# Form

URL: https://tnb-tech.com/en/glossary/form/

## What is a form?

A form is the element through which a visitor hands you information: an enquiry, a registration, a checkout. Every extra field costs completions, so a form should ask only for what is needed to answer, validate while the person types rather than after they submit, and confirm plainly that the message arrived.

**What makes a form work**

- Only the fields you need to answer. Name, a way to reply and the question are enough for most enquiries. Company number, address and budget can wait for the conversation.
- Labels that stay visible. A hint inside the field that disappears when typing starts leaves people guessing what the field was.
- Errors shown while typing, in plain words. “Please enter a phone number with the area code” beats “Invalid input” shown after the button is pressed.
- The right keyboard on a phone: digits for a phone number, the @ key for email, and autofill switched on.
- A clear confirmation: a message that says the form arrived and when to expect an answer, and an email copy.

**Example**

An installer of solar systems asks for eleven fields in its quote form, including roof area, roof angle, monthly electricity bill and a postcode. Of the visitors who start the form, 18% finish it. Most stop at the roof questions, which many homeowners cannot answer.

The form is cut to four fields: name, phone, town and “What would you like to know?”. The roof questions move to the first phone call. Completion rises to 46%, and enquiries from the same traffic grow from 25 to 61 a month. Sales spend a few more minutes per call and gain more than twice as many calls.

**Why it matters for a business**

The form is where a visitor becomes an enquiry, so every obstacle in it is paid for twice: once in the advertising that brought the visitor, and again in the customer who left. Each extra field costs completions, and fields that are hard to answer cost the most.

A form also has to be measured. With conversion tracking on the sent form, and a record of where the visitor came from, each channel can be judged by the enquiries it brings. And it has to respect privacy: ask for consent only where it is needed, say what the data is used for, and do not pre-tick boxes. See GDPR.

**What to ask**

- How many visitors start our form, and how many finish it?
- Which field do people stop at, and do we need it before the first conversation?
- Does the form work with one thumb on a phone, with the right keyboard for each field?
- Does every sent form reach a person who answers, and does the visitor learn when?The enquiry form is where a visitor becomes a customer, so in our website development we keep it short, clear and tracked.

- Services: [Website development](https://tnb-tech.com/en/services/website-development/)
- Glossary: https://tnb-tech.com/en/glossary/