Darren Jamieson: On this episode of The Engaging Marketeer, I want to talk very briefly about website forms.
No, no — don’t turn off. Don’t turn off. It’s not boring.
I want to talk about forms. So, when you go onto a website and fill in a contact form — or somebody fills in your contact form — their email, their name, the inquiry they’re sending gets to you.
That’s essentially what a form is.
Most websites, most businesses that have a website, have forms — for want of a better word — because they haven’t really thought about the information they want, the information they need, versus the information they’re actually asking for.
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So, say for example you’re a digital marketing agency like us.
If you go on a digital marketing agency’s website, the form on the “Contact Us” page might be behind a link. You click “Contact Us” — your own website might be the same.
On the homepage there might be a button that says “Contact Us.” You click it, and it goes to a form.
And you might be asking for the person’s name — that’s basic. So: first name, surname.
You might ask for their email address, so you can contact them — possibly even add it to your database (I’ll come on to that in a moment).
You might ask for their phone number, so you can call them.
You might ask for their location — the town or city they’re in, maybe their county or state or province.
You might ask for their postcode or zip code.
You might ask for the nature of their enquiry — that could be a free text field or a dropdown.
You might ask, “How did you hear about us?” — useful for marketing research.
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You might have a free text message box where they can write their message.
You might have a CAPTCHA field — to prove they’re human.
You may ask for a landline as well as a mobile number.
You could ask for a fax number — believe it or not, I still see forms with fax number fields.
You may ask for their website address.
You may ask for an alternative email.
All of these are things you could ask for on your form.
But the important thing you’ve got to think about is: why?
Why would you ask for all of this information?
Because every single field you add to a form makes it less likely that someone’s going to fill it in.
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Darren Jamieson: Even splitting up the name field — forename and surname — that’s two fields.
If you just have one field for “name,” people can write “Darren,” “Darren Jamieson,” “Daz,” “Darren Craig Jamieson” — whatever they like. It’s up to them.
But if you force them to enter first name and surname, that’s an extra step. Some people won’t want to do it.
If you ask for a phone number — why?
If it’s just a web form where they’re downloading something, or enquiring via the internet, and you don’t actually need to phone them — don’t ask for it.
Because if you do, and they know you don’t need it, they’re going to think:
“Why are they asking for my number?”
We all know why — you’re going to phone them.
And if you’re not going to phone them, then why the bloody hell are you asking for it?
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The more fields you add, the less likely someone is to fill it in.
Here’s another one — and this is because of a plugin called Contact Form 7 on WordPress.
Bit of nerdy info there: by default, when you create a form with it, it includes a message subject field.
Who cares about the subject of the message?
No one.
What’s the point of that field? The user’s already writing a message in a free text box. So why are you forcing them to fill in an extra subject line?
It’s just more friction. It’s another reason for them to bounce away — which is why your form isn’t converting.
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If you ask for an alternative email address — do you really need it?
If someone’s requesting a callback, do you really need their email too?
What about dropdowns asking what the enquiry is about?
You probably don’t need that either.
Here’s an idea: you can track which page they filled the form in on.
So if they’re on your SEO page and submit a form, you already know it’s about SEO.
You can auto-populate that in the backend — you don’t have to ask them.
The more fields you don’t ask for, the higher your conversion rate will be.
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Darren Jamieson: Now, I mentioned adding people to an email database.
I get it — someone fills in a form with their name, email, phone number… you’re going to want to add them to your database and contact them later.
But you’ve got to ask permission for that — or at least notify them.
They need to confirm that it’s okay.
That’s a GDPR rule.
So, there has to be an opt-in checkbox — something like:
“I confirm you can contact me,” or “I agree to receive marketing updates.”
I’m not going to go deep into GDPR right now, because this is a podcast — not a legal lecture — and that would be incredibly boring.
So I’ll stop talking like that, because you’d probably think your speakers had broken.
(They haven’t. That was just me pissing about.)
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Here’s the bottom line: if you have fields you don’t need, don’t use them.
If you’ve got separate fields for forename and surname, but you’re not adding people to a database — get rid of them. Use a single “name” field.
If you’ve got a subject line field — get rid of it.
You do not need it.
The fewer fields you have, the more likely someone is to fill out the form.
And let’s talk about design. That’s just as important.
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Does your form look nice? Is it clean?
If it’s a tiny little field with a tiny little font, and someone’s email doesn’t even fit in the box properly — it has to scroll horizontally — they’re not going to want to fill that in.
It needs to be big, bold, bright, and beautiful.
Why would anyone fill in something that looks crap?
Yet most people don’t care about this on their websites. They think:
“A form’s a form. Who cares? It works.”
But if it looks bad, or feels clunky, no one’s going to use it.
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Darren Jamieson: And the last thing I want to cover is the reason most forms don’t work at all — and that’s the incentive.
Let’s say someone’s on an accountant’s website.
They see a contact form asking for name, phone number, email, message — the basics.
But here’s the thing: they don’t really want to talk to you.
You’re an accountant. Sorry, but to most people… that’s boring.
They don’t want a conversation.
What they want to know is:
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How much is this going to cost me?
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How quickly can you do it?
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Can you save me money?
They want answers. They want those answers now. They don’t want to have to speak to you just to get them.
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Here’s an idea: give them data capture that answers their questions.
We did this for a client years ago — got rid of the traditional contact form and replaced it with a quote request.
The form asked:
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Are you a limited company or a sole trader?
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How many employees do you have?
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Roughly how many invoices per month?
That was it. Just those fields.
Behind the scenes, we had a pricing matrix that would automatically calculate an estimated cost for their accountancy services.
That’s what people wanted — an instant quote.
And because it gave them that, they filled it out.
Their data still went into the CRM, still triggered follow-ups, but now people were actually submitting the form.
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It transformed the site from one that got hardly any enquiries into one that converted really well — because it gave people something they wanted: a quote without needing to speak to anyone.
And the faster you follow up that quote? The more likely you are to close the deal.
But the quote was what made the difference.
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That’s what your form needs — a reason to be filled in.
Maybe it’s not an instant quote. Maybe it’s a free download.
Something valuable. Something helpful. Something they actually want.
It could be:
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A brochure
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A physical item sent by post
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A free eBook
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Access to an online calculator
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A template or spreadsheet
Anything that answers a real question they’ve got or helps solve a problem.
That makes them see you as someone who can help — and makes them far more likely to contact you.
[10:31]
Darren Jamieson: Your competitors? All they’ve got is a boring contact form.
Name.
Phone number.
Email.
Message.
Nobody wants to fill that in unless they have to.
So, here’s what I want to leave you with today on The Engaging Marketeer:
Go and look at the forms on your website.
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If nobody’s filling in your contact forms — if they’re just sitting there doing nothing — there’s probably a reason.
It could be:
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You’ve got too many fields
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Your fields are too complex
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You’re asking for information you don’t need
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Your form looks ugly
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There’s no incentive for someone to fill it in
Or maybe it’s all of the above.
And if that’s the case, you need to speak to your web designer.
Fix it. Strip it back. Make it work.
Because a form isn’t just a box for someone to fill out — it’s the gateway to new business.
And if it’s broken, you’re leaving money on the table.
So that’s me for this week on The Engaging Marketeer.
I’ll catch you on the next podcast.
