Creating a signup form can be difficult. Here are 12 tips for creating great forms that convert to improve your marketing results. Signup forms may be beneficial to any website. These forms may be designed and used in various ways, depending on your company.\ Some of you are merely collecting email addresses for your subscriber lists utilizing registration forms. Opt-in forms are a fantastic way to generate leads. Other businesses use registration forms to attract new consumers. To earn income, subscription-based companies need registration forms. Signup forms let you communicate more effectively with your present or potential consumers. They also allow you to offer additional information about your business while gathering data on those who join up.
Signup forms are pointless if your website visitors aren’t converting, regardless of what you’re using them for. Creating a registration form isn’t as pricey as other client acquisition tactics you’re undoubtedly doing. All you have to do now is make a few simple adjustments to your website. These forms may usually be updated and inserted in a matter of minutes. You’ve already put in a lot of time, effort, and money to encourage people to visit your website. Don’t allow all of your hard work to waste by failing to improve your conversion efficiency. Anyone that uses registration forms with low conversion rates would benefit from this approach. It will also assist people who are creating new registration forms.
Tactics to create signup forms to boost leads:
1. Reduce the number of fields on the form.
People are preoccupied. They have more important things to accomplish with their time than spend it on your website. Therefore, make your registration forms as brief as possible to encourage them to convert. People will not take the time to fill out these forms if they are too lengthy and need too much information. In reality, research indicates that the form fields with the fewest fields have the most excellent conversion rates:
Forms with less than five fields convert roughly 20% of the time. If your registration forms now contain six or seven areas, removing a handful of them will boost conversions by 4.5 percent. Shorter papers are not only easier to fill out, but they are also less bothersome to visitors. Here’s what I’m talking about. Longer forms, of course, need more information. However, website visitors may be reluctant to share some personal information. If people merely want to join up for an email newsletter, they may ask why a company requires their postal code. Do you need their last name, depending on the circumstances? For a free trial, why do you need billing information? These are the fields that may be removed from your registration forms to keep them as short as feasible.
2. Recognize when one or two columns are appropriate.
I suggest keeping your registration forms in one column for the most part. They are simple to read and complete, and they will not be confusing. When dealing with two-column registration forms, people are more likely to skip or finish lines out of order. When someone misses a mandatory field, the whole procedure slows down. But I’ll go into further detail about this topic later. When you have one column, the sequence in which the lines should be finished is evident. On the other hand, a two-column form may not be seen in the same manner by all website visitors. Consider the following scenarios for how individuals could go through a two-column form:
Many will need additional stages and clicks, slowing down the process. If someone becomes confused or irritated when filling out the information, they will abandon it. I recommend switching to a one-column signup form if you’re presently utilizing a two-column format. Nonetheless, a multi-column form may be required at times. If your registration forms are lengthier, you may use two columns. I know I mentioned short papers had the most excellent conversion rates, but due to the nature of your company, some of you will have lengthier ones. Let’s imagine you have 20 fields in your form. If you put them all in one column, visitors would find the paper long and scary. This lengthy form may need some scrolling to finish. It will appear better if you divide the table into two columns, each with ten fields. The complete registration form may fit on one page, with no need to scroll. HubSpot put one of their lead capture forms to the test, including 13 fields. The team, on the other hand, enjoyed utilizing this strategy since it helped them better qualify their leads. In this scenario, the two-column version of the registration form received 22% more conversions than the one-column one. Depending on the state, you must recognize whether utilizing one column or two columns is to your best advantage.
3. Provide an incentive for people to join up.
Why should someone fill out your registration form? This isn’t a rhetorical question, by the way. Sure, you want people to join up so you can make money, but how does this assist your website’s visitors? In reality, it doesn’t. You must do more than invite them to join. According to research, providing an incentive, such as a chance to win something, raises conversion rates by 15 times:
Running a contest for your registration form isn’t always feasible. However, this isn’t the only form of incentive you may provide. When compared to a pure ask, other incentives might raise conversion rates by five times. The majority of the time, monetary offers are successful. For example, you may offer new subscribers a discount on their next purchase if you’re gathering email addresses. Make sure your request is appealing if you’re utilizing registration forms to earn revenue via subscriptions, for example. First, you must understand how to craft a compelling value offer. Then, on the landing page where you have the registration form, make sure the value proposition is presented.
