Do You Really Need to Capture All That Info on Your Form?

Landing page forms can help turn unknown visitors into known leads. However, knowing what you can and should ask is tricky with multiple factors to consider.

• Complying with regulations: There are increasing privacy and security regulations that companies need to take into consideration when asking visitors for information. From the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the US to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, these laws influence what questions companies can ask, how you store and use that information and how you communicate those details to users. While the regulations are different, they speak to a larger trend of transparency about, and greater responsibility for, the data that marketers collect.Learn more about what True is doing to stay compliant with GDPR.It is important to follow your company procedures and consult with your legal team to make sure your forms and processes are compliant with these regulations, if applicable.

• Determine the questions: First, you need to craft your call to action. Are you asking people to sign up to receive a newsletter, a free sample, to become a member? Once you have this figured out, you can pinpoint the right questions to ask based on the information you need to complete the process or transaction.Another way to determine what questions to ask is to figure out where your audience is in the marketing funnel and make sure your questions align with that phase. Essentially, there are three categories of buyers. For example, if you’re trying to raise awareness among new prospects by encouraging e-newsletter subscriptions, don’t ask for their physical mailing address, too.Once you’re crafting your questions, you should consider what information you need-to-have versus information that would be nice-to-have. You should only ask for what you need, which often includes basic contact information; such as name and email address. The rest of the questions should be clearly related to the offer and CTA. Beyond some of the regulatory implications, if a user begins to think the information you’re asking for is irrelevant, they may lose trust and abandon the form.Some common questions that may cause your visitors to pause include gender, race/ethnicity, and/or household income. Visitors may feel that information isn’t necessary to disclose or may not understand why you’re asking for it. Additionally, this may raise privacy concerns for some. Make sure to disclose how information is going to be used and who will have access to it.Additionally, you want your form to feel inclusive to your visitors. If you need to ask visitors their gender or other similar information, consider an open text field so you’re not excluding anyone with discreet options in a drop-down menu.

• Determine the length: If the form is too long, you may deter people from continuing. If it is too short, you might not be getting enough information to determine if the person is a good prospect.A good rule of thumb is to keep your form around seven fields, if possible. Use radio buttons over open text when possible. These buttons allow the user to click on an option rather than typing it out, making the process seem easier and faster.Making all of the form fields required may also deter people. Require what information you absolutely need to have and consider the others bonuses. You can also analyze if there is a common field people are leaving blank and replace it or A/B test length. If you decide to make changes during an active campaign, make one change at a time. Making individual changes allows you to identify positive or negative results from the change.

• Smart forms and progressive profiling: Smart forms is a feature that allows your landing page to prefill a person’s information. This information was stored into your contact database when the person previously filled out a form on your website. This simplifies the process for the prospect.Progressive profiling technology allows you to gather small bits of information over time; customizing the form questions based on the lead information you have or are missing. This means that you have the ability to learn more information each time without overwhelming users with a long form up-front.Both of these features are great, but are only available through some platforms.

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Launch and Analyze

‍As with everything else, analyze your data! Once your campaign is active, make sure you’re checking in frequently on the results. By doing so you can identify trends, monitor and optimize your conversion rates, etc. This data can be useful in the future as you make more landing page forms.

Once you take all of these factors into consideration, you should be ready to build a form that will bring you the best results to reach your goal.

For more information or more tips on boosting your form submission rate, check out True’s website or connect with us today!