▭Forms in practice

As few as possible. Every additional required field measurably costs enquiries.

The minimum that is almost always enough:

• Name
• How to reach you — email or phone
• Message

That is it. Anything else you can ask in conversation.

What is regularly asked for unnecessarily: salutation, company, street, postcode, “How did you hear about us?”. Those are four fields that cost four per cent of your enquiries, and you can find them out in one sentence on the phone.

In terms of data protection, the same applies: only collect what is necessary for the purpose. A required field with no purpose is not permitted.

If a field is useful but not necessary: mark it as optional.

Four things:

1. A note on data processing with a reference to the privacy notice — directly on the form, not just in the footer.
2. Encrypted transmission. You already have this; without it, the form would not be permitted.
3. Only necessary required fields.
4. A deletion period for the entries.

What is not necessary: a tick box saying “I have read the privacy notice”. It is usually worthless legally — the information is enough. If you do add one, it must not be pre-ticked.

What is additionally necessary if you want to use the address for advertising later: separate, voluntary consent. A form for an enquiry does not entitle you to send a newsletter.

Work through it from top to bottom — the first two explain almost everything:

1. Spam folder. By far the most common reason. Add the sender to the exceptions.
2. Correct recipient address stored? Especially after a change of staff.
3. Fill it in and submit it yourself. Does the message arrive? Does the entry appear in the list?
4. Is the entry in the list but no email arrived? Then the problem is delivery — your enquiries are not lost.
5. Does the entry not appear in the list either? Then the form is set up incorrectly or not published.

And the precaution that prevents this: look at the list of entries once a quarter, regardless of the emails. Otherwise nobody notices a form whose notification has been landing in spam for months.

Completely, from outside, and with an address you do not otherwise use:

1. Open the page in a private window — that way you see it as a visitor does.
2. Fill it in and submit it, with realistic details.
3. Check whether the confirmation arrives for the sender.
4. Check whether the notification arrives for you — in spam too.
5. Check whether the entry is in the list.
6. Repeat on a phone. That is where most people fill it in.

That takes ten minutes and finds the mistakes that the first real prospect would otherwise find — and they do not get in touch a second time.

When to test: after every change to the form, after every change of recipient address, and once a quarter without any particular reason.

Yes. Without it, nobody knows whether the enquiry has arrived, and the uncertainty leads either to a second enquiry or to a call to a competitor.

What belongs in a good confirmation:

• That it has arrived.
• When you will get in touch. “Usually on the next working day” removes the uncertainty and saves follow-up questions.
• A phone number for urgent matters.
• What the sender wrote, as a copy — so they have it themselves.

What does not belong in it: advertising. A confirmation of receipt with a link to an offer is an advertising email without consent.

And keep your promise. “We will get back to you within 24 hours” is a promise you regret on a Friday afternoon.

On the same working day — that is the expectation, and it is the most important difference from the competition.

Anyone who sends an enquiry via a website has usually just written to three businesses. The first to reply often gets the job — regardless of price.

What is enough if you do not have an answer yet:

“Thank you for your enquiry. I will look into it and get back to you with a concrete proposal by Thursday.”

That takes thirty seconds and keeps the contact.

What does not work: a perfect reply after four days. By then, the decision has been made.

And if you are on holiday: an out-of-office note with a stand-in. An unanswered enquiry is worse than an honest delay.

Several small measures that together catch most of it:

• A hidden field that people do not see and bots fill in. Whoever fills it in is not human.
• Time measurement. A form submitted within two seconds does not come from a human.
• No email address in plain text on the page — it gets harvested automatically.

What you should avoid: picture puzzles where visitors have to click on traffic lights. They cost real enquiries and are an obstacle for people with disabilities.

And the practical perspective: some spam is normal. If two out of twenty enquiries are junk, that is not a problem. Effort is only worthwhile when the balance tips.

Do not open anything a form brings in as an attachment.

For as long as they serve a purpose, and that ends sooner than most people think.

As a guide:

• Enquiry that came to nothing: delete after a few months.
• Enquiry that turned into a job: the job has its own retention obligations; the enquiry itself does not.
• Job applications via a form: usually six months after the process has ended.

What you should set up: a fixed date on which someone goes through the list. Without it, a collection of personal data grows for which there is no longer any reason.

And if an enquiry has become a contact: it belongs in the CRM, not in the form list. Only what has not yet been dealt with should be there.

Rarely more than two — and the decision should depend on the purpose, not on the page.

What is worthwhile:

• A general contact form for everything.
• A second one for a special process where you need different details: a job application, an appointment request, a callback request.

What does not make sense: a separate form with the same content for each page. One form can appear on several pages, and all entries come together in one place — that is the point of separating form and block.

If you want to know which page an enquiry came from: you can usually tell from the entry. You do not need a second form for that.

In the form’s settings, and then test it.

When you need to think about it:

• Change of staff. The most common reason for lost enquiries: the address of someone who has left is still in there.
• Holiday and cover.
• New responsibility for an area.

What has proven itself: a shared address instead of a personal one — such as enquiry@your-company.com, which goes to several people. Then nothing breaks when someone is away.

And add it to the list that is worked through when someone leaves. Forms are almost never on it, and then come to light six months later.

Only if you really need it — and then with care.

Where it makes sense: a photo of the damage, a drawing, a completed form.

What you should think about:

• What arrives? File uploads are a popular route for malware. Do not open anything you were not expecting.
• Where does it stay? Uploaded files are third-party data — with a purpose, a retention period and a location.
• Is it needed? For job applications, an email address is often the better route.

What goes wrong: entire application folders of twenty megabytes. A form is not built for that.

If you set it up: restrict file types and size, and point this out.

A thank-you page or a message on the same page, and either should say more than “Thank you”.

What belongs on a good thank-you page:

• Confirmation that it has arrived.
• When you will get in touch.
• A way to continue — back to the home page, to the services, to the phone number for urgent matters.

Why it matters: this is the moment someone has just put their trust in you. An empty page with one word is a wasted opportunity.

And for you: a dedicated thank-you page can be found in the visitor statistics — so you know how many enquiries were actually submitted, not just how many people opened the form.