4. Turn on autocomplete.
The registration procedure for users on your website is made more accessible with an autocomplete option. You’re probably not the first person to request the information you gather in the registration form. This information may be saved depending on the visitor’s browser settings. As soon as they begin typing, the browser will detect the essential fields and fill them in for them. However, this will only function if you activate the autofill option when creating your site’s form fields. Users fill out forms 30 percent quicker with autocomplete than without, according to Google. One of the reasons you’d want to make form fields as small as feasible is speed. If your forms are lengthier, the autocomplete option will help you increase conversions. Just make sure it’s simple to update the information given by autofill if anything goes wrong. A user may, for example, have many email addresses. For personal reasons, they won’t want to use their work email address on your website. They should amend the autofill if it inserts the incorrect email address without impacting the other form inputs.
5. Make social signups possible.
Allowing social signups is another technique to speed up the signup process. Users would be able to join up with only a few clicks to link your website with social networking sites. This functionality is now available on 34% of merchants’ websites:
As you can see from the statistics, the most popular social media site for registration form integration is Facebook. So follow the Facebook developer guidelines if you want to put this on your website.
Here’s an example of what your signup form will look like after you’ve put it up:
This is a quick registration form. Given the information I provided previously, it just has four form fields, which should make it a high-converting form. The procedure, however, may be made much easier for the user. For example, if they are already signed into one of the social accounts I indicated, they may join up with just one click by clicking on one of the social symbols I highlighted. They’ll be sent to a screen that asks for their username and password for the appropriate account if they aren’t signed in. In any case, filling out a registration form, no matter how brief, is still quicker.
6. Stay away from Captchas.
“Completely automated public Turing test to tell machines and humans different” is what CAPTCHA stands for. In a nutshell, this technology differentiates between a human and a machine performing an activity on a website. You’ve probably seen them before. It’s one of those things you have to do to prove you aren’t a robot. An example of a CAPTCHA function on a registration form is as follows:
This function is used by businesses to identify bots and prevent spam. Users, on the other hand, find it to be an added step. I’m willing to wager you’ve had to fill out similar CAPTCHA forms many times to go on with a task. It irritates you, mainly because you’re not a robot. This is not only an additional step for individuals to complete, but it can also be highly irritating if they get it incorrect. They may opt to leave the registration process entirely after a few tries, which will affect your conversions. You’d rather chance to have some bots or spam on your website than drive away potential clients with a CAPTCHA form.
7. Put a premium on opt-in placement.
Where can I find your registration form on your website?bThe form may appear in many places on various landing pages in some instances. A registration form may or may not be a top priority for your company. For example, if you own an ecommerce store, you’d prefer to emphasize revenue above email signups. The most typical location for an email registration opt-in is in a website’s footer:
However, this does not imply that it is the optimal place. If you depend on this registration form to generate income, make it the centerpiece of your landing pages. In the sidebar of your blog postings, try incorporating a signup form. When someone hits a particular CTA on your website, they might even display as popup windows. The idea is that there isn’t a single winning location that applies to all businesses and landing pages. It’s up to you to figure out what’s most important to you and then decide where your registration form should go.
8. Run an A/B test on your CTA.
If you’ve never done an A/B test before, I strongly advise you to read my tutorial on everything you need to know before getting started. CTAs from signup forms are ideal for these sorts of studies.
Many different aspects of a CTA can be tested, including:
- size
- placement
- color
- font
- wording
Making minor adjustments might have a significant influence on your conversion rate. Just keep in mind that you should only test one element at a time. For example, you may be sure that your registration form CTA is optimized for high conversions after you’ve completed your A/B testing.
