Forms that convert

The best place for a form is next to the moment the visitor decides they want something. That is usually the end of a pricing page, a case study, a service page or a useful guide. A form on a page the visitor reached by accident is a guess.

List your five pages with the most intent. Check that each one has a form or a booking link above the fold and again at the end. If a page needs a click to reach the form, expect fewer people to find it.

Write down the minimum you need to send a useful first reply. For most B2B businesses this is name, work email and one question about what they want. Everything else can be found out in the first conversation or from the CRM.

My rule of thumb is to ask for three fields at the top of the funnel and four at most when the offer is a real conversation. How many fields to try is a test, and A/B test form fields and placement shows how. Why less is usually more is in Ask for less than you think you need.

You can add one question that helps your team sort leads, such as "What do you want to solve?" or "How many people work at your company?". Make it a drop-down with four or five options, because a choice is faster than typing.

Do not ask a question you will not use. If nobody reads the answer, remove the field. Ask yourself for each field: which decision does this change?

Use labels outside the field, not placeholders that disappear when someone starts to type. Say what each field is for in plain words: "Work email (we reply here)".

The button should describe the result. "Send me the guide", "Book my call" and "Get a quote" beat "Submit". If the page promises a call, the button should say so. Match the words on the button with the words in the promise above it.

People hesitate because they do not know what follows. Add one line under the button: "We reply within one working day." or "You get the guide by email in a minute." Then keep the promise.

If you have a privacy notice, link it in a small line. A short sentence about how you use the address does more for trust than a long legal block.

Open your form on a phone, with one hand. Check that the keyboard matches the field: an email keyboard for email, a number pad for phone. Make the fields and the button large enough to tap without zooming.

Check the error messages too. "Invalid input" helps nobody. "Please add an at sign in the email address" does. Keep what people have typed when an error appears.

The moment after submission is the best moment you will get. Do not waste it with "Thanks". Use the thank-you page to confirm what happens next, offer the download or the booking link, and, if it makes sense, suggest one more useful page.

Choose your form tool to match the job. HubSpot forms write straight into the CRM. Typeform, Tally and Jotform are quick to build and can send submissions on to your CRM. Google Forms is fine for internal use. Whatever you pick, the lead must reach a person quickly, as covered in A captured lead you do not follow up on is a wasted lead.

• Asking for a phone number when you plan to reply by email.
• Using "Submit" on the button.
• Putting the form on a page with five other things to click.
• A required field the visitor cannot answer, such as "budget" in the first message.
• Sending the lead to an inbox nobody reads.
• Redesigning the form without writing down the current conversion rate.

• Your form asks for no more than four fields, and each has a reason.
• You can state the submission rate for each form, by page.
• Mobile submissions work as well as desktop ones.
• Every submission reaches the CRM within a minute and gets a reply in the time you promised.
• Your sales team can say what they do with each field.