Whether it’s an intake form or a testimonial collection form, online business owners like you and me use forms to collect important information from our clients all the time.
But what about when your clients either don’t click, delay submitting, fall off halfway through, or just ignore the form entirely?
Here are a few strategies to help increase your form completion rates, from a conversion copywriter and backend sales strategist:
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This should go without saying, but sometimes it needs to be said again: Don’t ask for information you don’t actually need or already have. If your forms aren’t getting submitted, the #1 reason most likely is: you’re making it feel too hard.
Pro tip: if someone has already bought from you, you already have their name, email, and possibly even more. Use Zapier to connect your tools and auto-fill those fields so they don’t have to provide them more than once!
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Make the process match your brand: If you’ve positioned yourself as a premium brand, please don’t send out ugly forms!
Typeform is currently my survey-builder of choice. I love that it’s so personalized and capable of branching logic, answer recall, and more. (I’m a proud affiliate so if you sign up through that link, I’ll earn a commission at no extra cost to you.)
These days, I’m also keeping an eye on how companies are using AI to enhance their survey tools. RightMessage, in particular, looks like a great option for business owners interested in using hyper-segmented campaigns to drive a lot more sales.
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Set clear expectations upfront: How long will the form take to complete? How much thought will your questions need? What will they get if they make it to the end? Let your people know what they’re getting into before they start to help them avoid falling off halfway through.
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Ask only one question per field. Confusion increases the cognitive load of giving an answer. And when things feel hard/annoying/unclear? People bail.
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If your goal is market research, short text answers are your friend. You will get only a fraction of the insight into your audience you desire if you’re offering them multiple choice or “tick the box” question types instead of letting them answer in their own words.
Pro tip: This kind of answer doesn’t have to feel hard. Using a prompt like “Finish the sentence: The #1 reason I signed up for [your program] is…” can help you get Voice of Customer data without requiring your client to do a lot of work.
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If you’re collecting info to start a project, like a Brand Clarity Questionnaire, or if your program is ultra-high-end, you may want to offer your clients the option of a call instead. This will depend on your capacity/team, but, when required to share a lot about our businesses, a lot of us would rather talk it out than answer the same questions yet again.
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Change things up. Variety is the spice of forms. Make sure you add visual interest and an image or 2 along the way.
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Always say thank you – and ideally, surprise & delight at the end. Nothing worse than putting a lot of work into a form, only to see a boilerplate “submission confirmed” page at the end. At the very least: Say thank you and tell your people what will happen next. Best case scenario: Offer them an exclusive gift as a thank you for making it to the end.
Why do I care if your forms get completed?
So many reasons, not the least of which is that they are one of the easiest ways to gather Voice of Customer data from the people who actually *bought*.
Within The Post-Sale Profit System, we use a variety of forms to check in with your clients re: their goals, desires, experience and results so that the offers you put in front of them are always customized to their needs. << That’s the secret to increasing client lifetime value without your offers ever feeling pushy or OTT.
Curious about how this plays out in practice?
Check out my free, on-demand training “Profit without Pressure: How backend sales automations can sustainably add 5-6 figures to your bottom line”.
In this pre-recorded workshop (you can watch at 2x speed or share with your team), I’ll walk you through the 9 Profit Levers waiting to be pulled inside your business’ backend.
You’ll walk away knowing exactly how you can generate 5-6 figures of additional revenue from your existing clients, every quarter—and keep that number growing.
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