42min

    Help Routing forms

    Routing rules

    Rules are where a routing form does its job: each rule has conditions on the form's answers and a destination. When someone submits the form, 42min checks the rules from top to bottom and uses the first one whose conditions match, so order matters. You edit them on the form's Rules tab (open the builder).

    The Rules tab: 'Add Rule' to add a conditional rule above the Default Rule, which is the mandatory fallback ('Applied when no other rule matches'). Each rule's destination is chosen from a dropdown.

    How a rule works

    • Conditions: one or more checks against the visitor's answers, combined with AND ("all of these must be true") or OR ("any of these"). A check looks at a field and tests its value, for example "Team size" is "200+", or "Region" is one of "EU", "UK". (The rule editor shows the exact set of operators: equals, is one of, contains, and so on. Pick what fits the field type.)
    • Destination: where matching people go: an event type's booking page, an external URL, a custom message, or another routing form. See Destinations.

    Order and the fallback

    • Rules are evaluated top to bottom; the first match wins. Put your most specific rules first and broader ones below, otherwise a broad rule grabs everyone before a narrow one gets a look.
    • The last rule is the fallback. It's mandatory and has no conditions; it catches everyone who matched nothing above. Make it a sensible default (commonly your general intro-call event type or a "we'll be in touch" message), so no one ever hits a dead end.

    How to do it

    1. On the form's Rules tab, add a rule. Build its conditions (choose a field, an operator, a value; add more and pick AND / OR).
    2. Set the rule's destination.
    3. Add more rules and order them with the ↑ / ↓ buttons, narrowest at the top.
    4. Configure the fallback rule's destination.
    5. Save, then submit the form yourself a few times with different answers to confirm each path lands where you expect. The form's Responses tab shows which rule each submission matched.

    Detected conditions

    A condition does not have to look at an answer. The source dropdown has a second group, Detected automatically, with values 42min works out on its own when the page opens:

    • Browser language and Time zone, as reported by the visitor's browser.
    • Country, derived from the visitor's IP address.
    • Local time and Day of week, in the visitor's zone or a fixed zone you pick.
    • Device: phone, tablet, or desktop.
    • utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign from the link the visitor arrived on, the Referring page, and any other URL parameter by name.

    A detected value that cannot be determined (a hidden IP, a browser that reports no language) simply never matches, so the Default Rule always has the last word.

    A detected condition: the source reads 'Detected · Country', and the value is a list of country chips.

    Rules that run on page load

    Rules are still evaluated top to bottom, but a rule that uses only detected conditions can be decided before the visitor has answered anything. Every rule above the first rule that needs an answer runs automatically when the page opens, before the questions are shown; those rules carry the badge Runs automatically on page load. The first rule that needs an answer, and everything below it, waits for the submission.

    • Put detected-only rules at the top if you want them to fire on page load. A detected rule placed below an answer rule is evaluated after the visitor submits.
    • A form with no questions at all is decided entirely on page load: the visitor never sees a form, only the destination.
    Both rules use only detected conditions and sit above the first answer rule, so both run on page load.

    Routes decided on page load show on the form's Responses tab as Routed on page load (with the detected language and device on the location line) and in the CSV export's Routed At column, which reads page load or submit. Nobody typed anything, so a page-load route sends no owner notification email, fires no webhook, and starts no CRM sync.

    Where the two counts show up

    Page-load routes are counted separately from submissions, because a visitor who never saw a question did not fill anything in:

    • On the Routing Forms list, a form that has routed anyone on page load gains a second count beside its responses, reading "18 auto-routed". Both counts open the Responses tab. The response count itself is submissions only.
    • The Responses tab lists both kinds of row together, and its total covers both.
    • Analytics → Routing counts submissions only, so the funnel and the conversion rate are not diluted by visitors who were sent straight to a destination. The same goes for the routing counters in the Admin Center.
    'Sales router' routes on page load, so its card carries both counts: 3 submitted responses and 18 auto-routed. 'Talk to us' has no detected rules, so it shows no auto-routed count.

    Common pitfalls

    • Broad rule above a narrow one. "Team size is anything → intro call" placed above "Team size is 200+ → enterprise rep" means no one reaches the enterprise rep, because the broad rule matches first. Reorder so specific beats general.
    • Forgot the fallback (or made it useless). Every form must have one; a person who matches nothing else ends up there. An empty or broken fallback is a dead end.
    • AND where you meant OR. "Region is EU AND Region is UK" can never be true. For "either of these values", use OR (or an "is one of" condition).

    Last updated September 21, 2026.

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