Form Design: Best Practices to Improve Conversions

Form Design: Best Practices to Reduce Errors and Improve Conversions
Lauren Martin www.sitemotif.com

Design Principles
Keep it Simple
Avoid unnecessary text and inputs.
Focused Goal
It should be easy to see what needs to be done to complete the form.
Be Clear
You never know the context of the user, make sure things are very clear and unambiguous.
Constantly Communicate
Inform users about what’s going on when it happens.

The basics of labels, errors and layout.
Login Forms

Clear, Obvious, Concise
Set proper expectations by letting the user know exactly what you are looking for.

Locate, Inform, Assist
Error messages should inform the user Where the error happened, What the error was, and How to correct it.

Clean, Focused, Apparent
Focus on the point. Provide users with a clear call to action and next steps.

Interface Surgery

Meetup.com

WordPressBlog Dashboard

Alignment and Orientation
Examples From:
Web Form Design
by Luke Wroblewski
Layout Best Practices

Path to Completion
Minimize distractions by removing unnecessary elements
The scan line should have good visual spacing.
Provide a single path throughout the form

Top Aligned
Positives
Cleaner scan line, means more rapid processing and less effort
Label and input field are adjacent
Allows long labels
Horizontal space for grouping related fields
Studies show highest completion rates
Good for familiar data
Negatives
2x Increased vertical space.

Top Aligned Labels

Right Aligned
Positives
Close proximity between label and input field
Good for varied label widths
2x faster to complete as left aligned labels
Reduced vertical space
Negatives
Left rag of labels makes scanning less efficient

Right Aligned Labels

Left Aligned
Positives
Easy to scan labels is good for unfamiliar data
Reduced vertical space
Good for forms with sensitive data where you want users to slow down.
Negatives
Label and corresponding field are not adjacent
Long labels extend gaps between labels and controls causing visual “jumps”

Left Aligned Labels

Buttons
56% of Submit buttons are left aligned with the form. While only 26% are right aligned and 17% centered.*
You do not need a cancel button. The user can navigate else where if they are not longer interested.
Secondary actions should be separated from the primary action. This can be done visually by making the secondary action a less prominent link.
The primary action should be to the left of the secondary action.
* Smashing Magazine: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/08/web-form-design-patterns-sign-up-forms-part-2/

Examples
1. Primary Button, Secondary Link
2. Primary Button, Secondary Button
3. Primary Action on Right

Redesign

Forms are crucial to businesses and stand between the user and the companies product or service.
Improve Conversions

How do you get to the form?
You should have a clear call to action on your homepage.
Use very clear links and leads. “Sign Up” is 2x more likely to catch your users eye over “Register”, “Join” and “Create Account”.
A signup link should be located in the top third of your page, preferably next to the login form.

What’s on the form?
Users really do care about what your asking them.
For Example: Asking someone for their address is like saying, I’m going to send you stuff. If they are not ordering a product, this may immediately turn them away.
Context also matters. If I am just signing up for a clothing site, you should not be asking for my credit card number. If I am trying to purchase an order, then the context would be correct for purchasing information.
Try to keep it between 3-8 mandatory fields. Less is better.

How is it organized?
Every form should have a name and a clear purpose
Always chunk information into logical groups
Each chunk should have a clear title summarizing the questions in that section
Try to avoid multi-page forms. However, if used always make it clear how many steps are involved and how far the user has gotten.
Use subtle visual cues like dividers to help group related content
Bold form labels for easier scanning.

How are you helping them?
Provide hints and tool tips with additional information
Use examples of expected and allowed input
Use tip icons with rollovers and panels for explanations to the right of the input fields.
Use one line liner examples and info directly below input fields.
Highlight fields with errors, and display error messages in line or at the top of the screen.
Allow tabbing through the form and all controls.

Improve your conversions.
Metrics should be used to measure completion rates, times, and issues.
Create multiple versions and do A to B testing to see which forms result in the highest conversion rates.

Online Reading…
Smashing Magazine:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/04/web-form-design-patterns-sign-up-forms/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/08/web-form-design-patterns-sign-up-forms-part-2/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/forms/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/04/17/web-form-design-modern-solutions-and-creative-ideas/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/07/web-form-validation-best-practices-and-tutorials/
Luke Wroblewski:
http://www.lukew.com/resources/articles/web_forms.html
Caroline Jarrett:
http://www.formsthatwork.com/

Off Line Reading…
Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability
By: Caroline Jarrett
$44.95 on Amazon
Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks
By: Luke Wroblewski
$36 on Rosenfeld Media

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Form Design: Best Practices to Improve Conversions

by Lauren Martin on Jul 07, 2009

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Form Design: Best Practices to Improve Conversions — Presentation Transcript