4 Reasons Why Required Fields are No Longer Required on Contact Forms

What? WHAT!?!? There have to be required fields on contact forms, right? There have been required fields on contact forms for two decades. Nothing could have changed so quickly that they have become unnecessary, right?

Actually, they're no longer necessary. In fact, they're a hindrance. Here's why:

People aren't stupid

Seriously, they're not. This isn't the dawning of the age of the internet. There are adult buyers today who have been on the internet for longer than they've been out of diapers. They have likely filled out hundreds, even thousands of contact forms in their life. Is there a chance that someone might fill out a form with their first name only or even a fake name in order to see what the price was on the other side of the form? Sure. Thankfully, they are few and far between. There's a right way and a wrong way to make a landing page contact form.

Treat people as if they know what they're doing.

Different contact strokes for different folks

Believe it or not, there are people that never speak on the phone unless they absolutely must. There are people who might go a few days without checking for the mailbox. There are those who don't trust email anymore because 70% of it is spam. There are those who want to be reached through (gulp) social media rather than other methods.

Give them options. Allow them to select their preference. The form above is a price quote request. Are you going to be mailing them the quote? If not, why would you require their address? They are trying to do business with you. They wouldn't be on the page if they weren't.

The NSA killed data collection for many

The conspiracy theorists and paranoid freaks from a couple of years ago now seem like the wisely cautious today. Yes, governments, businesses, and organizations of nefarious inclinations are willing to do anything they can to get a hold of your personal data and many people are concerned. Some refuse to leave a good chunk of their information on any format online. Physical address is one of the concerns for many.

Why require them to do something that they simply don't want to do in order to do something simple like find out of the price of your merchandise?

It's an intro, not an interrogation

Keep it simple. Get whatever information they're willing to leave. If they want to be contacted, they'll leave some form of contact information. If they don't want to be contacted, they won't be filling out contact forms now will they?

You will need more information from them eventually in order to perform the transaction, but this is just the first step. This is a sign of willingness to start the engagement process. Just as you wouldn't expect a car salesman to ask you for your address the moment you walk onto the lot, you shouldn't expect the website to do it, either.

If you're going to pay for people to visit your site through PPC or other means, make sure you don't do the things that prevent them from allowing you to contact them.

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Article originally published on Techi.

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Comment by JD Rucker on December 16, 2013 at 6:55am: Koenig/Rucker for the win on Monday. Let's do this.

Comment by Mathew Koenig on December 13, 2013 at 1:42pm: I totally texted and called JD. You can see how it works today before 3PM eastern time by texting the code FRIDAY13 to the phone number 71441 (Standard text & data rates apply). Once you do that, it will send you a message, a digital coupon, and it will text me your phone number so I can call to make sure you got the special digital coupon. :-)

What's really cool is that we can also embed SMS contact forms on a dealer's website so a customer can request a digital coupon to their phone from there as well. This will be handier with the older demographic who doesn't understand the whole "Text this code to this 5 digit phone number) process.

With the online form they just put their info and they automatically get a text that says "reply yes to confirm". All they have to do is type yes and hit send and BOOM, coupon delivered....lead delivered...sales process engaged :)

You can't tell that I love what I do right? (We also put it in videos for CTAs like this simple video. In videos it's usually used to just text someone the URL for the dealership's website so the customer doesn't have to try and remember the URL. They just text the code, get the url sent to their phone by text and they're ready to shop on the dealer's site :)

Comment by JD Rucker on December 12, 2013 at 9:49pm: Left a message. You could always text me (LOL).

Comment by Mathew Koenig on December 12, 2013 at 9:36pm: Give me a ring on my mobile tomorrow and I'll give you ask the info you need brother 269-312-1787

Comment by JD Rucker on December 12, 2013 at 9:26pm: Mathew, that's absolutely brilliant. I want that for all of my dealers!

Comment by Mathew Koenig on December 12, 2013 at 5:14pm: You hit it on the head JD. We started using SMS for generating leads for our dealers over a year ago, and tied them into digital coupons that are trackable and consumers love it.

People want fast and easy so why not give it to them.

Comment by JD Rucker on December 12, 2013 at 1:55pm: Definitely, Braden. Texting is actually an ideal method of communication because people might not answer a call but they'll read every single text they're sent. Same applies to Facebook chat if you can become their friend.

Comment by Braden Cox on December 12, 2013 at 11:55am: I do believe that there are people who just want an idea on a quote and do not want..o be bothered. We live in a day and age where if people want to be contacted, they'll make it possible and easy. I ask my customers if they prefer to be called or texted. I get told that both works but at different times. During business hours they want to be texted and then they call me after five. Making it convenient is just as easy as making it comfortable.