I am sending an email using a form using asp.net and C#.
The values of the form are retrieved using their ids and are sent using SmtpClient.send() and this is all working just fine.

What I want to know is how to indicate that something is actually happening once you click send so that the user doesn't get impatient or misunderstand etc.

The website will primarily be viewed through a page viewer in Microsoft Connect and so they won't see the loading icon on the tab.
In Chrome the pointer changes to show a spinning circle which is great, but using IE there's no indication at all.
I tried replacing the contents of the div that the form is in with a loading gif but it only happens after the email is sent(, or fails to send), and it persists so if they want to send a new email I'd have to replace the form contents again which just seems like a faff, which is why I'm asking what the possible ways to do this are.