How to Create Contact Forms that Actually Work
Today’s post comes to us from Lisa Margetis, a valuable team member at Singlehop. Lisa’s colleagues spent a great deal of time researching contact forms. Read all about Lisa in her bio below, but first soak in the team’s knowledge by reading her post.
Learn the science behind creating the perfect contact form.
Every Internet marketer knows how important contact forms are. They allow your customers and potential leads to add their information, so that you can later contact them. While it’s simple enough to build a contact form, mastering these forms can be very difficult. Using the right wording and just enough fields can dramatically increase your profit and number of leads.
Number of Fields
How many fields should you include in your contact form? About 61 percent of forms have five to 10 fields, but the number that you should use depends on your needs. Having more fields improves the quality of each lead because you get more information, but it reduces how many leads you’ll get in general. Having fewer fields will dramatically increase your leads.
If you want good leads, then use more fields. If you just want more leads, then use the fewest fields that you can, and add other qualifying steps throughout the buying cycle.
Most Important Fields
Regardless of your intent, you should know which fields are the best. The top three fields are email, name and business phone number. The others, in order of importance, are: lead source, mobile phone number, timeframe, key pain point, website and budget.
More Money and Fewer Costs
Not only does improving your contact form improve the number or quality of your leads, but it can also improve profit and reduce costs. Expedia was able to generate $12 million more in profit from removing one redundant field. Marketo decreased their cost per lead by $10.66 by reducing their contact form from nine fields to five.
Finding the right balance is important depending on your needs, but don’t be afraid to experiment to see what is best for your needs and the return on your activity.
Building Trust
People will only enter their information if they trust you, but building this trust can be very difficult without forming a relationship. There are three things that you can do to build trust within seconds.
- Add your own contact information. Many people will want to see this just to know that you’re real, but others might call or email you to verify that your business exists.
- Add endorsements and testimonials from customers to show that you offer a quality service or product.
- Add an incentive. Giving away free eBook and products, and having a privacy policy, can also help build trust.
Copy Tense
Did you know that one company increased its conversion by 90 percent by changing one word? This company found that writing in first person, rather than second person, really resonated with its customers.
The original button text was, “start your free trial.” By changing it to, “start my free trial,” their conversion dramatically increased. While changing tenses may not be as useful for every company, consider experimenting with your call-to-action copy for better results.
If you want to improve your leads and profit, then it’s time to focus on your contact form. Just making a few alterations can increase your number of leads, develop better leads and reduce costs. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your form because it can lead to vastly improved results.
Are you a visual person? Here’s a Contact Form infographic that neatly ties this all together for you.
About Lisa Margetis
Lisa provides design and art direction for the SingleHop brand, website, and collateral. She spends most of her time in the design realm fascinated by perfect color combinations, looking for typography that speaks more than words, and meticulously working layouts to look effortlessly elegant. Her inspiration comes from many mediums including interior design, pottery throwing, and arranging succulents into the perfect window composition.
When not designing you’ll find her gardening, attempting to try every Mexican restaurant in Chicago, and training her bird how to skateboard. (seriously, you can do that :)
Follow Lisa’s team on Twitter @singlehop.
SarahJayne jolynndeal Marissa Buckley Me too, if I could only somehow work that into a paying gig, I’d be golden!
jolynndeal SarahJayne Marissa Buckley There IS a real opportunity out there! I often Google what I need and end up not finding what I am picturing and have to create it anyway. Oh well, that’s one of my favorite pasttimes anyhow! :)
SarahJayne jolynndeal Thanks for letting me know how you found us, Sarah. I’m not sure what version of our editorial calendar is on Google docs. We’ve since added columns and other information. Here’s a link to our latest version. https://www.mymarketingcafe.com/resource-stand/use-blog-editorial-calendar/
I was just talking to Marissa Buckley about how you found us and it’s sparked an idea of putting tools that business owners may need on Google docs. It’s a way we hadn’t thought of using for reaching our audience. Thanks so much!
Marissa Buckley Keep us posted on the results of the change. It will be great to see this idea in action.
jolynndeal Thank you so much for your very kind comments!! They are an inspiration for me to “keep on postin’!”. I am really pleased that I found your site here! Coincidentally, I discovered it through Google docs when I was researching ideas about editorial calendars. There was one of your infographics at work! :)
There are so many great points in this article. We just completed a form where we used the term “Get Your Quote” for the call-to-action. It will be interesting to see what happens when we test the new copy using “Get My Quote”. This is an excellent post. Thanks for sharing.
Synnovatia jolynndeal Wanted to also say you gave a great presentation today, Jackie. It’s good to know the hard work you put into your blog is paying off, so much so that you now need someone to work all those leads for you!
SarahJayne You bring up such a great point, Sarah. It’s not necessarily one tactic but all of them working together. I don’t spend nearly the time I should on infographics and slideshare, but have included as a focus in my own marketing plan. BTW, I am completely addicted to your blog. I absolutely love to garden and love the results. And… it’s a perfect place for conversation, just as you point out on your blog. So nice to see you here. :)
jolynndeal Synnovatia I know! Proving that its the little things that add up to big things.
Not only is this great information, but it’s graphically pleasing, too! I find that well done graphics do increase my personal opt-in rate! Thank you!
Synnovatia I agree, Jackie. It hadn’t occurred to me to focus on building trust through a contact form. But it was an “ah ha” moment when I read it. :) And who would have thought that a simple change such as changing the word your to my would be so effective.
Nice! You can’t argue with numbers and success like that. Thanks for the great info!