You've driven traffic to your landing page, your offer is compelling, and visitors are ready to convert—but your form isn't working. Few things are more frustrating than watching potential leads bounce because of a technical glitch you didn't even know existed. Broken forms silently kill conversions, and every hour they remain unfixed means lost revenue and wasted ad spend.
The good news? Most form issues stem from a handful of common culprits, and you can diagnose and fix them systematically without needing a developer on speed dial.
This guide walks you through a proven troubleshooting process to identify exactly why your landing page forms aren't working and get them back online fast. Whether submissions aren't going through, validation is blocking legitimate entries, or your integrations have quietly disconnected, you'll have a clear path to resolution by the end of this guide.
Step 1: Verify the Form Actually Submits
Before diving into complex diagnostics, you need to confirm the fundamental issue: is the form actually attempting to submit data, or is it failing before it even tries?
Start by testing the form yourself in incognito or private browsing mode. This eliminates cached JavaScript files, stored cookies, and browser extensions that might interfere with form functionality. What works for you in a normal browser session might fail for visitors with different browser configurations or ad blockers enabled.
Open your browser's developer console by pressing F12 and navigate to the Console tab. Submit your form while watching for error messages. JavaScript errors appear in red and often reveal exactly what's breaking. Common culprits include conflicting scripts from multiple tracking tools, outdated jQuery libraries, or Content Security Policy headers that block the form action.
Here's what to look for: Does the submit button actually trigger an action, or does it just provide visual feedback without sending data anywhere? Click the button and watch the Network tab in your developer console. You should see a POST request being sent. If nothing happens, the button's onclick event might be broken or missing entirely.
Test across multiple browsers and devices. A form that works perfectly in Chrome might fail in Safari due to different JavaScript engine behaviors. Mobile Safari, in particular, handles form submissions differently than desktop browsers. If your form works on desktop but fails on mobile, you've isolated a browser-specific bug that requires targeted fixes.
Pay attention to ad blockers and privacy extensions. Tools like uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger can interfere with tracking pixels embedded in forms or block form submissions they perceive as tracking mechanisms. Test with these extensions disabled to rule them out as the cause.
Step 2: Check Your Form Validation Rules
Validation rules protect your database from junk data, but overly strict requirements often block legitimate submissions without providing clear feedback to users.
Review every required field in your form. Are you asking for information that users might legitimately leave blank? Hidden required fields are particularly problematic because users can't see them but the form won't submit without them. This often happens when forms are copied from templates that include fields later hidden with CSS.
Email validation deserves special attention. Many forms use outdated regex patterns that reject valid email addresses with newer top-level domains like .ai, .io, or .tech. Test your form with email addresses from various providers, not just Gmail. Try addresses with plus signs, dots in unusual places, and international domains to ensure your validation accepts them.
Phone number validation causes frequent problems for international users. If your form requires a specific format like (555) 123-4567, international visitors with different formatting conventions will hit a wall. Consider whether you actually need strict phone formatting or if you can accept various formats and clean the data on the backend.
Special characters in text fields often trigger false validation errors. Names like O'Brien or José get rejected by forms that only accept basic alphanumeric characters. Company names with ampersands, hyphens, or parentheses face similar issues. Your validation should accommodate real-world data variations, which is why understanding why generic forms fail to capture the right information helps you build smarter validation logic.
Test the error messages themselves. When validation fails, does the form clearly indicate which field has the problem and what format is expected? Vague error messages like "Invalid input" frustrate users without helping them fix the issue. Each validation error should provide specific, actionable guidance.
Look for validation that fires too aggressively. Some forms validate fields as users type, showing error messages before they've finished entering data. This creates a frustrating experience that can cause abandonment even when users would have entered valid data.
Step 3: Audit Your Backend Integrations
Your form might be submitting perfectly, but if the data isn't reaching your CRM or email platform, you have a broken integration that's just as problematic as a broken form.
Start by verifying that all your integrations are still authenticated. OAuth tokens typically expire after 30 to 90 days without refresh. When they expire, your integration silently fails without notifying you. Log into your form platform and check the connection status for every integration. Look for warning icons or "reconnect" prompts that indicate authentication has lapsed.
Check webhook endpoints if you're using custom integrations. Webhooks can fail for multiple reasons: the receiving endpoint might have changed URLs during a platform update, authentication credentials might have been rotated, or the endpoint might be timing out under load. Review your webhook logs for HTTP error codes like 401 (unauthorized), 403 (forbidden), or 500 (server error).
Many platforms provide integration logs that show exactly where data stops flowing. Navigate to your integration settings and look for a logs or activity section. These logs reveal whether data is leaving your form successfully but failing to reach the destination, or if the integration isn't even attempting to send data. Learning how to integrate forms with CRM properly from the start prevents many of these silent failures.
Perform an end-to-end test by submitting a form with distinctive test data you can easily track. Use an email address like test-20260216@yourdomain.com with today's date, so you can search for it across all your systems. Submit the form, then verify the data appears in your CRM, email platform, and any other connected tools. Time how long each step takes to identify bottlenecks.
API rate limits can cause intermittent integration failures. If your form receives a sudden surge of submissions, your CRM's API might throttle requests, causing some submissions to fail while others succeed. Check your API usage dashboard for any rate limiting notifications.
Review your integration mapping to ensure fields are correctly matched between your form and destination platform. A form field labeled "Company" might need to map to "Account Name" in your CRM. Mismatched field mappings cause data to be rejected or land in the wrong place, making it appear as if submissions aren't working.
Step 4: Investigate Server and Hosting Issues
Sometimes the problem isn't with your form at all but with the infrastructure hosting it.
Check if your hosting provider has rate limiting or security rules that might be blocking form submissions. Services like Cloudflare provide DDoS protection that can inadvertently flag rapid form submissions as suspicious activity. If multiple people test your form in quick succession or if legitimate users submit multiple times after receiving error messages, these security systems might start blocking requests.
SSL certificate status directly impacts form functionality. An expired or misconfigured SSL certificate can prevent forms from submitting on HTTPS pages. Modern browsers block mixed content, which means if your form action points to an HTTP endpoint while your page loads over HTTPS, the submission will be blocked with a mixed content warning in the console.
Navigate to your server error logs to look for 500-level errors or timeout issues. These logs reveal server-side problems that don't always generate visible error messages for users. A form might appear to submit successfully from the user's perspective but fail on the server before data is processed or stored.
Verify your domain's spam protection settings. Some email security tools and hosting providers implement aggressive spam filtering that can flag form submissions as suspicious. This is particularly common when forms send data via email rather than storing it in a database first. Check your spam filter settings and whitelist your form's sending address.
Server resource limitations can cause forms to fail under load. If your hosting plan has memory or CPU limits, a traffic spike might push your server beyond its capacity, causing form submissions to time out. Review your hosting metrics during the time period when form problems occurred to correlate failures with resource constraints.
Content Security Policy headers, while important for security, can break form functionality if misconfigured. These headers control which external resources your page can load and where forms can submit data. If your CSP is too restrictive, it might block legitimate form actions. Review your CSP settings and ensure form endpoints are whitelisted.
Step 5: Test Mobile Responsiveness and Accessibility
Desktop testing misses critical issues that only appear on actual mobile devices, where the majority of your traffic likely originates.
Submit your form on real mobile devices, not just browser simulators or responsive design mode. Simulators don't accurately replicate touch behavior, keyboard interactions, or mobile browser quirks. Test on both iOS and Android devices using different browsers. Safari on iOS handles forms differently than Chrome on Android, and both differ from their desktop counterparts.
Check if touch targets are appropriately sized for mobile interaction. Small radio buttons, checkboxes, or submit buttons that work fine with a mouse cursor become frustrating on mobile when users struggle to tap them accurately. The recommended minimum touch target size is 44x44 pixels. Buttons that are too small lead to misclicks and form abandonment. If you're seeing high drop-off rates on mobile, your forms may not be mobile friendly enough for today's users.
