The more information you can process, the better decisions you can make. Though, collecting the data you need is a thorough process and it may bring more than a headache, we know. But there are 5 easy tweaks you can apply to your forms to optimize them and get those answers rolling.
First things first. Why are you having trouble collecting your form answers? Well, there might be three primary reasons for this:
A. You’re asking for too much information
B. You’re not asking accurately
C. Your form has not enough exposure
It will all depend on the kind of form you’re dealing with and the who is the target audience. The scenario when building a form for your company’s intranet or a 360 degree feedback form will be considerably different than for a customer satisfaction survey, a quiz or a market research.
But as a general approach, you can address the 3 cases above mentioned with these 5 tips that will help you receive more submissions:
Like in every relationship, you shouldn’t expect to get all at once. 3 to 5 fields is proven to be the optimum number of fields in terms of form conversion rate when having a contact form or a lead generation form.
Ask only what you need. If name is not relevant, don’t ask for it. If phone number is not relevant, don’t ask for it. People are reluctant to share their personal details unless it is completely necessary.
Keep in mind that, in the cases of lead or contact generation for example, once you have a name and a contact input you can always follow up later on to “fill in the blanks” with the rest of the information you are needing.
Many times you’ll need to ask a variety of questions, especially when carrying out a market research or customer satisfaction surveys. In these cases, when you cannot reduce the number of fields to a mere 3 to 5, it’s a good idea to use some techniques that will allow your form to look shorter and will make the user experience more enjoyable.
When creating long forms, it’s always advisable to test your form with someone who has not been involved in its creation, to receive genuine feedback about the filling experience.
Keeping your questions clear, concise and straightforward will help increase the number of submissions drastically.
Most of internet traffic is driven by mobile devices and this tendency is still growing. Hence having your forms ready for that scenario is a key element. Of course, 123FormBuilder forms are already mobile responsive and optimized, but there’s still some aspects that rely on you. What are those?
How are smartphones screens and keyboards? Small, and they can be annoying when typing long answers. Therefore, make sure you use clickable fields on your form, like single & multiple choice fields, likert scales, dropdown menus, date picker, etc. so that mobile respondents do not fill discouraged to give their opinion by being forced to type a never-ending answer.
Of course, you should leave a space for additional comments when needed, but when you can replace fill-in questions by tap questions, it will help you grow your submissions number.
In terms of appearance, test your form in your own mobile phone and adjust the layout to your convenience in the editor if you feel it is needed. You may try applying additional tweaks like resizing and renaming the Submit button and even changing its colour. You can be creative in the Themes section.
The more exposure your form gets, the more the chances to grow its answers. You have a variety of options to get your form published: embed it on your website, publish it on facebook, twitter and make sure you share the link with the appropriate audience.
If you’re doing a survey, sharing the link via email to your dedicated email lists can be a smart move. You can also publish it in dedicated blogs and debate groups, if that’s the case. It all depends on your form content and, once again, your target audience.
Of course, you can raffle off a plane ticket amongst respondents or offer a big discount on your service, and we all know that’s gonna work . But chances are none of us own an airline and that giving away goodies can lower down the quality of your answers, since some people will be responding just for the sake of the reward.
While material incentives can be appropriate sometimes, that’s not what I’m talking about. Instead, when possible, show your visitors the clear value of their answers. “By answering this survey you’re contributing to save the whales of the bay”. Done. It’s a moral and self-conscious reward which most of the times will be more powerful and satisfying than a material one.
That’s it for now. We hope with these tips help you get the results you’re looking for. Feel free to share your comments and ask your questions below!
4 Comments
If I have 3 pages, with amounts on each page, is it possible for each amount to be added and a final amount provided to the customer ? If yes, please could you let me know how this is possible. Many thanks.
Hi Michele,
Yes, you can add the 3 amounts under the Summary and Discounts if the form is integrated with a payment processor. Or add a Number field called “Total” and under Payments -> Calculations create a formula Total = Amount 1 + Amount 2 + Amount 3 . Add only the Total under Summary and Discounts list with the note that the amount / value can be assigned to Choice Fields, Number fields or Price fields. Good luck!
How do I run a report listing all people that submitted a form?
Hi George,
You’ll find all form submissions in the Submissions section: https://www.123formbuilder.com/docs/submissions/
And you can export them to CSV or EXCEL if you need textual data: https://www.123formbuilder.com/docs/resend-print-or-export-to-csv/