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Signup forms
1) Keep the form simple, and then make it simpler. You need a very good reason for every field on the page -- your marketing
department's curiosity for metrics is not a valid reason. Try for e-mail address only with name optional. Plan to collect more
information after you have the signup. When the marketing department resists, explain the drop off rates for each field, the cost
per conversion, and the potential lost ROI for each lost signup.
2) Clearly mark required fields with an asterisk, a yellow background in the field box, or possibly even a red field label.
Putting "name" in the actual name field can help.
3) Put a simple dark border around the entire signup form and make the background color slightly different than the rest of
the page to distinguish it. This change identifies the size (and lack of complexity) of the form, which is reassuring.
4) void offensively "loud" colors. Who wants to take the time to fill out a form that hurts your eyes?
5) Briefly note your sign-up policies, regarding how your sign-up's information is used, and link to a privacy policy page.
Lack of a policy statement is a major factor in drop offs.
6) Repeat the benefit of signing up in one or two sentences right in the initial eye path and bold the key words. If users are
signing up for a newsletter, mention frequency and link to examples. For e-mail, explain what users will get and when to expect
it.
7) Make sure that the form remains on your domain and follows the look and feel of your site so it is clearly identifiable as
your page. You don't want to spook anyone into thinking that they are at a "phishing" ssite.
8) Maintain navigational consistency with navigation bars, etc.
9) If users aren't ready to sign up for a direct contact offer, then suggest a newsletter, link them to some past issues,
reinforce the sales element and try to get them to come back. Offer them an e-mail link for more information.
10) Provide a clean and simple unsubscribe option. There is nothing more frustrating than having to search a website to
unsubscribe.
11) A form that takes more than two minutes will lose a huge number of sign-ups. Again, keep it brief.
12) Provide friendly, helpful error correction messages when users fail to fill out the form completely. Statements like,
"Sorry, we are unable to complete the form without your X information," are gentler and less annoying than "Subscription failed
-- error line 27a."
13) Test the procedure on your friends and family. Bring them to the site and ask them to review the information, find the
signup page and fill it out. Listen to your respondents' experiences and pay attention to ease of use and trust building.
14) Enable easy "forward to a friend links." The signup page is often the last chance to make this happen. Build a document or
landing page solely for referrals with compelling product information and an easy link to the form.
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