Help Heavy Truck Buyers Get In Touch With Contact Forms

Getting visitors to your website has little value unless you convince them to engage with you in some way. Properly designed and placed contact forms are like stepping stones that help prospective heavy truck buyers move into and through your sales funnel. They’ve already “contacted” you simply by visiting your website. Contact forms link them with the next step.

 

You want to use every opportunity to encourage visitors to share their contact information with you – well before they’re ready to buy, and well before they’re ready to talk to you in person. This is important, because often early-stage shoppers are especially wary, and contacting them too soon feels pushy rather than helpful.

Not all contact forms are created equal.

Job seekers, vendors, the media – lots of people other than prospective and existing customers – use your website. Contact forms enable you to connect appropriately with each of these audiences by directing them to what or who they need. Design details have a profound effect on how well your forms encourage conversion.

Less is more.

Study after study has shown that shorter contact forms convert better. One recent survey showed businesses that reduced their forms from four fields to three increased their conversion rate by 50%. That’s a whopping improvement for such a small change.

It’s essential to let people engage with you gradually, without demanding too much in return. Optional fields are OK, but don’t go overboard. You can capture additional information later on, after they’ve had a chance to engage more with you, building up trust.

So build that trust.

Reassure visitors right on the form by telling them you won’t sell their email address or add it to some unwanted marketing list. Clearly identify each field avoid tricky formatting requirements to avoid mistakes or confusion. The more effort someone has to put into filling out your form, the more likely they are to give up. Explain why you want the information – additional details help you be more helpful to them, and that’s everyone’s goal.

Make it easy.

Using “help text” can increase conversion:

• Ghost text in the field shows what information goes there and suggests formatting (xxx-xxx-xxxx for phone number).
• Help text underneath the field can provide tool tips and explain why you want that information.

Using in-line validation immediately alerts someone if they’re filled in a field incorrectly – say, their email address isn’t formatted properly – rather than “flunking” the form after they’ve filled it out because early information was wrong. 

Every little detail that makes your contact forms simple and quick builds confidence in you and your dealership, eliminating the kind of frustration or suspicion that causes visitors to stop short of conversion.

Make your forms flow naturally, to further avoid confusion. For instance, users expect the submit button to immediately follow the form. If you put cancel or something else there instead, you’ll cause problems. And problems cause people to leave your form rather than completing it. 

Think mobile and everyone will benefit.

Nobody’s more on-the-go than heavy truck buyers. Making your contact forms simple and easy for mobile device users automatically makes them easy for others. Think narrow, stacking buttons, etc. vertically rather than side-by-side.

Mobile optimization enables users to swipe lists. You can enable GPS-generated location input, voice activated input, even a system that displays your contact form according to each device’s visual orientation. This may seem unnecessarily sophisticated, but as fast as mobile devices are becoming the norm, you’re simply demonstrating leadership and setting up your dealership for greater success.

Sometimes people want to contact you right now. So give ‘em your phone number, and make it easy to find! Your address, too, and directions if needed. Regardless of the format, make it easy, and heavy truck buyers will contact you.