> You can also break the form up into multiple pages to make each part of the form shorter
I dread the 'next' button on multi-page forms, especially when there's no indication of how many pages there are or how long the questions will be.
We used to have a 5-stage ad campaign creation process in our SaaS self-service ad manager. Once we started measuring cart abandonment rates, we noticed that users dropped off after the first 2 steps. It gets even worse if you require users to sign-in first
The solution: 1. We replaced it with a 1-page process 2. This is the crucial bit. We allowed users to create their ads BEFORE signing up.
By seeing a live preview of their ads, we engage them early and dramatically improve conversion rates.
The morale of the story is that keep the steps short (even if the form is long) and provide instant gratification.
Here's a link to the form on our demo site : http://demo.trafficspaces.com/advertise/cart/new/?adspid=153...
What we did to increase the conversion rate:
1. Use one long form instead of a "wizard" containing multiple steps. Advanced options are hidden by default to keep the form manageable
2. Show the checkout buttons on the same page, so users see the available payment options right away
3. Remove the sign-up step. We simply send the users a secure URL to the email address they provide in the checkout process
4. Use an informative landing page (http://www.adperium.com/advertise) including a demo link, instead of linking directly to the campaign creation page
A better approach would be to display some section tabs at the top of the form, saying how much you have filled already, or red/green (or icon) if any information is still needed.
For example, when filling a car insurance form, a square saying "Profile (12/18)" and to the right of it another one saying "Car (07/20)", or whatever the breakdown needs to be.
Most forms I come across are terrible and frequently lose my info. Only Wufoo and GoogleDocs have been tolerable (and actually quite friendly at times).
Especially for customer acquisition, the first form should be as simple as name, password, email address. The other information about the user can be asked later on and provide some kind of (virtual) incentive for people to do so. I know that LinkedIn uses this kind of system.
Problem is, we have to subscribe to a heap of websites, and so having to provide much information every time gets old, even when such questions are legitimate. I think websites should strive to balance between what they need (information) and what the user is looking for (a service). At registration time, I don't know how much value you will provide me, and still you want me to take the hassle to register. So to speak, you should sell me the need to provide you information. For instance, I liked when I visited Ebay the first time and it allowed me to watch items _without having to register at all_. Ebay proved itself useful before asking me to register (of course, later I was _eager_ to). Ryanair offers to remember your form, _without you having to register_. OTOH, I hate whenever I'm asked to register to an e-commerce website just to order one item, while I'm unlikely to visit that site again.
Have a nice day.
This doesn't apply to all cases. It works well for sign-up forms but there are cases in which it's better to focus on early user engagement at the expense of a short form.
For example, in cases where the user is expected to create or design something for use later, it makes sense to immerse them in the creation process even if it means your form is longer than normal. The key thing, imho, is to keep the number of pages down to 1 (or max 2) and give live feedback.
More details in my earlier comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1655871
The worst approach ever was on a forum I stumbled upon. I read a thread I felt I could contribute to, but I had to subscribe. You know, the we-have-sent-you-a-confirmation-mail thing. After having confirmed - which is an hassle in itself - I discovered that my membership had to be approved! Should I have bookmarked the thread to post afterward? They serious?