Lead generation forms – the heart of your landing page

At the heart of every landing page should be your lead generation form.

When website visitors land on your page, you need to make sure that they are prompted to complete your lead generation form as quickly and painlessly as possible. You want to make conversion seamless, don’t you? After all, it’s the front door to your conversion funnel, the first interaction they have with you and you with them.

You may have lots of questions going through your mind about what your form is like and is it the best it can be for conversion. These questions may include

• Does my form have too many fields?
• Should I change the button color?
• Will in-field labels help reduce friction?

The only way to truly answer these questions is to run tests and split test changes, and ‘Yes” even you can learn how to optimize your lead generation forms.

Roadblocking your Conversions

If you have any optimised lead generation forms, they are a roadblock for conversion. Yeh, I know…most people just throw up an opt in form and that’s the end of the story. Bad Move!

Unoptimised lead generation forms slows people down, raise questions and they result in uncertainty. How do you know if your forms are working well if your not testing them? Essentially, Unoptimised forms break down your conversion flow. If you don’t spend the time to identify points of friction, test and correct them, your form is leaking future revenue.

On the other hand, an optimised lead generation form is like an open door. It feels like a logical next step for your prospect, it doesn’t raise any red flags, it’s intuitive. It doesn’t interrupt your visitor’s flow and without any hesitation they are signed up and opted in.

There are two central characteristics of an optimised lead generation form:

1. A perfected value proposition and
2. reduced friction.

A lead generation form is a transaction and it’s a mistake to think of it any other way. You’re asking for valuable private information from your visitors and if you’re unable to offer something in return of high perceived value, it’s pretty much…Game Over!

So think about it from the user experience. What’s your value proposition? What are you using to compel your visitors to complete your lead generation form?

They also need to be as frictionless as possible. If your visitor feels like your asking irrelevant questions, you’ve got it all wrong. Optimised lead gen forms feel so painless that visitors don’t have to think about it. They’re simply going through the motions, it’s smooth sailing and doesn’t feel like they are jumping through hoops.

Understanding Your Conversion Problem Areas

Before you even think about beginning optimising based on whatever you believe to be best practice and hoping for the best, you need to take a step back and conduct the proper conversion research. What worked for a competitor won’t necessarily work for you. What worked on your last site might not necessarily work for this one. So, be aware…if a so called expert tells you “This will increase your conversions”…run!

You may have fallen into the trap of thinking fewer form fields will increase conversions, when in reality it turns out to be the case of more descriptive field labels. You might have been told or heard that using “Your” for your button copy will outperform the competition, when “My” results in more clicks. The list is literally endless and it goes on and on.

Start with some basic tools like Formisimo and Hotjar to see how your visitors engage with your site.

Then ask and analyse…

• What fields are resulting in bounces?
• What fields are producing the most errors? and
• What fields take the longest to complete?

Whilst some of those so called experts may tell you to try a different button color, or to change your font, data doesn’t lie. Don’t waste traffic or your hard earned money on “guessology” without making sure that you do the conversion research.

So…What’s a Good Form Conversion Rate?

Like I say “Don’t worry about what’s ‘a good conversion rate’. Work to improve whatever you have, day in day out.” [Tweet This!]

Of course, it’s human nature to compare your lead generation form conversion rate to others, however focus on what you do and changes you can make to improve conversion. If you’re below the industry average, you know there is room for optimisation. It might even been time for a radical redesign. If you’re way above the average, you know your conversion rate increases will be incremental over time, however they can still be improved.

In this article written by

Formstack they found that the average conversion rate for lead generation forms varies from industry to industry.

See the results below.

They even looked at peak form submission times, based on form type…

Just remember that these are simply guidelines. You likely won’t notice a sudden, unexplainable spike in form completions and conversion rates purely based on this information because it’s the average…they are guidelines and this is why data analysis and testing is core to improving conversions.

There are a lot of factors that influence your form’s conversion rate. It’s fun to compare, but all that really matters is that your conversion rate is higher than it was last month. That’s what you need to be aiming for.

Optimized Lead Generation Forms (Before and After Conversion Rates)

So, how much of an impact can optimizing your lead generation forms really have? Of course, the answer varies, but the potential for a dramatic increase is definitely present and you’re a step ahead when you’re using pages like Unbounce to test and measure.

Michael Aagaard “the guru” from Unbounce worked with a Danish shipping service that provides custom quotes from different carriers. After completing the form, leads receive the quotes via email just a couple of hours later.

