Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Form Analysis and Form Actions
like any other task you perform as the person responsible for web analytics in your
organization, the form optimization task has to be part of a greater project plan where
the optimization project is justified and measured against other potential projects that
drive your business forward.
Form creation, analysis, and improvement are just part of the bigger picture in
this process; factors like the following must be taken into consideration as well:
W
•
ebsite design
•
F
unnel flow
t
•
ext copy
U
•
sability studies
•
V
oice-of-customer studies
•
t
esting (such as multivariate testing)
•
B
ehavioral analysis (web analytics)
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Each point is crucial in achieving the perfect conversion form experience: the
highest possible conversion rate.
When you start a form-based analysis and optimization project, you should
begin with the business requirements. Using the previous list, make sure that the form
fits well into the overall website design and that there is a natural flow. Also ensure that
you have performed some basic usability studies.
traditional form analysis, as will be illustrated later, is imperfect by itself with-
out further investigation. you shouldn't see form analysis as all you need to do when
running a form optimization process.
HTML Form
An HTML form is a form on a web page that allows a user to enter data that is typically sent to a
server for processing. The form often replicates a traditional paper form.
Usability Studies
Usability studies can be as simple as observing three or four people from another department
going through the form-based pages and taking notes on their difficulties. I am a big fan of
limited usability studies. For further input on that matter, see my post on the positive impact
of limited users in qualitative studies:
http://visualrevenue.com/blog/2007/05/in-qualitative-analysis-5-8-
users-are.html
It is difficult to do analysis and come back with significant optimization suggestions if the pro-
cess is broken and poorly conceived to begin with.