Protect email addresses in your directory with a contact form

The Constituent element's Directory and Profile formats support a Contact Form option that replaces visible email addresses with a "Contact" link, routing messages securely to the staff member's primary email in Constituent Manager without exposing the address. This protects against phishing and spam while keeping communication easy.

Display a staff contact form in your directory in addition to a standard envelope icon or contact link so that families can contact individual staff members directly through a secure window, rather than exposing a raw email address. By choosing to submit contact through a form, you protect your staff directory email staff workflows from phishing and spam, while helping community members reach the right person quickly.

Interested in other options? Check out the article, "Hide directory emails from spammers: Strategies and options."

In this article

• Understanding the user journey
• Step 1: Create a directory page
• Step 2: Configure each Constituent element to display a Contact link
• Step 3: Confirm that a Contact link now displays in that Constituent element
• Step 4: Configure other areas
• Step 5: Publish your page
• Step 6: Manage reporting and confirmations
• FAQs

Understanding the user journey

Users (family and community members) navigate to faculty and staff profiles that may live either in a directory or on department pages. Now, instead of seeing an email address as a text link or email  icon, users will see a Contact Form associated with each faculty or staff member.

• User initiates contact: User wishes to send communication to a specific faculty or staff member.
• User accesses secure form: User clicks the word Contact and a Contact Form opens in the same window.
• Contact is delivered to recipient email: When submitted, the information in the Contact form is delivered to the Primary email address that is connected to the constituent’s account in their Constituent profile in Constituent Manager. A message will appear on the screen letting them know that their message was sent successfully. 

• User receives a confirmation email: The user gets a confirmation message on the pop-up immediately after submission, and they also receive a confirmation email that their form was submitted.
  

Ready to get started? 

Step 1: Create a directory page

Before you configure your Constituent element settings to display Contact forms instead of email addresses, it’s important to understand all of the options you might want to consider for your directory page.

Check out the article, “Create a directory page” to see the bigger picture. 

Step 2: Configure each Constituent element to display a Contact link

Because a directory page might include various Constituent elements selected to display in different formats, you want to be sure to configure each individual Constituent element on your directory page. Once you add a new Constituent element, you can configure its settings to change both the format and how it behaves on your directory page.

A Constituent element can be displayed in the following formats:

• Directory
• Profile
• Search 

In each of these instances, select the Contact Form option next to Email(s). 

The setting that is specific to hiding email addresses and providing a contact form to your site visitors can be found in the following Constituent element settings: 

• Directory format > Constituent Details > Email(s)
• Directory format > Pop-Up Details > Constituent role format > Email(s)
• Directory format > Pop-Up Details > Custom format > Email(s) 
• Profile format > Field Details > Constituent role format > Email(s)
• Profile format > Field Details > Custom format > Email(s) 

Step 3: Confirm Contact link display

Once you have adjusted this setting, the Constituent element should display the word Contact where previously might have been an envelope icon or the email address for a constituent.

• The Contact link will now display under the main Constituent Details and within the Popup Details areas.

Step 4: Configure other areas

Repeat configurations in any other areas (listed in Step 2) so that you have thoroughly hidden all instances of Email addresses displaying on pages. 

Don’t forget to configure each Constituent element’s settings to provide a Contact link in all places.

Step 5: Publish your page

Once you have made your configurations, Publish your page and try it out!

Step 6: Manage reporting and confirmations

Administrators often ask how to verify if a message was successfully sent if a community member claims they haven't received a response.

Where are these messages logged?

Because this feature is designed for direct, secure communication rather than bulk marketing, messages sent via the Contact Form are not logged in a central administrative dashboard. Instead, the system relies on two points of verification:

1. On-screen confirmation: Immediately upon clicking Submit, the user sees a confirmation message on the directory page confirming the message was sent successfully.
   

2. Sender confirmation email: Users will receive a copy of their communication to the provided email address. This serves as the "receipt" for the parent or community member along with the on-screen confirmation. 

What does the user confirmation look like?

When a user submits the form, they receive an on-screen message telling them the message was sent successfully. They additionally receive a confirmation email. This email is an exact copy of the message sent to the faculty or staff member. (See example in the section above, "Understanding the user journey.")

If a parent contacts the school to say they haven't heard back from a teacher, you can ask them to provide their Sender Confirmation Email to verify the date, time, and recipient of the original message.

FAQs

Q: Can a site administrator view a history of all messages sent through these forms? 
A: No. To maintain privacy and security, these messages are delivered directly to the recipient's primary email address. Finalsite does not store a searchable database of these individual communications.

Q: Does the faculty member see who sent the message? 
A: Yes. The email delivered to the faculty member includes the name and email address provided by the user in the form fields, allowing the staff member to reply directly from their own inbox.

Q: Can the faculty member reply to continue communication with the sender? 
A: Yes, there is a statement in the email the faculty member receives that states: "You can reply directly to this email and your response will be sent to the sender's email."