Some people hate forms. In fact, nearly everybody hates forms. Fill this in, give me your details, do not pass go until you’ve told me your mothers maiden name. How rude. Personally I love forms. Why? Because I get to write about how annoying they are and how to make them less so.
My biggest pet peeve (pet? let’s say “form” peeve), is when people don’t express what the button will do when it’s clicked, but thanks to some studies done from the infographic below, we can see that using the dreaded word “Submit” as your form CTA copy, reduces conversion rates by around 3% . For that reason I’m bringing back the image, a quote written by Unbounce’s Ryan Engley. Never Submit.
What can you do to optimize your lead gen forms?
Every marketer wants to optimize their forms to get more leads, but how do you do it? Let’s look at a few ways before you dig into the infographic:
- Test the button copy: Apparently “Click Here” and “Go” are the most successful. Personally, I’d like to test this against a very specific CTA – such as “Click here to download your ebook,” using the power words of “Click Here” with a more descriptive element.
- Form length really does matter: If you want to increase form conversions, you must consider reducing the number of fields. An example presented in the infographic highlights one company that increased conversions by 120% by reducing their form from 11 fields down to 4. Clearly it’s worth sacrificing that extra information to get such a high conversion rate. If you really need extra info, consider doing an a/b/c test where you compare all of your fields with the absolute minimum and a half-way version to determine which converts best – and then weigh it against the value of the extra data collected, and see how it will impact your post-click marketing.
- Don’t call me: An average 5% dip in conversion rate by including a phone number field. Unless your business is based on post-click sales calls, avoid this field at all cost. Not many people like to have someone call them (unless it’s critical to their personal success).
My advice, test your forms constantly – and use the advice from the infographic below as a starting point. You might also want to tweet about some of these cool stats with the Tweetables at the bottom of the post.
(Infographic source by QuickSprout )
Tweetable Tips
You can change what gets tweeted before it goes out, so don’t be afraid to click.
- Forms using Submit have an almost 3% decrease in conversion rate
- Expedia eliminated ONE field (company name) resulting in a $12 million profit
- Asking for a phone number causes a 5% dip in conversion rate
- Imagescape reduced their contact form from 11 to 4 fields, gaining a 120% conversion increase
- Left aligned labels increase the readability compared to right aligned
About Oli Gardner
Unbounce co-founder Oli Gardner has seen more landing pages than anyone on the planet. He’s obsessed with identifying and reversing bad marketing practices, and his disdain for marketers who send campaign traffic to their homepage is legendary, resulting in landing page rants that can peel paint off an unpainted wall. A prolific international keynote speaker, Oli is on a mission to rid the world of marketing mediocrity by using data-informed copywriting, design, interaction, and psychology to create a more delightful experience for marketers and customers alike. He was recently named the "The 2018 Marketer to Watch," in the under 46 category, by his mother.
