# Hosted forms: fields, bot protection and reporting

*Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Specialist Study Guide · Account Engagement Forms, Form Handlers and Landing Pages · Last updated November 3, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/marketing-cloud-account-engagement-specialist/forms-form-handlers-and-landing-pages/hosted-forms-fields-bot-protection-and-reporting*

How Account Engagement hosted forms are built in the form wizard, how field options (progressive, dependent, values, prefill, email validation) and the three layers of bot protection behave, how to deploy and test a form, and how to read the Form Statistics table and single form report.

- Certification: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Specialist
- Exam section: Account Engagement Forms, Form Handlers and Landing Pages
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/marketing-cloud-account-engagement-specialist

**Official exam objective:**

> Given a scenario, identify the capabilities, use cases and interpret metrics of Account Engagement forms.

## What the exam expects

- Configure a hosted form's fields: progressive profiling, dependent fields, Values tab actions, prefill and the Advanced tab options, and email validation.
- Choose the right bot protection layer and explain when a visitor sees a CAPTCHA.
- Place a hosted form on a website, separate thank you content from thank you code, and gate content so only valid addresses get it.
- Interpret the Form Statistics table and the single form report (views, submissions, conversions, errors, clicks, Last Submitted), and test a form without misreading the results.

Key terms:
- **Hosted form**: a form you design and manage inside Account Engagement.
- **Progressive profiling**: showing a field only when the prospect already has data in other fields.
- **Dependent field**: a field shown because of a value entered in another field on the same form.
- **Conversion**: a submission in which an anonymous visitor provides an email address and becomes a prospect.
- **Honeypot**: an invisible field that bots complete and humans never see.

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Thank You Code | Code that runs after form submission, on the completion step | [Create a Form](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_create_form.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| Values tab availability | Checkbox, radio button and dropdown fields only | [Field Options](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_field_options.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| Prefill default | On for most fields; not for TextArea or maintain-initial-value fields | [Field Options](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_field_options.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| Honeypot | Built into all hosted forms; a filled honeypot rejects the submission | [Bot Protection](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_bot_protection.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| reCAPTCHA location | Advanced tab of the Look and Feel step | [Bot Protection](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_bot_protection.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| Iframing control | Iframed Assets setting, Account Engagement Administrator role | [Restrict Iframing](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mcae_admin_restrict_iframing.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| Submission Rate and Error Rate | Both are percentages of views | [Form Statistics Table](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_table_metrics.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| Conversions within submissions | Total submissions include conversions | [Submissions vs Conversions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_submission_vs_conversion.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |
| Duplicate activity window | One submission activity per 30 minutes; all in audits | [Testing Forms](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_testing.htm&type=5&language=en_US) |

## Check yourself

- When you test a progressive profiling form without Always Display, how do you see the form again within 10 minutes?
- Why might your test submissions be missing from a form's Prospect table?
- When you want to retest a form as a brand-new prospect, what two things must change?
- Which wildcard pattern allows every subdomain in the Iframed Assets domain list?

## Sources

- [Create a Form](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_create_form.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Form Field Options](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_field_options.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Single Form Report Metrics](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_report_individual.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Form Statistics Table Metrics](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_table_metrics.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [What Is the Difference Between Form Submissions and Conversions?](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_submission_vs_conversion.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Form and Form Handler Reporting](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_reporting.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Bot Protection and Forms](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_bot_protection.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Gather Prospect Data Over Time](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_progressive_profiling_setup.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Set Up Dependent Form Fields](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_dependent_fields.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Validate Email Addresses on Form Submissions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_validate_email.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Add a Form to Your Website](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_deploying_forms.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Restrict or Limit Iframing for Account Engagement Assets](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mcae_admin_restrict_iframing.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Gating Content with Forms](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_content_gated_content.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Testing Forms](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_testing.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Considerations for Completion Actions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_completion_actions_considerations.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Hosted Forms Versus Form Handlers](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.pardot_forms_versus_form_handlers.htm&type=5&language=en_US)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 19 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Specialist pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams