contact-us-form

As much as a catchy phrase with an exclamation point at the end looks like it grabs attention on your contact forms, there’s always more to the equation. “Contact us!” seems like it would be the best way to get a customer to contact you, but is it?

While contact form leads are incredibly important to industrial companies, many forms fall flat and are not optimized for the best results. By avoiding the most common mistakes and optimizing your contact form for both the user and the search engine, you can start to generate higher quantity and better-quality leads.

Common contact form flaws and how to fix them

The contact form is by far one of the most important elements of a website. A website visitor can scroll through your site extensively, but if they don’t decide to fill out a contact form, a valuable lead can be lost.

Contact forms provide you the opportunity to gain a user’s contact information so that you can contact them with company information, new specials, or just to remind them that they’re valued as a lead.

However, in order to make the most of your contact forms and convert an email into a lead, you’ll want to avoid these common mistakes.

1. Bad location

If your contact form is on a page that doesn’t get much traffic, or is in a bad page location, you’re unlikely to get a high number of form submissions.

Instead, make sure your contact forms are in a place visitors can see without clicking any buttons or scrolling down the page.

Avoid putting the contact form in the footer of the website, because most people will never scroll the whole way to the bottom of the page. Instead, feature the contact form near the top of the page where it is easily accessible.

You should also be sure to put your contact forms on pages that receive the most traffic.

For example, you wouldn’t want to put a contact form on a product page that features a product that is only purchased by 5% of your customers.

Instead, you should put a contact form at the top of your first page of products to ensure that anyone looking at your industrial products will see the form.

2. Asking too much

Do you really need all of the information you’re asking for?

Of course, it is great to learn as much as you can about your site visitors, but knowing their birthdate, gender, address, middle name, and favorite color might be asking too much. Users will not want to risk their privacy or spend their whole afternoon filling out a contact form.

Instead of asking for a ton of small, useless details, only ask for the information that is absolutely required.

A good compromise is to make some of the fields optional. That way, you can capture the optional information from the users who are willing to answer, but other users can continue on to the required fields. Use an asterisk to identify which fields must be filled out in order for the form to be submitted.

3. Small submit button

Once you’ve figured out what information you need to gather, you need to give your users a way to submit the form easily.

If the form is never actually submitted, you’re missing out on a potential lead. Too many companies make the mistake of making the submit button very small or making it look like a link under the form. Users can easily miss it and never submit their information.

Make sure your submit button is visible, and make it stand out from the rest of the form. The form is more likely to be submitted properly when the submit button is clear and easy to find.

4. You neglect to let users know their form was successfully submitted

If you think your job is done after the form has been submitted, you’re making a common mistake. Something needs to happen after the form is submitted so that the user knows the information was properly filled out and received.

Otherwise, the user may click the submit button multiple times, unsure if it actually submitted.

A simple thank you is all it takes to let your users know their form was received properly. There are various ways to do this, but essentially, you should inform the user who filled out your contact form that the information was received and then indicate the next step.

A follow-up email is a good way to let the individual know that you will be in touch, or a page that comes after they click the submit button.

5. Not following up

Speaking of following up, not following up on leads is yet another common mistake made by industrial companies. After a contact form is filled out, the user expects some kind of response or further contact from you. Not following up can leave your potential lead wondering if you forgot about them and cause them to look to a different industrial company to help them.

Your lead contacted you, now it’s time for you to contact your lead.

Contact your leads and see how your industrial company can provide what they’re looking for. This is your chance to put your sales team to work and convert your leads into sales.

How CRO testing can identify issues

You may be thinking that your contact form stands up pretty well against these common mistakes.

But, how do you know if your form is actually optimized for the user?

CRO testing, or conversion rate optimization testing, allows you to see your website and industrial contact from through the eyes of a website visitor who has never been to your site before. CRO testing allows you to test your contact form on a group of users to help identify where users are having issues.

With certain platforms, you’ll even be able to watch a video recording of their computer screen as they navigate through your contact form for the first time. You can then improve your industrial contact form so you can get more leads than ever!

What kind of contact forms do you use?

Do you have a secret formula for the perfect contact form on your industrial company’s website? Or a go-to contact form strategy? Let us know in the comments below!