How to Create Advanced Multi‑Step Forms in Elementor (and Overcome Common Challenges)

Multi-step forms are a proven way to improve form completion rates by breaking long forms into smaller sections. Elementor multi-step form feature (available in Elementor Pro) enables this functionality, but its built-in functionality presents a series of challenges that can limit performance, usability, and overall effectiveness. Many marketers run into frustrating limitations – from lacking conditional logic to integration hurdles – that can hinder your lead generation, user experience, and conversion optimization efforts.

In this post, we’ll explore the common challenges of using the native Elementor multistep form builder and how they impact your marketing results. Then, we’ll introduce a better way to create advanced multi-step forms in Elementor using the Claspo plugin.

Common issues marketers face when creating Elementor multi-step form

Elementor makes it easy to add a basic multi-step form to your page, but it falls short if you need anything beyond a simple form. Here are some of the biggest issues marketers face with Elementor Pro multi-step forms, and how each issue can hurt your lead generation and conversions.

1. Limited design and customization options

Marketers often want their multi-step forms to be on-brand – but Elementor styling options for forms are limited. The default form widget offers only basic design customization, so achieving a polished, branded, modern multi-step form design can be difficult without custom code or add-ons. 

Elementor built-in options lack flexibility in:

• Button styling – you can tweak colors and fonts, but advanced animations, hover effects, and micro-interactions require custom CSS.
• Field layout – limited ability to adjust spacing, field width, or conditional visibility without external add-ons.
• Progress bar design – limited control over customization, making it difficult to match your brand aesthetic.

To overcome these constraints, many users turn to third-party Elementor add-ons or custom CSS, which introduces additional maintenance overhead and potential compatibility issues. Even then, those workarounds can make the form widget heavier and potentially slow down your page (not to mention risking plugin conflicts or security issues from extra add-ons). A bland or mismatched form design can also hurt conversions – users may be less inclined to trust or engage with a form that doesn’t look professional.

2. Navigation between steps feels clunky

Another common complaint is a less-than-smooth user experience when navigating between steps. Adding helpful UI elements like progress bars, step indicators, or inline validation messages is not straightforward in Elementor form builder.

With Elementor, achieving a seamless transition between steps can be frustrating. Users often report:

• Glitchy progress bars – inconsistent updates when users move between steps, sometimes failing to reflect real-time progress.
• Lack of built-in validation – no native support for inline error messages before progressing to the next step, leading to potential user frustration.
• Difficulty integrating with auto-save functionality – if a user drops off mid-form, they must start over instead of resuming where they left off.

The result can be a clunky interface where users aren’t sure how many steps remain or whether their input is valid. This poor UX can lead to higher abandonment – if a form feels confusing or glitchy, potential leads will drop off before completing it. In short, an awkward multi-step UX directly undermines your conversion optimization efforts.

3. Mobile responsiveness requires extra work

With over 60% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, form performance on smaller screens is more important than ever. But Elementor multistep forms don’t always translate well to mobile.

Common challenges include:

• Inconsistent padding and spacing – fields and buttons may appear too small or too close together, leading to frustrating interactions.
• Navigation issues – progress bars or step indicators may not resize correctly, making it hard for users to see where they are in the process.
• Touch input problems – default tap targets may be too small, increasing the likelihood of accidental clicks or user drop-off.

Testing and fine-tuning form layouts across multiple devices is necessary to prevent these issues, but Elementor does not provide a built-in mobile preview for forms. This means a lot of trial and error for marketers trying to ensure mobile usability.

4. Limited form logic (no conditional fields)

One major limitation is the lack of conditional logic. Elementor multi-step form does not support conditional fields or branching logic – all users see the same sequence of steps regardless of their inputs. This means you can’t personalize the form experience (for example, skip or show certain questions based on earlier answers). For marketers, this limited form logic makes it harder to ask relevant questions and can lower the quality of leads. A one-size-fits-all form may frustrate users with unnecessary fields, hurting completion rates and ultimately reducing conversions.

