Leads are the lifeline that keeps businesses growing. Without these consumers interested in your products and services, there will be no sales. Without sales, there will be no profit. And a business cannot stay operational without a steady cash flow.
Lead generation is the process of capturing these leads. The goal is to connect with potential customers early in their buying journey and earn their trust. Your marketing and sales teams follow up and nurture these leads and build relationships with them, so they choose your business over your competitors when they are ready to buy.
Lead generation is typically done with the help of software, like Podium Lead Drive. This solution brings lead and customer inquiries from different platforms or channels into a single Inbox. It enables users to see all customer inquiries and notifications without switching applications and send a response fast. Fast response time is one of the ways to earn your leads’ trust.
Lucky for you, Podium has something new for you! Speed to lead is critical in today’s fast-paced market, and Podium offers an unparalleled advantage by ensuring businesses engage with leads within a couple of minutes—guaranteed. Podium’s conversational AI is outcome-driven – it doesn’t just respond to inbound leads it guides conversations toward a specific goal, such as a sale or booking. Unlike other AI systems that focus on providing correct responses, Podium aims to drive specific customer actions to grow your business.
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What Is a Lead Form?
A lead form collects contact details and other information from website visitors. It comes in different types, including contact, subscription, and registration forms.
Lead forms can be placed on different web pages. You can embed it into your site’s “Contact Us” page or landing page content. If the form only has one or two fields, you can put it at the top or bottom of a web page so visitors can see them even while scrolling or visiting other web pages. You can also have the form pop up shortly after a visitor opens a page.
The lead data from the forms are collected and stored in a marketing or CRM platform and used to tailor lead tracking and nurturing strategies.
With growing business competition, it’s crucial to have a lead form on your website. Lead forms will help you get more potential customers, increase conversion rates, and make more money.
However, it’s important to remember that having a form on your website does not guarantee a successful lead generation strategy and increased form conversion. The lead gen form should be well-thought-out and consider the user experience to be effective in capturing potential customers. It should be visually appealing, have well-written and interesting content, offer value, and be embedded in the right place.
3 Types of Lead Generation Forms
1. Contact Forms
The contact form is probably the most used type of lead generation form. You can find contact forms on most business websites, specifically on a “Contact Us” page, along with the business phone number and email address. Your website visitors can use it to initiate a conversation with your business. Giving consumers this option is a great way to create a relationship with them.
Pros:
- It’s safer than showing your email address on your website.
- You can automate responses to questions from site visitors submitted through the contact form.
- Response automation guarantees a fast response.
- You can add questions on the form your potential customer needs.
Cons:
- Contact forms are susceptible to spamming.
- Some potential customers aren’t fond of getting in touch through contact lead forms.
- Some inquiries may end up in your mail junk folder, which means you may miss valuable leads.
2. Subscription Forms
A subscription form is a form you use to gather contact information from website visitors who want to receive specific content, services, or products. Typically, you use this form to gather email addresses for your email list. When using this type of form, it is important to add an opt-in and let the lead decide if they want to receive your emails.
Pros:
- Subscription forms are generally simple and easy to fill out since it does not require much data.
Cons:
- The drawback is on the part of the customers, as they have to continue their subscription to access items.
3. Registration Forms
A registration form is used to sign up for a service or register for a membership. This type of form is usually used in various industries, like schools, healthcare, and hotels.
Pros:
- Since consumers need to register in exchange for something, it means they are really into your offer and you’ll get high-quality leads.
- You can collect as much information as you need, including basic information and lead preferences.
- Loads of information allow you to create a more targeted marketing strategy.
- Online lead forms are better than paper forms you need to process.
Cons:
- Consumers may find having to register to access information annoying or frustrating. Leads, therefore, can have a negative impression of the business.
- Website visitors may choose to exit the site instead of filling out the form, which leads to reduced site traffic.
No matter the type of lead generation form you use, optimize it and ensure your SEO works for you. You must also optimize landing pages if you’re adding lead capture forms to these.
How to Optimize Your Lead Generation Forms?
1. Streamline: simplify your form fields.
The overall appearance of your lead generation forms plays a crucial role in determining their effectiveness. Site visitors are more likely to fill out forms if they appear polished and professional. Make the form’s purpose clear so potential leads don’t have to second-guess what the form does. Mark mandatory and optional fields, use placeholder text, make the labels clear and concise, and implement auto-fill.
You would also want to balance the number of fields in the lead gen form. Too many fields and your potential customers will find it tedious to fill out, but having too few may not be good either. You’ll miss the chance to get enough information about your potential customers.
A good number would be the fewest possible fields that allow you to collect the necessary information you need. If you need a lot of fields, you can split them into several pages with visual guides like a progress bar to make them look less daunting.
2. Personalize: tailor your copy and design.
Content and design matter if you want a high-converting website. A personalized form design that matches your business’ visual branding is more likely to attract attention than a generic-looking lead form. Also, pay attention to your call to action (CTA). Personalize the CTA and ensure it reflects the specifics of your offers. A “Start your 14-day free trial today” CTA is a better and more tailored alternative to “Start your free trial.”
Aside from the design, you should ensure that your lead generation form aligns with your customers’ interests. For instance, if they’re on a specific section of your store, show them the best lead capture forms for products in that category instead of a random form.