Here’s what the site looked like in the beginning…

The original form converted at 43%, but Michael knew they could do better if the form was simplified. So, once they had a chance to collect and analyse data he made changes to each of the three steps, making them easier for users to use.

Step one…

Step two…

Step three…

The final result, which also included a form header update, looked something like this…

The result? The new form converted at 56%, a 30% increase in conversions.

A few tweaks to field labels, alignment, button design and number of fields was all they needed to get 30% lift. Now, that’s not too shabby in anyone’s books, is it?.

Michael’s original hypothesis was:

“By making the form easier to understand and interact with, we can simplify the experience, remove friction, and get more leads to complete the 3-step form.”

The key learning here is not to jump to conclusions about what’s easy to understand and interact with. Never assume that you know, because you don’t!

The parts of a form that you may think are intuitive and simple could be confusing to your users. You may make sweeping assumptions that an open comment field is pulling your conversion rate down when really visitors hate your dropdown menu.

Do the research, create hypotheses, implement, run the tests and find out for yourself. Ensure your landing pages are designed for the ultimate user experience to get the greatest conversions.

Common Lead Generation Form Mistakes

According to Oli Gardner of Unbounce, establishing purpose and intent (with the title and description) is vital…

You need to make the purpose of your form really simplistically clear before you ask people to fill it out. Your form should be able to stand alone on the page.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lead generation form optimisation points. In getting started, don’t get caught up worrying about all of them right away, focus on the points that are most commonly associated with friction points and roadblocks to conversion.

1. Believing Form Field Myths

There are quite a few form field myths floating around the Internet right now…

• Always reduce form fields to increase conversions.
• Always move the form above the fold to increase conversions.
• Always remove the phone number field because it will always decrease conversions by 5%.Here’s 3 simple rules of thumb, but don’t assume…always test!
• Of course, sometimes these best practices work. But “always” is not a word in any true optimiser’s vocabulary. If you follow what appears to be best practice blindly, you might increase conversions, but chances are you’re flying blind.

1. Try removing form columns or adding a progress bar instead.
2. If your value proposition is complicated and your visitors are uncertain, a lead general form above the fold won’t be very successful.
3. Add a label description to explain why you’re asking for their phone number. Only in the event of an emergency? Let visitors know you are wanting this information.

Believe your data, not what you hear or are told.

2. Delayed Error Messages

The traditional error message model is outdated and ineffective. It sure as heck irritates me and it probably irritates you.

Take a look at this example checkout process…

The errors only display after you’ve completed the form and hit “save”. Seems a little inconvenient, right? You finally get through an eight field form only to learn that you need to redo something because of an error.

Your visitor’s expectation when clicking “save” is that they’re done with the form. If you then bring them back to the form, you’re creating friction. Chances are they give up and are gone.

Instead, think about using “as-it-happens” error messages.

Its logical that forms that contain input errors are culprits to cart abandonment because customers need to understand what to correct. You must make the error message very easy to spot, very easy to understand and very clear why the error happened. Many checkouts fall flat in this area, so don’t fall into this lost conversion trap.

As each field is completed, note whether it was done successfully or with error. A simple green check or red x will do. Visualize the in-line error messages before your visitors gets anywhere near the “save” button.

UJAM, a German music company, has a great example of what to do…

3. Lead Generation Forms Poor Labeling

As another client case study, see how powerful simply tweaking the field labels can be. Eliminating confusing questions and providing reasons why you need that information (i.e. how it will be used) can go a long way.

Labels within fields can be another point of friction. Look at this…

While HootSuite has as-it-happens error messages, they create friction by placing the labels within the fields. This format is often used in an attempt to shorten the form length, making it seem less daunting.

Unfortunately, it does the opposite and causes friction. As soon as you click on the field, the label disappears. With such busy minds, your visitors will soon forget what information they’re supposed to be entering.

Now, Hootsuite’s form is only four fields, so it might not be a major problem for them. However, this type of label would likely be an issue for longer forms.

The best forms for conversion and a great user experience have a label above, are single column, and have nothing on the inside. People intuitively know what to do with this simple easy to use style of lead generation form.

4. “We Won’t Spam” You

You’ve likely seen plenty of calls to action with little notices like this. “We hate spam”, “We won’t spam you”, “Just the good stuff”, etc.

