Which Form To Use

Most form builder software offers more than one type of form. Picking the best type for your specific purpose can increase your sign up rate. The 6 most popular form types are

1. Embedded – probably the most common form

• Part of page content
• Doesn’t follow user as they scroll
• Great for home or landing pages
• Doesn’t disrupt or infer with content
• Doesn’t follow user
• Can be missed if not eye catching or scrolled off screen

1. Pop-up

• Pops up after user defined criteria; e.g., time or percent of page
• User can’t miss a pop-up usually appears in center of screen
• Disruptive because it blocks content until subscribes or closes form
• Can annoy visitors

1. Exit intent

• Appear when user tries to close screen or leave tab to continue user must subscribe or close form
• Not disruptive because doesn’t appear until exiting
• Good for landing page with an offer as a reminder
• Could promote a different offer which may be more interesting to user
• Great for pages where content is more important than subscribers

1. Slide-in

• Slides in from left or right side of page as opposed to just appearing like a pop-up
• Can dictate when form appears like pop-ups
• Usually follow user as they scroll
• Great when you want content read and the form seen
• Less annoying than pop-up

1. Horizontal bar

• Extends the entire width of display
• Can be at the top or bottom of screen
• Can be ‘sticky’ so always visible to user.
• Not disruptive
• Can’t put much information
• Lower conversion than pop-up or slide-in forms because it is easily ignored

1. Full page

• Covers entire page
• Like pop-ups except covers entire page
• Have to be notice
• Totally disruptive
• Use relative content on form

You may want to split test different form types on a lead capture. I want to try an embedded form vs. a pop-up. One thing to note: don’t use pop-up or slide-in forms for mobile viewing. Some form builders allow you choose which type of form to use when.

Until Next Post,
Bob Caine

The Angry Crab surf badges were available today so I can make progress on my CTP SeaLifeHits Mastery challenge. YEAH!