form analytics and checkout optimization - formisimo's sascon presentation

Why the long form?

A little about Formisimo

Advanced form analytics tool (out of beta!)Tracks every interaction with online forms

26 metrics measuredOver 43 million form interactions tracked so far

Online, forms are everywhere.

And they carry a huge burden

Your form

Offline Advertising

Branding

Website design

PR

Digital Marketing

Sales

Word of Mouth

Affiliates

Online advertising

Social Media

Forms

A sales funnel (of sorts)

Customer

But, surely people know they are important, and get

them right?

Nope, they are (mostly) terrible.

How do we know this?

70% of people who start a form do not complete it.

WorldPay Study: Why do people abandon

online checkouts?

26% - Decided against buying

21% - Process was taking too long

Polite way to say rage quit

Some examples

Counties are no longer used for delivery(Royal Mail has deleted them from database)

How much difference does it make?

1 field removed from form $12 million extra revenue

A one-off, surely! Erm...

Register Continue

“You do not need to create an account to make purchases on our site. Simply click Continue to proceed to checkout. To make your future purchases even faster, you can create an account during checkout.”

$300,000,000

Back to basics: Forms vs. Content

Jessica Enders (Formulate):

Content Forms

Exploration and task completion Task completion only

No one point of focus Users are “field focussed”

Many possible entry and exits points Often only one entry and exit point

Concepts of “success” and “failure” vary

Strictly defined concept of “success” and “failure”

Often visited many times Often only used once

How does this impact visitor behaviour?

How does this impact visitor behaviour?

Task completion Forms are a barrier or hurdle to some greater good, not an end in themselves. They are a

necessity, but not one visitors enjoy

How does this impact visitor behaviour?

Field focussed Careful examination of every word, instruction and label. Much more scrutiny than browsing.

Confusion and consternation more likely.

How does this impact visitor behaviour?

One entry and exit point No browsing, clear path for users, no distractions.

How does this impact visitor behaviour?

Success and failure strictly defined Either a visitor becomes a customer, or they

don’t. Visits, time on page, etc do not really matter (for

forms). Conversions matter.

How does this impact visitor behaviour?

Often only used once You often only get one shot!

If you fail to get it right, potential customer may get good or service from a competitor.

Some common pain points

Captchas

Why do they exist?

Captchas

To prevent spamTo annoy humans

CaptchasWhat is their effect on conversion?

How many of these are potential customers?

CaptchasAre there better

options?

CaptchasIs a simple Maths quiz any

better?

Other options

1.Email confirmation (registration)

2.Honeypot Traps – hidden fields that users cannot see. If filled in, likely to be spam.

3.Plugins – Akismet for Wordpress

4.No CAPTCHA

How much spam do you get?

Test!

Double entry of information

Double entry of information

Why do sites ask for this?

Prevention of errors

But...

Double entry of information

Can copy and paste email address, so benefit is negated.

Plus...

Which of these fields contains the error?

The consequences for conversion rates...

Errors + Drop offs

- Increases effort for every user- Can be bypassed- Only ensures fields match, not that

they are error free- Can cause more corrections and

drop offs

Double entry of information

Alternatives:1. Unmask Password2. Email activation3. Get rid (if easy to reset password)

Double entry of information

Buttons

Call to action buttons exist across websites; also on

forms.

Buttons guide a user through a form, and help task

completion

Sign up for your FREE trial

Apply Now Retrieve My Quote Proceed to Checkout

Where are the buttons?

These are obviously buttons...But these are harder to see (but more important)

So difficult to see quickly (remember task completion)!

Compare with....

Forms are not like Angry Birds

Some tips - from Caroline Jarret

1. Make buttons look like buttons.2. Put buttons where users can find

them. 3. Make the most important button

look like it’s the most important one.

4. Put buttons in a sensible order. 5. Label buttons with what they do. 6. If users don’t want to do something,

don’t have a button for it.

Coupons & Discount Codes

What would your next move be?

Vouchercodes.co.uk and Forrester report:

1. The frequency of use of online voucher codes is increasing

2. Online voucher codes reduced shopping cart abandonment

3. Vouchers often finalised the deal for undecided shoppers

4. The use of vouchers drove more customer conversions

5. Spending by those who use online voucher codes is increasing

But...

Giving a user a reason to leave the checkout process.

Paypal study

45% of shoppers have abandoned multiple shopping carts in last

three weeks, and 27% of those are in search of a coupon.

And...

It’s addictive!

12,000 searches a month:

8,000 searches a month:

The sofa effect

How to avoid this?

Advertise your own discount codes

How to avoid this?

Make less prominent

How to avoid this?

Linguistic trickery

“Gift code” vs. “Discount code”“Discount code (if any)”

Instantaneously input the combination of alpha and numeric

characters to realize your transitive and

ultimately futile concession.

How to avoid this?

Only display box if visitor arrives via an affiliate link

OR

Don’t have them!

Labels and field names

Remember:

• Field focussed• Task completion

Users need to achieve a goal, but will not give over anything and

everything to achieve it.

Some fields require explanation, or provide users with reassurance as

to why you are asking for it (DOB, mobile numbers, sex)

Why do I need to give this information to buy a scarf?

They have to provide additional (and useful information)

Better...

Your users and potential customers deserve better.

Better forms = happier customers

Happier customers= more customers

Embrace new

technology

Build

Learn Measure

Without this, you cannot

improve

96% of people find cart abandonment analysis highly valuable or quite

valuable

“Of all the methods used to help increase conversion, cartabandonment analysis shows the highest correlation to an

increase in sales.”

Thanks for listening!@tomnew_

tom@formisimo.com