Estimated time to read: 5 minutes.
Today, a website's contact page is still too often neglected, sloppy, empty, or overloaded. Yet its importance is great. The home page is the first element a user sees, so it must be well constructed. However, we must not forget that the contact page is the one that will perhaps extend the visit by requesting information, a quote, or an order.
Table of content:
- Forms or not?
- What is a contact form and how can I optimize it?
- Keep forms short
- Give confidence
- Use an attractive layout
- Support the user
- Conclusion
Forms or not?
If you've ever visited a website with a contact page, you might have noticed that some use forms to initiate initial contact, while others simply display their email address for you to join. While just posting an email address can be helpful for some businesses, contact forms provide more possibilities! They are relatively simple to set up and complete, and can, when used effectively, dramatically increase visitor engagement.
What is a contact form and how can I optimize it?
A contact form is used on a website to allow interaction between visitors to a website and the site's webmaster. It allows the visitor to request a quote or be contacted by a seller.
The contact form is an important issue for companies with a website because it transforms a simple visitor into a qualified prospect or even a customer.
Ask yourself the right questions to create the structure of the contact form
First, you must ask yourself the right questions to know in which direction to go when creating your form.
For whom? We are talking about targets and people likely to fill out the form.
What is the role of the form? Find prospects? Or answer technical questions?
What information do you want to collect? In what form should it appear?
The answers to these questions will be the first steps in structuring the form. Please note that the longer the contact form and the more required fields, the higher the abandonment rate. Hence the importance of minimizing and prioritizing your fields.
Essential elements for a contact form
Creating an online contact form is easy as we said before. However, there are a few must-have points that you should include in your contact forms. These are:
- Request categories so users know why and what they can get in touch with
- Open text field so users can express themselves in their own words if they feel the need to
- Alternative contact information for people to contact you, such as email or phone, just in case
- Make sure your contact form is mobile-friendly and responsive
Keep forms short
Several studies indicate that having fewer fields on a form leads to higher conversion rates. One option would be to reduce your form to the essentials: name, email address, and message. While it may sound simplistic and unspecialized (and it is), this simplicity and familiarity can make the form more appealing.
The fewer fields you have, and the more specific the requirements for those fields, the more likely you are to receive useful feedback from visitors.
Give confidence
Add tokens of trust to reassure your visitor by adding your phone, address, customer testimonials and information about your privacy and data protection rules.
Use an attractive layout
If your form requires more fields, group them in a logical order and make sure they all relate to the objectives of the request. It's also important to keep the form elements in a single column - and for desktop users to enjoy it more, navigation to the next field should be optimized, using the TAB button.
Support the user
The user needs to be guided and reassured to fully complete the form and not give up. Pay particular attention to the data protection regulations which require you to warn the user of what you do with their data. We discussed this in more detail in this article.
Then, provide comments and instructions for use when the operation of the form is not intuitive. Try to put yourself in the user's shoes by doing some tests! For example, in the event of an error, clearly indicate the field concerned: and not a global message "An error has occurred. Please try again”. The user does not have to think to detect his error.
Also, in the support of the user, consider posting a message confirming the submission of the form and above all, clearly explain what happens after clicking on the submit button. What are the steps to follow? When will he be contacted?
Also specify when a field is required, with the presence of an asterisk. In addition, remember to justify requests for sensitive information, the user needs to be reassured! For example, if you ask for a date of birth without giving a justification, the user will be reluctant to give this data. However, if you specify: "Give your date of birth, and you will receive a promo code for your birthday!", Then the user will not hesitate, because he knows that this request for information is legitimate.
Conclusion
Now you now know the best practices for creating a contact form. Don't forget to test it before uploading it! Above all, think about analyzing it and then improving it over time.
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