Generating leads online is one of the most affordable digital marketing options for firms of all sizes, particularly ones with small marketing budgets that cannot afford to pay for TV commercials or billboards across a city. One of the biggest challenges attorneys grapple with is just how long to make a digital intake form.
On one hand, a longer form will give you far more information about a potential client. On the other, a shorter firm should yield higher conversions. Here are some tips to help you create the best contact form for your firm’s needs:
Step One: Determine How Many Fields You Need
The first step to assessing the length of a contact form is determining exactly how many questions you need on your Free Evaluation form. This will vary depending on what area of law you practice. For example, a workers’ compensation attorney will likely need fewer Free Evaluation questions than a Social Security disability attorney or advocate.
Disability advocates will likely need to know the age of an applicant, whether an applicant is currently seeing a doctor, or whether an applicant has already been denied benefits. Workers’ compensation lawyers may only need to know vital contact information and the date an employee was injured. Whatever area of law you practice, always try to ask as few questions as possible. You can fully vet a claimant during an initial phone consultation.
Step Two: Consider Pixel Length and Form Layout
The second step of determining how long a form needs to be will take a little more technical effort. You’ll want a Free Evaluation form to be situated “above the fold,” or on an area of the page that a user can see without having to scroll down. The fold is typically 600 pixels from the top of the page to the bottom, so your form will be significantly shorter than this, especially if you have some kind of logo/navigation at the top of your firm’s page. You’ll also need to again consider your area of law when creating the layout for a Free Evaluation page. Employment law claimants are your everyday Joes, so they’ll not have a high proportion of vision issues. Social Security disability applicants, on the other hand, will be older than the general population and be more likely to experience vision loss. You may need to use bigger text and have higher contrast between your fields to ensure disability claimants can fill out a Free Evaluation on your firm’s website.
A Final Consideration: One-Step Form
If at all possible, you want your form to be accessible in one simple step. If a claimant fills out his or her case information and needs to click “Next Step” or “More,” he or she may not be willing to continue the process. If you can fit everything neatly onto one form that’s above the form, you should have a significantly higher conversion rate. Heat mapping software can help you see how users fill out your current Free Evaluation form, as well as tell you where users drop off and stop filling out your forms mid-way through the process.
By reviewing your current evaluation forms and making some minor tweaks to ensure more users end up completing your Free Evaluation, you can significantly increase your firm’s caseload!