Provide Your Forms With Obvious Clues!

Do you find yourself increasingly filling out online forms, in one way or another?

It could be for an online purchase, or to get some information from a company you're interested in. Or, perhaps, you're registering for a service or an account. Online forms are everywhere. Yet, as I navigate through these non-standard, everyone-has-a-different-format labyrinth of fields, one thing that I find extremely frustrating is something similar to the old Jerry Seinfeld "you know how to TAKE a reservation... you just don't know how to HOLD the reservation" gag. These forms are mine fields of hidden requirements regarding format, syntax or other rules which you don't find out about until you hit "submit." Then it all comes apart.

In some instances the "submit" button will completely clear all the fields if the information you input isn't 100% and completely compliant. Imagine having to re-enter all the fields from the top of the form to the bottom, after you've already done that. Can you say "process abandonment?" In other instances the submitted form comes back to you with small red type saying something like, "...error on line 21" whatever that is. Or, they will tell you your "phone number is incorrect." Can they really tell that?

Actually, they mean you have not entered the 10-digit phone number the way THEY want it. Often people will type (212) 555-1212 into a field, with the area code in parentheses. Or they will put a dash between the area code and number. Until you actually submit, you'll never know what the form really wants. Smart web sites actually provide an example in small black type directly above the form field that says: EXAMPLE: 212 555-1212

You can say the same thing about stetting up an account with a user name and a password. After thinking up a clever password that combines letters, numerals and symbols and pressing "enter," THEN I get the error message that tells me "enter only letters for your password." Or the variation to that is entering a password string of 12 characters, then getting an error message saying "...there is a maximum of 10 characters. Try again."

My point is, if you want to increase the likelihood that users will complete the journey through your sales funnel and engage with you (or make a purchase) then make sure you've made it as easy and self-explanatory for them to travel. Tell them in advance how you want your form data input. Don't let your users get frustrated and even angry because they have to hunt to find out what they did wrong (or you didn't tell them). Just like way point markers in a shopping mall, you want to be absolutely sure the user knows what to do, where to go, and how to get there as quickly as possible. A few extra hints on your forms will quite possibly result in better sales funnel activity and increased customer interactions.

© 2010 Bob Chernet - Need assistance with your marketing initiatives? Contact him today to see how he can be of help. View all of Bob's articles at: Bob Chernet's Marketing Best Practices . Reproduction of Bob Chernet's Marketing Insights in any manner is unlawful, without the written permission of the author.