If you have an interactive recipe finder chatbot on your site, adding an email capture form can turn those helpful chats into valuable lead generation sessions. (Email is far from dead, it’s consistently one of the highest ROI channels). And by the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to set up the form, customize it to match your brand, and prepare it to send the promised recipes to your readers.
Throughout the guide, I’ll be using the Popups & Forms feature in LeadsWithDemos to build and trigger the AI recipe finder email capture form at the right moment (pop-ups grab attention, while embedded forms blend naturally with your content).
I’m opting for an embedded form that displays inside the chat interface so it feels like part of the conversation with the AI Recipe Finder assistant, rather than a popup modal. (You could choose a popup form instead; it would simply open in a separate modal window).
This tutorial focuses on building the form itself; in our earlier How to Create an AI Recipe Finder Assistant guide, we set up the AI Assistant and a CTA button, and in a follow-up article I’ll show how to send the recipe email using an AI email writer.
With that context, let’s look at how the form works in practice before we move into the exact steps you’ll take to implement it.
AI Recipe Finder Email Capture Form Overview
An AI recipe finder email capture form is essentially an email capture form that appears during your AI assistant’s interaction to collect a reader’s email (and other info) in exchange for something valuable; in this case, the list of recipes they just received.
By integrating the form into the AI’s flow, you ensure the offer to “save recipes for later” comes at the perfect time, when the user is already engaged and finding value in your content. The result is a more interactive experience that not only helps the reader but also builds your subscriber list.
Here’s the typical flow: a reader asks your AI recipe assistant for, say, vegetarian pasta recipes. The AI responds with a list of tailored recipes. At the end of the answer, the assistant poses a carefully-timed question: “Want to save these recipes for later?”.
If the reader clicks the confirmation (for example, a Yes, email them to me! button), the embedded email capture form is triggered. This form will appear directly under the chat response, keeping the reader in context. By designing the form to feel like part of the chat, users are more likely to fill it out, since it feels like a natural extension of the help they’re already getting.
Pro Tip: Keep the tone of the form aligned with your AI assistant’s personality. If your AI recipe finder has a friendly, casual voice, make sure the form’s headline and button text match that vibe. For example, a heading like “Save These Recipes for Later!” and a button that says “Yes, email them to me” feels like a natural continuation of the chat.
Before proceeding, note that this overview assumes you have already created the AI Recipe Finder Assistant on your LeadsWithDemos site (if not, check out my earlier tutorial on that). The “Yes, email them to me!” CTA button should be configured as described in the setup guide.
In the next section, we’ll actually build the form that will handle those email capture interactions. Let’s get started with the step-by-step implementation, using the tools available in the LeadsWithDemos platform.
Step-by-Step Implementation
Now we’ll create and customize the embedded email capture form for our AI recipe finder assistant. I’ll use a pre-designed template available in LeadsWithDemos, which speeds up the process (no need to build the form from scratch!). Follow these steps to set up your AI recipe finder email capture form and get it ready to publish:
Open the Forms section of your LeadsWithDemos site.
- In your LeadsWithDemos dashboard’s left navigation menu, click on Site, then select Popup & Forms. This will take you to the area where all your email capture forms and pop-ups reside.
Switch to the templates library.
- At the top of the Popup & Forms page, click the Popup Templates tab. This opens the template library, which includes premade form designs. Using a template will save us time.
- In the search bar of the templates library, type “AI Recipe Finder”. You should see a template called AI Recipe Finder | Save Recipes Form | 1. This is the form specifically designed for our use case.
Copy the template into your account.
- Once you locate the Save Recipes Form (Embedded) template, click the options menu (the three dots) on that template’s card.
- Choose Copy to Popup & Forms. This action imports the template into your own Popups & Forms list.
- Now you have a personal copy that you can edit. Navigate back to the main Popup & Forms tab, and you’ll see the newly copied form in your list of forms.
Mark the form as a lead capture form.
- On your copied form’s listing, click the options menu (three dots) on that form’s card.
- Select Set as Lead Gen Form. You should see a little “Lead Gen Form” label appear on the card once it’s set.
This step is crucial because it tells the platform to treat this form as a lead collection tool (meaning it will store the submissions and count them as subscribers).
Pitfall: Skipping this step could mean the form won’t capture and store emails properly, undermining the whole goal of our email capture. Always ensure the form is marked for lead generation so all submissions go into your database.
Open the form in the visual builder.
Now it’s time to edit the form’s content and design.
- Click the Design button to launch the visual form builder. This will open an editor where you can see a preview of the form and tools to modify text, fields, and styling. It will appear as a modal window.
Customize the form content and fields.
In the form editor, adjust the text and questions to fit your blog’s voice. Make sure the headline clearly states the value; for example, a bold heading saying “Save These Recipes for Later!” reminds the user what they’ll get. Next, ensure the form has the key fields needed for this email capture campaign, including:
- First Name – so you can personalize emails (“Hi Alex, here are your recipes…”).
- Email Address – obviously, to know where to send the recipe list.
- Consent Checkbox – a small checkbox asking the user to agree to receive emails, with a link to your Privacy Policy. This is important for compliance and transparency.
- Any dietary needs? – a dropdown or checkbox group (e.g., Vegan, Gluten-free, No Dairy). This will be asked progressively to help you build a complete subscriber profile and tailor recipes and future content.
You can add or remove fields as needed, but keep the form short and relevant. Edit the body text to maintain a conversational tone (for instance, you might add a line like “I can send you this list of recipes. Just let me know where!” within the form description). Choose wording that matches how your AI assistant speaks, so it feels cohesive.
Also take a moment to adjust styles: colors, fonts, and spacing should align with your website’s branding. A visually consistent form looks more trustworthy and keeps users from feeling like they’ve left your site’s experience.
Confirm the submit behavior.
- While still in the form builder, click anywhere inside the form to open the settings panel on the right.
- Check the Submit Action setting.
- Set it to Lead Form (in LeadsWithDemos, this option ensures the submission is treated as a subscriber and triggers any connected automation, like sending an email or adding to your email list).
Save and publish your changes.
- Once you’re happy with the form’s content and settings, click Save (found at the bottom-right of the editor). Saving will apply your changes to the form.
Now your embedded email capture form is ready to use. It won’t appear on your blog until it’s triggered, which we’ll handle when setting up the email capture campaign.
That’s it! You’ve built the AI recipe finder email capture form for your AI recipe finder. At this stage, the form exists in your LeadsWithDemos site’s system. The final tasks are to connect it to the AI assistant’s prompt and to set up the actual email delivery.
The next step is to configure an email capture campaign so that when a reader clicks the “Yes, email them to me!” button in the chat, it triggers this new form to appear at just the right moment.