⚙️Forms Made Simple: How to Get the Most Out of Your Member Splash Forms

Whether you’re collecting waivers, selling guest passes, or running a club event RSVP, forms are one of the most powerful tools available in your Member Splash system. When built thoughtfully, forms can help your club collect payments, waivers, and information quickly — and keep your records tidy and organized.

In this article, we’ll cover how to set your forms up for success, avoid common hiccups, and make the most of a few useful features you might not be using yet.

📋 Simplify Forms for a Smoother Experience

The best forms are clean, clear, and quick for members to complete. Whenever possible:

Keep forms focused on one purpose — like a waiver form or guest pass request.
Use dropdowns, checkboxes, and radio buttons to control options and avoid input errors.
Limit open text fields unless necessary to keep data organized and easy to report on.

This not only makes it faster for your members but easier for your staff to track submissions.

🖊️ Make Waivers Easier with the Member Checkbox

If your club requires a waiver for each family member, Member Splash makes it simple with our Member Checkbox field.

When members log in, they’ll see a list of everyone on their account and can select who the waiver applies to — no need to fill out separate forms for each person.

Why It’s Great:

Cuts down on duplicate submissions
Keeps all waivers connected to the household account
Simplifies recordkeeping for staff

And remember — waivers reset at the end of each season (December 31st), so you can start fresh each year.

⚠️ Common Form Pitfalls (And How to Avoid Them)

While our forms are user-friendly, a few missteps can slow things down. Here’s what to watch for:

Common Issue	Quick Fix
⚠️Payment form not working	Double-check that your Product, Total, and Credit Card fields are included and your Payment Feed is active.
⚠️Notifications not sending	Ensure the “Sent From” email matches your site’s admin email to prevent spam filters from blocking messages.
⚠️Waivers missing members	Use the Member Checkbox field to display the household members for easy selection.

💳 Setting Up Forms That Process Payments in Member Splash

If you’re using Member Splash to collect payments through forms, it’s important to configure them correctly to ensure accurate tracking and a smooth experience for both your members and staff. Here’s a simple guide to help you set up payment forms the right way:

📌 Recommended Payment Methods

We recommend offering credit card as the only payment method on your online forms. Member Splash is designed for online transactions, and there are no built-in tools for recording check or cash payments made outside the system.

If you wish to include ACH payments, you’ll need to:

📌 Be signed up with Ecrypt and have ACH processing enabled.
📌 Add an ACH payment method field to your form.
📌 Use conditional logic to display the ACH fields only when ACH is selected as the payment option.

✅ Required Fields for Any Payment Form

To properly process online payments, your form must include the following:

✅ At least one Product field (to assign pricing to an item or service).
✅ A Total field to display the final amount due.
✅ A Credit Card field (set as required).

If you’re offering more than one payment type:

✅ Add a Payment Method field so the member can select their preferred option.
✅ Use conditional logic to display the Credit Card field only when Credit Card is selected.

💡 Optional: Add an Online Service Fee

If you’d like to pass along an online processing fee, you can set this up within your form settings. Read our article on how to add a service fee.

📍 Highly Recommended Payment Fields

To improve transaction security and reduce payment errors, we suggest:

📍 Requiring a billing address for credit card payments.
You can enhance this by enabling address autocomplete for faster and more accurate entries. Learn how to add address autocomplete.
📍 Requiring an email address field on all forms that accept online payments. This ensures your members receive payment confirmations and receipts.

⚙️ Understanding the Payment Icons on Your Forms Index

Your forms list includes icons that indicate whether a form collects payments and what type. This makes it easy to identify and manage your payment-enabled forms at a glance.

🔄 Payment Feeds Setup

For a form to successfully process payments, it must have an active payment feed:

🔄 One Credit Card payment feed is required for any form collecting credit card payments.
🔄 If offering ACH as an option, create a second ACH payment feed.
🔄 Use conditional logic on your payment feeds so the correct feed runs based on the member’s selected payment method.

📝 Quick Recap

✔️ Credit Card = default recommended payment method
✔️ ACH = requires Ecrypt opt-in + ACH field + conditional logic
✔️ Must include: Product, Total, and Credit Card fields
✔️ Add Payment Method field if offering more than one option
✔️ Use conditional logic for both payment fields and feeds
✔️ Require billing address and email for better security and communication

📚 Helpful Resources

📝 Form Setup Tips & Best Practices

When it comes to building forms in Member Splash, simplicity is your best friend. Keeping your forms clean and easy to navigate ensures a better experience for both your members and your staff.

💡 #1 Tip: Keep It Simple

The most common issue we see with forms is overcomplicating them with things like variable pricing, multi-person entries, or date-based pricing adjustments. While it might seem helpful, these setups can quickly become difficult to manage — and increase the chances of errors.

A better approach: Think of it like the old days of mailing in a check with a paper form. Members would tally up their total based on a pricing sheet. You can mirror this simplicity in your online forms by keeping pricing straightforward and avoiding too many conditional calculations.

📧 Confirmations vs. Notifications — Know the Difference

Confirmations and Notifications serve two different purposes in your forms:

📧 Confirmations: This is the message a member sees on their screen immediately after submitting a form. It lets them know their submission was successful and can provide next steps or a thank-you message.
📧 Notifications: These are the emails automatically sent to designated recipients when a form is submitted. You can send these to multiple people — like the member who submitted the form, your swim coach, and the club admin — to keep everyone in the loop.

⚠️ Common Mistake to Avoid: Notification “From” Address

The most frequent issue we see with form notifications is an incorrect “From” email address.

Pro tip: Make sure the From Email in your notification settings matches the Admin Email listed in your site’s General Settings. This helps avoid delivery issues and ensures your messages don’t get flagged as spam.

📄 Waivers: How They Work & Best Practices

Member Splash now includes a new field type called the Member Checkbox, designed to simplify how waivers are submitted for households. Instead of requiring a separate waiver submission for each person on an account, one member can now submit a single waiver that covers everyone for whom a waiver is required.

🔍 How It Works

Since each household account uses a single login for all its members, the waiver is submitted by one account holder on behalf of the others. Rather than requiring individual logins for children or other members, this process allows for a smoother, more efficient experience.

Tip: Update the language in your waiver forms to reflect this practice. For example:

“Use the Member Checkbox field to submit one waiver that includes all members on your account for whom a waiver is required.”

📑 What Waiver Submissions Record

When a waiver is submitted, it captures:

The name of the person submitting
Their Member ID
The name of the form
The date it was submitted

Important: If you change the form’s name later, historical submission records associated with the previous name will not carry over. Be mindful of this when updating forms from season to season.

📆 Waiver Expiration

Waivers are built to support seasonal use, expiring automatically on December 31st each year. Members must submit new waivers at the start of each calendar year.

If you mark a waiver as required, members will be restricted from making payments, booking reservations, or accessing other key features until all required waivers for their account are submitted.

Recommendation: Use the Member Checkbox to easily include everyone on the account in a single submission and avoid hold-ups at the start of the season.

📈 Need Something More Custom?

If you have a unique form idea or need help building something more advanced — like multi-step registrations or complex conditional pricing — our team is here to help.

Reach out to Member Splash Support or ask about our Managed Member Splash services for hands-on form creation and optimization.

💙 Final Thought

Member Splash forms are built to make your club’s operations smoother and more organized. By following a few simple guidelines and taking advantage of helpful features like the Member Checkbox and conditional logic, you can create clean, reliable forms that your members — and your staff — will appreciate.

Questions? Need a hand? Contact our support team anytime. We’re happy to help.