Your online form is your sales closer. And, as any good sales person will tell you, closing the deal is what it is all about. Closing is so important, some businesses have a person who comes in just to close the deal. Your online form is that person. Whether the form is to sell your product or to request information – you need a good closer.

Look at your online form as if it were the first time you had ever seen it. Check the following:

• Is the requested information is in a logical order?
• Is the same information being requested twice?
  (This is a problem for businesses using third party services – such a PayPal.)
• Are you asking for unnecessary information?
  (If you have the postal code — you don’t need to ask for the city or province.)
• Do you automatically format the input or do you force the customer to use your format?
  (People enter phone numbers in many different ways.)
• Do you validate the fields before the customer submits the form?
  (Yes, fields CAN be validated before the form is submitted.)

Once you have those problems fixed – look at the page layout. Like the disheveled sales person a cluttered form will drive customers away. If necessary beak the form up into a number of pages.

Making your online form a ‘good closer’ is all about making things easier for you customers. It may take some time – but the results are worth it.