Getting visitors to your website is only half the battle.
The real goal is encouraging them to take action.
If someone clicks through your website, decides they’re interested, starts filling out your contact form and then leaves before submitting it, you’ve potentially lost a valuable customer.
This is known as contact form abandonment, and it’s more common than many businesses realise.
The good news is that a few simple improvements can dramatically increase the number of completed enquiries your website receives.
Keep Your Form as Short as Possible
One of the biggest reasons people abandon forms is because they simply ask for too much information.
Many businesses request details they don’t actually need at the initial enquiry stage.
Instead, focus on collecting only the essentials:
- Name
- Email address
- Phone number (if required)
- A brief message
If additional information is needed, it can always be gathered during a follow-up phone call or email.
The easier your form is to complete, the more likely visitors are to finish it.
Make Your Form Easy to Complete on Mobile
For many businesses, more than half of website visitors now come from mobile devices.
A form that looks great on desktop but is difficult to use on a phone can quickly drive potential customers away.
Your form should include:
- Large, easy-to-tap fields
- Clear labels
- Appropriate keyboard types (such as numeric for phone numbers)
- Plenty of spacing between fields
- A prominent submit button
Testing your forms on multiple devices is one of the simplest ways to identify usability issues.
Remove Anything That Creates Friction
Every extra step gives visitors another reason to leave.
Ask yourself:
- Do you really need CAPTCHA?
- Are there unnecessary mandatory fields?
- Are error messages clear and helpful?
- Does the form load quickly?
If visitors encounter confusing validation errors or are forced to re-enter information, many won’t bother trying again.
A smooth experience keeps people moving towards submitting their enquiry.
Build Trust Before Asking for Information
People are far more willing to complete a form when they trust the business behind it.
Simple trust signals can make a significant difference, including:
- Google Reviews
- Testimonials
- Client logos
- Industry accreditations
- Security indicators
- A professional website design
These elements reassure visitors that they’re dealing with a legitimate business and increase confidence before they click “Submit”.
Set Clear Expectations
One of the most overlooked improvements is telling visitors what happens next.
If someone submits an enquiry, when will they hear back?
Adding a short message such as:
“We’ll get back to you within one business day.”
can significantly increase confidence.
After submission, redirect visitors to a thank you page or display a confirmation message so they know their enquiry has been received successfully.
Automatic confirmation emails can also reinforce that everything worked as expected.
Measure What’s Working
It’s difficult to improve your contact forms if you don’t know how visitors are finding your website in the first place.
Tracking where enquiries originate – whether from Google Search, Google Ads, social media or referral websites – provides valuable insights into which marketing channels are driving real leads.
By combining lead source tracking with improvements to your contact form, you can not only increase enquiry numbers but also better understand the return on your marketing investment.
Small Improvements Can Deliver Big Results
Your contact form is often the final step before someone becomes a customer. Even small usability improvements can lead to noticeably more enquiries without spending another dollar on advertising.
At Sympley, we help businesses optimise every stage of the customer journey – from website performance and user experience through to lead tracking and conversion optimisation. As part of our WordPress Maintenance Service, we regularly review contact forms to ensure they’re fast, easy to use and converting as many visitors as possible.
If your website is generating traffic but not enough enquiries, we’d be happy to help identify opportunities to improve your contact forms and increase conversions.
