Three Reasons Why You Should Reduce Friction on Your Website Forms
I almost spit out my coffee when I saw a marketer I follow say the following in a recent LinkedIn post. Paraphrasing, he said:
“Low website conversion rates often result from low lead quality caused by using overly frictionless sign-up forms. By intentionally adding friction (e.g., asking for more required information), businesses can weed out low-quality prospects and ultimately increase sales despite decreasing overall sign-up numbers.”
Dealing with the lowest of low quality leads: bots and spammers
When we talk about filtering out low quality leads, 90+% of that volume comes from bots and spammers. So if you’re not already doing this, a good first step (that has nothing to do with the information you collect from your leads) is to set up reCAPTCHA on your forms to limit bot and spam submissions. Depending on the website management platform or third party form code you use, some forms include the ability to add a math problem, like 2+3 = _____. This question/tactic is also great to use to reduce junk submissions.
That said, here’s why it’s in everyone’s best interest — from your leads to the marketing team to the CEO — to make all your forms as short as possible. These include newsletter signup, lead magnets, book a meeting, and other opt-in points that constitute lead generation.
Three big benefits of short website forms:
They save time for your lead. If you have compelling copy (and maybe image[s] as well) that sells the value someone gets in exchange for providing their email address, they’re already thinking ahead to how they can use the “carrot” you’re going to provide them. This is the idea with the popup form example above, which I recently set up for my client Estate Management Systems. Your job at this point is to get them to seeing and using your “carrot” (freebie) as soon as possible, to carry your lead along the wave of excitement that you generated through your form and the page elements around it. An email address-only or email + name form does just that.
By saving your lead time, you reduce the risk that the lead wonders why you're asking for something specific and/or gets distracted and never comes back. Requiring a phone number (a common form field) is a great example of unnecessarily introducing questions in your lead’s mind. For example: Why are you requiring me to share my number? Are you going to call me? Are you going to text me? (Note that you can always get your lead’s phone number later; and there are many solutions to source numbers and other contact information, such as ours for B2B businesses.) When it comes to distractions, competitors plus many AI search tools being available for your leads equals a perfect storm for website bounces before leads complete your forms. All the more reason to keep them short.
The sooner submissions come in, the sooner you can act on them to close leads faster. Keep the big picture in mind, especially for what your C-suite wants to see.
Two more points to consider
First, I recognize that, depending on your industry, a single field for email address — the shortest form possible — is not always realistic. As I discussed in this video, if you’re a home services company, you need your lead’s address, phone number, and information about what they need to repair or enhance their home. If your business needs a similar level of info up front, you can break up what would be a really long, single form into smaller pieces that are more enjoyable for your lead to complete through a multi-screen, graphical workflow. Chris Wilson Plumbing & Heating Repairs uses this approach with their “Schedule Service” top menu (and on-page) call-to-action button that starts the customer intake process.
Second, low lead quality is often about more than just the lead capture form. A website visit can start from your email (if the lead is on your email list), a search engine result, an AI engine answer, a social media post, or a paid ad, among other entry points. If your promise of value doesn’t align with who your lead is, and their needs or pain points, from the entry point —> landing page —> form, it doesn’t matter how frictionless your form is. So keep your entire client or customer journey in mind and actively work to improve the places your lead is at before they arrive at your form — as well as the forms themselves.
To conclude: an under-3-minute form review primer
Here’s what’s listed on a typical proposal form (in this case, in the marketing industry) — and my guidance to improve it for visitors by shortening it. I hope you find it helpful:
