A webform is one of the main elements of interaction between your company and your web visitors. With the help of forms, users communicate with your site, perform predicted actions, join a community of fellow users, search for the necessary goods, and so on.
Lead capture forms are found on landing pages and often used with Google Ads. The idea is Google will get the lead to your landing page and the lead capture form will put the data into CRM. Capture the GCLID to identify your lead in Google Ads. Add in some background CRM workflows for follow up, and your automation game has begun.
Feedback forms are found on almost all commercial websites. The purpose of this type of form is to get the client’s data for a further call from your company. As a rule, the form opens after clicking the button at the top of the site: sometimes, such forms have a separate block in the middle or at the end of the content. Then the user does not have to return to the beginning of the site.
Another way to get customer data and make sales is through email marketing. With the help of a subscription form and email distribution, you can turn a new web visitor into lead, nurture them into a customer, and maintain a good relationship with them so that they become a regular customer. You could also ensure constant traffic to your site via the newsletter subscription form. The form is placed on either side of the webpage, embedded in the content, or placed in the footer after some article.
One of the main forms that are found on websites is the product order form, especially if you sell a product. Order forms vary; the number and description of the fields depend on the specifics of your company and marketing strategy. Sometimes, the forms are generalized, with the option of leaving a general comment on the order.
These types of forms are used to create a personal account. It’s either your web visitor gains access to the authorization form on your website or registers as a new user. The authorization form is quite simple and contains two fields: log in and password. For some websites, there’s a hint, should the user forget any of the required data, and a login button.Â
The registration form requires more careful study. It goes beyond the acquisition of new clients to collecting data for retention purposes. It’s a good practice to offer users the opportunity to register using their social media or email accounts; this will save customers a lot of time.
For those customers who want to “just ask”, marketers have come up with the perfect way of helping them; free consultation. If a web visitor is somewhat convinced about your offer and needs to clarify some things or understand some processes; they can write them in a special form and receive an answer by e-mail or phone. There, they’ve willingly passed through some stages in the sales funnel to the sales call stage.
There’s no assurance that your web visitors will find your webforms valuable enough to use. One big mistake that many business owners make is to just sprinkle their pages with webforms because they’ve seen webforms on several websites.
In the end, their forms enjoy little to no usage. They fail to generate substantial feedback from their web users and target audience, and their pages load more slowly.
These are useful tips that will help you understand the best practices for creating webforms that web visitors find valuable enough to use.
The advice is far from new, however, some designers neglect it or sometimes bombard their webpages with forms. n the first case, web visitor simply does not notice the webform, while in the second case, they get annoyed by the frequency of thei encounter with webforms and leave the website.
The site header is the first element your web visitor sees on your website. Web visitors often refer to the header when transitioning from one page to the other or searching for information. It is better to place the header next to the contact details in the upper right corner.
For greater effect, some web designers place forms on the main screen. These are forms for receiving a discount, ordering a call from a manager, or calculating the cost of a service. However, sometimes these forms are ignored on the first visit to the site because the first thing that comes to a web visitor’s mind is not how to place an order. They would first of all want to get to know your product or service and how it benefits them.
One good method of grabbing your web visitor’s attention and moving them through the buyer’s journey ios to place your form within the content. This in-content form needs to be strategically positioned so that the web visitor is ready to take the next step with your company. Once a web visitor sees an offer while reading an article or looking at images, they are highly likely to leave a request for you.
Another strategic position for your webform is the footer. At the end of each webpage, you would add a call to action that would spur the client to act on the information they’ve digested on your website. Having your webform at the footer helps your web visitor to make a quicker decision, as they would not need to scroll up to the header to fill the form.Â
This technique is aimed at interested users, as they have reached the end of the page and are on the point of making a decision.
Consider whether you need all the information about the client. The more effort it takes for a user to fill out a form, the more likely they are to give it up and leave the site. The ideal fields are for e-mail and phone. An inbound marketer will consider asking for the web visitor’s name, for contextual marketing and personalization purposes.
Unnecessary questions irritate customers, therefore, by reducing the number of fields to the bare minimum, you’ll save the visitor time and increase the conversion rate.
