You put time and money into advertising, SEO and email. The visitor arrives on your site, wants to get in touch, and then sees a form with ten fields. Many people give up at that point.
The good news is that the biggest improvements are often small. In this article you will read about seven changes you can make today. You do not need a new website to make them.
Why the form matters so much
The form is the moment when interest becomes an enquiry. Everything before it has convinced the visitor. Everything after it depends on this one block on your page.
A conversion is the action you want a visitor to take, such as requesting a quote or booking a call. The conversion rate is the share of your visitors who actually take that action.
If you pay for your visitors, for example through Google Ads, every person who drops out is wasted money. With a better form, you get more enquiries from the same traffic. This is often the cheapest improvement you can make.
These are the seven changes:
- Ask for fewer fields.
- Put labels above the field.
- Make error messages clear.
- Use a button that says what will happen.
- Build trust next to the button.
- Test the form on mobile.
- Measure what happens with the form.
Change 1: only ask for what you really need
Every extra field costs you enquiries. People see a long form and think about the effort it will take. Some do not even start.
Go through your form and ask one question about each field: what will I do with this answer? If the answer is not needed for your first reply, remove the field. You can ask for a phone number, company name or job title later, once the conversation is under way.
As a rule of thumb, many contact forms work well with around three to five fields. Think of a name, an email address and a message. You can ask for more, but you should be able to justify it.
There are exceptions. If you receive a lot of unsuitable enquiries, an extra question can help to filter them. A drop-down menu with a few options is then better than an open text box. So decide what you would rather have: many enquiries, or fewer but better ones.
If some fields are genuinely optional, clearly mark them as “optional”. That way the visitor knows they can skip them.
Changes 2 and 3: clear labels and error messages
A label is the text that tells people what to enter in a field. Put the label above the field, not inside it. Text inside the field is called a placeholder. It disappears as soon as you start typing. If someone is distracted for a moment, they no longer remember what was asked.
Use the placeholder at most for an example, such as name@company.com. The label itself always stays visible.
Error messages are the second problem. Nothing is as frustrating as a red message saying “Something went wrong”. The visitor has to go searching for the problem themselves. Many people give up at that point.
A good error message meets these criteria:
- It appears right next to the field where the problem occurred.
- It says exactly what is wrong, for example: “Enter a valid email address, such as name@company.com”.
- It uses more than just the colour red. Not everyone can distinguish colours well.
- It does not wipe what the visitor has already entered.
Also pay attention to how strict your form is. A phone number with spaces or a hyphen is still a phone number. Let the form accept such variations instead of rejecting them.
Changes 4 and 5: a clear button and trust
The button is the moment of decision. “Submit” is vague. It says what you are going to do, but not what the visitor gets in return.
It is better to use text that names the outcome. Think of “Request a quote”, “Book a call” or “Get tailored advice”. Start with a verb and say what the visitor will receive. Also make sure the button stands out clearly against the rest of the page.
The last doubts usually arise right next to the button. Have I given too much away? Will anyone actually reply? Remove those doubts with a few small additions:
- A short promise, such as “You will hear from us within one working day”. Only do this if you can keep it.
- A short sentence about privacy, with a link to your privacy policy. For example: “We only use your details to respond to your enquiry”.
- A genuine review or a client logo nearby. Always ask permission before using a logo.
- No pre-ticked boxes, such as a newsletter sign-up. This damages trust and is often not permitted.
You do not build trust with big words, but with small, honest signals at the right moment.
Changes 6 and 7: test on mobile and measure the result
A large share of your visitors arrive on a phone. Yet a form is often only checked on a laptop. So take your own phone and fill in your form. You will see straight away where it falters.
Look out for these points:
- Does the email field bring up a keyboard with an @ symbol, and the phone number field a numeric keypad?
- Are the fields and the button big enough to tap with a thumb?
- Does the button or an error message disappear behind the keyboard?
- Does autofill work, where the browser fills in your name and email address for you?
- Are drop-down lists with many options really necessary? They are awkward to use on a phone.
The seventh point is measurement. Without measuring, you do not know whether a change helps. In your tools, set up the thank-you page that appears after submission as a conversion. You can do this in your analytics software and in Google Ads. That way you can see how many enquiries come in from each source.
Do not change everything at once. Change one or two things, wait a few weeks and compare. Look not only at the numbers, but also at the quality of the enquiries.
Imagine you have a form with eight required fields. The button says “Submit” and on mobile the label sits inside the field. You cut the form back to four fields and put the labels above them. You change the button to “Request a quote” and add underneath that you will reply within one working day. Then you test everything on your own phone. You can expect more visitors to complete the form. By measuring on the thank-you page, you will see after a few weeks whether that is the case.
Frequently asked questions
How many fields should a form have?
There is no fixed rule. For an initial contact form, three to five fields are often enough. Only ask for more if you really need that information to reply or to filter out unsuitable enquiries.
Should I use a captcha to prevent spam?
Preferably not, if it can be avoided. A captcha is the puzzle you solve to prove you are not a robot. It often costs you enquiries. Smarter options are a hidden field that only robots fill in, or a spam filter running in the background. Your visitor will not notice anything.
How do I know whether my change is working?
Measure the number of enquiries before and after the change, with a comparable number of visitors. Use the thank-you page as your conversion goal. Wait at least a few weeks, so that random fluctuations do not determine the outcome.
Book a free 30-minute introduction
Do you want to know where your form is losing enquiries? Then book a free 30-minute introduction with Adventio Marketing in Amersfoort. Together we will look at your form, your tracking and the page around it. You will get concrete improvement points that you can act on straight away, even if you want to carry them out yourself.
