How to Get High Form Conversions

May 16, 2016

Are you happy with the conversion rate of the forms on your website? Typically, forms are built, and then forgotten, as they are easily overlooked.

Unfortunately, by forgetting this important piece of the conversion funnel, many conversions can be lost. There are many tiny details that can directly impact your consumer's decision about completing the form. It's these tiny details that can make or break the success of the form.

So, most importantly, paying attention to and optimizing your form conversion is very important so that you don't waste your company's time and your customer's time. You will find that, if you don't optimize your forms, you will have a much higher abandonment rate than if you do. This blog has been designed to help you select the tools and tactics you need to optimize your forms for ultimate success.

Forms are typically considered a conversion for businesses, whether it is an email sign up, registration or purchase. There are many factors that can cause consumers to drop off. When you look to improve and optimize your forms, use these three tactics to success.

Strong Header

If a user doesn't exactly understand what they are going to get by filling out a form, chances are they won't complete it. It is imperative that your header or subhead communicates clearly what the form is for. The best thing to do is to focus on what a user will get from filling out the form. It is also a good idea to be creative, so instead of just saying 'Sign up to our Newsletter' give your visitor an understanding of what that newsletter will include. For example, 'Stay up to date on Digital Trends'. You could even consider A/B testing 2 or 3 headers to see which drives the most conversions.

Form Fields

Ask any seasoned marketing professional, and they will tell you that the intricate detail of a form can make or break its success. If you ask your user to complete too many sections, they will drop off. If they don't understand the different fields and what is required, they will abandon the form. So for this area, you must make decisions very carefully. Here are some tips:

  • Alignment - you need to make the process of filling out a form as easy as possible and alignment of each field label plays a huge role here. Research suggests that top and right aligned labels for each field bring the most success.
  • Single Columns: Users also prefer single column forms as opposed to several columns so sticking to a single column is a good idea.
  • Structure: If your form is confusing, make sure you separate the form into logical steps or sections to make it as comprehensible for your user as possible. This will help users to perceive the form as easy to complete as opposed to hard.

Call To Action

Finally, the Call To Action button seals the deal. It is the final step towards a conversion. There are some things you can try to do to make your CTA stand out from the crowd:

  • Experiment with colours - there is no one single colour that works, it is a question of trialling what works.
  • Placement - the placement of your CTA is vitally important and typically a CTA that aligns with the headline centre stage does well. Use your knowledge from above about headers with your CTA too - Ask yourself, what will my audience get from clicking this CTA and tell them that in the copy on the CTA button.

A/B Testing

As mentioned above, running an A/B Test with your forms can help to determine what works and what doesn't. Depending on the amount of traffic you drive to your website, you may want to send 50% of traffic to one form and 50% to another for a 60 day period to test the success of each form. Alongside this test, you could monitor heatmapping to see how users click on the form and where they drop off. Play with your forms to drive as much success as possible.

Do you spend time optimizing your form conversions? Join the conversation on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Written by
Alexander Rauser
Alexander Rauser

CEO

Alexander Rauser is the author of Boardroom Guide to Digital Accountability and Digital Strategy: A Guide to Digital Business Transformation, and creator of the DSX Program, a digital strategy and transformation program for Enterprises.

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