How to Build a Lead Capture Form: 7 Tips for Success

A lead capture form is essential for every online sales funnel. But it’s not just a practical necessity for getting contact information — it’s a strategic part of your lead generation plan. Your online form needs to be persuasive, easy to use, and integrated with the rest of your sales funnel. Here are seven tips for building an effective lead capture form:

1. Set specific goals

2. Choose the most relevant form placements

3. Be clear and concise

4. Add form fields that work for your goals

5. Earn your audience’s trust

6. Optimize using A/B tests

7. Keep the whole customer journey in mind

1. Set specific goals

Every lead capture form is meant to build a list of potential customers for your business. But you’ll need to narrow in on specific goals for your form — based on the type of lead magnet that it offers and where your audience is in the sales funnel.

For example, you might have a top-of-funnel lead magnet meant to build interest in your brand, like a giveaway. The lead capture form would need to be simple, quick to fill out, and optimized to get as many form submissions as possible. On the other hand, a bottom-of-funnel lead magnet, such as a webinar, is meant to attract high-intent prospects. The registration form would need to bring in high-quality leads — not just a high quantity. 

Take some time to set goals for your lead capture form and determine how you will track its success. You will need to refer back to those goals in every other step of the form-building process.

2. Choose the most relevant form placements 

Sign-up forms can be incorporated just about anywhere on your website — from a service page to a chatbot. For high-value lead magnets like ebooks or webinars, you may want to build a dedicated lead capture page that explains the offer and includes an embedded form. Short sign-up forms are even easier to feature. Subtly embed them in relevant blog posts, or get your audience’s attention with an eye-catching pop-up! With the right video marketing software, you can even feature sign-up forms during a recording. 

As you decide on pages for the lead generation form, think through the following questions: 

• Would the lead magnet add value for someone visiting this page? (It might be a popular web page, but not relevant to the lead form.) 
• Does this page receive enough traffic to generate leads? (It might be a relevant page, but not very popular!) 
• Are the page and lead magnet mapped to the same stage of the sales funnel? (You want to reach the audience most likely to benefit from signing up!) 

The good news is you can always test different placement options to see what works best. Just make sure you keep a record of how and where your lead form is placed — and how well it performs. 

3. Be clear and concise 

Whether you have a dedicated landing page for your lead capture form or it’s a simple pop-up, the copy needs to be as clear as possible. You only have a moment to keep your users’ attention. Your website visitors need to clearly (and quickly) see what they are being offered, why it is valuable, and what steps they should follow. Be as specific as you can in the heading and call to action in particular. 

For example, if your lead magnet is an ebook, the CTA “Download my free ebook” will likely be much more effective than a generic button like “Submit.” 

Images or illustrations also help grab your audience’s attention. Depending on the web form’s size and design, you might be able to incorporate a picture of the lead magnet (such as an ebook cover). An image is easy for a website visitor to understand at a glance and builds trust by giving a sneak peek of the lead magnet.

4. Add form fields that work for your goals

It’s common knowledge that fewer form fields generally result in a higher conversion rate. This makes sense — someone is more likely to engage with your lead form if it asks for less information. But does that strategy align with your goals? 

Top-of-funnel lead magnets are meant to drive brand awareness and build an email list. This stage of the funnel benefits from as many sign-ups as possible. You’ll want to only ask for the most essential lead information in the capture form. 

If you’re trying to gain middle or bottom-of-funnel leads, it could be more strategic to use a longer form. Not only will you need more detailed information from high-intent sales leads (such as a phone number or address), but the form’s complexity will help ensure you only engage with qualified leads that are worth your time.

5. Earn your audience’s trust

Not every industry needs to implement stringent data security measures, but the principle applies to any online business: earn your audience’s trust. Your leads are giving up private information, and it’s important to be clear and respectful about how you will use it! 

This could mean linking to your privacy policy at the bottom of the form, displaying a third-party security certification, maintaining GDPR compliance, or simply limiting follow-up communications to only the most relevant content. You want your leads to feel that it was worth it to fill out your form.

6. Optimize using A/B tests

When you first create a lead capture form, you have to make a lot of educated guesses — about the design, length, copy, and placement. The only way to know what works is to test it! 

A/B testing — also called split testing — takes one element of a sales campaign and runs two variations to see which performs better. Marketers should optimize lead capture forms by testing relevant components, including:

• Call to action 
• Form design 
• Page placement 
• Form fields 

Just make sure that you have enough engagement to run an effective A/B test, you test only one variable at a time, and you have the necessary analytics software to measure results.

7. Keep the whole customer journey in mind

It’s easy to get caught up in top-of-funnel marketing efforts, focusing on lead generation and filling your sales pipeline. But without the rest of the customer journey built out, you might find yourself with tons of new leads and few conversions. Your lead capture form should work alongside the rest of your sales funnel to create a compelling and intuitive customer journey.

For example, the form design and copy should align with your brand image and messaging. The form fields should integrate seamlessly with your CRM or lead management software. And any automated workflows — such as follow-up email sequences — should be tailored to the needs of the specific audience who’s engaging with your lead forms.

Generate, capture, and manage leads with Kartra’s all in one platform

It’s possible to create sales funnels by piecing together multiple platforms like a form builder, email marketing software, and lead management software. But is it smart?  A comprehensive marketing platform that offers all these features saves business owners time and money (integrations add up).

More importantly, an all in one platform streamlines the entire funnel-building process – freeing you up to focus on optimizing your campaigns instead of fixing errors. 

With a quality all in one platform like Kartra, business owners can…

• Build professional lead capture forms (templates included) 
• Optimize lead forms with advanced A/B testing
• Manage leads with native lead management software
• Automate sales funnels and email sequences 
• Track success with cross-channel marketing analytics 

Lead capture forms are just one part of the sales process. For your lead generation strategy to drive revenue, you’ll need the right tool to manage the whole customer journey!