When was the last time you looked at your web form analytics? If it’s been awhile, go ahead and take a peak right now—log into your Formstack account, select a favorite form, and glance at the number in the middle.Does it look a little something like this?
If so, your form is performing well by industry standards. The typical web form conversion rate ranges from 1% to 35%, depending on your audience and form type.But wait. That still means more than 80% of visitors are abandoning your form without completing it.
Yikes. Studies show that more than 60% of all online shopping carts are ultimately abandoned. Our research reveals the same is true of event registration, order, contact, survey, donation, contest, and lead generation forms.Just because these numbers are common doesn’t mean you can’t reverse the trend. In fact, that’s exactly what our Partial Submissions plugin is for. This special feature lets you capture user information in real time so you can reach out to leads who have yet to complete your forms.Reviewing incomplete data is a great way to identify where and why users are leaving your forms so you can fix bottlenecks and convert lost leads. Here’s 3 ways you can use Partial Submissions to bring back lost leads:
Remarket with Incentives
Did your limited-seat event fill up before users had a chance to buy tickets? Those partial submitters—people who started to fill out your registration form before noticing the words “sold out”—are perfect candidates for remarketing. You might group them into a waitlist in case there are cancellations, or offer “first dibs” on tickets to a similar event. (Tip: Try sending your follow up email at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday, the peak time for promoting registration forms according to our Form Conversion Report.)Perhaps your lead gen forms are being abandoned by people who dread sales calls. In that case, you could follow up with a (non-pushy) bonus offer. As users return to finish the form, redirect them to a special thank-you page designed for further engagement. (Peak time for promoting lead gen forms: 4 p.m. on Thursday.)
Price Objections
If there’s one thing all those e-commerce studies have taught us, it’s this: People love to bargain. If Partial Submissions show people are filling out most of your registration and order form fields before abandoning them, there’s a good chance it’s because of price. They might be turned off by unexpected fees at checkout. Or surprised by final tallies. Or perhaps they were simply comparison shopping and changed their minds. One effective method for bringing potential buyers back is the discount code. Or you could take a cue from past shopping cart case studies to implement an abandoned form follow up email campaign. (Our research indicates order form promotions perform best at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays.)
Address Security Concerns
Watching major retailers fall victim to security breaches has made many people overly cautious when sharing personal information online. When users stop midway through a form, it’s often a sign of hesitation. You can help reassure users that their information is safe by sharing details of your security and data protection measures. If you’re noticing a lot of Partial Submissions, you may also want to revisit your form to check for proper positioning of security badges and privacy policies.
Ready to test out these and other applications for Partial Submissions? Try a free 14-trial today!
