4 ms·

A side note: > You can also break the form up into multiple pages to make each part of the form shorter I dread the 'next' button on multi-page forms, especia

by amirmc 16y ago

A side note: > You can also break the form up into multiple pages to make each part of the form shorter I dread the 'next' button on multi-page forms, especially when there's no indication of how many pages there are or how long the questions will be.

inerte 16y ago
Sometimes forms have to be long, because you need lots of information. A better approach would be to display some section tabs at the top of the form, saying how much you have filled already, or red/green (or icon) if any information is still needed. For example, when filling a car insurance form, a square saying "Profile (12/18)" and to the right of it another one saying "Car (07/20)", or whatever the breakdown needs to be.
- amirmc 16y ago
  At the very least, if I'm told that there are 50 questions spread over 10 pages and that 10 will require free-text answers, I'll be more mentally prepared for the onslaught. I hate getting to page 'x' only to find out that I have to start writing essays (and there's no way to look ahead either). Most forms I come across are terrible and frequently lose my info. Only Wufoo and GoogleDocs have been tolerable (and actually quite friendly at times).
  - d0m 16y ago
    What I hate more than that is to be asked my credit card on the fourth step when I didn't even know I needed to pay to download that product (To try a trial for example)
duck 16y ago
I know I read in several places that multiple page forms increase the abandonment rate and I think that is the number one reason for the one-click technology that Amazon uses.
- lelele 16y ago
  I love one-click whenever I'm after something. The worst approach ever was on a forum I stumbled upon. I read a thread I felt I could contribute to, but I had to subscribe. You know, the we-have-sent-you-a-confirmation-mail thing. After having confirmed - which is an hassle in itself - I discovered that my membership had to be approved! Should I have bookmarked the thread to post afterward? They serious?
tyng 16y ago
If you really have lots of questions to ask the users, don't do it all in one go. Especially for customer acquisition, the first form should be as simple as name, password, email address. The other information about the user can be asked later on and provide some kind of (virtual) incentive for people to do so. I know that LinkedIn uses this kind of system.
- lelele 16y ago
  This is tricking people. At least, I feel tricked whenever I'm made believing I just have to provide an email and a password. I usually leave the site unless it is compelling. Being able to know beforehand every field I'll have to fill is paramount.
  - tyng 16y ago
    Thanks for the feedback. Would your feel "compelling" if the website provides you some kind of information for additional information? For example credit or voucher in an ecommerce website. And the additional info is totally optional, meaning you could still use every function of the website without filling in those information.
    - lelele 16y ago
      Yes. I don't think I'm alone in feeling more comfortable when I know what you are looking to get from me. Moreover, whatever works to lessen the cognitive load whenever I fill forms is welcome (for instance; optional fields, choice-based answers over free form ones when appropriate (albeit _optional_ comments are welcome too), delayed filling, etc.). Problem is, we have to subscribe to a heap of websites, and so having to provide much information every time gets old, even when such questions are legitimate. I think websites should strive to balance between what they need (information) and what the user is looking for (a service). At registration time, I don't know how much value you will provide me, and still you want me to take the hassle to register. So to speak, you should sell me the need to provide you information. For instance, I liked when I visited Ebay the first time and it allowed me to watch items _without having to register at all_. Ebay proved itself useful before asking me to register (of course, later I was _eager_ to). Ryanair offers to remember your form, _without you having to register_. OTOH, I hate whenever I'm asked to register to an e-commerce website just to order one item, while I'm unlikely to visit that site again. Have a nice day.
DJN 16y ago
I feel you on the multiple page thing. It increases abandonment like crazy. Here's our first hand experience: We used to have a 5-stage ad campaign creation process in our SaaS self-service ad manager. Once we started measuring cart abandonment rates, we noticed that users dropped off after the first 2 steps. It gets even worse if you require users to sign-in first The solution: 1. We replaced it with a 1-page process 2. This is the crucial bit. We allowed users to create their ads BEFORE signing up. By seeing a live preview of their ads, we engage them early and dramatically improve conversion rates. The morale of the story is that keep the steps short (even if the form is long) and provide instant gratification. Here's a link to the form on our demo site : http://demo.trafficspaces.com/advertise/cart/new/?adspid=15310a6e http://demo.trafficspaces.com/advertise/cart/new/?adspid=153...
- NiekvdMaas 16y ago
  We have a similar experience with our self-service advertising system: http://www.adperium.com/start http://www.adperium.com/start What we did to increase the conversion rate: 1. Use one long form instead of a "wizard" containing multiple steps. Advanced options are hidden by default to keep the form manageable 2. Show the checkout buttons on the same page, so users see the available payment options right away 3. Remove the sign-up step. We simply send the users a secure URL to the email address they provide in the checkout process 4. Use an informative landing page (http://www.adperium.com/advertise http://www.adperium.com/advertise) including a demo link, instead of linking directly to the campaign creation page

by amirmc 16y ago

inerte 16y ago

Sometimes forms have to be long, because you need lots of information. A better approach would be to display some section tabs at the top of the form, saying how much you have filled already, or red/green (or icon) if any information is still needed. For example, when filling a car insurance form, a square saying "Profile (12/18)" and to the right of it another one saying "Car (07/20)", or whatever the breakdown needs to be.

