Multi Step Form or Standard Form for Data Capture

[Kingalan1]

We are redesigning our web site real estate (www.nyc-officespace-leader.com). A key component of the site is the property search form. Currently visitors completes 5 fields and properties that meet the criteria are displayed to the visitor.

I have noticed that my leading competitors (www.42floors.com, www.squarefoot.com) use multi step forms that ask single questions of the visitors. In effect they are reducing complexity by asking a single question per form. However the visitor must complete additional forms. Before results are served, both competing sites require the visitor to release contact info. 42floors has a clever inducement for the visitor to release their info: "Their are 127 listings that haven't been posted yet, but are visible to members." Once the visitor releases info they get to view the listings.

While this is somewhat coercive, I suspect it is effective in obtaining customer date. While I understand it may result in some visitors bouncing off the site, the form completions are extremely valuable. Currently we provide listings without requiring registration but obtain very little data about visitors. In New York City, there are so many commercial real estate sites that visitors have a tendency to bounce from one to another without leaving info or calling.

Multi step forms would allow me to add questions that are highly pertinent. Like when do they need possession, how long a lease term. By being asked very specific, relevant questions I wonder if that would not in fact increase the likely hood of the visitor to release info

Any advice?? I am attaching several of the forms in question.

In the event that we proceed with a multi part form, their are certain services like Leadformly that integrate with Wordpress. I see the eliminate the need for a Capcha and have other advantages. Is it beneficial to use such a package?

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[Kingalan1]

This makes a lot of sense. So I will not make any assumptions about my visitors and will test so as to obtain objective feedback.

[ThompsonPaul]

So much this ^^

This is a question for which the only answer is "test your own visitors".

Something else to keep in mind - so much of getting visitors to complete longer forms is about setting expectations and demonstrating WIIFM (what's in it for me) up front.

"A minute and half of your time for these questions helps us give you more useful customised recommendations. We don't want to waste your time." Can go an awful long way to getting buy-in from visitors to complete the form. You've told them why giving the info will help them, and told them how much time is required. So even if they see a multi-step form, they won't get worried it's going to drag on.

Something else to think about.

Paul

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi,

Have you done (or thought about doing) any testing and looking at stats to see which would work best for you?

Personally, I would be quite wary of just changing to a new form structure without doing a level of A-B testing first of all. You want to know for sure, which is going to work best for you.

I understand the points about drop-off but those that don't, you get a higher level of enquiry, but can you do better than this? Is 1 question per page too little? Could you get away with 2 and halve the process? How about 3? How about just 2 pages, one for personal and one for requirements?

There is a lot to think about here but please don't try to make the decision yourself as this isn't necessarily what other people want.

Head over to Hotjar  (or something similar) that will allow you to watch how people actually interact with your forms. Setup goals in Analytics so that you can see where people are dropping out. Tie all of this in together and use real visitor numbers to help you with your decisions.

I hope this helps a little.

-Andy