Web forms are essential to today’s business websites. They allow your site’s visitors to input information that can be used for transactions, lead generation, target market research, and other functions.
Web forms have transformed how legal, real estate, medical, and finance professionals complete transactions and process paperwork on line. So understanding how to use web forms in your website’s design helps you accomplish a wide range of goals.
How Web Forms Work
Web forms are created using HTML and can consist of text fields, checkboxes, passwords, signatures, and autocomplete features to help users provide the information needed to complete a transaction.
The most common web forms used on business websites are contact forms, where users send messages directly to businesses while providing additional information such as their name, email address, occupation, and more.
Web forms use Javascript code to verify that there are no errors when a user submits a web form. Once submitted, the web form makes its way to the web server through the use of an “action” URL, where the form is delivered.
A form processor script is used to send the information to a file or database and sends the user a response to confirm whether or not the form was processed.
Benefits of Web Forms to Your Legal Website
Most users won’t take the time to call or email you right away. As a result, you may be missing out on lead generation opportunities by not providing an easier way to reach you.
Using a web form improves your ability to connect with users who want to hear from you.
Web forms collect data from users, which gives you the information you need to serve their legal needs.
Web forms can be customized to better manage the information you collect. By specifying the fields that are used in your web forms, you keep incoming communications focused while avoiding generic messages.
You can qualify prospects who may be interested in your legal services, making the sales process more efficient and cost-effective.
Web forms let you track metrics related to your website’s performance. Your law firm can monitor the number of page visits, completed forms, and other indicators.
The Right Way to Use Web Forms
Web forms should provide enough information to help users complete them. Your forms should explain what users can do with them and why they should do it.
Hints, suggestions, and clarification should be included wherever necessary. Forms can be confusing if there are many fields complete. So the user should have no questions as they complete the process.
Although marking data fields as “required” ensures that users provide the most important information, avoid the temptation to apply this to the entire form.
This can reduce the number of forms that are completed and may hurt your lead generation and other goals.
The complexity of your web forms depends on your online objectives and other factors. But simplicity and ease of use should be prioritized during the web form development process.
Take the time to review the completion, submission, and response process and identify issues that negatively impact the results you achieve.
Does your law firm have offline documents that could easily translate into easy-to-use web forms? If you have web forms already in place, what challenges are you facing and how are they impacting your online marketing?
Let us know in the comments below. Having the right resources for using web forms improves the experience that users have on your site, enhances the efficiency of your workflow, and generates new clients for your law firm.
