Form Analytics: Our Ultimate Guide to Boost Lead Generation

Helpful Summary

• Overview: We do a deep dive into form analytics that covers what it is, why it’s important, and how to use it to optimize your forms for lead conversions.
• Why you can trust us: We are a leader in high-conversion lead forms powered by psychological principles and conversion data.
• Why this is important: Form analytics helps identify why users abandon your forms and what needs to change to turn things around.
• Action points: Track key metrics such as form abandonment rate, conversion rate, field drop-off, form error rates, device usage, and user feedback.
• Further research: Check out the Growform blog and guides for advice and tips on how to get more leads.

Looking to Understand Form Analytics for More Leads?

A poorly optimized form is the enemy of lead conversions. But untangling the mess and figuring out what exactly is scaring off potential leads can be confusing, frustrating, and imprecise. The solution? Careful, thorough form analytics.

Form analytics (when done well) lets you take a data-driven approach to form optimization. This, in turn, leads to higher lead conversion rates, better quality data, and more potential revenue in your sales pipeline.

Not sure how to get started? This Growform guide explains everything you need to know.

Why Listen to Us?

Growform is designed to help you convert more visitors into leads with simple, effective multi-step forms. We’ve carefully analyzed conversion data and paired our findings with psychological research and principles to create a form builder that’s optimized for completion rates by default.

That’s how customers like BeMarketable could 2x (and even 3x) their lead conversion rates simply by switching to Growform.

What Is Form Analytics?

Form analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data from forms to understand how people interact with them.

More specifically, you’re looking for data on:

• Completion rates
• Abandonment rates
• Drop-off points within the form
• Time spent on each field

The goal? 

Use this data to improve the form and win more leads (and data). For example, if you notice that people are spending twice as long on a specific field, it might be a sign that you should split it into multiple steps. And if a non-essential field leads to many drop-offs, you can remove it to boost conversions.

Why Is Form Analytics Important?

Understanding how users interact with your forms can significantly impact your lead-generation efforts. 

Here’s why form analytics are essential:

• It surfaces issues. Without form analytics, the only insight you have into your forms is the raw number of completions… not very useful.
• It helps you optimize your forms. Armed with data from form analytics, you can make informed decisions about how to improve your forms and ultimately increase conversions. 
• It provides valuable insights into your target audience. Form analytics not only reveals how users are interacting with your forms, but it also provides insight into their behaviors and preferences.

How to Use Form Analytics to Optimize Forms

1. Set Up Tracking

To get started with form analytics, you’ll need to set up tracking. 

The specifics will depend on the kinds of data points you want to collect. For example, using a multistep form builder like Growform with a Google Analytics integration allows you to create detailed form conversion funnels with visibility into each step in the process.

However, you may need to install specific tracking scripts or plugins for more specialized analytics tools like heatmaps and session recordings.

2. Look at the Big Picture

Details are important (and we’ll definitely get to them), but it’s useful to start with an overview. More specifically, you want to think about two metrics here:

Starter Rate

This is the percentage of visitors who see your form that actually begins your form. If it’s low, you’re probably dealing with a page-related issue.

For example, it could be that:

• The form is too intimidating
• The value being offered isn’t clear
• The process seems confusing
• The page isn’t loading correctly (possibly on mobile?)

Starter to Completion Rate

This is the percentage of visitors who start your form and actually complete it. If it’s low, you’re dealing with a problem within the form itself.

You’ll need to dig deeper to figure out what it is.

3. Build Form Funnels

Now, we’re getting to a more detailed analysis. Start by building a funnel that records the drop-off rate between every step in your form. With Growform, this is as simple as setting up form tracking in Google Analytics and defining the different stages.

What does this visualization tell you?

It lets you quickly spot the stages where many visitors are abandoning your form. This is helpful because these high-abandonment sections might be unnecessary, overly complicated, or poorly optimized in some other way.

4. Look into Field-Specific Data

The funnel helps you quickly zero in on problem sections. Now, you need to zoom in further to specific fields that may (or may not) be causing issues. To do this, you’ll need either a dedicated form analytics tool or a form builder that offers analytics as a feature.

Within the form step you’re analyzing, look for data on:

• ‍Time Spent: This is a big one. If this metric is very high (to a statistically significant degree) for a specific field, it may be a sign that this particular field is causing confusion or difficulty for visitors.
• Abandonments: You should also rank fields by the raw number of abandonments they generate (although note that this isn’t always a sign of issues).
• Field Returns: Make note of which fields are filled in and returned to most. This usually happens when visitors need to make corrections to satisfy your data validation settings. It’s often a sign that the instructions are unclear.
• Error Message: Finally, monitor error messages. If a particular field generates a high number of errors, it may indicate that it is not properly labeled or that data validation is in need of improvement.

5. Hypothesize Solutions

Based on your findings, try to identify the underlying issue. 

Make sure they’re data-driven. For example, if your data shows that visitors spend twice the time on a field that also generates a high number of abandonments, you might make any number of hypotheses, like:

• The input required for the field is too complex
• The field is not clearly labeled
• The data validation settings for the field are too strict

Use additional data points to identify the most likely issue and then hypothesize potential solutions to address it. 

6. A/B Test Different Variants

Once you have a hypothesis, it’s time to put it to the test. You’ll do this by setting up an A/B (or multivariate) test where one version of your form (the control) is compared to a variant with your proposed solution implemented (the treatment).

If the treatment results in improved baseline metrics (more form completions, higher starter rate, etc.) then you know your hypothesis was correct and can implement the changes permanently. If not, you may need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new hypothesis.

Tools like Google Optimize and Optimizely work well for this. Your form builder also may offer built-in A/B testing as a feature. At Growform, we’re launching our own A/B testing tool in the near future, making it even easier for you to test and optimize your forms.

Conclusion

Optimizing your forms with form analytics can significantly improve your lead-generation efforts. You can create user-friendly and highly effective forms by understanding user behavior and making data-driven changes.

Start leveraging form analytics today to transform your forms into powerful lead-generation tools. And remember, tools like Growform can make this process easier and more efficient.

Ready to improve your forms? Explore Growform’s features with a free 14-day trial and see the difference it can make in your lead generation strategy.