Contact Forms

Whether you’re thinking about adding a capture form to your website to collect leads for a sales funnel or creating a place for your customers to send a query, there are several best practices to encourage users to complete the form easily and with the piece of mind that their data is secure. We have put together some easy steps for a successful capture form.

1. Keep It Simple and User-Friendly

It’s important to keep the form simple and quick to fill in. If your capture form has too many fields it will put users off from completing it and it could be hard to view on mobile devices.

• Use clear and concise labels for form fields.
• Limit the number of fields to essential information.
• Group related fields logically.
• Use placeholders and inline validation for better user guidance.

2. Mobile Responsiveness

The number of users using their phone for content or website use in general is increasing the chance of someone using your website on their phone is high. Try the below to avoid users losing interest.

• Ensure that forms adapt well to various screen sizes.
• Use touch-friendly elements, like larger buttons and input fields.
• Test forms on multiple devices and browsers to guarantee compatibility.

3. Visual Design

Ensure your capture form has a place on your website that is easy to access this could be on a contact page or sharing the space with the resource you have gated. You don’t want the capture form to look separate from your website or branding as your users will question if it’s secure to fill in.

• Consistent branding and colour schemes.
• Clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA) buttons.
• Well-designed error messages for validation issues.

4. Anti-Spam Measures

Protect your inbox from spammers or online bots from filling in your forms by putting obstacles in the way.

• Use CAPTCHA or reCAPTCHA to prevent automated submissions.
• Implement honeypots or time-based challenges to catch spammers.
• Regularly update and maintain your anti-spam solutions.

5. Error Handling and Feedback

One way to guarantee losing a lead is, filling in a form to receive a notification that the information entered is incorrect and users don’t know how or where to correct the data they entered. Make this experience as easy as possible.

• Highlight errors clearly and at the top of the form.
• Use place holder example text.
• Offer specific guidance on how to correct errors.
• Use friendly and informative error messages.

6. Security and Data Privacy

Discuss the importance of security and data privacy in contact forms. Mention these security measures:

• Implement SSL encryption (HTTPS) to protect data in transit.
• Regularly update and patch server-side scripts.
• Clearly communicate your data handling and privacy policies.
• Ensure you have a tick box or indication that users have accepted the Terms of use before entering their details. you can read more about GDPR compliance here.

7. Testing and Optimisation

It’s important to test your capture form yourself, you wanted to ensure the data is received and stored as expected. You also want to see that the end of the journey is expected once the data has been filled in, for example a ‘Thank You’ message appears.

• Conduct A/B testing to improve conversion rates.
• Monitor form analytics to identify areas for improvement.
• Continuously seek user feedback to refine your forms.