As anyone in sales will tell you, capturing a lead is the first step in any sales process. Leads turn into prospects, which turn into sales, which turn into customers. The path is clear, but how do we get started?

The right web tools give you options to create lead capture forms. You see them everywhere. Most people don’t know how to design a suitable layout to bring in new leads. “Sign up for our newsletter” is almost like white noise to us at this point. Yes, we know you have a newsletter, but we’re going to skip right over your form.

Lead capture forms aren’t hard to create. In fact, we try to find the quickest and easiest way to build them, but we usually don’t end up with a quality product. How can you take steps to create forms that convert? Here are 15 tips to get you started.

1. Do your research.

You aren’t the only one trying to get leads! Look at what other websites are doing. How are they approaching form creation? Remember that every website in every industry uses some sort of lead capture form to build a pipeline. Don’t limit yourself to the competition. Scour the internet for ideas and find ones that suit you. 

2. Find your voice.

You have a brand. You have a look. Most form creation tools let you use templates, so find one that fits your voice. Authenticity is the name of the game. When people feel a bond with you, they’re more likely to sign up for whatever you’re selling. There are thousands of possibilities for different schemes. Use the one that you connect with the most, customers will follow. 

3. Keep it short.

No one wants to read a wall of text for any reason. They certainly aren’t interested in a pop-up with 400 words. Keep the form short. One or two questions and/or blanks to fill out will give you everything you need to know to get started with a lead. If you need to dive further, do it on your next contact, whether it’s another form or a conversation. Don’t overwhelm leads before they get started!

4. Keep it simple.

Don’t ask leads for too much information. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish and design the simplest questions to get you there. If all you need to pursue a lead is an email address, stop there. If your lead qualification goes a little further, think of the most concise phrasing, and use it. 

5. Use conditional logic.

What is conditional logic? Conditional logic is where the customers’ answers to each question determine the next fields. For example, if the question is, “are you a citizen,” and you answer yes, you move on to the next question. If the answer is no, conditional logic redirects that person to a new field for non-citizens. This tool lets you keep your forms short by automatically skipping unnecessary questions.

6. Test calls to action.

The call to action may be the most vital element of lead generation. The CTA is your way to produce a desired response from the customer. “Click here” is a CTA, although it’s not a great one. Be specific to your product. “Test drive our system today!” builds more value and urgency to drive clicks. 

7. Automatically email signups.  

As soon as someone completes your form, send them a confirmation email. Confirmation emails serve a few purposes, aside from just letting the customer know you received their form. You can use them to start promoting products and services before your next contact point. Automatic emails can also help redirect leads to complete a deeper information dive to build on the one or two question signup form. 

8. Use the power of conversational marketing.

Nothing produces better results than connecting with a lead in a conversation. We’re coded to respond to usual conversational queues. I ask you a question, and you answer that one question. I don’t ask you five questions in a row and expect an answer for all five right then. Conversational marketing applies that idea to presenting forms to leads. As opposed to displaying a static, five-question form, you can ask leads questions one at a time to generate better responses. If you think you don’t know how to set up this type of lead capture tool, don’t worry. There are plenty of solutions to help.

9. Integrate your lead capture tools to other products.

When a lead fills out a form, they receive a confirmation email, but how do you know when someone submits a form? Integrations with other software products like Slack, Zapier, and Mailchimp can immediately notify you the second someone signs up. Connecting to these different solutions is straightforward since most of them are explicitly built for lead capture tools.

10. Follow up on partially completed forms.

Sometimes keeping a lead capture form short isn’t an option. That’s ok. Longer forms lead to fewer completions, though. Many people will start filling out the questions but not finish. Keep an eye on signup statuses to see where some leads began the process but didn’t finish. In many cases, you can reach out to these prospects to encourage them to finish filling out the form.  

11. Make your forms secure.

Cyber-security isn’t a buzz-word. Hackers are always trying to breach firewalls and intercept information, so putting in a “Captcha” tool can block tacit attacks that some hackers put in place. Google’s “reCAPTCHA” is completely free and provides an excellent layer of security for your site.

12. Learn about who is signing up.

Learning demographic details about your audience is every bit as important as their contact information or lead qualifications. Geolocation can help you begin to tailor your calls to action to attack a specific segment of the market or country. Lead capture forms are always evolving, so take every bit of information you can find to improve your conversion chances. 

13. Make your terms and conditions easy to follow.

No one likes reading terms and conditions. Most people don’t even read them. T&Cs can save your skin from a legal standpoint, so don’t overlook them as a business owner. That said, presenting them to a prospect during lead capture needs to be easy to stomach. Adding a clickthrough option or a small text box will do the trick, but adding too much information hurts your conversion rates. 

14. Hold up your end of the deal.

By completing a form, leads are entering an upfront contract with you. You are responsible for protecting their information and only using it for the agreed-upon means. Ensure you are transparent about what kinds of guidelines and security measures you put in place, so leads feel confident signing up. Your conversion rate will thank you.

15. Incentivize signups.

Everyone loves free stuff. Give leads a reason to enter their information. If offering a $25 Amazon gift card generated 2,000 new leads, and you close ten sales, that $25 is a drop in the bucket. Don’t be afraid to go big on a giveaway. Converting new leads is essential to a growing business. 

Summary

Shiny templates with strategic verbiage and design are only a few components of a useful form. Our list is by no means comprehensive, but at least you have a head start!

Creating and managing forms on Shamrck is as easy as picking a template and adding your content. We can make sure the leads are routed to the right location, making things easier for you to stay organized and keep all of your sales and marketing tools under one roof. Test drive Shamrck today to start getting your time back.