Lead capture
What Happens to Data in Unfinished Form Responses?
What is saved before Submit, how to delete it, and what to explain to people filling out your forms.
Three-sentence summary
With Partial responses enabled, Nod saves answers while a person fills out your form, even if they never click Submit. As the business acting as controller, you must explain that collection, choose an appropriate purpose and legal basis, and decide how long you need the data. You can disable the feature for each form, but doing so does not delete partial responses already saved.
How partial responses work
Partial responses is in each form’s Settings tab and is enabled by default. Saving begins when someone answers the first question: opening the link or viewing the welcome page does not create a response. This applies to Nod forms shared through a link, on your landing pages, or embedded on your website.
Once a response starts, answers are saved about a second and a half after the latest change, when moving between pages, and when switching tabs or closing the page. Nod saves the answers provided so far, the current question, the response language, and the score those answers would produce.
In Responses, unfinished responses are marked Partial, with the question where the person stopped. The drop-off panel helps identify where people leave. If the person finishes and submits, the same response becomes complete without creating a duplicate.
Partial saving does not trigger Slack alerts, Meta events, the final screen, or form-submitted automations. A saved response does not mean the person finished the form or asked to receive marketing messages.
Create the lead even if they don’t finish
Create the lead even if they don’t finish is off by default. If enabled, once a partial response contains an email address or phone number, Nod creates the contact with the form as its source and adds it to your sales board. An existing lead stays in its current column until submission.
Before enabling this, decide why you need the contact. Analyzing form drop-off and contacting someone who did not finish are separate purposes. Explain both if you plan to use both. Entering an email address or phone number does not itself authorize advertising.
What respondents see—and what they don’t
The person continues filling out the form normally. Do not assume they know data is saved before Submit: your business must provide the notice before they start answering.
To connect saves from the open page, the browser uses a temporary identifier that lasts only while the page is open. This feature uses no cookies or persistent browser storage. Reloading or returning another day starts a new response rather than automatically recovering the earlier one.
To limit abuse, Nod keeps a keyed digest of the IP address for 24 hours, rather than the address in plain text. This helps limit saves from the same address. It should not be described as a guarantee of anonymity.
Who handles the data and who can see it
Your business is the controller of its leads’ personal data. Nod acts as processor on your behalf. Using Nod does not replace your decisions about purpose, notices, legal basis, or retention.
Only team members in your business with access to Forms can view responses. Each business is isolated from others. Data is hosted on European Union servers through Supabase; Vercel hosts the application.
Your responsibilities as controller
- Inform people before collecting answers. Put a clear notice on the welcome page or in the first question’s help text, linking to your privacy policy. Explain that answers are saved as they type, even without submission.
- Update your policy. Describe the data, your purpose—for example, improving the form and, where applicable, contacting people who did not finish—your legal basis, and retention period. Do not copy a purpose that does not match your practice.
- Choose an appropriate legal basis. Legitimate interests require assessing and documenting necessity and the impact on individuals. Consent must be freely given, informed, specific, and unambiguous; typing does not imply consent. If you rely on consent, obtain it before the processing it covers.
- Assess marketing separately. Under the Spanish rules, advertising by email or equivalent electronic means generally requires a prior request or authorization, subject to applicable legal exceptions. Legitimate interests alone do not override that requirement. Ask a privacy professional to assess your circumstances and relevant jurisdictions.
- Collect only what you need. Avoid sensitive questions unless essential and appropriately justified. An unfinished response can still contain personal information that needs protection.
- Handle rights requests and review retention. From the lead’s record, you can download their data for access and portability and delete the lead for erasure. Also address rectification and objection requests rather than simply storing them without action.
- If you do not want unfinished responses saved, disable Partial responses for that form. Separately review what to do with existing responses: switching it off does not delete them.
Enable or disable the settings
- Open Forms and select the relevant form.
- Select Settings.
- Find Partial responses and enable or disable it according to your decision.
- Review Create the lead even if they don’t finish separately. Enable it only after defining and explaining that purpose.
Retaining and deleting responses
Complete and partial responses remain saved while your business keeps them. This does not mean you should retain them indefinitely. Set a period appropriate to your purpose and delete data you no longer need.
Deleting a lead from the leads list also deletes their responses. Deleting the form deletes its responses. Before doing so, review which records you still need and why. Avoid deleting an entire form if you still need other responses it contains.
Disabling Partial responses only stops new partial saves; it does not clear history. If a response has no linked lead, do not assume it can be found through a contact record. Ask Nod how to handle that case without deleting unrelated information.
Frequently asked questions
Is a response saved when someone only opens the form?
No response is created until the first question is answered. Viewing the welcome page does not create a partial response.
Does this feature use cookies?
No. The identifier is temporary and is not stored persistently in the browser. This describes partial responses, not other tools you may have added to your website.
Can someone ask me to delete what they typed?
Yes. A partial response may contain personal data. Handle the request as controller and use lead deletion where appropriate. If no contact is linked, ask Nod about the case.
Does abandonment notify my team or Meta?
Saving a partial response does not trigger Slack alerts, Meta events, or form-submitted automations.
What happens to existing responses when I turn the feature off?
They remain saved. You must decide separately whether to retain or delete them.
Can I contact everyone who entered an email address?
Not automatically. Possessing the address does not establish permission to send advertising. Assess the purpose, legal basis, and rules for the channel you use.
Can someone recover their answers another day?
No. Reloading or returning another day starts a new response. Submitting within the same session completes the existing response without duplicating it.
Copy-ready notices
Adapt these templates before using them. Replace every placeholder with accurate details and turn the privacy-policy reference into a working link. A notice informs people; it does not itself collect consent. If consent is needed, check how to obtain it before processing starts.
Short form notice
We save your answers while you fill out this form, even if you do not submit it, for [purpose]. Learn how we use and retain your data in our [privacy policy].Business privacy-policy template
[name] saves the answers you enter in our forms while you complete them, even if you do not click Submit, for [purpose]. We process the answers, your current question, the language used, and the score derived from those answers. Our legal basis is [applicable legal basis]. If we enable early contact creation, we use the email address or phone number provided for [contact purpose and applicable conditions]; entering these details does not itself imply consent to advertising. We retain this data for [retention period]. We use Nod as a processor to provide the form service. You can request access, rectification, erasure, or objection and, where applicable, portability or withdrawal of consent by contacting [contact email].Final note
This page provides general guidance, not legal advice. Ask a qualified professional to review your notices, legal basis, and retention periods for your business. Compliance depends on how each business configures and uses its forms.