As marketers, one of our top priorities is generating leads. SageFrog Marketing Group reports that 67% of marketers consider it their number one priority.

Forms are the best way to convert anonymous visitors into leads. Contact, demo request, download… These are the key components of a lead generation strategy. This strategy also includes strategies that increase traffic to the site to increase sales and improve conversion rates. Effective lead-generation strategies are essential for any business looking to grow in today’s market.

However, filling out forms is delicate. The more information we request from our visitors, the are less likely to provide it. We can reduce the obstacles by creating forms that are easy to use, relevant, and designed for them. Here are our tips and feedback after testing forms.

What is a Lead Generation Form?

To collect information on prospects, a form is most commonly used in B2B. You can often access it after clicking on a call to action. Their purpose? Their purpose? To convert visitors into leads, and then to qualify them gradually.

There are many forms available:

• Contact us to set up an appointment or to have a conversation.

• Demo Request Form: To request a demonstration of our product/service, as its name implies.

• Register for an event: For a physical or virtual event.

• Access to content form: In exchange for information, prospects can access a whitepaper or a replay of a webinar.

For collecting information about prospects, a form is an asset. Strategically placing forms can help you:

• Turn visitors who aren’t familiar with your site into leads.
• Get to know your audience better and see who visits our site.
• Identify and correct problems in our communication or marketing campaigns.

Ten Tips for Creating Forms that Convert

1. Inspire Confidence

Your landing page is visited by a visitor. The visitor is still reluctant to complete the form.

He is likely to be there because he clicked on your call-to-action or a link from social media. In each case, he has taken the first step and shown an interest (albeit precarious) in the forms.

He is close to providing the information that would allow him to be a leader, not just a visitor. He asks the question, “Can I trust this company?”

You must show him your trustworthiness to encourage him to take the next step.

What can you do to do this?

• If the site offers useful and relevant content, visitors will be more likely to fill out forms on sites whose content is high-quality.

• Take care of your landing page. The landing page to which you link the form must clearly state the benefits and include reassuring elements such as testimonials or an “About” section to remind them about the company’s purpose.

2. Offer a counterparty that is worth it

We need information from the Internet user to initiate the relationship. Therefore, we seek to receive and obtain data via our forms.

Why would someone agree to fill out our contact form? Without any compensation, he won’t do so.

You must consider the lead generation form as a transaction. The user would agree to the following: “If you give me my information, what will you give me in return?”

The offeror content must be of value. Visitors will not be interested in sharing their data to access content that is easily found elsewhere via self-service.

We mean value by:

• Time savings
• Eliminate a technical or operational obstacle
• Dispersed information is brought together and made more accessible
• The simpler way to simplify a complex concept
• Expertise

3. Avoid distractions

Is a visitor about to fill out a lead generation form? It’s not too early to pour champagne but it’s an important step in the relationship.

It would be a shame for them to be distracted and then return home.

Your landing pages should be free from distracting elements. Therefore, we will remove navigation menus and links to other pages from our landing pages.

What is the goal? The user must be “focused” on completing the form.

4. Place the form skillfully on the landing page

The conversion rate of forms is greatly affected by the anatomy of landing pages. The landing page must be calm and clear. However, it is important to consider the location of the forms.

You might be tempted to think that the location of the lead generation form doesn’t matter. Quicksprout found that one site’s conversion rate increased by just moving the form from the left to the right side of the page.

It is up to us to watch: If prospects are more sensitive than others to forms that are immediately visible on landing pages, it is better to favor this format. It is up to us, on the other side, to adjust landing pages that have more information but a smaller form to get better results. It is important to monitor and test the performance of your landing pages.

5. Do not ask for a phone number (except when necessary!)

Quicksprout reports that 37% of visitors to the site abandon it if they have to enter a number. You need to ask the right questions.

• Is it really necessary to have a phone number during this stage?
• Is it possible to make it optional to generate more leads

We will nurture the leads primarily via email. To nurture the relationship, it is not necessary to immediately get a telephone number.

