When I’m auditing a website, I always recommend placing a conversion form somewhere in the design so that it appears on every page of the site.
I often get questioned about my logic behind this, which is twofold:
1) Making the user perform an additional click and page load in order to get to your form increases the chances that they will get impatient and bounce (see #1 and #2 below), and…
2) SO many studies show that not making a user hunt for something increases the chances that they will convert.
Here are 11 research-backed best practices to follow to increase the chances of form conversion:
- “A 1-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.” (Kissmetrics)
- “Forty percent of your incoming traffic will abandon ship after just 3 seconds.” (CrazyEgg)
- “To increase the conversion rate, compel the visitor to take action as early as possible. To achieve this, keep the form above the fold so that the visitor knows what action needs to be taken. Of course, there might be some instances where it is not feasible to keep the form above the fold. In such cases, at least place a call to action button above the fold that takes the user to the designated form on the page.” (Martech Advisor)
- “In one study, [placing a form above the fold] resulted in a 30% increase in email signups. (CrazyEgg)
- “Having not more than four fields in your sign-up form can uplift conversions by about 160%.” (Martech Zone)
- “Reducing the number of fields from four to three brings a 50 percent improvement in conversion rate.” (Hubspot)
- “Changing the phone number field from mandatory to optional decreases abandonment from 39 percent to just 4 percent.” (Clicktale)
- “Be specific about what a user stands to gain by filling out each form on your site. Present a clear benefit, and your conversion rates will likely reflect the value your visitors see in taking action. [In one case,] this resulted in a 31.54% increase in sign-ups.” (CrazyEgg)
- “Using the dreaded word ‘Submit’ as your form CTA copy reduces conversion rates by around 3%.” (Unbounce)
- “Changing the text of your submit button can typically increase submissions by 250%.” (VWO)
- “Your button color should be in stark contrast to your background colors. Something so vibrant that it catches attention in the first glance itself. And preferably the color that hasn’t been used anywhere on the web page.” (VWO)
If you have a WordPress website (which you should, for SEO purposes), there are dozens of great form plugins available to help you adhere to the above best practices.
President & Chief Web Traffic Controller at Pam Ann Marketing at Pam Ann Marketing
Recently named one of the “Top 10 Best Women in SEO,” Pam Aungst Cronin, M.B.A. is widely recognized as an expert in SEO, PPC, Google Analytics, and WordPress. A self-proclaimed “geek”, Pam began studying computer programming at 6 years old, started creating websites in 1997 and has been working professionally in the field of e-commerce since 2005. Referred to by Sprout Social as a “Twitter Success Story,” she harnessed the power of social media to launch her own agency in 2011. Pam travels all over the country speaking at conferences and guest lecturing at universities. Click here to read her full bio.
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