10 Tips for Better Forms and Qualified Leads

Finding good leads make or break a salesman. The better the lead, the easier the sale.  This concept has a name— qualified leads.

Generating leads via the web presents its own set of challenges. The online form works day and night, gathering information about potential customers. The form constrains us, due to its finite nature, limiting us to a fixed set of questions. In the end, we act on faith more than assurance that leads will be of any substance. 

Creating good forms, forms that create qualified leads, requires a trial and error effort.  Here are ten ways to increase qualified lead generation via online forms:

1. Ask For the Right Information.

The basics:

• Name
• Email Address
• Company Name
• Visitors Title (helps to establish buying decision power)
• Phone Number (distinguish between work and cell)
• Reason for the Request/Type of Request (just looking or ready to buy)
• Market Identifiers (ask questions that will define segment of market)
• Influencers (who else will be involved in the decision)
• Anything specific to your industry or product

Obviously the Name and email should be required.  Don’t be afraid to require a phone number, especially for services. Required phone numbers will fend off the casual visitor. In addition, get the phone number type, work or cell. A work number indicates a more qualified lead.

2. Use Dropdowns

• Use drop down menus to isolate prime targets in your market
• Drop downs allow for more flexibility, while keeping control of the provided information
• Drop downs are easier to answer, allowing you to squeeze in two or three more questions
• Two or three well thought out drop downs are worth one big additional notes text field

3. Generate Specific Forms for Specific Conversion Paths

• Users in different roles have different needs, cater to the roles in your forms
• Use specific forms for specific products or services

4. Give Up Something to Get Something

• Requiring a form for a whitepaper has a less salesy feel
• Require a form to get pricing
• Utilize form completion for user group membership
• Add a private users section to your blog, requiring registration

5. Make Forms Convenient

• Make sure form questions are easy to read and understand
• Put forms in the margins of high traffic pages
• Make text in links to forms real marketing copy, not ‘get more info’

6. Make Specific Forms for Requesting a Phone Call

• Create a form specifically for people wanting a sales call

7. Strong Validation

• Make sure you validate important form fields (name, email, phone, etc)

8. Keep the Number of Fields to a Minimum

• Too many fields can run off potentially good leads

9. Always Follow Up Form Submissions

• Unreturned requests can harm your company’s reputation

10. Implement a Conversion Rate Optimization Strategy

Optimizing form conversion rate via testing, should be you top priority.  In order to find the best form, you will need to test.  A form completion is a funnel goal. Its a link the visitor clicks that has potential value for your business. You’ll need to test various combinations to get the form that produces the most submitals, as well as the best qualified leads. Multivariate testing provides the best way to optimizing success. If you don’t test, you will waste valuable time and resources, while losing business to your testing competitors.