Take a look at this call to action…

It’s important to know that “spam” is a stop word. It has a negative connotation and sends a signal to the brain to stop. Instant friction. Obviously, you don’t want any stop words near your call to action, so even though we see this everywhere, don’t do it.

Here’s a simple for below:

So, while that “no spam, we promise” line might be designed to build trust, it’s actually more likely to do the opposite. If your website, forms and landing page are well-crafted, your visitors weren’t even considering the idea that you might spam them… until now.

5. Lame Button Copy

Fact is, a lot of copywriting on the web is below par because it’s written for the writer, not for the reader. Write for your reader. It’s that simple.

We all know your button copy shouldn’t simply read, “Submit”. Unbounce has even coined the phrase “never submit” in honor of this. No one likes to “Submit”!

According to Formstack, adding something after the word “Submit” will help…

Other than that, it’s difficult to find any near absolutes, but here are some button testing ideas…

• Using the word “My” vs. “Your”.
• Using the word “Now”.
• Using the word “Free”.
• Using the word “Click”.
• Making the button larger.
• Moving the button above the fold.The most important advice when it comes to web form button optimization is this: don’t be lazy. A red button probably won’t dramatically increase revenue and using the word “Free” isn’t always a silver bullet, etc. You have to test different scenarios and see what resonates with your users.In 2013, Gian Wild wrote about how inaccesible CAPTCHA can be, and this still holds true today.
• “Not only are CAPTCHAs difficult for anyone to use, they are notoriously inaccessible to people with some types of disabilities.”

6. Annoying CAPTCHA

• Also, remember to tell visitors what will happen once they click the button. Vague calls to action create uncertainty and kill conversions. When your submission button is clicked, where will your visitors be taken? What will they receive?

Image Source

They are the very definition of friction.

If you absolutely must use a CAPTCHA, at least have a read of this article first Think Your Site Needs CAPTCHA? Try These User-Friendly Alternatives.

7. Too Much Info…For What?

Sites tend to design forms with their best interest in mind. How can you get the most data? How can we ensure the data is easily stored in the database? It’s easy to forget that a lead generation form is a transaction, which means it should be designed with both your user and your business needs at the same time.

Why require that a post code, phone number or date be submitted a specific way?

Why ask for your visitor’s name and email if they’ve submitted it before?

Ensure that your pages and forms remember user emails from a previous visit, eliminating a step for them.

Whenever possible, remove the burden from your visitors and place it on technology. The easier it is for them to do something, the more likely it is that they will do it. Would you rather have a phone number that’s incorrectly formatted or no phone number at all?

8. Overwhelm With the Wrong List Format

If you ask visitors to choose between a list of options, be sure you’re using the right list format based on your visitors and traffic source locations.

For example, this country selection example is daunting…

It’s worth noting that Canada and America, the two most popular countries for Battle.net, were at the top of the list for easy access.

So, what are the different list formats and when should you use each? Here are some guidelines:

• If you have 2-6 options, use radio buttons.
• If you have 7-15 options, use a dropdown list.
• If you have 16+ options, use an auto-fill field.Conclusion
• The process for lead generation form optimization is just like any other type of optimization…
• An auto-fill field allows visitors to begin typing the country, timezone, state, event type, car model, etc. that they’re looking for and then auto-fills relevant options. It’s much easier for a visitor to do this than to search through a huge list of options, even if that list is alphabetical.

1. Conduct conversion research to identify points of friction. (Discovery)
2. Come up with hypotheses.
3. Prioritize your hypotheses based on which you believe will have the biggest impact.
4. Run the test, being careful to avoid sample pollution. (Optimise)
5. Analyze and report the results. (Time for Growth)

To ensure your form is as quick and painless as possible, focus on optimising friction points and monitor user experience. For example…

1. Use as-it-happens error messages.
2. Avoid placing labels inside the fields.
3. Protect your call to action from words like “spam”.
4. Don’t use “Submit” as your button copy and be sure your button clearly indicates what will happen next.
5. Don’t use CAPTCHA unless you absolutely need to. Even then, look into more accessible alternatives.
6. Don’t be picky about data format and avoid asking for the same data twice (i.e. remember and store whatever you can).
7. If you have 2-6 list options, use radio buttons. 7-15, use a dropdown list. 16+, use an auto-fill field.

Conditionally, reducing friction isn’t always the needed solution, particularly if your aim is to increase the quality of your leads.