Today, most successful businesses know that collecting information about leads, their needs, and preferences hold importance in developing and growing a database. Lead generation forms enable you to effectively collect this information. There are also a host of other benefits of using a lead generation form. For instance, the data you collect through these forms plays a vital role in improving your services and products. It helps serve your potential customers better.
All in all, you can think of a lead generation form as a vital cog in the wheel of any modern-day business.
In this post, we’ll discuss in detail why you need to include a lead generation form on your website. We’ll also learn about how such a form works, its types, and what makes a good lead generation form (with examples). Let’s dive right in:
What is a Lead Generation Form?
A lead generation form is a set of fields used to collect and capture the contact details and other crucial information of your site visitors. But why collect such data? To convert your site visitors into potential customers.
You need to build lead generation forms that have a simple design and are easily accessible and appealing. Otherwise, visitors won’t be convinced to submit their information.
Note: As per Hubspot, organizations get an average of 470,000 website visitors,1,800 leads, and 300 new customers every month. This means you require a lot of form submissions to get leads.
A good recommendation of a form building software to create simple, visually-appealing, user-friendly lead generation forms is DashClicks’ Forms app. This app features an extremely easy-to-use interface to help you quickly build forms. It also offers one organized view of all your forms and submissions for you to review and take action on.
Why Include a Lead Generation Form on Your Website?
Competition in your industry is getting fiercer by the second. And because of this, you need to generate more leads and connect with a wider audience for your business.
When you include an effective lead generation form on your site:
- It generates as many leads as it can.
- Captures sufficient data about each of your leads, enough for you to make a decision about whether or not you need to pursue them.
Tip: To build an effective lead generation form, you need to keep in mind the following:
- Identify and ask for the most important data you require from your leads.
- Make it as easy as possible for your lead to provide this information.
The best thing about including a lead generation form on your website is that you gain high-quality leads from people that are more likely to purchase from you either at a sooner or a later stage.
How Does a Lead Generation Form Work?
Here's how a lead generation form works ā
You need to provide an incentive to your site visitors, which will entice them to opt in and offer their contact details.
Examples of some common types of incentives include:
- Updates on future events and sales.
- Subscription to a newsletter.
- A discount on purchases.
- Downloadable eBook, white paper, etc.
The data you collect in exchange for the incentive you offer can go into your marketing platform or CRM. Then, you can make it a part of your digital marketing strategy planning. Awesome, isn't it?
Types of Lead Generation Forms
Lead generation forms come in a variety of types. The most common ones you need to know are:
1. Floating Bar Form
The floating bar lead generation form finds a permanent position at the bottom or the top of a webpage and is static even when site visitors continue to scroll.
Such forms are simple in nature and possess only 1-2 fields. These forms are ideal for getting email addresses of high-quality leads.
2. Modal Form
A modal form is one of the types of lead generation forms that you can think of as a pop-up lead generation tool. When a visitor browses a page, it appears after a short delay. It entices them to offer their details in exchange for an incentive.
The incentive can be 20% off on the first purchase after the visitor enters their email address.
Chances are, you may have already come across such a form when you visited a website. When a modal form appears, you need to enter your information or simply close the pop-up in order to proceed.
Note: If you create a modal form, ensure it doesn't annoy your site visitors and force them to leave your site. Modal forms help increase conversions and are highly effective when used in the right manner.
Tip: Ensure your incentive is too good to miss. This will convince your site visitors to provide you with their email addresses without a second thought.
3. Floating Box Form
A floating box form floats and sits on a permanent spot on a page, even when the site visitors scroll. Now you may find this form similar to the floating bar form, but it has a slightly bigger layout. You can add more fields and receive more information about your site visitors with the help of a floating box form.
Oftentimes, this type of form appears when an individual arrives at your site. But, you can also set the time at which you want this form to show up. You can even select where it displays on the page.
4. Inline Forms
These forms are one of the most-used types of lead generation forms. Inline forms are embedded within your page content. You can include them on your site's contact page, landing page, or just about anywhere else.
Let's take an example to understand a scenario where you can use this type of form. You can use it to receive a site visitor's contact information along with the state they reside in or the size of the company they work for. Ofcourse, you should have a reason for asking for such information.
Best Practices for Your Lead Generation Form
When you deploy the best practices for creating and optimizing your lead gen forms, you get to drive the maximum benefit out of these forms.
Let's discuss these best practices along with some important lead generation form examples:
1. Choose the Correct Type of Form
Check the intent of your customer before you decide on the kind of lead generation form to use. For instance, if a site visitor wants to sign-up for a mailing list, you should create a lead gen form with a minimal number of fields.
In contrast to the example shown above, it's best to put in place a long form if your customer base requires an insurance quote, for instance.
2. Your Forms Should Look Best on All Screens
Your audience may come across your form on desktops or mobile phones. Irrespective of whether it's a desktop or mobile screen they use, make sure your lead generation forms work and look best on every screen size.
Tip: You can take certain steps that help make the form-filling experience easier on the small screens of mobile devices. For instance, you can left-align the form fields.
3. Break Longer Forms into Multi-Step Versions
Some lead generation forms need a lot of data entry. It's best to break such a form into multi-step versions. For instance, the food delivery service, SnackNation, uses multi-step options in their lead gen form to break the monotony. If you see their lead gen form, you will notice that they have added different field types, a progress bar, and auto-scrolling.
4. Add a CTA Button Within Your Form
Adding a CTA button within your lead generation form informs your site visitor about a definite action they should take. The CTA of a lead gen form includes the use of standout colors and power words. This helps highlight it. Here's an example of a lead gen form by LinkedIn that uses a clear CTA called Sign in along with its signature blue accent color:
5. Create a User-Friendly Form
Here are some steps you can take to create user-friendly lead-generation forms:
- Ensure your website loads quickly. In other words, the web page that contains your form should never be slow to load.
- Your form should provide clear instructions to the user.
- Ensure you adequately space out the fields in your forms (both vertical and horizontal).
- Don’t add any non-essential fields that make your form unnecessarily long.
- Make sure you create a logical order of all the fields in your form.
Use DashClick's Form Builder Software for Your Requirements
DashClicks' Forms app is an efficient online forms building and management software that enables you to create custom forms for any kind of data collection. You can use the app to quickly create effective lead generation forms.
The best part about using the Forms app is that you can choose from hundreds of pre-built templates to speed up your workflow and save your time. Also, there is no limit to the number of form submissions you can have stored in your account. Use the app to create simple, great-looking lead gen forms. You can also use the app to get one organized view of all your forms and submissions.
Notable Features of DashClicks' Forms App
Take a look at some important features of the Forms app:
- You can send one-time form links to contacts and invite them to submit the information you need to collect.
- When you add fields to your form, you can customize backgrounds, borders, and fonts as per your preference.
- You can easily embed the form you create on your website.
- Three form types are available while using the app – classic, group, and card forms.
Wrapping It Up
From helping you generate as many leads as it can to getting sufficient information about them, effective lead generation forms offer a plethora of benefits. Now that you know all about these forms, you can create lead gen forms that help you convert your site visitors into potential customers. Use a reliable form-building software by DashClicks to create visually appealing, user-friendly lead gen forms. Good luck!