Online forms are integral to today’s e-commerce sites, blogs, forums and news portals. On each of these sites you will probably find one or more forms. Let us take a look at why form filling is a complex task.

Why do people hate filling forms?

Forms are often time consuming, confusing, and generally unenjoyable. It can take a long time to fill out a form. Some people will begrudgingly fill out the form and submit it. Others will go through the motions, but make mistakes on purpose. Still others will abandon the entire process without ever submitting anything.

Reasons why you should worry about form design

Form design is one of the most important parts of your website, and there are a lot of ways to make mistakes. By avoiding common pitfalls with web forms, you can create a positive experience for your users and build a better relationship with them.

A good form can actually help convert visitors into customers by filling out your form. If your forms are poorly designed, you could be losing out on business opportunities or endangering your users’ online security.

How to design painless forms: 7 ideas you can implement now!

Whether you run a website, blog or even an online store, forms are often required for providing feedback, collecting leads, distributing polls, and subscribing to newsletters. The purpose of this article is to help you understand how a form can be painless, using 7 proven ideas.

Do you need a form for your website?

If you’re looking to build a functional website that will convert visitors into loyal customers, you might be wondering how to add a form.

Sometimes, forms can actually be a bad thing for your business. For example, if you have a simple business site with only one product or service offering, an online form could scare visitors away.

If you’re selling a single item and have only one price, it’s probably more effective to display that information in the body of the page without requiring visitors to fill out a form.

Think about what you want to learn before designing a form

When you set out to make a form, start by asking yourself what your goal is. What do you want to learn? This is the first step in planning a form. 

Without a clear purpose, your form will be aimless and confusing to users. It might never get completed or make it impossible to understand the data that comes back. You’ll need to develop the goals of your form before you can do anything else. 

Get to know your users needs

Users hate forms. It’s not just that they’re frustrating to fill out, it’s that they’re often so badly designed that users get lost and have to start over again. But the problem is not just usability. The problem is the designer’s ignorance of the user’s needs.

A good form can be an invaluable tool for gathering information from users. However, to design a good form you must understand the needs of your users. 

Use a conversational style and tone of voice

A conversational style and tone of voice is critical because it allows you to connect with your user on a deeper level. It’s not just about the questions you’re asking; it’s about how you ask them.

You can think of it like a tool that can be used to fix up those broken forms and make them more human, personal, and approachable for the user.

Provide meaningful suggestions and examples

It’s important to provide meaningful suggestions and examples in your form labels and placeholder text. This is especially true for single-line text fields.

When I enter a name or email address that is already in use, show me the account associated with that email address and give me the option to get a new password. That is a lot better than just telling me “This account already exists.”

Keep it consistent — try to keep your writing style consistent across the whole form or site

When you’re writing web forms, keeping your writing style consistent is a good idea. But why?

If users aren’t sure what to expect from your form, they’ll take longer to complete it, and will feel more frustrated along the way. Consistency helps users understand what’s going on with your form, and how each field relates to other fields. So keep it consistent!

Create a clear structure and use the inverted pyramid method

An inverted pyramid is a technique in which content is organized in order of importance. The most important information goes first, followed by less important information. It’s called an inverted pyramid because that’s how the content looks on a page.

When you organize your form fields like this, you greatly increase its success rate because it keeps users focused on moving through your forms and converting at the very end.

Above all, when you’re creating a form, it’s important to remember that you’re not just designing the form, but you’re also giving the user an experience. After all, a well-designed form can do wonders for your business.