Struggling to get leads? Your lead gen forms might be to blame...

We get it. You're using Google Forms to collect data from your leads and customers, but something just isn't right. Your conversion rates are low, the forms look unprofessional, and it's a pain to integrate with any other platforms. Leads inexplicably avoid engaging, and you're getting more desperate searching for answers.

But there's literally hundreds of competing form builders on the market, and the options are just super overwhelming. The costs of the high-quality alternatives are exorbitant which doesn't help when you're already struggling to make a profit.

Don't worry: I'm here to guide you through what makes an engaging, high-converting lead gen form that will actually make you money. These tips are all easy to implement and will rapidly improve your engagement rates.

1. Keep it simple

Take some time to consider where your user is in their journey.

They've just clicked your Instagram ad and its taken them to your form. They're maybe slightly curious about you, but filling in their data takes effort and time.

Remember, average consumer attention is 8 seconds. Think: can you fill your form in 8 seconds?

Although you may be running a B2B strategy, you're still marketing to human beings at the end of the day, so some careful engineering is crucial.

Some questions to ask:

• Do you really need your lead's full home address?
• Do you need their phone number and email? Can you just make do with one?
• Are you presenting all the questions at once? It might feel overwhelming.

The simpler your form, the more likely users are to complete it all the way through. Scrape it down to its bare minimum, collecting only the information you genuinely need, and removing any surplus details.

This example collects all the data you need to do some basic research on the person and company, as well as a way to contact them. In 99% of cases, you really don't need more data than this!

Good example

2. Give repeated reassurance

Modern-day consumers are increasingly worried about how their data is handled. Every new data point you're collecting will need a sort of "mental" justification for many people, which can be easy to forget when you're solely focussed on collecting as much data as possible.

It's important to be super clear about how you're handling their data and what security practices you'll be using. Not only to make leads feel comfortable, but also to ensure you're following data protection laws such as the GDPR. Here's some simple things you can do:

• At the start of the form, include a link to your Privacy Policy. Not only is this legally required, it makes your business look super professional and convinces your users they're in comfortable hands.
• Use an end-to-end encrypted form builder. The majority of form builders on the market such as Google Forms and Typeform don't fully encrypt response data. Users can feel creeped out by this, and it exposes you to serious data breaches. Try Palform, which offers unlimited responses for free, and security standards that outperform the entire industry.
• Explain briefly why you need their contact details. If you'll be sending them a newsletter, make that clear! Most people will only be interested in talking to you directly, and reassuring them they won't receive any unwanted emails can increase their confidence.

3. Use a lead magnet

There's nothing more exciting than getting free stuff.

Present an appetising offer from the get-go. This makes it clear your form is worth filling out, and it's possibly the best way to reduce dropoff. Customers will be willing to spend way more time providing their data if they know they're getting something in return.

Some examples include:

• Free trials: make sure these sound exclusive and exciting, for example by giving an offer that isn't normally advertised by your company.
• Lifetime deals: offer a limited-time one-off price that gets users unlimited lifetime access to your normally subscription-based product. This is a much easier sell and often something that's just too good to miss.
• Free consultations: offer a way to speak to a real human being. It's getting rarer to see genuine humans behind ever-growing mysterious SaaS companies, so standing out from the crowd can help you here.

Or try offering a guide/resource that promises to solve common problems experienced by your target audience, like in this example form:

Good example

4. Make sure your design stands out

The worst mistake you can make is using ugly forms that look unprofessional. Google and Microsoft forms just scream "low effort" and convince your leads you're not taking them seriously.

Not to mention:

• your branding is basically completely non-existent
• it's on a random domain that's impossible to memorise
• a megacorporation known for non-stop data breaches gets front-row access to your data
• and so on...

Use a form builder that gives you powerful customisation options: you want to be able to modify everything, from colours to images, and border rounding to font settings. Palform offers a sophisticated branding scheme editor that consistently applies your organisation's design to all your forms.

Take a look at this heavily-branded example:

Good example

It conveys a sense of luxury and elegance that an unbranded form simply wouldn't. Add a logo and some more custom assets, and it's perfect!

5. Handle the response surge!

Now that you've made the perfect lead gen form, it's important to be prepared for the surge of response you'll inevitably receive.

But here's where the real obstacle comes in. Nearly all form builders have annoying response limits!

Take Typeform as an example. On the free plan, you're restricted to a mere 10 responses per month. If you want more, you'll have to hand over at least £21 per month. And that still only gets you 100 responses.

The number of posts on X about Typeforms filling up and breaking down is constantly growing and quite sad to look at. There's nothing more unprofessional than your form just ceasing to work in the middle of the night and losing leads to it.

With Palform you get unlimited responses completely free of charge. In fact, all plans include unlimited responses. Your forms will just keep growing with you at no extra cost, so you can actually get some sleep! Feel free to post the submission link anywhere on the internet and stop worrying.

Conclusion

Hopefully you've gained some good tips on how to level up your forms and optimise them for higher conversions. It's something that often takes hours of experimentation, and you'll probably fail a few times before you land on a winning design. The important thing is to keep iterating and getting feedback!

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This article was written by Pal Kerecsenyi, Founder of Palform. Sign up for free now and get unlimited responses with the world's most secure form builder.

Got any questions? Email [email protected] and we'll get an actual friendly human to help you.