How to create an effective form for generating leads in industry

You have probably already heard the saying “Content is king”. Obviously to attract visitors to your website and thereby create leads, you must provide them with quality content and value-added information about topics that interest them.

But this is not enough to convert them into leads. You must get them to fill out forms that will give you valuable information about the visitors.

So, here are some good practices to follow to create an effective form.

Make people want to click

Call-to-action button

The first step is to get visitors to click on the call-to-action button you have placed in clear view on your page. To do this, the button must be visible and attractive. It must stand out from the rest of the page, which must be clear and uncluttered in order to highlight the button.

The call-to-action buttons must propose a relevant service and added value, such as the download of a white paper, an in-depth study on a given topic or computer-generated charts.

Without relevant content, there is no chance the form will be filled in.

The landing page

Secondly, you must make visitors want to click on the button to send their form.

So, it is essential that visitors quickly understand the benefits of filling out the form. Your landing page should therefore contain enough information about what they will have access to.

We generally recommend a page structure with two columns, with a description of the content on one side and the form on the other. It is also a good idea on this type of page to delete the menus of your website so that the only button on which the visitors can click is the one to send their form.

Finally, avoid labels such as “submit” or “send” and use headings such as “Download the guide”.

Collect relevant information about your contacts

The size of the form

When designing your forms, think about the information you and your sales teams will need to process the Leads. Do not ask for information that will not ultimately help you convert these contacts in customers. These details will only lengthen the form and reduce the chances of it being submitted.

Selecting the right information is paramount.

It will allow you to obtain data about the identity of your contact, but also his/her needs and where the person is at in the decision-making process.

Thanks to this valuable information, you can then send the contact relevant information to help them move forward in the process or contact them directly if they are ready.

NOTE: do not to ask for too much information. The size of the form is very important; you need to find the right balance.

No-one wants to waste time filling out a form that contains lots of fields! And you know that in industry, time is precious, so get to the point right away.

A study conducted by QuickSprout showed that the conversion rate decreased by 15% when there were more than 6 fields on the form. So, you must carefully select the information you want in order to maximize the chances of converting the lead!

Smart forms

There are many tools are at your disposal today to help you create “smart” forms.

A smart form is a form that is adapted according to the information that you have already collected about a contact.

If a person has already filled out a form on your site and you already have his/her name, surname or its company, it is a waste of time asking for these details again. In this case, a Smart form will replace the known fields with new fields that give you the opportunity to find out more about the contact.

Smart forms have many advantages because they allow you to have a reasonably sized form and to adapt the questions according to the maturity of your contacts. The more forms the contacts fill out, the more you can ask them specific questions about what they are looking for and when they expect to make a decision.

As you can understand, forms are the key to generating leads and transforming your prospects into qualified contacts. Pay great attention to designing your forms and do not hesitate to optimize them if you find that some work better than others. In particular, put yourself in the shoes of the person who will be sending in your form!

Quick win !

Once the form has been submitted, use the Thank You page to propose additional content!

Talk about your lead generation strategy with one of our experts now!