You invest in a website to generate leads. Naturally, you’ll want to know whether those leads are coming in properly and what you can do with them. However, there are several steps between clicking the “Submit” button and speaking with a customer.
A visitor may fill out the form, but the subsequent processing may fail. An application may have been saved, even though the email notification has not yet been received. And a received application must then still be followed up on.
In our work on forms and links, we focus on those individual steps. This allows you to better identify where things are going well and where you need to take action. These are the aspects I consider important in this regard.
First, decide what you want to count
A click of a button, a received request, and a new customer each convey a different message. Therefore, decide which step you want to focus on in a report.
If you want to know how many requests your website receives, you need confirmation that they have been processed. Simply recording that someone clicks "Submit" does not guarantee that the request has actually been saved.
We also took that distinction into account when designing metrics for subsequent steps in an application. The metric tracks the confirmed action. This ensures that the recorded time aligns with what actually happened.
Give these metrics clear names. If you and the person in charge of your marketing have different understandings of what a "request" is, it will be difficult to discuss the numbers effectively.
Save the application before continuing
Many business owners receive an email notification when a new message arrives. That’s helpful for follow-up. But you also want to be able to find the request if something goes wrong with that email.
In our form development process, we have therefore set up the storage of the request and the submission of the notification as separate steps. First, the request is saved. Then, the notification is processed.
This way, if an email is missing, you can check whether the request was actually received. It also helps when an additional processing step fails, such as retrieving supplementary information. The original request must then remain available so you can proceed on your own.
So when launching a new website, be sure to discuss where submissions are sent and how you can retrieve them later. That’s just as much a part of the handover as the form itself.
Check what happens when you resend
A visitor doesn't always see a response on the screen right away. Maybe the connection is slow, or a page is taking a while to load. In that case, clicking "Send" again is a logical response.
The form should be able to handle that. That is why, during our reviews, we also look for repeated requests. The same submission should not result in multiple applications and reports going unnoticed.
That does not mean that two requests from the same person are automatically the same. A person may return later with a different request. The system must distinguish between reprocessing the same submission and a new request.
What's most important to you is that your overview remains reliable. You don't want your team to have to do the same work twice, nor do you want an inaccurate impression of the number of requests.
Test the entire route
When performing a check, go through the form yourself and then look beyond the confirmation message. Verify that the request is in the system, that the correct notification is received, and that the measurement records the intended step.
A mailing service may accept an email without that necessarily proving that you received it in your inbox. If in doubt, check the delivery status and your mailbox. A notification that gets stuck somewhere in the processing requires a different solution than a request that was never saved.
Also, test an error scenario. What does the visitor see if a required field is missing? Do the entered details remain available after an error? And does anyone know if the user needs to try again?
Use clearly identifiable test data for this purpose. Keep test requests separate when evaluating your results, so that your own review does not skew the numbers in a positive direction.
Also consider the quality of the applications
Once the system is working properly, you can start evaluating the results of the inquiries. Are people reaching out with questions that match what you offer? Can you reach them? And does that contact lead to the next step?
That requires feedback based on your own work. A report with numbers alone can’t tell you whether a conversation was worthwhile. For example, make a note of whether a request was addressed and whether a quote was issued as a result.
Not all the information from your form needs to be sent to a measurement platform. Keep track of the application’s content during follow-up, and use only the data that is necessary and permitted for measurements. The privacy choices you’ve made remain part of the system’s configuration.
With this combination, you can focus your efforts more effectively on your website and automation. Perhaps there isn’t enough explanation before the form. Or maybe the area for improvement lies in the follow-up after someone has contacted you.
Start with one form
You don't have to review all the forms at once. Start with the form that is most important for your business and follow a single application through the entire processing cycle.
Check where it is stored, who receives the notification, what is being measured, and who handles the request. That will give you a concrete starting point for making improvements.
Would you like us to take a look at your forms and links? Feel free to contact us. We’ll work with you to review how the process is currently set up and identify areas for improvement.