As Australian SMEs, you know every lead and every customer enquiry counts. Often, the gateway to capturing those opportunities is a simple form on your website. But how many potential customers abandon it before hitting ‘submit’? Optimising your forms isn’t about fancy design; it’s about removing friction and making it easy for people to give you the information you need. We’ve seen significant improvements for our clients simply by focusing on a few key areas.
Firstly, reduce the number of fields. It sounds obvious, but every extra field adds to the perceived effort. Only ask for information you absolutely need *right now*. You can always gather more details later in the sales process. Progressive profiling – asking for a little more information with each interaction – is a powerful technique we often recommend.
Secondly, optimise field labels and input hints. Labels should be clear, concise and above the input field – it’s more intuitive. Use placeholder text *inside* the field to provide examples of the expected format (e.g., “03 9999 9999” for phone numbers). This reduces ambiguity and errors. We’ve found this particularly effective for postcode and ABN fields.
Thirdly, consider form abandonment recovery. Not everyone completes a form on their first attempt. Implement a simple system to capture partially completed data and follow up with an email reminding the user to finish. This can dramatically increase your conversion rate. Many marketing automation platforms offer this functionality.
Fourthly, mobile responsiveness is critical. More and more Australians are browsing and completing forms on their smartphones. Ensure your forms are fully responsive and easy to navigate on smaller screens. Test them thoroughly on different devices. A poor mobile experience will kill your conversion rates.
Finally, A/B test everything. Don’t guess what works best – test it! Experiment with different field orders, labels, button colours and even form lengths. Tools like Google Optimise can help you run these tests and identify what resonates with your audience. Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, continuous testing will be even more important as customer expectations evolve.
Optimising your forms is a quick win with a significant return. Start by auditing your existing forms, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing these changes. The result? More qualified leads, increased conversions, and a stronger pipeline for your business.
