Businesses frequently use online forms for a variety of different purposes ranging from surveys for market research to contact forms, order and payment processing, and so on. Because of how regularly they’re used, it is important that you’re able to create online forms that are effective and fulfill their goal.
While there are many factors that can determine how effective an online form ends up, the following are the best tips to create forms that are more effective overall:
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Remove any non-essential fields
The shorter your online form is, the more responses it is likely to get – so be sure to remove any fields that aren’t absolutely essential. In some cases, you may even want to combine the fields in your business form, and include a single field for the Name as opposed to two for First Name and Last Name.
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Try to avoid required fields
As a rule, you should only ever have ‘required’ fields if they are truly required. For example in a standard contact form, the Email field may be required – but it should be the only one that is. The other fields such as the Name, Subject, and Message should all be optional.
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Use short yet descriptive labels
Each field in your form should have a descriptive label that makes it clear what information it is expected to contain. At the same time however you should try to make that label as short as possible, preferably a word or two at most.
The goal should be to make it so that people can scan your form quickly and without getting stuck reading a long label. If you feel a field isn’t that clear – add a hint rather than a longer label.
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Match the form with your web design and branding elements
In order to get more responses, you will want to foster trust – and matching the design of your form with your web design and brand color scheme can help you accomplish that. Simply put you want people to subconsciously associate the form with your business, as that will make it appear much more professional and legitimate.
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Avoid general error messages
One of the worst mistakes that you can make when creating a business form is to use general error messages. The key to creating good error messages is to make sure they are helpful and clearly communicate the problem so that people can act on it.
Admittedly implementing the tips listed above will require that you’re able to create and customize online forms to be more effective. If you aren’t sure how to do that you can try using a form creator, for example, AidaForm Online Form Builder.
All said and done if you’re able to create online forms for your business that are simple, easy to fill out, and foster trust – you should reel in far more responses. Keep in mind the tips listed above can apply to any type of business form, and you should try to use them with each and everyone that you create.
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