‘How many fields should the form have?
Simple; Name, Email ID, and whatever you feel is right!’
In the last ten-odd years, I have worked with three major agencies and have heard this line as many times as I could remember.
I distinctly remember a million-dollar holiday campaign for a huge departmental store chain end with the same lines. Social Media, Google AdWords, and Email Marketing were to drive the traffic to a landing page, which had an ugly, uninviting, and three-field form.
WebForms, the simple, unassuming, yet highly important final steps that will help an individual become a qualified lead. The question then is, why aren’t more marketers and experts paying attention to this?
WebForms: Meaning and Definition
Lead Generation is one of the most important pillars of any business. It helps create a sales funnel that is then nurtured by the sales team until the actual point when it happens.
For the longest time, web forms have been the place that has been instrumental in capturing the contact and other details of potential leads. Having a web form is a prerequisite for any business. Let us look at the following data to understand why web forms are important-
- According to studies, nearly 75% of all businesses in the world use a web form for lead generation.
- More than 50% state that web forms are their number one lead conversion tools helping in creating a highly optimistic sales funnel.
- Landing Pages with an Optimized Multi-Step Form convert 80% more than the ones that do not have one.
Creating a Web Form: How Hard can it be?
Earlier if you had to create a web form, you would be required to put your coding and programming skills to the task. Now, it has become quite easier.
Several software and development companies can help you create a web form that is created according to your needs and requirements. You can choose the number of fields, the type of information, design, kind of content, and other issues.
You can also interlink your web form to your Client Relationship Management (CRM) Software. This means that every time someone fills in the form, the same gets stored in the CRM database, allowing you to nurture the same through calls, emails, and other modes.
A webform can be used for the following purposes-
- To announce a free trial for a product or service
- Generate registrations for events, or send welcome emails
- Share informational and valuable content (blogs, whitepapers, and case studies)
- Getting Feedback on a businesses’ product or service
- Announcements of a New Product Launch
WebForms and Lead Generation: What you need to know
Think about it. A Web Form is in many ways the first point of contact that a customer might have with your business. There is a reason why some web forms work well and some don’t.
In this section, we look at some strategies you can adopt to optimize your web forms for improved lead generation-
- Testing
The best brands and marketers never go with the first web form they create. They often create a minimum of two or three with different fields, content, design, and length. They then test it out and try to analyze, which ones are working the best. Testing is essential to understand how well a web form will perform.
- Structured Web Forms
In recent years, many marketers have started experimenting with what are multi-step forms. These forms are different from the standard web forms. They have one question on one page at a time. This prevents the customer from feeling overwhelmed and allows them to take one form of the field at a time.
- Replace the Submit Button with a Value Offering
Few other things tick me off than seeing the words “submit” on a form. This shows that the brand or agency executing the campaign has not thought enough. You should always replace the words to submit with something that shows value. Have a text like- ‘Start Changing Your Life Now’ or, ‘Live Your Passion Today’.
The Final Word
Marketers feel that web forms will continue to dominate lead generation in 2021. To drive home the point, I would like to draw an analogy between a web form and a long-distance race. Everyone starts slow and tries to keep up with the pack while conserving energy.
As the race draws to a close and the last 200 or 400 meters are left, we see a burst of pace. The long-distance ends up becoming a sprint as the runners’ edge closer to the final line.
For marketers and lead generation campaigns, this last burst of pace is the web form. If you want to cross the finish line of conversions, you need to work with the best web forms.
About The Author
Shahid Shahmiri is a digital marketer by profession. He helps online businesses to grow with smart marketing tactics to achieve better sales and leads. He is passionately focused and driven to grow businesses online and can manage the marketing and lead generation process with proven tactics and experiments. Shahid is accountable for analyzing marketing, SEO, growth and dealing with all promotional and media channels.
