The Golden Rule for Lead Capture Forms That Convert

More and more, customers interested in inbound marketing are asking, “What is the best lead capture form?” It seems like a straightforward question that should have a simple answer. However, the topic of lead capture forms is one of the most important factors for a marketing program’s success, and there is a key rule you can follow to make sure your forms work well.

Think about this – You might have excellent content. You’ve done everything right for your SEO. You could have plenty of inbound links. You might even have amazing offers. But if your lead capture forms are complicated, badly designed, or hard to locate, you won’t take advantage of all the prospects who discovered you, appreciated your product or service, and genuinely want to connect with your business.

Recently online marketing guru David Merman Scott and CMO Mike Volpe of Hubspot debated the religion of anonimity versus making every transaction an exchange-in-kind. Scott’s position was to use no forms at the top of the funnel and just give away your content to cast your net and spread your influence as widely as possible. Volpe counterpunched with the argument that until and unless you can identify a visitor, the fact that they visit is purely academic and not valuable to a business. Both positions have merit and I’m not sure I can say that there is one right strategy for every business or every aspect of an inbound marketing campaign. But, I can say, without a doubt that the design of the lead capture form must be tuned to the part of the funnel where it is used and to the maturity of your online marketing efforts. Let me explain.

At the top of the funnel, visitors are swarming around your site. Some are interested in meeting your business, some just ended up at your site because Google pointed them there to find your original art/photo of a rocket scientist or lead magnet and have no interest in your product or service. Your offers are designed around that ‘first contact’ – the idea of a human meeting an extra-terrestrial for the first time actually does provide some object lessons here… another blog. Your forms, similarly, are simple and don’t require a visitor to provide their date-of-birth, social security number or other information that they wouldn’t freely give to a person they just met on the street. Often a simple first name and email address are all that should be on your lead contact form at this point. The exception to this rule is when your business is well established or when you’re offer is apt to be appealing to both people you will want to follow-up with and those you won’t. In that case, a lead form at the top of the funnel that is trivial for a visitor to fill-in simply creates a lot of junk in your funnel. A more extensive form – or to take David Scott’s position – no form at all is appropriate.

But back to the form… Apart from the need for simpler forms at the top of the funnel and increasingly information-rich forms as your prospect first gets to know and then comes to trust your business, the following tips will help your forms capture the greatest number of visitors and help convert them into leads:

1. Button – Don’t just use ‘submit’. Make your button label specific to the action your prospect is taking.
2. Asking for email addresses – Including a link to your privacy policy next to the email address field puts a prospect at ease that you really won’t sell their information to a spammer.
3.  Comment field – In most cases not necessary at the top of the funnel. Makes your forms longer and can scare off a visitor that might have turned into a prospect. Save them for later in the process.
4. Position – Above the fold. If a visitor must scroll to see your form, be assured they won’t and you will have missed an opportunity to meet your next customer.

There may be no one answer as to the way to create the best lead capture form, but there are guidelines that will help you create forms that don’t prevent visitors from self-identifying and starting the process of becoming leads for your business. As with any inbound marketing tactic – test. What’s been your experience with lead capture forms?