A web form can have quite an effect on website conversion rate. Because online forms are one of the most common and popular ways of gathering user information to help convert them into leads and thus customers.
Besides, the types and number of forms used online are endless. For instance, sign-up forms, login forms, surveys, contact form, user feedback forms, registration forms, you name it, you have it.
But, unfortunately, most of the time the users are discouraged to attend or even complete many web forms. Because, as the form complexity increases, the abandonment rate rises. Users get really annoyed by the quantity of information some forms ask for.
And, it really does make a bad impression of a site. That’s why, it is not a surprise that about 68% of users leave multi-step forms in the middle.
Now, as a website owner you would not want such a thing to happen right? Actually, It is one of the toughest barriers to hop over to increase revenue, especially on eCommerce sites.
So how to overcome this challenge and gain more leads successfully? To help you out, in this article we are going to talk about some of the most tried and proven practices that you can do to increase your form conversion or website conversion rate considerably.
So, without any further due, let’s get down to business.
Increase Your Website Conversion Rate with 5 Best Form Practices
Before beginning, keep in mind that the tips and methods mentioned in here might not be 100% effective in your case, as the results differ from website to website.
But not to worry, they will definitely improve your website’s form conversion rate to a positive extent (if not 100%).
We recommend you to try all of the methods yourself. Stay rest assured, you will not be let down by the results and it will be worth your while.
1. Include more than one form on a page
That is right, it is actually one of the simplest ways to take the form conversion rate up a notch. But do not get the wrong idea of stuffing your page with forms. It will do more damage than good. Including more relevant forms on a page means to keep the user on that page of conversion.
Because, if multi-step forms require users to travel through one page after another, they are most likely to stop filling up the form and leave.
So, assess your pages to see where the form inclusion suits the best and do not overburden the users by asking to give out more than enough details.
Keep the conversational forms concise and simple so that it does not take much time to fill out or understand. As a general rule of thumb, complex forms fit better at the bottom of the page whereas simple forms at the top.
2. Keep the Number of Fields Limited and Relevant
When was the last time you actually wanted to finish up a form but just got annoyed by the number of neverending fields?
Seriously, the last thing you would want is to scare off the users by putting out a form with a pile of fields. You might be building a form with many fields to gather as much information from the users as possible.
But halt, and think for a while, how much are those extra fields relevant to the actual intention of the form itself? Do they add any real value to the data collection process or the service you are offering?
Remember that all of your fields should be equally important in taking lead information.
A HubSpot study conducted on 40,000+ landing pages shows the effect of the number of form fields on website conversion rate. They found out that the best spot lies in between 3-5 form fields.
If you limit the number of fields to 3, it can guarantee the conversion rate as much as 25%! With 3-5 fields, form conversion rate drops to 20% and more than 5 fields take it down even more, at 15% (see details in Quicksprout).
3. A/B Testing Headlines to Ensure Better Quality
Headlines, one of the most important elements of a website or conversational form. Most people are attracted by the headlines as they are the first things they take a glimpse at before continuing any further.
So modifying and choosing the best headlines of your forms and form questions, can make your deal. Keep in mind that simplicity is the key while building appropriate headlines.
Avoid using unnecessary and complex wordings on your headlines. Simplify the statements and questions so that the users do not need to read it more than once to understand.
Make more than one version of headline and test them against each other. You can take a friend’s help to run this comparison test.
Do not do it all yourself because you will spend hours on it and still be left with confusion. That is why a third person opinion or involvement is necessary.
4. Gain Trust by Clearly Informing The Outcome Before Submission
A clever thing to do to increase form conversion, is to clearly state the outcome of the form they are going to submit. Website conversion rate many times faces difficulties to go up because of suspicious forms that the users are asked to fill out to continue with the respective services.
You have to make your viewers feel safe and make them trust the outcome of the form submission. Let your viewers know that all of their data are in safe hands and will not be shared elsewhere.
Moreover, you can try adding a subscriber count, testimonials (written or video), social proofs, featured images with stats, etc. These are some of the healthy practices that you can do to gain your viewers’ trust and thus increase form conversion rate.
Even if your actual form is not big or long enough, work on the other elements that surround your form. Provide enough details to promote your forms in a better manner.
5. Make the Call-To-Action Button More Attractive and Compelling
At the bottom of a form, there is the submission button that mostly reads as “Submit”. Even though it is a small button, without it, the form conversion will not take place.
It is as important as the whole form. Your CTA button should be compelling enough and create urgency so that the users are driven to click on it.
Most of the time a proper color combination can do the trick. The more visually attractive the submit button is, the better. But, remember not to overdo it. Use designs that match your brand.
For instance, the color red has a strong emotional trigger in it which is why it is a good choice to consider. But, it is not a one trick for all. You should try it on your site and test the result yourself first.
Study shows that, using the word “Submit”, drives fewer people to click on it compared to the words “Go” and “Click Here”.
As a matter of fact, they increase website conversion rate and form conversion up to 25-30%.
So these are the 5 best practices for you to improve your form conversion today. Carefully apply these tactics and review your results over time.
But Wait! We Have Something Special For You
As you can see, we have broadly discussed the 5 best form practices above but we are not quite done yet.
If you have a WordPress WooCommerce website and want to gain more leads and ensure better conversion rate, we have the perfect plugin for you called WP Guidant – Guided Selling Process.
It helps you create smart buying guides with simplified processes for huge amounts of product data. You can then include those guides anywhere on your website using the shortcode function. That’s not all, there is more!
Build Smart Conversational Forms
One of its many amazing features is conversational form builder. With that, you can create as many multi-step forms as you want. Make meaningful forms to easily connect with people.
Follow the best form practices with WP Guidant. For more details on how to use the plugin check out our step-by-step guide.
Where to Find It?
You can directly navigate to the wordpress.org site and find the WP Guidant plugin (free version) there. Just simply download, install and activate it to start off.
WP Guidant also comes with several premium plans. If you are interested in purchasing a plan to unlock premium features, check out the subscription package details here.
Here are some sample designs,
Sample Feedback Form
Sample Webinar Registration Form
With WP Guidant you can customize the whole form starting from colors to texts, the CTA button and what not to make your form stand out.
Increase your WooCommerce sales by gathering more leads and thus ensuring exponential growth of your website conversion rate.
Final Words
In this article we have covered the 5 best form practices for increasing form conversion rate of your website.
As things do not stay the same all the time and people’s attraction changes, we recommend you to make updates of these practices over time.
Doing so will have a positive impact and stay rest assured that your website conversion rate will scale up.
And of course, the powerful WP Guidant’s amazing customizability allows you to build the perfect multi-step conversational forms that attracts users to spend time on it and complete submission. Try this plugin today! You will not be disappointed.
Do not forget to leave a comment below to share your feedback. Got suggestions? Share them as well.