Do online forms generate leads, sales, and more? Of course, they don’t. Only your hard work, intellect, excellent marketing, and solid reputation building will generate leads, sales, and more. If an online form was all needed, just set up the form on a domain name and sit back and relax. Your work will generate leads, sales, etc. But why does this article claim you “Need” an online form if that is the case?
The Short Answer
Online forms are the strongest way to gather user information required to power a sales funnel. They are not the most powerful way or even the most effective, but they are the strongest. People with information gathered from forms are in a far stronger position to sell to that user in the short and long term.
The Long Answer
Some matrix-minded books tell their version of the same story. It includes highly effective adverts for things like guitars that lost money and sales because they didn’t show the viewer where to find the product, how to buy it, its price, and so forth.
Online forms are very effective when somebody decides to make a purchase or even if they wish to register interest. Online forms are dynamic and versatile enough to offer strong results as a means of getting in touch with a company, registering interest, opening an account, or making a purchase.
Are online forms high-pressure or as powerful as a phone or person-to-person sales conversation? Of course, they are not. Are they as engaging as a live text chat? Of course, they are not. However, as static, stand-alone, 27/7 communication tools, online forms can draw vital information from users, putting the receiving company in a very strong selling position.
Online Forms Are Gatekeepers When They Collect Data
Services like Headlessforms also allow for conditional logic and dynamic forms, all of which ensure that people enter the correct information and that they are inconvenienced as little as possible (because the dynamic form only shows what is relevant to the user at the time). If the form is changed to accommodate the choice people make when using the forms, then people are not exposed to elements of the form that don’t apply to them, and the form doesn’t take as long to fill in, so people are less likely to lose interest and click away from the page.
Upselling Through Online Forms
You want to upsell without distracting the user. Many companies have lost hundreds of thousands simply because they upsold too aggressively or distracted the user and lost the sale. When people are heading towards the checkout, you want them to maintain their momentum.
Dynamic forms allow upselling with the minimum of distraction. If somebody says they want 8 of an item, you can also show them the discounted price for buying 10. If somebody wants the bronze level subscription, you can show them the cost of the silver level subscription.
Generating Leads From Forms
Nothing is stopping you from having a form that only contains a section for adding an email address and then a submit button. If people have faith enough in your brand, you can get them to sign up for your newsletter or marketing material by simply offering a place where they may enter their email addresses.
With this in mind, it isn’t a big leap toward outright marketing and lead generation. Asking people if they are interested in something and offering up a discount code to be emailed to them. This is a simple yet effective way of building your email list while encouraging purchases.