5. Integration difficulties (CRM, email marketing, etc.)

Capturing leads is just the first step – what happens after is equally important. Marketers typically want to:

• Store lead data in a CRM – automatically send form submissions to HubSpot, Salesforce, or another system.
• Trigger real-time notifications – get instant alerts when a lead submits a form.
• Analyze form performance – track completion rates, drop-off points, and conversion metrics.

Here Elementor multi-step form falls short with integration options. Elementor can send form submissions via email and has limited direct integrations (for example, it supports a few email ESPs and webhooks), but anything beyond the basics can be challenging. Many marketers find that connecting Elementor forms to their CRM or email marketing platform requires additional tools like Zapier or custom integration work. 

These integration hurdles mean your leads might not flow seamlessly into your nurturing campaigns, slowing down follow-ups or forcing you into manual data handling – a recipe for lost opportunities and inefficiency in lead generation.

6. Lack of analytics and insights

Optimizing a form requires data, but Elementor provides no built-in analytics for form performance. You can’t easily track how many users start the form vs. finish it, or at which step most users drop off. This absence of analytics means you’re flying blind – you won’t know if a particular step or question is causing abandonment, making it hard to improve conversion rates. 

Without insights into form engagement, marketers miss opportunities to optimize. In contrast, dedicated form solutions often offer analytics dashboards or at least easy integration with Google Analytics to measure conversion funnel metrics. Elementor’s lack of form analytics is a big drawback for conversion optimization, leaving marketers guessing instead of making data-driven improvements.

7. Performance problems

Heavy or poorly optimized forms can slow down your landing pages. When using Elementor, adding multi-step functionality sometimes means relying on extra scripts or third-party add-ons that bloat your site. Slow loading or unresponsive forms create friction for users – especially on mobile, where performance is key. Every additional second of load time can drop your conversion rates. 

Furthermore, a sluggish form might frustrate visitors enough to abandon the process. Performance issues not only hurt UX but can also negatively impact your page’s SEO (since site speed is a ranking factor). Overall, a multi-step form that drags down page performance will undermine your marketing ROI by driving impatient users away.

8. Forms sometimes fail to send email notifications

Another common frustration among Elementor users is the failure of form submissions to trigger email notifications. This issue is not exclusive to Elementor but is prevalent in many WordPress-based form plugins due to:

• Hosting restrictions on email sending – some web hosts block outgoing emails, causing notifications to go undelivered.
• SPF/DKIM email authentication issues – incorrectly configured email settings can cause notifications to be marked as spam or not sent at all.
• Plugin conflicts – other installed plugins may interfere with Elementor’s ability to send emails reliably.

Workarounds exist—such as using SMTP plugins to improve email deliverability—but these require additional setup and maintenance.

Bottom line

While Elementor remains a powerful page builder, its multi-step form functionality is best suited for simple use cases. If you need a quick, no-frills solution for a basic multi-step form, Elementor can get the job done. But if lead generation and conversion optimization are at the core of your strategy, its limitations will become increasingly frustrating. For marketers who prioritize performance, advanced logic, and deep integrations, it often leads to workarounds that increase both complexity and costs. 

If your form isn’t easy and delightful to complete, fewer visitors will convert into leads. And if you can’t properly integrate or analyze the form’s performance, you’ll struggle to improve results over time. So what’s the solution? In the next section, we’ll look at a better way to create advanced multi-step forms in Elementor without these headaches.

Elementor vs. Claspo: multi-step form feature comparison

The better way to create advanced multi-step forms in Elementor: Claspo WordPress plugin

Instead of spending time trying to patch Elementor’s built-in form limitations, savvy marketers turn to purpose-built tools designed for high-converting multi-step forms. One such tool is the Claspo WordPress plugin. Claspo is a form and popup builder that makes it easy to create dynamic multi-step forms with advanced features. It provides an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and comes with a host of benefits that directly address the pain points we discussed above.

Here are some of the key benefits of using Claspo Wordpress plugin for multi-step forms.