amirmc 16y ago
At the very least, if I'm told that there are 50 questions spread over 10 pages and that 10 will require free-text answers, I'll be more mentally prepared for the onslaught. I hate getting to page 'x' only to find out that I have to start writing essays (and there's no way to look ahead either). Most forms I come across are terrible and frequently lose my info. Only Wufoo and GoogleDocs have been tolerable (and actually quite friendly at times).
- d0m 16y ago
  What I hate more than that is to be asked my credit card on the fourth step when I didn't even know I needed to pay to download that product (To try a trial for example)

duck 16y ago

I know I read in several places that multiple page forms increase the abandonment rate and I think that is the number one reason for the one-click technology that Amazon uses.

lelele 16y ago
I love one-click whenever I'm after something. The worst approach ever was on a forum I stumbled upon. I read a thread I felt I could contribute to, but I had to subscribe. You know, the we-have-sent-you-a-confirmation-mail thing. After having confirmed - which is an hassle in itself - I discovered that my membership had to be approved! Should I have bookmarked the thread to post afterward? They serious?

tyng 16y ago

If you really have lots of questions to ask the users, don't do it all in one go. Especially for customer acquisition, the first form should be as simple as name, password, email address. The other information about the user can be asked later on and provide some kind of (virtual) incentive for people to do so. I know that LinkedIn uses this kind of system.

lelele 16y ago
This is tricking people. At least, I feel tricked whenever I'm made believing I just have to provide an email and a password. I usually leave the site unless it is compelling. Being able to know beforehand every field I'll have to fill is paramount.
- tyng 16y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. Would your feel "compelling" if the website provides you some kind of information for additional information? For example credit or voucher in an ecommerce website. And the additional info is totally optional, meaning you could still use every function of the website without filling in those information.
  - lelele 16y ago
    Yes. I don't think I'm alone in feeling more comfortable when I know what you are looking to get from me. Moreover, whatever works to lessen the cognitive load whenever I fill forms is welcome (for instance; optional fields, choice-based answers over free form ones when appropriate (albeit _optional_ comments are welcome too), delayed filling, etc.). Problem is, we have to subscribe to a heap of websites, and so having to provide much information every time gets old, even when such questions are legitimate. I think websites should strive to balance between what they need (information) and what the user is looking for (a service). At registration time, I don't know how much value you will provide me, and still you want me to take the hassle to register. So to speak, you should sell me the need to provide you information. For instance, I liked when I visited Ebay the first time and it allowed me to watch items _without having to register at all_. Ebay proved itself useful before asking me to register (of course, later I was _eager_ to). Ryanair offers to remember your form, _without you having to register_. OTOH, I hate whenever I'm asked to register to an e-commerce website just to order one item, while I'm unlikely to visit that site again. Have a nice day.

DJN 16y ago

I feel you on the multiple page thing. It increases abandonment like crazy. Here's our first hand experience: We used to have a 5-stage ad campaign creation process in our SaaS self-service ad manager. Once we started measuring cart abandonment rates, we noticed that users dropped off after the first 2 steps. It gets even worse if you require users to sign-in first The solution: 1. We replaced it with a 1-page process 2. This is the crucial bit. We allowed users to create their ads BEFORE signing up. By seeing a live preview of their ads, we engage them early and dramatically improve conversion rates. The morale of the story is that keep the steps short (even if the form is long) and provide instant gratification. Here's a link to the form on our demo site : http://demo.trafficspaces.com/advertise/cart/new/?adspid=15310a6e http://demo.trafficspaces.com/advertise/cart/new/?adspid=153...

NiekvdMaas 16y ago
We have a similar experience with our self-service advertising system: http://www.adperium.com/start http://www.adperium.com/start What we did to increase the conversion rate: 1. Use one long form instead of a "wizard" containing multiple steps. Advanced options are hidden by default to keep the form manageable 2. Show the checkout buttons on the same page, so users see the available payment options right away 3. Remove the sign-up step. We simply send the users a secure URL to the email address they provide in the checkout process 4. Use an informative landing page (http://www.adperium.com/advertise http://www.adperium.com/advertise) including a demo link, instead of linking directly to the campaign creation page