Forms people actually finish

A contact or booking form is often the one place a visitor turns into a customer. It's also where many of them quietly give up. Most of the reasons are small and easy to fix.

Ask only what you need now

Every extra field is a reason to stop. If you can ask for it later, in a reply or a call, take it off the form.

Labels that stay put

Put a short label above each field. Grey placeholder text inside the field disappears as soon as someone starts typing, and with it the reminder of what the field was for.

The right keyboard, and autofill

Tell the browser what each field is, and phones show the right keyboard and offer to fill in saved details:

<label for="email">Email</label>
<input id="email" type="email" autocomplete="email" />

<label for="phone">Phone</label>
<input id="phone" type="tel" autocomplete="tel" />

Errors that help

• Check a field when someone leaves it, not on every keystroke.
• Show the message right next to the field, in plain words: 'Add the @ in your email', not 'Invalid input'.
• Never clear what they've already typed.

A button that says what happens

'Send my request' tells people what they're doing; 'Submit' doesn't. After sending, say what happens next and when: 'Thanks, I'll reply within a day.'

Long forms read better split into short steps, with a line showing how far along you are.

“Every field you remove is one less reason to stop.”