User-friendly drag-n-drop editor

Claspo provides an intuitive, easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor that lets you customize every element of your form or popup. You don’t need coding skills to design a form that matches your brand – adjust layouts, colors, images, and more with a few clicks. Plus, Claspo offers 1000+ pre-designed templates for various use cases (contact and request forms, surveys, quizzes, lead magnets, etc.), so you can start with a professional design and save time.

Mobile-responsive and user-optimized

All forms created with Claspo are mobile responsive by default, with no extra effort needed. The designs automatically adapt to different screen sizes so your multi-step form looks and works great on smartphones and tablets. This “hands-free” responsiveness ensures mobile users have a smooth experience, which is critical since over half of web traffic is mobile.

Claspo also includes UX enhancements like progress indicators in its form templates, so users always know how many steps are left. A clear, friendly UX means higher completion rates and more leads. Claspo prioritizes UX, ensuring:

✅ Smooth transitions between steps – no flickering, glitches, or delays
✅ A built-in progress bar that keeps users engaged and reduces drop-offs
✅ Real-time field validation – so users don’t reach the last step only to find out they made an error three steps ago.

Conditional logic & advanced form flows

Need to show different questions based on user input? Claspo has you covered. It supports multi-step forms with conditional pages and branching. You can design custom form logic by creating multiple pages and connecting them via buttons/actions (e.g. send users to different next steps based on what they answer). This means your forms can ask personalized, relevant questions – improving the user experience and lead quality – something not possible in native Elementor forms.

Personalization for higher conversions

Claspo brings additional perks that help lift conversions. You have flexible display rules and triggers – for example, show a multi-step form as an exit-intent popup to catch users before they leave, or trigger it after a time delay or on scroll. You can target forms to specific pages or audiences (like showing certain popups only to visitors from a particular location or via certain campaigns).

Claspo even supports gamified elements (like spin-to-win wheels or quizzes) and multi-language support with AI translation for global audiences. In essence, it’s a robust toolkit to engage users and capture leads more effectively.

Seamless integrations with marketing tools

Claspo directly integrates with a wide range of popular marketing tools. You can connect your form directly to popular email service providers, CRM systems, or use webhooks for anything else. For example, automatically add new leads to your CRM or email list the moment they submit the form. Claspo even has a built-in connection with Google Analytics, so you can send form events for tracking conversions.

If a direct integration isn’t available, you can set up a webhook to send the data anywhere you need. In short, your lead data flows smoothly into your marketing stack – no manual exports or Zapier workarounds required.

Built-in analytics, A/B tests & optimization tools

With Claspo, you gain insight into your form’s performance. The platform provides analytics on impressions, views, conversions, and more for your forms. You can see how many people viewed and completed each popup/form, which is crucial for optimizing multi-step forms. 

Additionally, Claspo offers A/B testing functionality out of the box. You can create variations of a form (e.g., different headlines or step layouts) and run split tests to improve conversion rates over time. These built-in analytics and testing tools enable continuous conversion optimization – a big win for marketers.

By addressing the shortcomings of Elementor’s native forms (and then some), Claspo allows marketers to create advanced multi step Elementor forms that don’t sacrifice design, functionality, or insights. Next, we’ll walk through how easy it is to build a multi-step form using Claspo.

How to create a multi-step form in Elementor using Claspo (step-by-step)

Setting up a multi-step form with Claspo is straightforward. Once you install the plugin on your WordPress site, you’ll use Claspo’s own interface (outside of Elementor) to design and configure the form, then deploy it on your Elementor pages. Here’s how to create a multi-step form in Elementor using the Claspo plugin.

Install and activate the Claspo plugin

First, sign up for a free Claspo account and install the Claspo WordPress plugin. You can find “Claspo” in the WordPress plugin repository and install it like any other plugin. 

After activation, you’ll likely be prompted to connect your site to your Claspo account. (Claspo uses a script ID to link your site to its platform – once you obtain this ID from your Claspo dashboard and add it in WordPress, the integration is set up).

Create a new multi-step form in Claspo

Next, log in to your Claspo dashboard. Claspo offers many multi-step form templates – filter the templates by the “multi-step” use case to see relevant designs. 