Similarly, tailor your lead generation forms to where your customers are in the buying journey. For example, if they’re showing interest but aren’t ready to make a purchase yet, use a form that asks about their most important considerations in making a purchase.
3. Automate: implement smart data validation.
The last thing you need for your lead generation efforts is to receive spam, incomplete information, or incorrect submissions. Not only do they waste time and resources, but they may also lead to ROI overestimation. That’s why lead validation and data validation are crucial aspects of generating leads.
Implement smart data validation in your lead forms. Check for correct data type and formatting, i.e., make sure that an email address is a valid email format and phone numbers have the right number of digits. Your form should check for ranges and null values and implement safety measures against hackers.
You should also use automation for lead validation. Manually cross-checking new lead information takes up too much time. Automated lead validation tends to be more accurate and helps ensure clean lead information.
4. Optimize: A/B test and analyze continuously.
Making a lead generation form isn’t a one-and-done process. You must continuously test, analyze, and optimize.
Find out what works and what doesn’t through A/B testing, also known as split testing. You can create different versions of a lead form and send them to a segmented audience. Creating forms can be time-consuming and tedious, so consider using customizable lead generation templates or a drag-and-drop form builder. A lead generation form template and builder will make the creation process faster. After running enough tests, you then compare which version performed better.
You can choose to test for elements like design (colors, buttons, and layouts), message, number of fields, form placement, and CTA. Test only one element at a time for easier data analysis. You can then base your optimization process on the results.
You will likely snag a visitor to fill out your lead generation form if you offer something in return. It could be anything valuable for your potential customer, such as discount coupons, free ebooks, a personalized product demo, online courses, and exclusive webinars.
5 Converting Lead Capture Form Examples
Airbnb’s Host Sign-Up Form
Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects people looking for short-stay accommodations with those renting out their homes or properties.
People who want to host their homes on Airbnb are required to fill out a sign-up form. This form is a great example for many reasons.
- The form looks neat and easy to fill out. There are only a few fields, and they don’t ask for seemingly unnecessary information. You only need to give your address, property type, number of guests you can accommodate, and accessible amenities.
- You can get an earnings estimate once you submit the lead form, which is a fairly good offer in exchange for your contact details.
- If you choose to get an estimate before signing up, they let you save your form data so you don’t have to fill it out again.
HubSpot’s Ebook Download Form
HubSpot is a company that develops a range of software solutions for businesses, particularly marketing, sales, and customer service software. They also offer eBooks on various topics, including marketing and website design. You’ll find many lead forms when you visit their website, but we’ll discuss their eBook download form.
- It’s simple and has a straightforward message. There’s not much text to read, only the name of the eBook you’re downloading, which helps avoid confusion and makes the process short and sweet.
- It’s an excellent example of easy multi-step forms. There are several steps, but each one only has two fields to fill.
Duolingo’s Language Learning App Sign-Up Form
Duolingo is known for developing language learning applications. The app is free and offers many self-paced exercises to help you understand the language of your choice. But you have to fill out their sign-up form before you can start learning languages.
- Duolingo provides clickable options instead of form fields. The form is creative and interactive and still gets them the information they need from leads.
- The design is probably the most notable aspect of Duolingo’s app sign-up form. It’s simple but bright and eye-catching. After clicking the get started button, the app will redirect you to a page with the list of languages available. Each language is represented by a flag of the country.
Shopify’s Free Trial Sign-Up Form
Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform for businesses. The software offers a free trial, which you can use to learn about the platform’s features before you get started working on your online store.
Before you can start building your online store on Shopify, you’ll need to sign up. You can get inspiration from their sign-up form when creating your own.
- Shopify makes the most of FOMO, or the fear of missing out, by sharing how many other businesses are already using the platform.
- If you click the “start free trial button” without leaving your email address, you’ll be directed to a long form. At the end, you have an option to use your social media to create an account.
TOMS Shoes Newsletter Sign-Up Form
TOMS Shoes offers stylish shoes for women, men, and children. By subscribing to the brand’s newsletter, customers receive updates on the latest collections, discounts, special events, and more.
Their newsletter sign-up form is noteworthy for these reasons:
- TOMS Shoes tells customers what they get when they join the company’s mailing list, which may encourage form submissions.
- The form also includes only a single field that asks for the email address. It makes subscribing fast and easy.
Easily Generate and Convert Leads with Podium
Capturing qualified leads and converting them into paying customers shouldn’t be challenging. If you’re running a small business and want more results from your lead generation workflow, Podium’s Lead Drive tool is for you.
Lead Drive funnels your leads from different sources into one inbox for a unified view. It can effectively solve the issues related to unorganized and scattered leads. Lead Drive can also automatically send a pre-configured text response to the leads, ensuring a prompt acknowledgment of customer queries or concerns.
If creating responses to common consumer queries eats up most of your time, you can use Podium’s AI Response Generator. This tool can help you create a relevant and thoughtful response to messages and reviews left by customers. Prompt responses encourage customers to build trust in your brand and improve the customer experience. In turn, you can drive revenue and make more money.
Finally, Podium’s AI Employee guarantees your business engages with leads within a couple of minutes; during peak hours, off hours, and every hour in between.
Transform your business with Podium’s AI Employee. Get a Demo Today.
