The Contact Form tracks:
- Data that your reader explicitly adds into it
- Metadata about your reader's browser, location, etc.
Data from your reader
When a reader fills out the Contact Form, they'll include:
- The subject of their request (the original search they used in the Contact Form is used by default, though they can edit this)
- Details about their request (a text field they can add additional information to)
- Their name
- Their email address
- Optional: Uploaded file(s)
- Optional: Any additional custom fields you've enabled in your contact form
Metadata about your reader
KnowledgeOwl also captures:
- Date and time of the search/contact form submission
- The sender's IP address
- The sender's browser
- The sender's operating system
- In our contextual help widgets, the sender's location (the relative URL of the page the widget was opened on)
Where is this data used?
That information will be passed along using your selected Send Method. KnowledgeOwl also stores it in Reporting > Contact Form.
Can I restrict this data?
Yes. You can restrict this data in two ways:
- Exclude the sender's metadata from your emails.
- Don't store any collected ticket information within KnowledgeOwl.
Each restriction option is explained in more detail below.
Exclude sender metadata from emails
If you're using the Email Address Send Method, use this restriction when you don't want the sender's metadata included in emails for security purposes, but you still want it tracked somewhere.
When you use this restriction, their email submission:
- Will still include all the information the reader added.
- Won't include their IP address, browser, and OS.
Their submission details in Reporting > Contact Form will still include the metadata information.
Use this restriction
To restrict data this way:
- Go to Customize > Contact form.
- In the main Contact Form section, next to Sender Details, check the box to Do not include sender meta data in the email.
- Be sure to Save your changes.
Don't store any ticket information within KnowledgeOwl
Use this restriction if you don't want KnowledgeOwl to store any data about your requestor.
When you use this restriction, KnowledgeOwl will pass along the information the requestor entered and their metadata, but won't store any of that data in Reporting > Contact Form.
The only data displayed in Reporting > Contact Form will be:
- Date/timestamp of the ticket submission
- The original search phrase
- If submitted through the widget, the location the ticket was submitted through (called Requestor Location)
All other fields will show the same string: "Not stored due to contact form setting". We use this wording so that you can still track overall ticket deflection/submission even without storing ticket information in KnowledgeOwl.
While this affords greater security, it also means that KnowledgeOwl cannot recover information on any submissions that fail due to email or integration issues.
Use this restriction
To restrict data this way:
- Go to Customize > Contact form.
- In the main Contact Form section, in Admin Settings, check the box to Do not store any collected ticket information within KnowledgeOwl.
- Be sure to Save your changes.