Forms are how creators give you data — bio info, product picks, reviews, UGC, and anything else you want to collect. CreatorCommerce ships with default forms that work out of the box, and you can build on top of them with custom forms when you need more. This article explains how the pieces fit.

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What you get by default

Creators have a set of default forms they can use to give you data even if you never build a single custom form. The default experience includes:

• Default onboarding form — Takes creators through basic setup, with copy, fonts, and images you can override in CC settings.
• Default collection form — Lets creators title their collection, add a description, and curate a group of products.
• Default product form — Renders inside the collection form once a creator adds a product, so they can leave a review and UGC per item.

If the defaults cover what you need, you’re done — just send creators their invite link.

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When to build custom forms

Build custom forms when you want to override the default experience with your own copy, questions, or required fields. Custom forms let you:

• Ask custom questions backed by custom fields.
• Mark fields as required or optional.
• Control which copy, buttons, and visuals creators see.
• Link multiple forms together to replace the default flow.

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Onboarding forms vs. custom forms

Both types can include collection questions and misc. questions, but they behave differently:

• Onboarding forms — Creators must complete this one time to get into CreatorCommerce.
• Custom forms — Can be completed many times. They appear in the creator dashboard so creators can come back, view past submissions, and submit new ones.

This is why custom forms are great for repeat tasks (UGC drops, content submissions, seasonal campaigns) while onboarding forms are great for the one-time things you need to know about every creator.

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The role of collection forms

Collection forms are the backbone of curation. A collection is just a group of products a creator picks, plus any questions you want to ask about that group. Collection forms can render product forms (the per-product questions a creator sees after adding a product) and they can be nested inside onboarding forms and custom forms.

For a deeper breakdown, see Understanding collection forms and product forms.

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Controlling which products show up

To control what appears in product search and in the default product collection, adjust these in CC settings:

• Product tags to omit — Hide products with specific tags from search and default collections.
• Default product collection — Always show this collection as the fallback for creators.

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Once you’ve mapped your data needs to onboarding, custom, collection, and product forms, the rest is just configuration.