T H E F O R M C O N V E R S I O N R E P O R T

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T HE 2 0 1 4 F OR M CONV E R S I ON R E P OR T
About This Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Form Conversion Data by Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Average Fields per Form & Conversion Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chart: Average Fields per Form
Chart: Form Conversion Rate (%)
Conversion Rates by Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Do Smart Forms Impact Conversion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chart: Use of Form Logic by Industry (%)
Peak Form Submission Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When is Your Audience Online? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Optimal Social Media Engagement Times
Analytics for Optimized Trafc
Email Marketing and New Customer Acquisition
Chart: Confrmation Emails Sent by Industry (%)
Submit Button Conversion Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Account Demographic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
External Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Table of Contents
T HE 2 0 1 4 F OR M CONV E R S I ON R E P OR T
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It started with a question. One you might have asked yourself or your colleagues, and one that the
Formstack team receives quite often:
How do I increase my conversion rate?
Turning to the Internet to help fnd the answer, we
noticed a lack of research on this topic. We also
noticed a goldmine of data answering this very
question within our own form building app.
Our team dug into over 450,000 accounts to establish
benchmarks across industries and form uses. This
report analyzed conversion rates from total trafc,
including both paid and organic. We also included
external research and an internal survey of 250
Formstack customers.
A conversion rate measures the percent of people
who visited a form against the total submission count.
But why is this magic number so powerful? Well,
the more people who fll out your form, the more
leads your sales team has to nurture. So, your online
forms can actually be a major source of revenue for
your company. A poorly optimized form results in lost responses and a low ROI on your marketing
initiatives.
This report aims to provide a benchmark look at a variety of form marketing metrics, from form
length to optimal submission times. We hope that through this data, you can discover new marketing
goals and ways to jumpstart your digital conversion rates.
About This Report
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T HE 2 0 1 4 F OR M CONV E R S I ON R E P OR T
Form Conversion Data by Country
Over 31% of the forms built in the US
are contact forms, which may attribute to
the countrys low overall conversion rate. On
average, contact forms convert at only 3%.
Forms created in Great Britain average 20
felds per form, the lowest of the four countries.
According to Quick Sprout, eliminating just 7
felds on your form can result in a conversion lift
of up to 120%.
Holy form felds, mate! Australians
average 29 felds per form, the most of any
country. However, 63% of their accounts
leverage form logic, meaning they can hide
certain felds on their form.
Canadas second most common form
button is Soumettre - French for Submit.
Catering to multiple languages might attribute to
Canadas 9% conversion rate, the highest of the
four countries.
Average Fields per Form & Conversion Rate
When reviewing your forms conversion rates, remember that form types impact conversions. For
example, if users click a link to enter a contest, they are probably ready to complete an entry form.
But not everyone who visits your Contact Us page will need to submit a form; some might just be
looking for your street address.
T HE 2 0 1 4 F OR M CONV E R S I ON R E P OR T
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Average Fields Per Form: the average
number of felds (name, email, etc.) that
each type of form contains
Form Conversion Rate: the percentage of
visitors who successfully submit the form
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Average Fields per Form & Conversion Rate (Cont.)
Event Registration Survey Donation Contest Order/Payment Contact
0
5
10
15
20
25
19
4
9
10
14
21
Average Fields per Form
Event Registration Survey Donation Contest Order/Payment Contact
0
6
12
18
24
30
6%
3%
4%
28%
11%
21%
Form Conversion Rate (%)
Be as concise as possible. Many people are hesitant to share personal or
sensitive information. If your form feels too invasive, users may not want to
complete it.
Try changing form lengths or feld content on your form. Test diferent form
lengths, question types, or submit-button copy. See how your customers
respond. Every industry (and every form!) is diferent; explore your options and
see what works best.
Include a strong call to action with your form
to communicate the beneft of flling it out. Your users will be much more likely to
submit their information when they know they are getting something in return.
Conversion Rates by Industry
Ever wonder how your conversion rates compare to other sectors? We calculated the percentage of
successfully submitted forms for the top industries that use Formstack. Weve aggregated that data
so you can review industry-wide conversion rates.
