How do you get enough information to enrich your data, qualify leads and encourage conversions, without putting people off with a humongous form to fill in? Oh, and how can you do that in HubSpot? Eli Zheleva reveals all…
No one likes filling in long forms. Whether it’s to provide feedback, a questionnaire or to access downloadable content, a massive proportion of people will abandon the action if they’re asked for too much input all at once. This is why they have lower conversion rates. The alternative - shorter forms - means that vital information can be missed out and thus render the exercise worthless, so what can businesses do to get round this issue?
Say what now? If you haven’t heard of the Breadcrumb Technique (not to be confused with site navigation breadcrumbs), let us elaborate. It’s a way to use several, multi-step landing page forms with the aim of persuading visitors to ‘micro-convert’ in steps to whatever your conversion goal might be - without dropping off due to lengthy form-filling. It’s also a way of gently coercing users along the journey, without stirring up anxiety or resistance. Some also use it in conjunction with the ‘Yes Ladder’ technique, in which sympathetic, usually leading, questions (answered in the affirmative) build momentum.
It’s a well-proven way to increase conversion rates. So how do we do it?
Well, HubSpot has the solution - it's called progressive form fields. These are fields that allow you to collect different data for a contact who has already submitted a form, so they don’t get annoyed at being asked for the same information more than once (and we all know how that feels). Think of it as throwing breadcrumbs for them to follow on their way.
Here’s an example, using progressive fields allows you to ask people to fill in their First name, Last Name and Email on one form. If you queue up the progressive fields for Job title and Industry, then people who have already provided you with their First Name and Last Name, won't be asked again for the same information on a subsequent form. They would instead be asked only for their Job title and Industry, whilst people that submit a form on your website for the first time, would be asked all the standard questions. Clever, eh?
To use the progressive fields, you need to go to one of your regular forms and in the right panel at the bottom you can queue up the properties that you want to get the information for. That’s the Breadcrumb Technique - it's as simple as that. It’s available to anyone who has HubSpot Marketing, Content or Service Hub subscriptions.
Setting this up can not only enrich your data over time but can build trust and help you exceed those conversion rate targets, so why not give it a go?
If you’d like to chat about this further and discover how the Breadcrumb Technique and progressive form fields could be of benefit for your business, then give us a call or send us a message. We’d love to explain further and find out if this solution is right for you.