What Should My Web Site Registration Forms Ask?

Registration forms are a great way to get information from visitors to your web site. However, asking too much information from your visitors may reduce the number of people who register. So, how do you get good information without scaring away your potential customers? The following points might help you decide what to ask on your forms:

• Require the least amount of information possible - if you can get by with just a name and email address, great. If you need a phone number, company name, title, or more, you won't get as many leads but the leads you get might be better quality.


• Make the reward for registering as strong as possible - making customers register just to get more product information can be counterproductive; many won't register. Providing registration information for access to product demonstrations is usually acceptible for most customers. Some people provide a monthly drawing for people who register on the web site (everyone likes free iPods).


• Make sure you tell your potential customers you won't give information they submit to anyone else. Who needs more email?

Registration forms provide your sales team with quality leads, if done effectively. You can even get leads from your web site automatically populated in your CRM application, like Salesforce.com (ask us how).