9. Emphasize any information that is missing.
When comparing forms with one or two columns, I mentioned this briefly. A user can leave a mandatory field blank. If anything like this occurs, you’ll want to make sure it’s fixed as soon as possible. This individual is looking to convert. They provided some information and responded to your CTA by filling out a form. Allowing them to flee without finishing the procedure is not an option. They may believe there is a problem with your website if they click on your CTA and nothing occurs. As a result, you must explicitly indicate any blank fields. Take a look at this sample from the ClassPass website:
I merely filled out my first and last name on this form, as you can see. I didn’t use a password or provide an email address. The email address and password boxes both became red with a warning indicating “This information is needed” when I hit the “Sign up” button. Someone who made an honest error could not comprehend why they can’t submit their form if they don’t get this notice. The preceding example is relatively straightforward. Which fields were left blank are self-evident. With lengthy registration forms, however, this isn’t always the case. Don’t have people go back to the beginning to figure out what’s wrong. They should see the problem since it is highlighted for them.
10. Use social proof to your advantage.
Your company should look for novel methods to leverage social proof to boost conversions. Signup forms are an excellent way to do this. The notion of social proof is based on the premise that others affect individuals. Therefore, visitors to your website will be more likely to convert if you can show them how others have profited from what you’re selling. Because your social proof approach will be visible while people are making choices, integrating it with your registration forms is excellent.
On its registration form, Single Grain applied this method in the following way:
Some of the company’s most prestigious clientele are on display. It must be excellent if giant firms like Uber, Amazon, and Salesforce have profited from its services, right? This is what people assume when they see social evidence like this. That isn’t the only method to go about it. You may utilize statistics to emphasize an expert’s viewpoint. “95 percent of physicians endorse XYZ,” for example. Just make sure it’s correct. A celebrity endorsement may also be used to generate social proof. Make a numerical proof as well. If another 750,000 individuals join up, it will urge others to do so as well. Next to your registration form, keep a running count of the number of clients or email addresses you’ve acquired. Customer testimonials are also beneficial when included on these landing pages.
11. Make use of the sentence case.
Although it may not seem to be a significant factor, typography may influence conversions. Make sure that your registration forms are simple to read. This is something I see a lot in my consulting job. I’ve seen businesses utilize capital letters much too frequently. They use this to accentuate specific points, but it doesn’t come across. Consider the difference between sentence case and full caps:
People nowadays associate screaming with all capital letters. You don’t want your website visitors to think you’re shouting at them. The sentencing case is more conversational and looks cleaner. You’ll note that the bulk of the text in the samples above is written in sentence case if you scroll back up. You can get away with utilizing title cases in some instances. However, I would never use all capital letters. This seems to be far from professional.
12. Remove all sources of distraction.
I mentioned it briefly previously. A priority should be assigned to each page of your website. It should be the primary element of your landing page after that priority has been established. Don’t attempt to persuade folks to sign up for anything while also marketing your newest product and playing an embedded film about your company’s culture. It’s too complicated, and visitors will be unsure where to concentrate their attention. Instead, you can direct the user’s attention to the conversion process by removing distractions. From the Free Conference Call website, here’s an excellent example of a basic landing page:
Except for the request to join up and establish an account, nothing else occurs on the page. Yes, there is a background picture on the website. But that’s all right. This picture is much more attractive than one with simply a black or white backdrop. Furthermore, the image is nicely positioned. Both of the background individuals are staring in the direction of the registration form. It’s only natural for your gaze to be drawn to the shape. You may boost conversions by reducing text and emphasizing the form on the screen.
Conclusion
The presence of registration forms on your website does not ensure that your visitors will convert. However, you may make modifications that will enhance conversions, whether you’re establishing a new registration form or attempting to improve an old one. Use this list as a guide to assist you with this procedure. Your registration forms will become conversion machines if you follow the advice I’ve given above.
Related Tags
- form optimization
- the ideal number of form fields
- email sign up conversion rates
- lead gen form fields
- form fill benchmarks