How to get more online form submissions?
The web is changing and so are web surfers. Yet there are so many sites that do their online forms the same way they did many years ago. If you need to get some valuable information from your visitors, posting a few form fields is not enough these days. With internet fraud on the rise, web surfers are not as willing to give personal data as they used to, so you must be very careful about how and what you ask for, and what value you provide to the visitor in exchange for their information.
How can I get more form submissions?
You should always start with careful planning before jumping into the actual designing. Put yourself in the position of the one filling out the form, and that should make things easier.
The most important points you should keep in mind:
Make the form as short and as simple as possible
Ask only for the most important information that you need. If you get too greedy for information, you may discourage people from submitting. After some time, you will have a chance to ask them for more once you gain their trust in you and your services/products.
Change the order of your form fields
It is not a very good idea to start asking for personal contact information at the beginning of a form. Obviously, I am not talking about contact forms here. What I have in mind are forms like quote requests, registrations, etc., which are more complex. You will do much better if you start with questions related to the benefits one gets after submitting.Make the form clean and easy to use
It helps to break long forms into more sets of related fields. Clearly label these field sets as well as every individual field. Make clear which fields are required. If you use any kind of form validation, make sure you provide important hints on how to fill that field in case of invalid entry.
Finally, the best way to find out what is working for your online form, is testing, more testing, and then some more testing. Over time you will be able to get the most out of your forms. But remember: This process never ends because the internet and the web is changing every day.
