We recently conducted some research amongst our B2B lead buyers and asked a question specifically about the importance of common form fields. We were curious just how vital collecting information like name, email address, phone number, company size, etc. are to companies these days knowing that the more information you ask for, the harder it is to convince potential customers to fill out the form. That is to say, there's a direct correlation between how much data you require and your conversion rate.
What we found were that some common fields are really important, while others aren't critical:
Important information to collect on lead forms
- Name
- Phone number
- Email address
- Company name
- Buying role (e.g. influencer, decision-maker)
- Location (e.g. city, state, zip code)
Less important information to collect on lead forms
- Street address
- Job title
- Company size (e.g. employees or revenue)
- Job function
- Industry
While we limited our questioning to form fields you would typically find, it is reassuring to see that not all data is necessary (at least right away). When you evaluate your lead capture forms, you should have a sense for exactly what information you want to collect. Talk to your sales team and make sure you're capturing what they absolutely need. Remember that you can always get more information down the road, but your primary goal should be to capture as many leads as possible. By the same token, you also want to balance lead volume with lead quality, so while we're not advocating thirty fields on your forms, we're also not saying you should just collect email addresses. After all, you want to engage with serious, interested prospects.
Optimizing form length and design could be a full-time job. Minor tweaks could have a big impact -- positively and negatively -- so, as always, test!
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