Select a template that fits your campaign (or start from scratch if you prefer). For example, you might choose a lead capture form template with three steps already set up. The template will load in Claspo’s editor.

Design and customize your form

Now use Claspo’s drag-and-drop editor to customize the multi-step form to your liking. You can edit text, add or remove form fields, and change images or colors easily. Each step of the form can be modified. For instance, you might have Step 1 ask for basic info (name, email), Step 2 for more details (preferences, questions), and Step 3 as a final confirmation. You can also add or remove steps as needed.

If you want to incorporate conditional branching (where a certain answer in Step 1 skips the user to Step 3, for example), you can set that up by creating the additional form page and configuring the button’s “Action on click” to jump to the desired page. 

Claspo’s editor allows you to fully control the flow: add back buttons, change the order of steps, and include visual progress indicators. Take advantage of the pre-built design – for example, most Claspo multi-step templates include a progress bar or step count at the top by default, which you can customize or replace with your own indicator.

Adjust display rules and triggers

Once your form design is ready, configure how and where it will appear on your Elementor site. Claspo provides flexible display rules so you can choose when the form should show up. For instance, you can embed the form as a popup that appears on exit intent (when the user’s mouse moves to close the tab) to attempt to capture leaving visitors. Or set the form to display after a user spends X seconds on the page, or after scrolling to a certain point.

You can also target the form to specific pages or audience segments. For example, show it only on your pricing page, or only to visitors from a specific country or campaign (using URL UTM parameters). Claspo even allows triggering a form via an Elementor button click – using an HTML trigger code, you could tie a button or link in Elementor to open the Claspo popup form. Configure these rules in Claspo’s settings for the widget. This way, the multi-step form will seamlessly integrate into your Elementor site’s user journey without needing manual placement of form fields in the page builder.

Integrate with your email or CRM tools

After designing the form and setting display rules, make sure the collected data goes where you need it. In Claspo’s integrations settings, connect your form to your email marketing tool or CRM. 

Claspo supports many popular platforms – for example, you can directly integrate with Mailchimp, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Brevo (Sendinblue), and more. Simply select your tool and authenticate the connection, then map the form fields (e.g., ensure the “Email” field in the form maps to the contact’s email field in your CRM).

If a direct integration isn’t available for your system, you can use a webhook to send the data to virtually any platform. Claspo also allows emailing form results or storing leads in its own dashboard, but integrating with your existing marketing stack will enable immediate follow-ups (like an automated welcome email or adding the lead to a nurture sequence) without manual effort.

Test and deploy the form on your Elementor site

Before you publish, preview and test the multi-step form. Claspo lets you test the form in a preview mode to ensure each step works and the styling looks right. 

Submit a test entry to verify that the integrations (CRM/email) are receiving the data. Once everything looks good, activate the form (widget) so it goes live. 

Now when users visit your Elementor-built site, the Claspo form will appear per your display rules. Keep an eye on the Claspo analytics dashboard to track views and submissions. You can use Claspo’s built-in A/B testing to experiment with different form headlines or step sequences if needed – for example, you might test a two-step form vs. a three-step form to see which converts better. Over time, use the data to optimize your form for even better results.

That’s it! With these steps, you’ve added a converting multi-step form to your Elementor website using Claspo, circumventing the limitations of Elementor’s native form widget. Now you can capture more leads with a smooth, user-friendly form experience.

Parting words

Elementor is a great page builder, but its multi-step forms come with too many compromises. The native Elementor form widget, while useful for simple forms, often isn’t enough when you need flexible logic, seamless integrations, and data-driven optimization. From missing features to unreliable performance, the built-in form builder often forces marketers to spend more time fixing issues than optimizing conversions.

Claspo removes these barriers, giving you a faster, easier, and more flexible way to launch multi-step forms — without the frustrations. With Claspo, you have a better way to create advanced multi-step forms in Elementor that both your users and your marketing stack will love.

Give it a try on your next campaign, and enjoy seeing more leads complete your forms from start to finish!