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A 2012 Marketing Sherpa report
listed nonprofts as having a 2%
website conversion rate. Formstack
nonprofts may be leveraging more
survey forms, which convert at
21 percent.
Want to increase response rates, no matter what your industry? Here are some tips to reduce
friction in the conversion process:
1. Customize your form to match your brand. Dont confuse your users with a plain form.
2. Embed your forms on the top half of your website. Expose web trafc to your form without scrolling
down the page.
3. Create targeted landing pages to generate qualifed leads. Research industry keywords and build
content to drive your audience.
4. Include a clear call to action. Avoid indecisive visitors by stating one clear beneft to completing the
form.
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Do Smart Forms Impact Conversion?
Online forms can automatically show or hide questions based on how users respond. Formstack
calls this feature conditional logic. When its in use, visitors only see the questions that are relevant
to their previous answers. Dynamic forms translate into higher conversion rates because users
arent intimidated by a long form with unnecessary questions.
42% 62%
We all know branding is important, but sometimes digital marketers fail to deliver online forms that
are consistent with the rest of their messaging. Online forms that are embedded or branded can
increase a customers trustand their willingness to click submit. When our surveyed Formstack
users create a branded experience for their customers, they can achieve stronger conversion rates.
62% said they get more
conversions when they
embed their form on
their site.
42% say creating
a custom theme
maximizes their
conversion rate.
Keeping forms as short as possible is a best practice, but sometimes you really need extra
data in particular circumstances. Thats where conditional form logic is very handy.
- Jay Baer, renowned marketer and founder of Convince and Convert
Use of Form Logic by Industry (%)
Peak Form Submission Times
Its form oclock somewhere! (Yes, we went there.) The most active times of day for form submissions
are displayed below. Spoiler alert: not many people are flling out surveys at 2 a.m. - sorry, night
owls.
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Its good to know the popular submission times for your online forms, but its also good to know
the participation habits of your audience. We thought these social engagement metrics were pretty
interesting:
When Is Your Audience Online?
All the form conversions in the world wont matter
if you are not connecting with your target audience.
Leverage a tool like Google Analytics to understand
where your customers live online. Test and analyze
your form metrics, like trafc and referral sources, to
create the perfect connection with your audience. You will win every time!
Studies show that Facebook engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursdays
and Fridays, with the most sharing happening on Saturday. The highest Twitter
engagement is midweek through the weekend. (Source: Bufer)
LinkedIns professional users are most active right before and right after work
hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the biggest days for activity. (Source: Media
Bistro)
Does mobile matter in form conversion? The short answer: yes! Each day, the
average smartphone user reaches for his or her mobile device around
150 times. (Source: Mary Meeker)
Email marketing is still one of the best ways to gain and engage customers. No matter how many
billions of emails are sent each day, people are still opening, clicking, and engaging with marketing
emails.
To maximize opens, send your
promotional emails during the
workday. On both desktop and mobile,
most people are opening emails
between 10am and 4pm.
(Source: Harland Clarke)
According to a report from Custora,
email marketing is the second best
channel, next to organic search, for customer acquisition, with 6.8% customers acquired via email
campaigns.
While confrmation emails are one step after the conversion, they can be an essential step in new
customer engagement and retention. Is your industry using confrmation emails to
connect post-conversion?
In a survey of 250 Formstack
customers, 61% said email
marketing platforms drove the
most trafc to their forms.
61%
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55% - Sports
44% - Religious
42% - Technology
37% - Nonprot
30% - Government
20% - Higher Education
19% - Small Business
18% - Marketing/Consulting
18% - Media
0% 15% 30% 45% 60%
Confrmation Emails Sent by Industry (%)
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Submit Button Conversion Metrics
Think about the moment when your user is hovering over the submit button. Its the last
opportunity to convince them to click, and its important. Dont believe us? Check out these two lists
below: the most popular Formstack submit buttons and the highest converting. As you can see,
changing just one word on your website can result in 2.5 times the conversions.
Register
Submit Order
Subscribe
Send
Submit
Submit Form
Register
Submit Request
Envoyer*
Register Now!
