Using Data from Analytics to Improve Your Online Forms

Is form building an art, or a science?

We’ve already established the fact that online forms are the end-point in a lot of online processes, from businesses to Human resources, and even Non-profits. This definitely means that the average internet user engages with online forms, in one way or the other, on an hourly basis.

So should the process of building a form be an art or a science?

If it’s regarded as an art, then you will be focused more on beautifying the form rather than collecting important data. On the other hand, if form building is regarded as purely science, it is most likely that form will be so focused on functionality, that it may edge close to being mechanical.

We like to think that form building can be an art form and then an actual scientific process. Form Analytics is what makes the difference or in this case, harmonizes both. By this, we mean that you can move on from form aesthetics, to using every bit of data to predict visitors actions and then improving form responses.

How does Form Analytics do this?

The Analytics feature automatically tracks Total Visits, Unique Visits, Abandonment Rate, Conversion Rates and Average Time Spent filling out a Form.

To access the Analytics menu, click on the “Analytics” option of a form from your Dashboard and then. You can choose to view a form’s performance from the date it was created (All Time), Today, This Week or Last Week.

Total Visits: This details the number of times a form link has been clicked/has been visited. It is different form Unique Visits in that it factors the total number of times an individual has viewed a form.

Unique Visits: This tracks how many individuals have viewed the form in question. Take for example, one person views your Form 50 times during a single visit, then this would be 50 Total Visits, but only one “Unique Visit”.

Abandonment Rate: In this tab, you can review the percentage of visitors that didn’t complete form submission and dropped off at some point. If you discover that your Form Abandonment Rate is very high, you can reduce it by taking out some fields to shorten the form, making it a multi page form or by improving your form customization to make the process faster or simpler for those submitting the form.

Conversion Rate: This reports the percentage of individuals that have successfully completed the entire form filling process from start to finish, that is, those that visited, filled out and submitted the form.

Average Time Spent: This calculates the mean amount of time spent by all visitors and respondents before they either submit the form or exit the browser.

Other metrics that can be measured include:

User location: This shows a map of where your visitors are accessing your form.

Top devices:This shows the different devices your visitors used to access the form.

Now, that you have all these data, you can make some adjustments to your form to increase your conversion rates. Here are a few ways to do that:

Form Analytics Says: High Unique Visits, Low Conversion Rates

What this means: Too many required fields, terribly long forms, unnecessary questions, bad layout

When you notice this kind of numbers for a particular form, it simply means that a lot of people are visiting your form (clicking the link) but fewer people are completing the form and actually submitting it.

For a long form with low conversion rates, shorten it by reducing the fields or convert the form to a multiple page form. Research has shown that forms with more than 5 fields on a page have a significantly lower conversion rate.

There is also the possibility that your form might be overwhelming and confusing to respondents. You need to ask yourself these questions: “Must these fields be labelled as required?” “Are all fields clearly labeled?” “Do you need to include some brief instructions?”

Payment forms with low conversion rates most likely mean that some questions on the form can be regarded as personal or overly intrusive. Don’t use online forms to ask for personal or sensitive information. If you must, ensure you communicate all your security measures.

Also, make sure has great visual appeal by using a simple layout. You can customize the form to make it really beautiful and “pleasing to the eye”.

Form Analytics Says: High Total Visits, Low Unique Visits

What this means: Fewer people are returning to actually fill the form

This maybe as a result of a very long form, a very “ugly” form, an online form with a lot of technical issues, or a form that is irrelevant to the people viewing it.

Thankfully, you can resolve all these issues so that you can improve your unique visits.

To create a beautiful online form, be sure to use an Online Form Builder like Formplus, as form builders come pre-packed with numerous form customization options. Useful features like beautiful colours, organized form layouts, colourful themes etc are already available in a form builder and all you just need to do is drag and drop to customize.

Now, it is also possible that your form is not very relevant to those seeing the form and so you’ll need to be sure that you are sharing it within the right circles. For example, if you have created a survey on social media trends, share it on popular social media platforms, and at times when a lot of people are available online.

Form Analytics Says: Low unique visits, high conversion rates

What this means: Not enough people are seeing your form

Now, you’ve gone to create a beautiful form or a short form with a creative layout; but you are yet to see an improvement in your form submissions.

This problem has moved on from your form – it is now more about how to get more publicity for your form/survey.

Distribute the form via social media, emails and even SMS to improve your form data. Integrate your online form with Facebook and encourage respondents to publicize whenever they submit the form. You can also embed the form in your website to increase the number of submissions.

Analytics says: High Abandonment Rates, Low Conversion Rates

Possible Causes: Those Required fields are too many!

Your respondents keep giving up halfway. High form abandonment rates mean that your users are abandoning your form at some point after they start filling in their details.

Take a look at the required form fields, if they are too many, then they are most likely the fields causing users to abandon the form. Remove the requirement—or if possible, the entire field—and you will likely see a jump in your form conversion rate.

The best part of all these is, solving this would lead to happier customers/respondents, seeing that you have taken out the frustrating form fields.

Are your online forms returning low submissions? Formplus is here to help! Email Formplus support to learn about more ways to increase your conversion rate.