Jul 11, 20218:36 AM - edited Aug 12, 20219:29 AM
Inbound Professor
Share your favorite form examples!
Without forms, marketers would have a tough time obtaining information on potential customers and tracking data regarding purchases, customer feedback, new leads, and survey responses. In a highly digital world, it’s hard to think of a successful business that doesn’t have at least one web form on its site.
Here’s an example of one of my favorite forms in the wild: Grubhub.
Grubhub uses a pop-up sign-up form, which eliminates distractions by darkening the background to bring the form into focus. Leads are asked for just three pieces of information that they can either fill out manually or automatically using their Facebook or Google account.
The key takeaway? Grubhub knows how to create an efficient and easy experience for its visitors.
What businesses do you think do a great job at getting visitors to sign up or Live their forms? What best practices do they employ? Share your experiences below!
As a consumer, if a pop-up form blocks the content I'm trying to read, I immediately close it. Most of the time, these pop-ups appear too quickly, asking if I want to be on some kind of list when I haven't even had enough time to read a single sentence of the content. That's like being asked what you want to order two seconds after being given the menu. I do like the GrubHub one, though, but that's also because it's easy to see what it is they do and most people know this before they even go to the website.
I like forms that do not deter interest. I think expanded forms are beneficial when customers are further along in the buyers journey and have the details to move their project along. These expanded sections need to be well-used.
I agree, forms should be minimalists and only ask for information needed at that stage of the buying process.
I.e. Phone number, as a prospect you wouldn't expect to give that away or to be calling them, unless for a very specific reason. Therefore, name, email and company (b2b) are enough and then you can build their profile as they progress in the purchasing journey.
In my experience, clothing retailers do a great job with their pop ups to entice customers to register and receive a coupon and/or future offers. The prospect of saving an additional percentage off the current purchase is a great incentive.
I've spent a long time split testing forms. I tried something once where the call to action was at the top of the page and once clicked would slowly scroll to a form at the bottom of the page. This kind of forced the viewer to see additional content offering more incentive to fill out the form. This increased conversions by an additional 20%.
I personally like how nike has their form set up. Name, email address and age. Very simple and easy going. They also have it so it doesnt pop up at you blocking your view of the screen unless you actually go and click the button "sign up".
In my opinion, the best business are the ones that ask for info in 3 to 5 questions or what I consider "clicks" get me to your product or service as soon as possible.
They made two columns, with just one field each; very minimal. They use their colors in a great way, blurred the background, and added helper text and terms and policy info without making it look too clustered. Their title is also perfect for their target audience of students, and adding it right in the beginning actually makes you think, hey why not, especially if you are in the first two stages of the buyer's journey.