Submit Application
Submit Registration
5.33%
1.34%
7.78%
3.01%
7.75%
10.66%
18.72%
16.66%
15.67%
15.47%
10.66%
12.4%
Most Popular Highest Conversions
*Envoyer is French for Send
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Conclusion
Weve crunched a lot of numbers. Weve analyzed the data sets. And weve discussed the tips and
tricks that will make your form shine. Its a lot to digest. So heres where we recommend you start:
1. Do you know your own conversion rate? If not, go run the numbers and come back. Dont worry.
Well wait for you.
2. How does your conversion rate stack up within your industry? Maybe you thought a 15%
completion rate was absolutely abysmal. But now that you see how it compares to other Higher
Ed forms, you recognize youre crushing it. Give yourself a pat! And then try to boost your
overachievement.
3. Glance back through the form characteristics
we discussed, such as number of felds, branding,
mobile responsiveness, or submit button text.
Which ones can you improve on your own forms?
Dive in and make the changes. Test your forms to
see which tweaks improve your conversion rate.
4. Analyze your promotion strategies. Have you
done some research to make sure youre targeting
the best audience? How are you capitalizing on
social media? Check out that clock graphic on page
9 and adjust your promotion schedule.
We all want to connect with our target audience and capture the highest conversion rates possible.
Leverage the benchmark data in this report to optimize your form for this vital step in your sales
process. Now go out there and convert some web trafc!
The 2014 Form Conversions Report was compiled and analyzed by Formstack, a robust online
form building solution. With an intuitive drag and drop interface,
the platform makes it easy for marketers to create branded,
mobile-ready web forms without writing code. With features like
social media plugins, custom themes, and analytics, marketers can see an immediate lift in their
conversion rates.
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Total Accounts: 452,763
Order/Payment Contact
Survey Donation
14.3% 66.8%
5.6% 5.9%
Contest
2.1%
Event Registration
5.3%
Number of Accounts by Form Type
Total Accounts: 452,763
Number of Accounts by Industry
Higher Ed Nonproft
Religious Sports
3.5% 11.4%
1.8% 4.9%
Small Business
15%
Government
2%
Media
5.4%
Technology
7%
Marketing/Consulting
49.1%
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External Research
Form Conversion Data by Country
Eliminating 7 felds on your form can result in a conversion lift of up to 120%.
Source: Quick Sprout. How to Optimize Contact Forms for Conversions. Jan. 31, 2013.
Conversion Rates by Industry
A 2012 Marketing Sherpa report listed nonprofts as having a 2% website conversion rate.
Source: Marketing Sherpa. 2012 Website Optimization Research Report. Oct. 2012.
Do Smart Forms Impact Conversions?
Keeping forms as short as possible is a best practice, but sometimes you really need extra data in particular
circumstances. Thats where conditional form logic is very handy.
Quote: Jay Baer, Convince and Convert. 11 Massively Doable Ways to Increase Conversions with Better
Forms. May 23, 2014.
When Is Your Audience Online?
Studies show that Facebook engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays, with the most
sharing happening on Saturday. The highest Twitter engagement is midweek through the weekend.
Source: Bufer. A Scientifc Guide to Posting Tweets, Facebook Posts, Emails, and Blog Posts at the Best Time.
Aug. 29, 2013.
LinkedIn professional users are most active right before and right after work hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays
are the biggest days for activity.
Source: Media Bistro. The Best Times To Post On Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn And Pinterest. Sept.
20, 2013.
Each day, the average smartphone user reaches for his or her mobile device around 150 times.
Source: Mary Meeker. Internet Trends D11 Conference. May 29, 2013.
On both desktop and mobile, most people are opening emails between 10am and 4pm.
Source: Harland Clarke; Exact Target Blog. 50 Email Marketing Tips and Stats for 2014. Aug. 14, 2013.
Email marketing is the second best channel next to organic search for customer acquisition, with 6.8%
customers acquired via email campaigns.
Source: Custora; Marketingprofs.com. Email and Search Deliver More Customers Than Social Media. July 15,
2013.