Adding a form to your website is one of the most common ways to get information from visitors. It can be used in a number of ways: signing up for a newsletter, adding location data for shipping a product, starting customer support, and much more. While forms are beneficial for companies, they can be annoying for customers. However, there are ways to design these forms that can remove potential frustration and apprehension from your users. Here are some tips on designing user-friendly forms.
Keep the Form Simple
It may be tempting to have a large number of fields to fill out on a form thinking it gives you the most information possible. For customers, this may make them less likely to fill it out. The best option is to cut out any fluff, or fields that aren’t completely necessary. Not only does this remove potential confusion for users, but it also prevents them from having to take more steps to fill out than needed. Field labels should be kept short and direct as well, giving users a clear sense of what is required.
Order Is Important
You may not think that how you layout form fields are important. However, it’s helpful to design it from the user’s perspective. This means asking for the right information at the right time. Order a form similar to a normal conversation. Also, organize related questions in blocks, which will keep a solid flow from one set of inquiries to the next. This also provides clarity on what information should be filled in.
Enable Validation
If a customer spends time filling out a form, the last thing they want is to have to redo it after submitting it due to an error. Setting up real-time validation on your form prevents this from happening. This indicates whether or not data was entered correctly in a field immediately after it is filled in. By doing so, a user is about to fix the issue faster. The validation doesn’t have to exclusively highlight wrong items, either. Indicating when a field is entered correctly gives users more confidence throughout the form.
Autofill and Autocorrect
Using both autofill and autocorrect serve as an effective way to simplify the process of filling out a form. For example, auto-fills completed fields that have been previously entered on the site or via a customers’ browser. This also includes using Google to enter specific addresses. Autocorrect can help make recommendations or fix errors should the information be entered incorrectly. These can help customers be accurate when filling out fields, as well as efficient by not constantly having to make corrections.
Use a Call to Action
When creating a form, you want to ensure there is a call to action somewhere at the end. This can mean a button to submit information or one that leads to another page. If there are situations where more than one button is needed, the primary button should be displayed more prominently, while others should be less emphasized.
Forms can be an integral part of your website. How a form is designed can make a big difference in how likely a user is to fill it out. By knowing the best practices for designing fields, you can get the data you need.