It is better to ask than to request a phone number if it is vital to the continuation of the relationship. To increase conversions, you might be able to offer a quicker response.

6. The Worst It Is is, the Longer It Takes

Marketers have learned from our youth that the simpler a form, the greater the chance of it being converted.

A study that was widely repeated in the early 2010s found a causal link between form-filling and conversion rates.

New studies have shown that this relationship is not universal. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean that a longer form will convert less well.

It is more than just a matter of length. It is also a matter of balance between the user’s motivation to get the counterparty and their effort to do so.

Simply put, users will consider the “cost/benefit” approach. If he feels he has much to gain, he may agree to fill out a longer application. He will decide that the extra value provided by his counterpart is worth the effort.

7. The Button Text can be adapted

That’s it. Now the visitor is done filling in the forms. Now all he needs to do is click the button. He is still waiting.

What could you do better in this stage?

Change the text of your button. You don’t have to use the “Send” button. Instead, try something that is more in tune with the context. Quicksprout claims that “Click Here” convert 30% more than the default text.

This is where the idea of favoring a text that is oriented towards action (preferably with a strong verb action verb) but which implies that the user will get something and not have to do anything. We can favor: get rather than download, ask rather than request, and activate rather than activate.

Click triggers are small sentences that can be added to the button or above it to convince or reassure users. A trigger could be used to indicate that users can register for replays even if they aren’t available on the day of the webinar.

8. Describe the Next Steps

We must make sure that the user fills out our form correctly.

This is more than just being clear about the nature and purpose of the consideration. This will enhance trust and comply with the GDPR.

9. Control the proportion of fields that are required and not required

It is not good to see a form asking for too much information. We have the power to decide which information is most important to us and to spread it throughout our forms sparingly to avoid the block effect.

We have found that prospects rarely fill out mandatory fields on their own. It doesn’t hurt if you leave some, provided that the required fields are visible using bold fonts or an asterisk.

It is best to only fill in the mandatory fields. This makes it easier for prospects to complete the information. If a prospect is motivated, they will fill out all of the fields. However, if he doesn’t want to expand, he may think, “After all, only one field needs to be filled in!”

10. All fields can have labels

Important form labels are important. They must be clear and precise. There is no point in adding to them. You should not only fill in the placeholders but also title the fields for accessibility.

To make the visuals more appealing, we may remove the placeholder if it repeats the words in the title. This is a good time to add an example or precision.

What tools can you use to make your contact forms? 

1. Plezi One

Plezi One allows you to publish and create lead-generation forms for free.

Plezi One’s purpose is to help you generate more leads and provide you with a better understanding of the acquisition and conversion process.

Its drag-and-drop form builder makes it easy to create forms that automatically generate email responses. The integration with WordPress makes publishing forms quick and simple.

PleziOne will allow you to increase the number of forms available on your website, and thus increase the likelihood of visitors becoming leads. It works. Plezi One user increase their conversion rates by around 80% on average.

2. Send us a message via Contact Form 7.

Contact Form 7 includes a contact form template that can be easily added to your web pages and blog posts.

Once the plugin has been activated, simply copy the shortcode of the form and paste it into a post or page. Visitors to your website can then send messages directly through the form on their website.

After you are satisfied with the basic form, you have the option to add additional features using Contact Form 7 extensions. These extensions can be found on the developer’s site.

3. Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms allows you to select different fields to include in your form. These fields can be customized to suit your needs. There are many options available to control how the various field types behave.

Form settings let you:

• Limit the number of accepted forms submitted
• Define the time that the form is active.
• Before allowing users to use the form, they must be signed in to your site.
• Allow animation to be created

Forms can have a significant impact on lead generation. Sometimes, a small change can make a big difference in the conversion rate. We have outlined the most successful practices so far in this article. As we’ve seen, there is no set formula for form length.

It is possible to challenge some of the most commonly accepted rules. Forms can be challenged. It is therefore a good idea to experiment with different forms, designs, and content and to compare the results.