone sends, or add a hidden field to the form:HTML<input type="hidden" name="_redirect" value="https://yoursite.com/thanks">
The page has to be on the same site as the form. A page on another site is ignored.
4
Check it works
Open your contact page and send the form from a different email address than your own. It shows up in your inbox within a few seconds, and you get an email about it.
If it doesn't arrive, look in Spam: a message that only says "test" can land there. Press Not spam to bring it back.
5
Already using Contact Form 7, WPForms or Gravity Forms?
Swap the plugin's form for the HTML above on your contact page, and leave the plugin where it's still used while you compare. Once nothing uses it, deactivate it: one fewer plugin to update.
You also stop tuning the plugin's spam settings. InboxPanda's spam filter checks every message, and Panda reads whatever gets past it, including the hand-typed SEO pitches that captchas let through. See How to stop contact form spam.