Stop Killing Conversions: The Case for Smarter, Simpler Form Design

Forms are the backbone of most digital journeys. Whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, applying for a service, or making a purchase, a poorly designed form can crush your conversion rates. While many forms are simple—think name, email, and password—others require heavy data capture, like income or address details.

When it comes to designing these more complex forms, there are two golden rules every journey owner needs to follow:

1. Don’t let downstream systems dictate your user experience.

2. Minimise cognitive load—or watch your drop-off rates soar. (and please don't make your customer do math!)

Rule 1: Don’t Let the Backend Define the Frontend

All too often, backend system requirements end up dictating the design of the form. It seems logical—aligning the data input format to the backends' needs should ensure smooth processing, right? Wrong. What you’re really doing is shifting the hard work onto your customers.

This leads to frustrating, conversion-killing behaviour like:

• Phone number fields requiring a country code or a specific format (how often do you realistically type a “+” before a phone number without thinking?).

• Postcode validation that errors if there’s an extra space.

• Autofill conflicts that reject entries with invisible trailing spaces.

• Inconsistent monetary fields asking for monthly amounts in one step and annual in another, disrupting the customer’s flow and mindset.

These are lazy design choices that prioritize backend convenience over user experience. Instead, engineers should handle data transformation on the backend. Let the system do the work of reformatting customer input to suit downstream systems—not the other way around.

Rule 2: Reduce Cognitive Load

Every field on your form should pass one critical test: Does it need to be there? If the answer is no, strip it out. If the answer is yes, ask yourself how you can make it as effortless as possible for the customer to complete.

Why is this so important? Fields that require cognitive effort—like National Insurance numbers or calculating pre-tax income—can have double the drop-off rates compared to easy fields like first names.

Here’s how you can simplify the experience:

• Reduce the effort needed. For example, instead of asking for monthly pre-tax income, ask for the number people remember most easily (e.g., annual take-home pay) and let your system do the math.

• Never ask users to do calculations. Expecting customers to crunch numbers mid-journey is a guaranteed way to lose them.

Stop Being Lazy And Do the Hard Work for Your Customers

Both of these rules boil down to one simple principle: Journey owners and designers must take on the hard work so that customers don’t have to.

By designing smarter, more customer-friendly forms, you’ll:

• Reduce friction.

• Improve customer experience scores.

• Boost conversions and, ultimately, sales.

When customers feel like you’ve thought about their needs, they’ll trust you more—and they’ll stick around long enough to complete their journey.

So, stop killing conversions with lazy form design. Step up, do the work, and watch your results soar.

Want to optimise your forms and improve your conversion rates? Let’s talk.

Ready to Optimise? Let’s Work Together.

At Optimise Together, we specialise in conversion rate optimisation for businesses and charities. Let’s turn your traffic into results by putting your customers at the heart of every decision.