You can make the user experience of your website enjoyable by creating smart webpages that remember and automatically fill in web visitors’ details. There’s also the option of using drop-down lists to make things easier for your web visitors.
If your form does involve a large number of questions (for example, in the checkout form), it is better to break it down into several steps.
If the web visitor doesn’t understand the information you want from them, they won’t fill out your form or take the desired action. You have to clearly define your demands. Field names should be short, clear, and understandable to the web visitor. It’s also better to avoid unnecessary words in the field names. For example, instead of using “Enter a name”, the noun “Name” is more concise. The exception is for fields that need a sentence to convey meaning. For example, “Repeat password” or “Forgot your password?”.
The inscriptions on the buttons should also be specific; not “Sign up”, but “Sign up for a consultation.” This way, the web user understands the action they’re taking. Generic CTAs could lead to a low conversion rate.
When filling out a webform, the web visitor could make a mistake or simply get confused if the form has several fields. Thus, it’s important to help your web visitors by indicating all the states of the field. These states are:
It’s your responsibility to notify your web users whether their information was accepted or not. Once they’ve completed the form, you need to create a pop-up page that confirms that their information has been received and will be worked on. It’s also advisable to have an accompanying email to that effect.
You could also inform them of further actions they need to take in the confirmation message. Information pieces like when the goods will be delivered to the address, what is needed for payment, among others, will create a good impression on your web users.
Your web users have the right to know what will happen to the data they’re giving to you. People don’t want their addresses and phone numbers to end up in spam databases. So, give your web users the assurance that their data is under reliable protection. For example, attach a link to the Privacy Policy; tell them why you need them to provide the data you requested for, how it would be used, etc. This point is especially important when dealing with payment forms. Web users are concerned about the security of payment platforms; so, it’s necessary to convince them of the complete protection you’ve put in place for your payment form.
Nobody wants to give data just like that. Your web user wants to understand the benefits they will receive if they give their details to you. Therefore, put efforts into crafting a compelling copy for your form. Something that captures the benefits of taking up your offer. Improve your form with an open offer. Tell your potential clients about the benefits of working with you and what you can offer them.
If it’s a mailing form, indicate how often the letters will come, and what information you want to offer them.
People love it when you take into account their individuality and offer something personalized.
Customers love to benefit from cooperating with your brand – a discount on goods; bonuses on a card; and more. Gifts also work well, such as promotion codes, useful files or videos after subscribing, and so on.
Specify the time frame in which the customer will receive the order. “We will make and deliver in 3 days” is better than “Terms and delivery are calculated individually.”
Forms such as “Call me back in 40 seconds” also work. It will be interesting for the client to check whether this is so.
Applying complex captchas to your webforms can cost you customers. Web users get annoyed when they encounter complex captchas. Stanford University conducted a study on the effect of captcha on conversion rates. The results were impressive – sales increased by almost 40% after businesses removed captcha from their webforms. If you really need to use captcha, your best bet is Google’s reCaptcha. reCaptcha s a simple button that requires no effort to fill out.
As mentioned earlier, you should distinguish your webform from your main web content, since the purpose of the webform is to attract attention and lead your web users to take the desired action. Thus, use contrasting colors, bright attractive photos, and animation for your webforms. You can also use photos of people, as faces attract users’ attention.
As for fields and buttons, it’s better to separate them by color into main and secondary ones. For example, use a bright color for the “Sign up” button and muted shades for the “Skip” button.
Before launching, you need to test the form yourself using several browsers. Are there any extra questions? Is the data sent correctly? How are fonts displayed? Also, a separate item is to highlight the display of the form on other devices. A mobile phone user should easily fill in the fields, not strain their eyes while reading the questions.
You also need to monitor the performance of your webforms and optimize them. Are the collected data sent to your database for easier marketing purposes?
For this reason, you need an all-encompassing marketing tool that’ll allow you to create webforms, collect contacts, segment those contacts, and nurture them. Through that, you can strengthen your inbound marketing strategy and achieve your marketing goals.
Zoho is an all-encompassing marketing tool that allows you to create webforms, test them, collect and manage user data, and also optimize forms for better results.
Want to learn how to collect user data using Zoho? Ready to up your marketing game?
Contact our team here to learn more about the features Zoho has for webform creation.
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