Verify that mobile keyboards display correctly for each field type. Email fields should trigger the email keyboard with the @ symbol readily accessible. Phone number fields should bring up the numeric keypad. URL fields should show the .com key. When field types aren't properly set, users face unnecessary friction entering data.
Test autofill compatibility across different devices and browsers. Mobile browsers rely heavily on autofill to speed up form completion, but poorly configured forms can conflict with autofill features. Field names and autocomplete attributes need to follow standard conventions for autofill to work reliably. When autofill fails or populates fields incorrectly, users often abandon the form rather than manually correcting the data. Our guide on how to optimize forms for mobile covers these technical details in depth.
Use accessibility testing tools to catch focus and tab-order issues that impact keyboard navigation. Users who navigate forms with keyboards rather than mice need a logical tab order through fields. If focus jumps randomly or gets trapped in certain fields, the form becomes unusable for keyboard-only users. Screen readers also depend on proper form structure to announce fields and errors correctly. Understanding how to design forms for accessibility ensures you're not excluding potential customers while also improving usability for everyone.
Step 6: Implement Monitoring to Prevent Future Failures
Fixing your form is only half the battle. You need systems in place to catch future issues before they cost you significant conversions.
Set up form submission alerts that notify you immediately when conversion rates drop. Most analytics platforms can trigger alerts when metrics fall below historical averages. Configure an alert that fires if your form submission rate drops by more than 20% compared to the previous week. This catches problems within hours rather than days or weeks.
Create a weekly integration health check routine. Schedule 15 minutes every Monday morning to verify that all your form integrations are still connected and functioning. Submit a test entry and confirm it appears in all connected systems. This proactive approach catches authentication expirations and API changes before they impact real leads.
Document your troubleshooting process for faster future resolution. Create a checklist based on the steps in this guide and store it somewhere your team can easily access. When issues arise, having a documented process eliminates guesswork and reduces resolution time. Include screenshots of where to find logs, how to access the browser console, and which integrations to check first.
Track form abandonment rates alongside submission rates. A form might technically work while still driving users away due to poor user experience. Form abandonment tracking reveals which fields cause users to give up, helping you optimize the form before technical issues even arise. High abandonment at specific fields indicates validation problems, confusing labels, or unnecessary friction. If you're seeing visitors not filling out forms despite no technical errors, the issue is likely UX-related rather than functional.
Consider switching to a form platform with built-in reliability monitoring. Managing forms across multiple tools creates complexity that increases failure points. Modern intelligent web forms platforms provide centralized dashboards showing submission rates, integration health, and error logs in one place. This consolidation makes monitoring simpler and issues easier to diagnose.
Your Path to Reliable Lead Capture
Most landing page form problems fall into predictable categories: submission failures from JavaScript errors or browser conflicts, validation rules that reject legitimate data, broken integrations from expired authentication, server issues blocking requests, mobile responsiveness problems, or simply lack of monitoring to catch issues early.
Working through these troubleshooting steps systematically will identify and resolve the vast majority of form issues. Start with the basics by testing submission in incognito mode and checking the browser console for errors. Review your validation rules for overly strict requirements that block real users. Verify all integrations remain connected and authenticated. Check your hosting configuration, SSL status, and server logs for backend problems. Test on actual mobile devices to catch platform-specific issues. Finally, implement monitoring to prevent future failures from going unnoticed.
The key is approaching troubleshooting methodically rather than randomly trying fixes. Each step builds on the previous one, helping you narrow down the root cause efficiently. Document what you find so the next time an issue arises, you can resolve it even faster. Once your forms are working reliably, focus on understanding what makes forms convert better so you can maximize the leads you capture.
If you're tired of chasing down form issues and want a platform built for reliability, transform your lead generation with AI-powered forms that qualify prospects automatically while delivering the modern, conversion-optimized experience your high-growth team needs. Start building free forms today and see how intelligent form design can elevate your conversion strategy—with built-in monitoring, seamless integrations, and validation that works for real-world data, so you can focus on growth instead of troubleshooting.