A form on your website is more than just input fields. It is an interaction between your business and a potential customer.
You depend on forms to generate leads, capture customer data, and even to process sales for products and services. When forms on your website are not properly optimized, you could be losing valuable information.
Forms are an important part of any website. They help you capture leads, build an email list, or even get client details before making a sale, all of which ties directly to improving your website conversion rate. With proper form tracking, you can also measure how well those forms perform.
Some of key advantages that come with good form design include:
Any form you have on your website plays two roles. First, it contributes to the user’s experience. When thinking about UX design forms, the goal is to make every interaction smooth, intuitive, and helpful for the user. They have a way to communicate with you, sign up for a newsletter, create an account, or interact through a well-thought-out contact form design.
That form also has an impact on your business goals, as it can help with driving conversions, collecting valuable data, and enhancing the efficiency of your lead generation and sales processes especially in B2B strategies that rely on accurate lead information to drive conversions.
A great user experience can go a long way in helping to enhance conversions. In turn, this helps you achieve your business goals.
On the business side, you receive a solid lead. A thoroughly completed form gives you all the details you need to provide that user with an accurate quote.
A simple mistake can be costly when it comes to form website design. This is why you need to know about common poor practices in web form design. Each of these plays a role in conversions, user experience, and form performance.
The longer your forms, the higher the chance of form abandonment, a trend consistently highlighted in industry form statistics.. Quicksprout did a test and found that reducing the number of fields from four to three can actually boost conversions by just under 50%.
Labels are there to guide users when they fill out a form. When your form does not provide clear labels, users will have a hard time knowing what to fill in. It makes the user feel confused and can seriously hurt the conversion rate of your forms.
Just as labels are vital , you also have to focus on the layout. A weak layout shows why UX design forms should follow clear structure and hierarchy and can make it difficult to navigate the form or access it on certain devices. Users do not want to feel frustrated.
Mobile phone usage has reached an all-time high, with the number of users already surpassing 7.2 billion. If your forms fail to load properly on mobile devices, then you are leaving money on the table. Forms should automatically adjust the input fields to fit well on mobile devices so that they line up vertically for better navigation.
Having proper labels helps users know what information you expect from them. However, people also want clear instructions. This is especially true for multi step form UX, where each step needs clear guidance. They need to know why they are filling out the form, what they can expect, where to click, and what happens after they submit. Without this information, conversion rates may not be optimized as users are not sufficiently instructed on your form page.
A call to action is incredibly useful. It tells a user exactly what they need to do next, and when your forms fail to have one that is properly worded and visible, it can increase your bounce rate and lower your conversion rates.
Clearly label your buttons so that users know what they will do. A user does not want to click on a contact button and have this take them to a checkout page.
Whether you allow users to request a quotation or to sign up as a lead, having some mandatory fields is a common practice in form design. However, too many required fields can ruin even the best sign up form design.
Designing a form is about more than just the visual appearance. The underlying code and tags can make a difference in how some users perceive it. Ignoring certain accessibility standards can reduce conversions from users who use assistive technologies.
The same goes for failing to ensure forms are keyboard accessible and having clear indications of errors or validation when filling out fields or submitting the form.
Modern UX design forms go beyond looks; they anticipate user needs and remove friction at every step. Recognizing poor form design practices is important. You also have to ensure you know what considerations can help to make your process more efficient when you design a form. In today’s world of omnichannel marketing, users may encounter your forms through different touchpoints, so consistency is key. There are several considerations, but we will talk about two particularly important areas. When it comes to sign-up and multi-step forms, form design UX makes the biggest difference.
A multi-step form is a great way to break down a larger set of inputs. A smooth multi step form UX gives users progress markers and reduces overwhelm. It makes it easier for the user to fill out and learning more about tracking multi-step forms can show you exactly where users drop off. With that said, you need to make sure there are clear instructions and visual indications.
This can include having a numbered system that shows the user where they are in the process. Preloading elements for the entire form also makes it easier to render each step without making the user wait too long.
A sign up form design should be simple and to the point. While it may be tempting to get as much data from the user as possible right away, this can hurt your conversion rates. To boost the rate of completion, keep things short.
Once they create an account, you can use additional forms to collect more information, such as their name, location, mobile number, and payment details.
Looking at a couple of effective web form design examples can be a great way to help you understand what you should focus on. There are many examples of good forms out there; you just have to dig around a little to find the ones that can inspire your own designs.
Take Google’s account creation form as an example. It’s simple, well-structured, and gives the user a flow that is easy to understand. It’s a classic sign up form design that is simple, well-structured, and easy to follow.
Google Signup Form – Source: Google
A great example of a quote request form comes from Newark, where users get a clear flow for what the company requires from them to provide an accurate quotation. All fields are clearly marked with a label, and customers have a choice to upload a parts list or manually enter the parts they require.
Example of a quote request form. Source: Newark
An example UI for a contact form design also shows how something simple can help to offer an exceptional user experience by keeping things to the point. Instead of having several input fields, this UI asks for a name, email, and a message. It is easier for the user to fill out.
Online florist form sample. Source: Justinmind
You have a better idea about poor form design habits, so now it is time to implement this on your own website. There is a three-step system you can use to do this, which helps you assess your situation, test the changes you make, and keep track of everything.
The best way to improve forms that already exist on your site is to start with an audit. Carefully analyze all of your existing forms and see if there are any online form design elements that might interfere with the user’s experience and with your own business goals.
After making changes through the auditing process, you have to test your forms. You should not just design forms, but also see if they work as expected. Testing different approaches to contact form design helps you analyze how they work and detect errors before your potential customers do.
It is also important that you properly track your forms. Using form analytics for business helps you see where users are leaving, why they fail to complete your forms, and where you can improve.This can help you see where users are leaving, why they fail to complete your forms, and identify areas where you can improve.
A form that doesn’t line up properly, fails to offer clear instructions, or has an incomplete CTA loses you leads and clients. Recognize bad design practices, continuously test your forms, and use a monitor to see where you are losing customers.
