By now you probably understand that you should know as much as possible about a lead in order to effectively sell to them. One of the best ways to get to know your leads is through the information they provide you via a landing page form.
Your website visitors aren’t always willing to give out their personal information, even if you have a compelling offer and an awesome landing page. Online visitors are quick to tuck tail and run if they feel turned off or overwhelmed. You need them to stick around if you want them to fill out your landing page form.
Let’s review a few important things to consider that can dramatically improve your form conversions and help you gather that vital lead information.
Article Contents
1. How Many Fields Should Be Included and What Should Be Asked?
One of the first things a lead will notice about your form is the amount of information you’re requesting in exchange for your offer. The number of form fields should directly correlate to the value of your offer. 
If your offer is to simply sign them up for your “awesome newsletter,” you should be plenty happy to receive a lead’s name and email address.
On the other hand, if you’re going to send your lead an 18-page ebook with everything they need to “drop 10 pounds in 10 days,” you may garner a bit more trust. For that you can expect your lead to fill out more fields and divulge more of their personal information.
Excellent offers earn you privileged information and your leads begin to develop a trusted relationship with your brand.
The more personal the information requested, the harder you’ll have to work for it. For example, the phone number field is often too private for new visitors, so it’s important to consider how much trust you’ve earned with a lead before you make the request. Studies have shown a 5% decrease in completion of forms containing a phone number field.
Ask yourself, “Where is this form on the inbound sales funnel?”
Think of your sales approach like a date. On your first date you’d ask your companion some general questions and do your best to refrain from digging into their personal life. After you’ve been out with this person a few times they begin know and trust you. At this point you’ll be able to ask more private questions without scaring them off. The same strategy can be applied to a visitor interacting with a landing page form. If this is their first interaction with your company, you should give them time to get to know you before you ask to meet their family.
2. Create Compelling Button Copy and Colors
Your default button may read “submit,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s your best option. You’re usually better off creating a more compelling button that drives your visitors to complete your form. 
I know you may be thinking that “it’s just a button!,” but as you’re probably learning, every little detail has an effect on the way a visitor views your company.
Try reinforcing their reward for submitting the form by creating a button that says, “Get Ebook.” A great button can help a visitor view the task of completing the form like achieving a goal rather than just following prompts to submit some of their information. The way you make a person feel through each step of the sales funnel will have a major influence on how they interact with your brand.
One of the simplest and fastest ways to update the look of your button is by changing its color. Which color fits with your branding? Which color does your ideal buyer respond to best? If your ideal buyer is a 25- to 35-year-old male, pick a text and button color combination that suits him.
3. Consider Form Fields and Labels
The way your landing page form is laid out may be its defining characteristic and therefore the key to your conversion rate. Take into account the placement of your labels. Are they aligned to the left, to the the right, or have you placed them within the field itself? Try out each one and see what sort of response you get. How do you do that? Well A/B testing, of course!
Use A/B testing to determine the best placement for your labels, the right combination of copy and colors, and the perfect number of fields for your form. Check out our Landing Page A/B Testing Guide.
Bonus : Always Consider Mobile!
With the massive shift toward the use of mobile devices in recent years, you’ll want make changes to accommodate visitors that reach you on their phone or tablet. If you’re not already doing so, it’s time to start.
Forms can look very different on mobile browsers, so make yours easy to complete without overwhelming a visitor’s smaller screen size. Your clean and concise desktop form may be taking up far more real estate you than you realize. Make sure your forms work flawlessly on all platforms, and that they don’t have glitches in their mobile versions that you don’t see on a desktop.
You’ll also have to compete with an even shorter attention span on mobile devices, which translates to lower average page visit times. For this reason you may want to have a shorter form on your mobile site that allows for quick and easy completion. Hubspot did this and within 2 weeks had increased their mobile prospects by 500%!
When you’re using a mobile device your ability to type is slightly impaired due to the lack of a proper keyboard. While this may not present a hinderance for most of us when we’re trying to find the latest music video or buy a new pair of shoes, filling out a form doesn’t hold quite the same appeal. Having fields where visitors are asked to type in information may be blowing your mobile conversion rate. Look into multiple choice bubbles or dropdowns that a visitor can select from to help make their experience simpler while still gathering the valuable information you desire.
You may not learn everything you would from the desktop version of your form, but even a little is better than nothing at all. A frustrated visitor is far less likely to make it to that “submit” button, so keep them happy.
Final Thoughts
There are plenty of variables to consider when you begin to make changes on your website forms. The aforementioned examples are some some of the quickest improvements you can take action on and certainly make for a great starting point. Remember to test everything you change, as it’s the only way to determine whether or not your efforts are paying off. Now get going, it’s time to make those landing page forms work as hard as you do!
